Question: who works for Rupert Murdoch, leads a prestigious think-tank, is an accomplished long-distance runner and learned to speak fluent English in his early fifties? Answer: José María Aznar, prime minister of Spain between 1996 and 2004. The above description is highly selective, of course, but it gives an idea of the man we are talking about – probably just the kind of idea Aznar himself would like us to have of him: an active figure on the right-leaning world stage whose discipline and motivation have given him influence and a well-honed body. Aznar, 57, has become something of a fetish figure for many on the Spanish right, and with good reason. He governed for two … [Read more...] about Aznar lets his hair down
Felipe González
Zapatero’s summer of discontent
It’s not easy for any politician to be told he is a “political corpse.” But when the person saying this has just saved your skin it’s particularly hard to digest. So when Spain’s prime minister now looks at Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, spokesman for the centre-right Catalan CiU grouping, it is with mixed feelings. CiU ensured José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s €15-billion austerity package went through Congress on May 27 by abstaining during the vote. The abstention meant the governing Socialists’ 169 deputies scraped the measures through, with 168 voting against. The Catalan conservatives justified their abstention by insisting that while they did not agree with all the measures, the … [Read more...] about Zapatero’s summer of discontent