So that’s that then. In the autumn, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero will announce his decision to make way for his interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, as Socialist candidate in the spring 2012 general elections. This, at least, is the theory that has taken hold in much of the mainstream Spanish media in recent days, with El Mundo, La Vanguardia, El Periódico and Público all subscribing to it on the strength of reports emerging from the Socialist camp. Qorreo has heard similar reports from sources close to the prime minister, who also say Zapatero has informed at least four senior Socialists of his plans (and not just one, as the prime minister has claimed). Rubalcaba has … [Read more...] about Rubalcaba to mitigate damage as Zapatero goes up in flames
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Time for a name change for the Socialist Workers’ Party
When the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) holds its annual conference this summer, the party faithful’s main task will be to dump its leader, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and replace him with wily Interior Minster Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. While they’re at it, they might consider a name change more in keeping with the party’s sharp right-turn over the last year, for which Pérez Rubalcaba can take much of the credit/blame. Times are tough, and they’re going to get a lot tougher. Unemployment officially stands at 20 percent, growth rates are zero, and growing numbers of people are feeling the impact of the government’s austerity cuts. In short, the recession is hitting millions … [Read more...] about Time for a name change for the Socialist Workers’ Party
Time is Zapatero’s enemy as he seeks to reform
The government and the unions are back at the negotiating table. This time, among the issues they are discussing are reforms to the pensions system and the proposal to delay the retirement age from 65 to 67. This willingness to talk is in many ways encouraging. It is a throwback to the days, not so long ago, when the Zapatero government and the unions got on so well it was hard to detect any ideological discrepancies between them. It also hints at political maturity on both sides. But it’s also important to remember that this pensions reform was first mooted in early 2010, as the government scrambled to fend off market hostility and Zapatero started moving away from his centre-left … [Read more...] about Time is Zapatero’s enemy as he seeks to reform
Batasuna does legwork as ETA inches towards Basque peace
As ETA moves closer to what looks potentially like a full ceasefire that commits the Basque group to laying down its weapons once and for all, Spain’s politicians are offering some strictly scripted rhetoric. For most mainstream Spanish parties, scepticism and suspicion are the watchwords as they comment on ETA’s shift towards what could be lasting peace and the end of the separatist organisation’s 51-year history. The group’s September 5 announcement that it had halted all “armed offensive actions” was deemed too half-hearted and vague by the governing Socialists and the opposition Popular Party (PP). They regarded it as a ploy to ensure the legalisation of ETA’s political support, … [Read more...] about Batasuna does legwork as ETA inches towards Basque peace
Spain’s Socialist reshuffle reaches out to left
If Spain’s Socialists manage to engineer an incredible turnaround in the polls and win the 2012 general election, the chances are they will look back at October 21 of this year as the day when the comeback started. Such a result still looks a long way off, but José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s biggest Cabinet reshuffle of his six years in power was one of the boldest moves of his career and it looks certain to invigorate a party that was limping along under a leadership with shrinking capital. Zapatero’s seventh reshuffle sees six ministers depart, four new ones arrive, with two changing portfolios and two ministries scrapped altogether. While the scale of the move is noteworthy, the … [Read more...] about Spain’s Socialist reshuffle reaches out to left
A Basque pact to save Spain’s economy
In the spring of 2009, the Basque Socialists (PSE), led by Patxi López, closed a groundbreaking governing pact in the northern region with the Popular Party (PP). It was the first time in the democratic period that the Basque Country was to be governed by non-nationalists and the deal was also remarkable in that it united Socialists with the PP, two parties that on a national level seemed locked in a tribal relationship of mutual antagonism. At the time, many forecast a short life for the new Basque government. This was partly because of the political differences between the two parties in Madrid, but also because of the bitter reaction to the pact on the part of the PNV Basque … [Read more...] about A Basque pact to save Spain’s economy
No end in sight to Zapatero’s succession dilemma
As José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero stood listening to the barrage of booing and shouts for him to resign while he attended the October 12 national festivities in Madrid, the idea of enduring this kind of vitriol until 2016 can hardly have been appealing. And yet, although the prime minister is going through by far his toughest spell since taking office in 2004, he has still not announced whether he will run for a third term. Even King Juan Carlos expressed his annoyance at the abuse voiced at the military parade and the government attributed it to elements of the extreme right. However, while Zapatero has heard it before, the boos ringing in his ears this year represent widespread anger at … [Read more...] about No end in sight to Zapatero’s succession dilemma
Venezuela’s ETA haven tests limits of soft diplomacy
A characteristic of the current Spanish government’s foreign policy has been a softly-softly approach to potentially explosive issues. Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez’s old nickname, ‘Bambi’, may now be out of date on the domestic front, but on the international stage, he still treads with the caution of a deer through the woods. Since angering George W. Bush by withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq on taking office in 2004, Zapatero and his foreign minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, have often gone to great lengths not to upset their counterparts –in Morocco, Cuba and France, to mention just three examples– through their soft diplomacy. Lately, however, their tolerance has been … [Read more...] about Venezuela’s ETA haven tests limits of soft diplomacy
Spain and Morocco’s annual spat over for another year
It has become a summer classic; argy-bargy across the Strait of Gibraltar. With the arrival of September’s UN gathering in New York, the Spanish prime minister and Moroccan king have drawn an apparently effortless line under several weeks of apparently simmering tensions, blazing front-page headlines and much talk of a diplomatic crisis. “The photograph is the main thing,” José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero muttered toward Mohammed VI in New York as the pair smiled amid the camera flashes, the Spaniard later explaining that there had been little in the way of details included in their discussion. There was no need, he said; that was what the upcoming summits and ministerial meetings would deal … [Read more...] about Spain and Morocco’s annual spat over for another year
Spain’s general strike: too much, too late
The statisticians may argue for some time to come about the success or otherwise of Spain’s general strike. To nobody’s surprise, the UGT and CCOO unions, which organised the country’s first nationwide strike in eight years, described the protest as an overwhelming success, while the government said participation was “uneven”. Judging by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s insouciant demeanour as he entered Congress on the morning of the strike, his government had little to worry about. And yet, the mass closure of businesses for the day, the crippling of the country’s bus services and thousands (or 70 percent, according to the organisers) of workers marching through Spain’s … [Read more...] about Spain’s general strike: too much, too late