24 de Setembre de 2010

Don't trust Zapatero

Amb l'esperança -remota- que em llegeixi George Soros o algun dels financers internacionals amb els que es va reunir Zapatero als EUA per intenar convèncer-los que l'economia espanyola va bé he escrit aquest article en anglès:


Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has come to the States on Tuesday - coinciding with the second day of a U.N. anti-poverty summit - to try to convince Wall Street that the Spanish economy is on the up. Be careful.

The problem with the Spanish economy is Zapatero himself. When he first became Prime Minister a former Minister Mr. Jordi Sevilla, who supported him at the at that time told him that "esto de la economía se aprende en dos tardes" ("economy can be learned in two afternoons"). But, despite his years in office, I am not sure that Mr. Zapatero got to grips with it yet.
 
It's amazing to critize from Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) a Primer Minister who is trying to make profit for my country. I know that it's almost an act of treason. But, the real problem is that he is a tactical, no a strategist politician and in politics, especially in relation to the economy, we need strategists not tacticians.
 
Zapatero was denying the crisis from the beginning and he only accepted the gravity of the situation just a few months ago. For example on 15th January 2007 he was still convinced that the Spanish economy could surpass not only  the French but even the German.
 
On 24th September 2008 he also said, in New York, that Spain has the most solid financial system of the whole international community. For a politician it is important to  have your feet on the ground.
 
Zapatero has a problem as well of leadership. The Government has just approved a new Labor Reform Bill under pressure from the European Commission but unions and entrepreneurs have been negotiating –wasting the time - for almost two years. Like Hemingway, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has been watching the bullfighting from the barrier.
 
Of course, the Spanish economy has a healthy future. It's a place for investments -and mainly for living-, well-connected and developed. But, for example, we have some problems with our English language skills: have you ever heard of a Prime Minister who doesn’t speak English?.
 
Our economy is still almost based exclusively in “techo y turismo” (“property and tourism”). We dont’ have a Nokia (Finland), a Samsung (Korea) and, of course, an Apple (USA) either. At this difficult moment,  as other countries, we need leadership: somebody that will push ahead and take decisions.
 
What’s the difference between Mr. Zapatero and Mr. Naoto Kan, the new Prime Minister of Japan?. The first thing Naoto Kan said on CNN (1) when he was elected was: “I need your help. Please, support me”. The first thing that Mr. Zaptero said to Mr. Kan during their last bilateral summit on 1st September was: “You are the fourth Japanese Prime Minister I’ve met” (2). The summit, of course, ended in a fiasco.
 
In Spain, we need elections but and I'm not sure that elections will be the solution. Neither Zapatero nor Mr. Mariano Rajoy, the leader of the Conservative Party, project self-confidence in these difficult times.
 
 

(1) 6 de juny del 2010

(2) El Periódico: "Ficar la pota en una cimera", crònica de Manuel Vilaseró, dijous 2 de setembre del 2010, pàg. 18