{"id":1839,"date":"2012-08-31T13:40:27","date_gmt":"2012-08-31T11:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/blog\/?p=1839"},"modified":"2012-08-31T13:40:27","modified_gmt":"2012-08-31T11:40:27","slug":"la-falta-de-estadismo-de-rajoy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/la-falta-de-estadismo-de-rajoy\/","title":{"rendered":"Rajoy\u2019s lack of statesmanship"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It has been easy over the last two or three years to criticise Zapatero\u2019s failings, as these were numerous and impossible to hide: an inability to understand and manage the economic situation, populist demagoguery, erratic financial policy, a refusal to change course and a lack of courage to reform labour policy, and a very long list of other failings that have led us to the critical situation we are all familiar with.<\/p>\n

With Rajoy having been in government for 10 months already, the legacy he inherited was so negative that his margin for manoeuvre was, on the face of it, more than reasonable and ample. And although he immediately set about labour and tax reforms, we must not overlook the fact that he has done so under pressure from the men in black and the lady in white.\u00a0Given the way in which the attacks on Spain\u2019s economic emergencies are being carried out and the manner in which they are being explained \u2013 or rather, distorted \u2013 to the public, we suspect that the People\u2019s Party government will likely reach the end of its first year in office having clearly laid bare its shortcomings and incompetence.\u00a0And not only because the economic situation of the banking sector, the autonomous communities and the State itself is in tatters, with no effective measures having been taken to address it and with the government continuing to deny the obvious, but also because of the lack of statesmanship shown by Rajoy in the face of demands, from the German-led EU and Mr Market, which go beyond a knowledge of economics or policies that are more or less progressive.<\/p>\n

The shortcomings that the Rajoy\/De Guindos government is already displaying \u2013 and, regrettably, will continue to display \u2013 over the coming quarters include a\u00a0a complete unwillingness to cede sovereignty<\/a> and transparency, as well as a clear intention not to take any decision that would result in a substantial loss of votes, power and the electorate\u2019s trust. And unfortunately, both of these will be essential if we are to prevent the collapse of the Eurozone and keep Germany in the same boat as us \u2013 or vice versa.<\/p>\n

We find ourselves in a situation where statism takes on the lofty significance that has characterised the leaders who have made history throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. That concept \u2013 of prioritising the state (in this case a \u2018macro-state\u2019 known as Europe) or even the world order, over presidential and party interests \u2013 is now more necessary than ever to tackle the collapse towards which the EU is heading. Sarkozy, whether his decisions were right or wrong, seemed to be the European leader most aware of the need for such statism and most at ease in that role. Perhaps that is why he lost the election\u2026 Hollande, on the other hand, has a political stature much more in line with that of Merkel or Rajoy \u2013 in other words, a profile that is as low-key as it is electioneering. Monti, for his part, lives up to his reputation as a technocrat and is far less concerned about an electorate that never elected him. We cannot speak of statesmanship in Monti\u2019s case, as his profile is quite different, but his financial background and his lack of concern for votes undoubtedly make him far more effective as a leader in critical times such as these.<\/p>\n

The Eurozone, lacking a single European presidency and government \u2013 something historically called for by the US and the rest of the world \u2013 needs, as much as the air it breathes, its various presidents and governments to be true statesmen. They must put the interests of Europe before those of their respective countries, and of course before those of their respective political parties. Without that admirable and historically revered statesmanship, we will never manage to weather the perfect storm facing the Eurozone. And we are heading straight for a situation where, once the storm has abated, we will be left with the painful, disjointed and scattered wreckage. The only good news is that the devastation and the purge will be such, and the starting point so primitive, that we can only improve from there. But it will take us decades to reach the level of economic prosperity and well-being that the shameful behaviour and lack of statesmanship of our current European politicians are throwing overboard whilst they cling miserably to their posts.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  F\u00e1cil fue en los \u00faltimos 2 o 3 a\u00f1os denunciar las miserias de Zapatero, pues \u00e9stas eran numerosas e indisimulables: Incapacidad para comprender y gobernar la situaci\u00f3n econ\u00f3mica, demagogia populista, bandazos en su pol\u00edtica financiera, inmovilismo y falta de valent\u00eda para reformar su pol\u00edtica laboral, y un largu\u00edsimo etc\u00e9tera que nos ha llevado a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,45,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-actualidad","category-asesoramiento-deportistas-artistas","category-reflexion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}