New Spanish government a definite maybe

FINALLY, interim Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced on the evening of Thursday July 28 that having met with King Felipe he had accepted his invitation to form a new government, or had he?

The acceptance was conditional in as much as he made it clear that he wouldn’t put himself and his potential government forward for a vote of confidence from the Cortes unless and until he was confident that he would be accepted.

According to Mr Rajoy, it is bad for Country to continue without a recognised government and it would be disadvantageous to have a third election (which was already mooted for November 27), so he hoped to have something in place by October.

There will now follow a round of ‘negotiations’ with the other main political parties plus some of the minority parties who might be able to add a few positive votes for the PP but it does seem unlikely that unless there is a major U turn by PSOE and Podemos, no positive result will arise whilst the current interim Prime Minister continues to be the leader of the PP.

The Constitution does not however allow him the luxury of biding his time so that he can try to persuade one of the left wing parties not to vote him down and even the Speaker Ana Pastor appears confused as to the legal situation with regards to the confidence debate and her contribution to the situation was to simply smile and confirm that the King had invited Mr Rajoy to put himself forward as Prime Minister and that he had accepted.

All things considered, it’s a complete mess but life continues and amazingly Spain has just escaped any fine from the EU for missing its financial targets, unemployment has dropped to 20 per cent and tourism is on the up, so perhaps political chaos and confusion are a benefit to the Country.

Written by

John Smith

Married to Ophelia in Gibraltar in 1978, John has spent much of his life travelling on security print and minting business and visited every continent except Antarctica. Having retired several years ago, the couple moved to their house in Estepona and John became a regular news writer for the EWN Media Group taking particular interest in Finance, Gibraltar and Costa del Sol Social Scene. Currently he is acting as Editorial Consultant for the paper helping to shape its future development. Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews

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