As it's my birthday today, I'm giving myself the day off. In place of a post from me, here's an overview of Spain from one of the contributors to the 5Spaniards webpage I cited the other day. Reader Moscow praises it for its common sense. Which is good enough for me.

En passant, I did post something late yesterday. Not to be missed in your rush to read the following . . .

Oh, yes. Any typos or spelling mistakes below are those of the writer and not a result of my editorial blindness.

Spain Today

Jaime Pozuleo-Montfort, 4 November 2008

Spain represents today a complex environment driven by civil war discrepancies among baby boomers, an unstable equilibrium between nationalists and centralists, a difficult coexistence of regional languages and Castilian Spanish, an always existing terrorist activity, and now a deja-vu come back to times of recession and high unemployment after a real estate boom abruptly ended.

Many would identify the 2004-2008 period as the toughest political environment in Spain’s recent post-Franco times, in spite of a low terrorist activity and strong economic growth coupled with prosperity and low unemployment rates. The Administration of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has moved forward on the social-liberal front but has rescued from Pandora’s box, issues that belonged in the memory of many Spaniards, including the Law for Historic Memory (Ley de Memoria Historica). Zapatero’s approach to politics is oftentimes considered divisive and stems from an ideology division of the country that once was and will never be, only present in the minds of baby-boomers.

The center-right commanded by Opposition Leader Mariano Rajoy has been incapable of finding a leader of the caliber of former President Jose Maria Aznar, who continues to be, along Fraga, the shadow President of the Popular Party. In a total absence of intra-party debate, and with freedom of speech and brainstorming banned from the party’s rows, well positioned politicians like Madrid’s Mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardon or Madrid’s regional president Esperanza Aguirre, have continued to remain away from aspiring to become once and for all the well-needed leader the center-right needs in Spain. Rosa Diez, once upon a time Secretary General of the Basque Socialist Party, abandoned her former party to found the only center party with political representation in Madrid’s Congreso de los Diputados (Spanish Parliament). Diez was the only Member of Parliament elected from her own party.

There is no doubt Spain’s 1980s were dominated by Felipe Gonzalez, 1990s by Jose Maria Aznar and 2000s by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Each decade has seen a leading political figure emerge that has later become Prime Minister of the Spanish Monarchy. The leading figure of the 2010s is yet to emerge.

On the economic front Spain’s proud achievement of surpassing Italy in per-capita income terms has now come to an end. Spain’s economy shrank by 0.3% in the third quarter of 2008 and is now on the verge of entering technical recession. The phenomenal growth of mortgage credit and a low-interest rate economic environment that fostered the arrival of millions of immigrants, enabled an economic growth based on tremendous increases in the real estate activity, that pushed up home ownership rates and transformed the country from a society with quasi negative demographic growth just under the 40 million inhabitant mark, to a society of 45 million, 5 million of which are immigrants.

The three amigos Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Pedro Solbes and Miguel Sebastian, Premier, Finance Minister and Industry Minister respectively, have thus far been unable to find the secret formula that will put Spain back on the track of economic growth and convergence. Spain’s continues to struggle on the economic front with an unemployment rate that has reached 11%, the highest in any country of the European Union, and is likely to reach up to 15% through 2010.

This is today’s Spain, a country divided along political ideology, with political forces that lack innovation and forward-looking ideas, and a divisive political landscape that is mimicked by media conglomerates, which align along ideologies and offer tailored-made products to their respective audiences.

The political center was abandoned by both Socialists under Felipe Gonzalez and by Populars under Jose Maria Aznar. Adolfo Suarez, second Prime Minister in Spain in the post-Franco stage, has been the only moderate who has secured the top spot in Spanish politics.

Spaniards have yet to rediscover what center-politics is all about. Independent media are generally speaking absent from the news landscape. Prestigious platforms such as EL PAIS have a widespread admitted bias towards the left, and other leading newspapers such as EL MUNDO or ABC align on the center-right or the right of the political spectrum.

Spain’s continuous struggle to gain a confidence and trust vis a vis its Northern European neighbors is likely to perpetuate. The debate more versus less autonomy for Catalonia and the Basque Country will be always present. The struggle between the Catholic Church and the Central Administration is likely to last longer than expected, and inefficiencies in the labour market will persist and perpetuate if reform is not undertaken. The key to Spain’s future is increase investment in education and a continuation of the investment in infrastructure and public transportation, along running a more efficient local, regional and central Administration.