Sinister forces are out to get our Zapatero and his stewardship of this country, according to José Blanco from the PSOE. Lunatic financiers and mad billionaires have clubbed together with foreign newspapers (like the Financial Times) and the Partido Popular (for once, in front in the polls). The Minister of the Economy, Elena Salgado, is in London today to assure investors that Spain is a safe place and that the public debt is 'assumable'. Spain's unemployment is over twice the European average at 19.8% and the Nobel prize for economy Paul Krugman, has echoed Nouriel Roubini a professor from the University of New York who said at the World Economic Forum that 'Spain is an even bigger risk for the euro than Greece'.
'Nothing which is going on in the world, including the editorials in some foreign newspapers, is by chance or innocent' says José Blanco, who adds (in the El Mundo version of events), 'hay una campaña perfectamente orquestrada para demonizar y destruir al presidente del Gobierno' - there is a campaign perfectly orchestrated to demonise and destroy the President of the Government. Dang foreigners, I betcha!
Typically Spanish adds: 'Spain will owe 553 billion € in debt by the end of this year according to the latest predictions. The Ministry for Economy is keen to note that the amount is 55% of G.D.P., some 20% lower than the European average and lower than in countries such as the U.K., France and Germany. Even so international investors have voiced doubts of late that Spain will be able to reduce the debt, and have called for tougher measures from the Government'.
Meanwhile, I was glad to see that the head of the UGT union, Cándido Méndez, supports the Government's plan to increase the retirement age from 65 to 67.