Fernando González Urbaneja| The procedure adopted by the acting president Pedro Sánchez to impose an amnesty in favour of the Catalan independence movement is the culmination of “trágala” as a form of government that has little to do with the formalities of democracy. The dictionary defines trágala as “an act by which someone is forced to accept or endure something by force”. The amnesty that is so much talked about…
Fernando González Urbaneja| The outgoing government has rubber-stamped a pact for the incoming government, signed with solemnity to convey an idea of hard bargaining within the cabinet. At least on the part of the cabinet, since the Podemos faction has been left out of the negotiation led by Yolanda Díaz under the SUMAR brand. The Podemos faction has been left with the option of throwing a hissyfit and little else,…
Fernando González Urbaneja ! The Catalan pro-independence supporters have imposed the discourse of amnesty, which they demand so that justice will forget about their leaders. A very particular and personal matter has become a national issue, a matter of state, a hinge of the legislature’s being or not being. All of this is evident, and that is why amnesty has become the issue of the moment, at least until the…
Fernando González Urbaneja | In football, the technique of muddying the pitch is well known and is used by a bad team against a more competitive one. Muddying materially, spraying water on the pitch, or figuratively by pushing, kicking and other tricks to impede play and make the opponent desperate. It is as legitimate as it is regrettable, for the players and, above all, for the spectators, as it means…
Fernando González Urbaneja | That Pedro Sánchez changes his mind is not news, it is part of his way of doing politics. It is one of the assets he employs to achieve the desired end, which is none other than power, dressed up as a progressive programme, one of those concepts that can be used for whatever is needed, an empty signifier. Sánchez makes no secret of this ability to…
Fernando González Urbaneja | Of recent statements by economic policymakers, I find the Federal Reserve Chairman’s statement at the Jackson Hole retreat revealing. Powell says that they are groping along. And yet the flight is reasonably on track and may land safely. Central bankers, who are as much a determinant of the economy as governments, work towards a goal of general equilibrium, a control of prices (the optimal goal) without…
Fernando González Urbaneja | For years now, professional football has been experiencing a rise in value fuelled by television rights and by new entrants to the sector (sovereign wealth funds and private equity) which are increasing the value of the spectacle to the point of a typical bubble, which will burst when there are no assets left to be fattened. Spain’s top clubs have gone from a situation of bankruptcy…
Fernando González Urbaneja | Feijóo, in his capacity as the person in charge of the investiture, has asked for a meeting with Sánchez in his capacity as head of the PSOE, the second most voted party. What is anomalous is that such contact was ignored, even though it serves no purpose. It’s not true that rubbing together makes love, since, unfortunately, there is no chemistry between these two figures. Sánchez’s…
Fernando González Urbaneja| An “alcaldada” is an “imprudent or inconsiderate action executed by a mayor (or any authority) abusing the authority he or she exercises”. A more demanding reading of such an action might consider the hypothesis that an alcaldada can reach the character of prevarication (knowingly unjust resolution) or even embezzlement (misuse or abuse of resources of others). What the Bureau of Congress may resolve next week takes the…
Fernando González Urbaneja| The European Commissioner for Competition, the Dane Margrethe Vestager, wanted to recruit an American expert with good credentials as her chief economist: Yale professor and competition expert Fiona Scott. The American was the best qualified, but her status as a non-European citizen was not acceptable to some governments, especially the French government, which used the concept of strategic autonomy to veto the professor. The informal veto was…