Hay quienes temen que la solución más política que económica del caso Endesa devalúe peligrosamente la credibilidad de las instituciones financieras españolas, politizándolas en el peor y más  arcaico sentido del nacional-patriotismo, bien enraizado en la tradición franquista local. En Londres, Leslie Crawford insinúa en Financial Times que, al más alto nivel, Pedro Solbes pudiera ser víctima de su enfrentamiento personal con JLR Zapatero, ante la proliferación de tal cáncer “patriótico”.

A juicio de Leslie Crawford, “la dimisión de Conthe deja a Pedro Solbes mucho más aislado, en un gobierno que ha hecho suyo el nacionalismo económico y la doctrina de los campeones nacionales”. Y agrega: “Personalidades próximas a Solbes afirman que es improbable que el ministro de economía sea confirmado en su cargo si los socialistas ganan las próximas elecciones”.

Financial Times, 2 abril 2007. Leslie Crawford,  Spanish market regulator steps down

[ .. ] Mr Conthe’s resignation is a serious blow to the credibility of Spain’s regulatory agencies. Already, the European Union is suing Spain for the restrictions imposed on Eon’s takeover bid by the Spanish energy regulator.

“Regulatory agencies have become very politicised in Spain,” says Manuel Romera, a professor at the Instituto de Empresas business school in Madrid. “Mr Conthe tried to drive through change, but he was undermined by the Socialist government.”

The resignation is also a symptom of a growing rift between Mr Zapatero and Pedro Solbes, his finance minister. Mr Conthe, appointed by Mr Solbes in October 2004, was a former deputy finance minister during Mr Solbes’s previous stint at the ministry in the early 1990s. The two men are technocrats who belong to an elite civil service corps known as “economistas de estado” (economists of state).

With Mr Conthe gone, Mr Solbes, a former European monetary affairs commissioner, looks increasingly isolated in a government that has embraced economic nationalism and the doctrine of “national champions”.

People close to Mr Solbes say he is unlikely to be reappointed if the Socialists win a second term in a general election next year.