Financial Times consagra a España varios artículos de la más alta calidad informativa, ofreciendo una perspectiva poco o nada rosa del futuro inmediato, con juicios muy severos sobre Zapatero y Rajoy. Temiendo un futuro gris tirando a negro, con problemas hipotecarios para medio millón de familias…

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Algunas citas que me parecen significativas del artículo de Leslie Crawford:

[ .. ] What can investors expect from the government that will take office in just under six months..? The March 2008 general election will take place in an economic and political environment that is radically different from that of the pivotal contest of 2004.

In 2004, Spaniards turned out to vote in shock and anger, and in record numbers, three days after Islamist terrorists killed 191 people by setting off bombs on four Madrid commuter trains. The traumatic event brought the Socialist party to power, led by the 44-year-old José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who took office for the first time.

Leaving aside the terrorist threat, it is clear that the 2008 elections will take place in a much tougher economic environment.

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Euro interest rates have doubled since the Socialists took office, and over-indebted households are feeling the pinch. Spain’s 10-year residential construction boom has run out of steam, with uncertain implications for house prices and employment.

Last, but not least, the international financial markets have entered another period of turbulence. This is already affecting Spain, although not in ways most analysts had predicted.

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At this early stage, most pundits are betting on Mr Zapatero being re-elected, not because of his dazzling achievements – these are few – but because of the failings of the opposition. Mariano Rajoy, Mr Zapatero’s rival for the premiership, is widely regarded as a nice, but ineffectual leader.

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Mr Solbes, who is 65, will not say whether he is going. «That is a decision I have only shared with my wife,» the veteran finance minister says. But it is an open secret that Mrs Solbes would like her husband to quit.

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It is unclear whether there is anyone of sufficient stature in the Socialist camp to replace Mr Solbes. If he does leave, business confidence in Mr Zapatero’s government would slump.

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Manuel Romera, an economist at the Instituto de Empresa business school in Madrid, estimates that half a million families will have trouble paying their mortgages if euro interest rates rise much further. «The crisis is submerged,» he says. «It will come to the surface when refinancing options come to an end.»

Lorenzo Bernaldo de Quiróz, who runs Freemarket Economics, a consultancy, sees the present international financial turmoil affecting big Spanish companies that overborrowed to finance their expansion abroad. «The excessive indebtedness of Spanish companies makes our economy extremely vulnerable to the rationing of credit,» he says. [ .. ] Financial Times, 24 octubre 2007. Leslie Crawford, Economic prospects looking less rosy.