The results of last Sunday in Spain were, for Juan Martínez Lázaro, professor of Economics at the IE Business School, in Madrid, a clear signal for Pedro Sánchez and the coalition that allows him to govern: they were not a vote against the regional leaders of the PSOE, nor red card to the results of an economy that is recovering, with one of the lowest inflation rates in Europe and employment at maximum levels. Sánchez’s political options were in the crosshairs, he believes.
More people are thinking of changing the government. And it is a possibility. But I think it will not be for economic reasons, as in other elections, but because the people want a political change, ”he says, speaking to the Observer.
With the voters, the economist conjectures, the change of position, just after the last legislative elections, with United Podemos did not go down well — “Sánchez said that he was not going to make an agreement with Podemos. Two days before the elections, that is what he did ”— nor the agreements with the Basque coalition EH Bildu on matters such as housing. Juan Martínez Lázaro’s assessment is that, in recent years, Pedro Sánchez has governed for re-election and has not made “important” reforms. The changes to the labor law, he says, have yet to prove their effectiveness because “the unemployment rate remains high”; the pension reform has been viewed with skepticism by international institutions; the housing law runs the risk of not having practical effects given the expected rejection by the autonomous communities.
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Source: Observadora
