Rajoy shoots himself on the foot (again).

Late last night a jubilant Rajoy announced that he had convinced Manuel Pizarro to be his number 2 in the list for Madrid. Pizarro, former CEO of Endesa, is a business tycoon that became notorious this last year when he battled the Zapatero Government when the control of Endesa was being disputed between EOn and Gas Natural, both also energy companies.

It seems curious to me that Rajoy, the defender of the 'great Spanish nation', could offer the ministry of the economy to a man who fought long and hard to sell Endesa to Germany's EOn even though Gas Natural's, a Spanish company, offer was better. I'd say it seems obvious now that Pizarro was opposing Gas Natural's bid mainly on political terms, guided by PP, and that effort is paying off now with a PP offer to go on its lists.

Rajoy is happy, he got a proper economist, unlike Arias Cañete before, that can actually speak economics to debate with PSOE's heavyweight Pedro Solbes. However he should have read the law before announcing Pizarro's name. Under the incompatibility of public office law, Pizarro won't be able to participate in any Cabinet meeting or take any decission on issues related to Endesa, because of his recent post in the company. In practice this means that pretty much the Finance Minister of the Central Government of Spain wouldn't be able to take decissions related to the energy market! such decissions include, tariff policy, the future of nuclear energy, future infrastructure plans and even a Finance Minister's key role, the Budget, specifically the section on energy policy.

So there you are once again image over substance is the greatest ill of PP. Rajoy has put up a person partisan to the core, with no experience on fiscal or employment policy and on top of that cannot exercise his post's competences because of incompatibility, but Rajoy must be thinking, hey! but everyone know who he is. Are we going back to PP's policies of friends in government? We surely are. I don't want a half-minister in the key department under the current global economic slow-down just because he's been a good ally of Rajoy these last years . Rajoy once again doesn't think for the good of the country he just thinks about how to win at any cost, imagine what he would be like in government!