Is Rajoy a modern day version of Don Quijote?

The Trader wrote about Rajoy when Zapatero was kicked out. We asked ourselves how competent Rajoy was when it comes to solving the Spanish economic mess, inherited by Zapatero. Rajoy, gave a rather muted impression, and has since continued down the same path. Judging by the reforms and the action, Mr Rajoy seems to be stuck in the great Spanish denial, we have covered over the year. Rajoy needs to adress the real economic problems Spain faces, and not simply proclaim “Yesterday, the credibility of the euro won, yesterday the future won. Yesterday, the European Union won.”. A relevant question is whether Rajoy actually sees what needs to be done, or is he trapped in a “fantasy” world, just like Cervante’s Don Quijote. Some more on Rajoy’s credibility, by Bloomberg.

He clearly doesn’t get it,” said Gary Jenkins, founder of Swordfish Research Ltd. near London, who has tracked bond markets for more than 15 years. “Spain needs someone who can come in and grasp the seriousness of the situation and react to that, not just pretend everything’s okay.”

Then, he announced that since the banks’ funding problems were resolved he would continue with his plans to watch the national soccer team play that night and climbed aboard his government jet to fly to the Polish city of Gdansk.

“People were astonished that he was going off to Poland,” Jonathan Tepper, a partner at London-based investment research firm Variant Perception, said in a telephone interview. “Things like that make him look completely incompetent.”

A spokeswoman for Rajoy who asked not to be named said the premier wanted to be clear the June 9 agreement was not a bailout for the sovereign and he wasn’t denying reality. Spain has not been dragging its feet over the aid request since the official position has been that they would wait for yesterday’s stress-test results to decide how much capital would be required, she added.

Full article here.