THE REIGN IN SPAIN:

A new helmsman boards the ship: Spain's prime minister has chosen a successor. Who is the new man—and will he make a difference? (The Economist, Sep 4th 2003)

WHEN José María Aznar and his conservative government were elected in 1996 after 13 years of Socialist rule, he promised to make Spanish politics boring—and, to the satisfaction of many (perhaps most) Spaniards, he has probably done so. With his often prickly and rather authoritarian manner, Mr Aznar has run a tight ship and steered Spain with efficiency in broadly the right direction. Under the rule of his People's Party (PP), the country has prospered. The economy has grown by an average of 3.6% a year in the past seven years. Unemployment has halved from 22% in 1996 to 11% today. Spain's is one of the sturdiest economies in the euro zone. The country has gained in stature on the global and European stage.

Mr Aznar, a former tax inspector, has always come across as pretty straight. True to his word, he now looks sure to bow out after the coming general election, expected in March. The party's ruling council, plainly at Mr Aznar's behest, has now picked Mariano Rajoy, the senior of the government's two deputy prime ministers, to lead the party into battle as candidate to be the next prime minister. With opinion polls putting the PP some six percentage points ahead of the Socialists, Mr Rajoy has at least a fair chance of getting the job.

If he does land it, will he change Spain? On the face of things, not much.

Hopefully Mr. Aznar will have more success handing off conservatism to a successor than did Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 11, 2003 12:12 PM