Esta situación, que, según The Economist, se suma a los casos de CDC en Cataluña y del PSOE en Andalucía entre otros, lleva a la ciudadanía española a pensar que los políticos y los constructores "son las raices del problema"
‘The Economist’ afirma en su último número que la financiación ilegal del PP está cada vez más clara e insta al presidente del Gobierno, Mariano Rajoy, a asumir «responsabilidades» por los «sucios secretos» de su partido.
En un artículo titulado «Rajoy there!», que viene a ser como ‘¡Oye Rajoy!’, en el que analiza la situación del presidente del Gobierno tras las revelaciones del ex tesorero Luis Bárcenas, la revista británica asegura que «cada vez está más claro que el señor Rajoy dirigió un partido en el que los chanchullos personales y la financiación ilegal eran frecuentes».
Esta situación, que, según ‘The Economist’, se suma a los casos de CDC en Cataluña y del PSOE en Andalucía entre otros, lleva a la ciudadanía española a pensar que los políticos y los constructores «son las raices del problema».
Por esta razón, exige al presidente del Gobierno español que asuma sus responsabilidades.
«La negativa del señor Rajoy a asumir sus responsabilidades por los sucios secretos de su partido no ayuda en nada a recuperar la confianza de los votantes».
La publicación subraya que el responsable del Ejecutivo es «conocido por su estrategia de desgastar a los oponentes, aguantar y esperar su momento», pero añade:
«Las revelaciones del ex tesorero del partido ponen a prueba su resistencia».
En concreto, apunta que, aunque en febrero de 2013 negó haber recibido dinero negro, el nombre de Rajoy aparece en las «cuentas secretas»:
«Aunque hubiera declarado estos cobros a Hacienda, algo que no está claro, todavía tendría que explicar de dónde procede ese dinero».
El artículo recoge también que Rajoy tiene un «peligroso e impredecible enemigo en el señor Bárcenas», a quien había «protegido tenazmente durante años» pero al que ahora el partido llama «mentiroso» y «ladrón«.
«El cambio de postura es radical», asegura la publicación, que recuerda el mensaje de texto enviado por Rajoy a Bárcenas tras las primeras publicaciones sobre pagos ilegales:
«Sé fuerte, mañana te llamaré».
Así, ‘The Economist’ se pregunta «quién puede creer ahora a Bárcenas o a Rajoy«, e insiste en que el presidente del Gobierno es, como máximo responsable del PP desde 2004, «políticamente responsable de cinco años de supuesta financiación ilegal del partido».
EL ARTÍCULO ORIGINAL
Spain’s prime minister
Rajoy there!
Mariano Rajoy is under new pressure in a political-corruption scandal
Jul 20th 2013 | MADRID |From the print edition
THE Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, is known for wearing down opponents by digging in his heels and biding his time. “Life is about resisting,” he texted Rosalía Iglesias, wife of his Popular Party’s (PP) former treasurer, Luis Bárcenas, as a scandal engulfed him two years ago.
Now Mr Bárcenas’s decision to go public in the press and before a magistrate about two decades of illicit PP financing, along with the leaking of text messages, is testing Mr Rajoy’s own capacity for resistance.
Four years after investigators began unravelling a web of PP corruption, Mr Bárcenas started to sing on July 15th. In an interview with El Mundo, he had already claimed there were systematic cash payments to Mr Rajoy and other bigwigs.
On July 17th the paper published 14 pages of secret accounts, which tally with similar ones in its rival, El País. They show donations by construction firms that won big public contracts from PP governments. It is increasingly apparent that Mr Rajoy ran a party in which personal graft and illegal funding were common.
In February Mr Rajoy denied receiving “black” money himself, though his name has appeared in the secret accounts. Had he declared any cash payments to the taxmen, which is not clear, his denial would be correct. But it would still not explain where the money came from.
The opposition is demanding answers in parliament, threatening otherwise to propose a no-confidence motion. But the secret to Mr Rajoy’s ability to hang on lies precisely in parliament, where he has an absolute majority and exercises iron control over his deputies. The next election is not due until 2015. Grumbles within the party will not shift him. Even the documents Mr Bárcenas handed to magistrates this week seem unlikely to bring investigators to his door.
Yet Mr Rajoy has a dangerous and unpredictable enemy in Mr Bárcenas. Having doggedly protected him for years, the PP is now calling its former treasurer a “liar” and a “crook”. The change is dramatic. “Be strong. I’ll call you tomorrow,” Mr Rajoy texted him soon after allegations about the payments were first published and details of at least €20m ($26m) that Mr Bárcenas had hidden in Swiss bank accounts were made public.
Perhaps that is why Mr Bárcenas felt he could, literally, give a group of waiting journalists the finger. Mr Bárcenas claims that the money came from private business deals, but he has still been jailed as a flight risk. And who believes him, or Mr Rajoy? As the PP president since 2004, the prime minister is politically responsible for five years of alleged illicit funding (which stopped several years ago). Jointly, the donating companies received €12.3 billion in public contracts from the PP.
Spaniards are fed up with all their politicians. On July 16th a magistrate accused the main Catalan party of taking illegal funding from Ferrovial, a builder.
And the Socialists have their own graft scandal in their southern fief of Andalucia. Worst of all, Spaniards must cope with double-dip recession, falling wages, spending cuts and 27% unemployment. Politicians and builders, who jointly pumped up the housing bubble, are seen as at the root of their problems. Mr Rajoy’s refusal to take responsibility for his party’s dirty secrets does nothing to regain voters’ trust.
