Summary

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has irresponsibly created an insolidary ‘sudoku’ among the Autonomous Communities. He has sowed discord in the State Accounts by disrupting the consensus arrived at in 2002 between Aznar’s Government and all of the Autonomous Communities. The budgetary ‘sudoku’ is meant to be resolved without heeding the criterion of equity, ignoring the constitutional principle of national cohesion. On top of this, resorting to “budgetary engineering” to conceal an increase in structural spending (which jeopardises State Accounts in the medium term) undermines confidence in the future of the Spanish economy. This is particularly serious in a context of uncertainty where maximum transparency is essential. Also, the last Budget of Zapatero’s Government is founded on assumptions of economic growth which are not believable.