Rajoy's gesture

Mariano Rajoy, the opposition Popular Party leader, gave an indication on Wednesday as to the criteria that might guide his policies should he win next year's general election. The document handed out to the media is not, in the strict sense of the word, an economic program, but it does give the electorate some idea as to the kind of policies that a PP government might implement.

After months of refusing to give any indication of his economic policies, Rajoy's decision can only be seen as progress, even in the context of his party's landslide in last month's regional and local elections, which he will use to further limit the government's room to maneuver ? a legitimate enough goal, provided that it doesn't extend to obstruction.

At the same time, Rajoy's gesture can be read as a message to the electorate that the PP has begun working on its economic policies in the event that it wins next March's election. It also sends out a message to the PP's regional and municipal leaders that their administrations have flagrantly ignored the austerity that Rajoy is now calling for. Whether they like it or not, the electorate and the media will be paying much closer attention to their spending plans.

That said, the austerity measures outlined in the document might, at best, be described as good intentions, particularly in light of the appalling state of the finances of most of Spain's towns and cities, as outlined to Rajoy at Thursday's meeting of regional leaders. Rajoy's intention to severely cut back spending in the regions is laudable enough, but their debt and deficits will not be reduced by cutting back on departments, unless he intends to set about sacking civil servants, whose jobs are protected by law. Public opinion may applaud plans to reduce spending on cellphones or to get rid of official cars, but the financial impact will be minimal.

One look at Spain's Mediterranean regions, most of them run by the Popular Party, provides a few pointers as to where real savings could be made, and where taxpayers' money could have been better spent: the construction boom of the last two decades has seen countless examples of airports nobody wants, housing that nobody can afford to buy, as well as other public-works projects that have served no purpose other than to foment speculation and in many cases corruption. The question now is whether he has any authority to impose austerity measures on his free-spending regional leaders.

Rajoy's decision to finally put down on paper ? albeit in the most basic terms ? his ideas about the economy, is an improvement from his silence of the last year. But he has a long way to go if he wants to convince the electorate and the international financial community that he has a real plan to address the crisis. And not much time to do it in.