The laboratory of austerity

The premier of Castilla-La Mancha, María Dolores de Cospedal, on Wednesday announced a 20-percent cut to the 2012 regional budget. The initiative goes beyond the boundaries of a regional budget, since both Popular Party (PP) leaders and Cospedal herself have insisted that they want to turn Castilla-La Mancha into a laboratory for (PP leader) Mariano Rajoy's own policies, should he eventually settle into the central government. That is the reason why Cospedal underscored that the savings would not extend to social spending and that there will be no tax hikes.

Citizen awareness of the economic crisis makes the moment immediately after elections a good time to review the public accounts while minimizing the political cost. That appears to be the rationale behind Cospedal's announcement, and its effectiveness will be gauged by PP leaders with an eye on the November general elections. The idea would be to immediately execute the austerity plans that might cause social unrest, and use the rest of the political term to overcome the loss of popularity caused by it.

It still remains to be seen whether Cospedal's numbers will add up while respecting the limits on social spending, as she has promised, and the tax rates she is committed to respecting. In the event that she has overestimated how much will be saved by her measures, her regional government, as well as any eventual central government under PP control, would be forced to go back on its word and create a level of conflict that might be greater, and come at a more difficult time, not just for her party but for the country as a whole.

The regional premier has sought to pass responsibility for the cuts over to the previous Socialist government in Castilla-La Mancha. It is not the first time that she has attempted to assume responsibility for the credit side while washing her hands of the debit side. Previous Socialist premier Barreda's departure and her own arrival to the top of Castilla-La Mancha's government are marked by a fact that nobody should ignore: the outbreak of the worst economic crisis since 1929. Neither can the former regional executive entirely use this as an excuse, nor can Cospedal completely forget it.

In any case, the announcement has an undeniable inherent value: citizens now have a clear notion of what the PP's ideas are when it comes to facing the serious economic crisis, in the more than likely case that it should win the November general elections.