Attending to urgent business

Mariano Rajoy, leader of the Popular Party, won Sunday's elections by a landslide, but his economic homework is piling up in the midst of an exceptional situation. To gauge its volume, we need only review Monday's events. First and foremost, the sullen indifference with which the debt and securities markets greeted Rajoy's clear electoral victory. In other circumstances, its predictability would not have prevented a warmer reception for what, apart from the ideological aspect, points to a scenario of broad-based political stability, something that is usually appreciated by the markets.

This time, that was not the case. And the difficulties of neighboring nations illustrate just how exceptional the situation really is. Rumors have intensified about a loss of France's top rating. And the new Greek prime minister is struggling to unblock EU aid, without the endorsement of the conservative party.

In these circumstances, it is highly desirable that Mariano Rajoy promptly set aside the three tactical syndromes that have served him so well in the electoral campaign. The first, that of disregarding the overarching international dimension of the Spanish crisis: he must look to the EU as the necessary channel for his efforts. In fact, he has already begun to do this, in his victory speech, and in his first conversation as prime minister-elect with Angela Merkel. He would do well to make further moves in this direction. The second urgent need is to shelve his electoral mantra that the experience of the PP's coming to power in 1996 guarantees success today. The present crisis is still intense, while that of 1996 was already in the phase of recovery: GDP was growing; interest rates were falling; and there was no strangulation of credit. The third need derives from the previous one: the prime minister-elect must now establish his priorities, and start being specific about what he has left swirling in a nebulous limbo throughout the campaign. He also needs to reveal the names of his economic team, and set them to work.

There is no time to be lost in recovering confidence: we have too much to lose. One thing that must be avoided is the reticence and the parsimony that has characterized previous handovers of power. The routine of normality is not fast enough, when nothing around us is normal. Nobody out there will wait until the new government is formed and works up to cruising speed. Since the elections, the Zapatero government is now an "acting" government, to ensure the continuity of routine functions, which are to be coordinated with Soraya Saénz de Santamaría.

No one doubts that the transfer of power will be smooth. But this time, routine is insufficient to address the urgency of the economic situation. Working within the norms, Zapatero and Rajoy must find a way to facilitate the cooperation demanded by the national interest, with a view to the markets and to the EU. This might go so far as joint appearances on the part of the two leaders or their economic teams, to convey a joint message in dealings with the EU.