Podemos is now the focus of attention for global investors
... Following Sunday’s victory by Syriza in the Greek elections, Podemos is now the focus of attention for global investors. They are fretting that Spain’s trajectory toward reform and fiscal discipline could be upended.
They have little to fear. True, though the group’s policy platform has yet to be clearly articulated, some of its leaders have advocated, among other things, scrapping Spain’s labor reforms, lowering retirement ages and even restructuring the national debt. And Podemos currently leads in the polls, with an 18 percent approval rating according to Metroscopia. The next general election comes at the end of the year.
But while the declarations of Podemos leaders may sometimes sound Venezuelan, their ambitions owe more to Xi Jinping than Hugo Chavez. Spaniards, like Greeks, have austerity fatigue. However, unlike Greece, Spain is not staring down a troika of foreign multilateral lenders, central banks and Brussels bureaucrats. While some at Podemos may not like the economic principles of the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank, their primary demon is homegrown: corruption.
And this they have in abundance from Spain’s establishment, both the left and right. Every day brings a new revelation of despicable behavior from what Podemos supporters call “la casta,” the reigning elite. This is fueling the anti-cronyism that Podemos, and other new parties like the center-right Ciudadanos, are successfully channeling...
/... http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/2015/01/29/podemos-can-improve-spanish-capitalism/
Here on my island, Fuerteventura (pop. some 130,000 + thousands of tourists), for example, where, yes, let's call it 'cronyism' is rampant, the intention is to make a clean sweep of local municipal and higher institutions (the island council, which has real power and is part of the autonomous government of the islands), replacing the incumbents with fresh blood consisting of people, often already active in grassroots social movements, elected in local assemblies. There is a clear movement from the bottom-up as candidates put theselves forward from these local assemblies for positions in the organised (top-down) structure of Podemos on the national level. This structure or framework is, as it were, imposed on Podemos by the top-level council consisting of Pablo Igesias and his closest, um, comrades, some of whom appear to be self-selected but all of whom have been ratified in the first Congress of members of Podemos. The framework was debated and voted on by all members at the time of Podemos. Beyond sweeping out the corruption and auditing the accounts, etc., one plank of future policy is already firmly in place here on the island: to shift rapidly towards completely renewable energy to supply the island's electricity and desalinated water requirements. Everything will be up for open transparent public debate.
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