That’s because there is no Spanish government — or more precisely, there’s only a caretaker government with tightly limited powers. Two national elections since last December have produced parliaments so fragmented that Spain’s bickering political parties haven’t been able to agree on a prime minister.
The conservative Popular Party got the most votes in both the December and June ballots, but fell far short of a majority. Appalled by a series of corruption scandals involving the Popular Party, the opposition in parliament has refused to reelect the party’s leader, Mariano Rajoy, who had served as prime minister from 2011 to 2015. [...]
The Spanish economy's 3 percent expansion has been propelled by frisky consumers and strong tourism. But it’s also getting a boost, strangely, from the lack of leadership at the top.
That’s because the political vacuum has provided Spain with cover for widely exceeding deficit targets set by the European Commission, which polices policy in the eurozone but has refrained from penalizing Spain. “Not having a government in the present situation has prevented the commission from being tough on austerity, and this has been good news for Spain,” says Paul De Grauwe, a professor at the London School of Economics. [...]
One thing Spaniards are indignant about is paying for a parliament that isn’t getting its work done. One Madrid resident recently launched a Change.org petition calling for legislators’ salaries to be docked until they elect a prime minister. The “No Government — No Pay” petition noted that this year’s two deadlocked legislatures have received around €30 million (about $33.5 million) in pay, as well as extras, like €600,000 (about $672,000) in travel expenses. A member of the lower house earns about €60,000 (about $67,000) a year. So far, 141,000 people have signed the petition.
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