The PSOE has removed the doubt and has already elected a new governor for the Bank of Spain: José Luis Escriva Belmonte (Albacete, December 5, 1960) will occupy the position left by Pablo Hernández de Cos at the beginning of June, after completing his six-year term that the man from Albacete is facing. Escriva, after four years in two portfolios of two coalition governments, becomes the first minister to move from the Council of Ministers to the supervisory body. His experience of more than two decades in the banking world, both public and private, guarantees technical skills and a deep knowledge of the financial world that no one dares to doubt…beyond the fact that the electoral process, without consensus between socialists and popular, generates negative noise around his nomination. “Analyst”, “tireless worker” either “ultra demanding” These are words defined by professionals who have worked with him.
Escriva, married with two children, was born into an influential family in Albacete, his uncle Carlos Belmonte – named after the football club’s stadium – mayor of the city, as was his mother “Carmina” Belmonte, the first mayor of the city. capital in democracy.
He graduated in Economic Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM)holder of an extraordinary baccalaureate, and has postgraduate studies in Economic analysis at the UCM and at Econometrics at the Bank of Spain, the entity where he took his first professional steps more than three decades ago.
Escriva first held various positions in the research department of the institution that he now wants to renew. Then he forged the wickerwork of the “tireless worker” that he is today, as those who worked with him define him. Over the years, as he gained experience and held management positions, he became an “ultra-demanding” boss, motivated by results.
Their value, they explain, is reforms. Key projects like to be managed with “ad hoc” working groups, in a military working model such as task forces designed for a specific mission. Everything is under your control with tasks, deadlines and tracking. “He is not a typical minister, but with that he manages to carry out reforms,” they point out. “He gives great importance to a thorough academic analysis before designing policies,” they indicate.
After his time at the Bank of Spain, he had his first experience beyond the Spanish borders, remaining closely linked to the financial and monetary world. In Europe, he has been actively involved in the monetary integration process since 1993 as an advisor to the European Monetary Institute. Once the Monetary Union was certified, he continued his career in Frankfurt. He was appointed Head of the Monetary Policy Division of the European Central Bank (ECB).
Back in Spain, the economist always remained close to one of the big banks: BBVA, where he worked between 2004 and 2012. He worked first as chief economist and director of the research department and, from 2010, as general director of the public finance area. Between 2012 and 2014, he was director for the Americas of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel.
In the spring of 2014 he gained the trust of the PPthe party that today denies him the position of governor of the Bank of Spain because he comes from the Council of Ministers. He was the first president of the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility, AIReF, an independent body that audits public policies and which began – proudly, as he always boasted – under his leadership. In this house, he carried out evaluations of public spending, on which he must also give his opinion to the Bank of Spain.
Despite being an independent organization, it was already increasingly close to the political world. And it has remained independent, since it is not a member of the PSOE to be a minister for four years. Its great political and economic legacy, at the expense of its work as governor, is a historic pension reform that has been the subject of very diverse analyses by experts, including the European Commission. In the Inclusion branch, it quickly created the Minimum Living Income (IMV) in the middle of the pandemic, a care benefit for the most vulnerable.
The stage in charge of the Ministry of Social Security has been full of work, deadlines and meticulous academic analyses to deepen the pension system and retouch the generosity of the payments with the automatic revaluation to the CPI, the contribution periods or the levers to generate more resources. Although some, such as the Bank of Spain, have considered this work insufficient.
And other professional colleagues have criticized Escrivá, accusing him of “going back” on the policy applied in terms of pensions. In his public statements, the minister has thrown the ball back like a brick wall. Whether on social networks – he earned the nickname “Minister of Twitter” after a column published in “El País” -, in the Senate or in Congress. Of course, once everything is closed, He showed a kinder, more “good-natured” side, taking his highlights as minister with humour.. This was done on the social network “X” (formerly “Twitter”) as a farewell.
“In addition to implementing many regulations and projects, these almost 4 years have also given rise to many anecdotes that my team has compiled as a farewell in this lovely video?
It could also be called “Treacherous lecterns, “two legs and other confusions…”????? pic.twitter.com/ArOC9ecxTh– José Luis Escriva (@joseluiscriva) November 20, 2023
His brief stint at the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Civil Service was enough for him to continue the process of “modernizing” the Public Administration, a project that will no longer continue but that he will be able to evaluate from his new position.
Those who know him define him as a person less impressed by positions than by what he has achieved, especially from a reformist perspective. They also affirm that this will be felt more comfortable working with more freedom and less demand for media attention. Because he is comfortable with economists, academics or scientists who advance the economy and society; students of economics; designing policies and, of course, with entrepreneurs who generate value.
He arrives in an entity that has gained a lot of weight, credibility and reputation in recent years. He will replace Pablo Hernández de Cos, an economist who has built a consensus among his professional colleagues. Escrivá does not have it and will have to recover a damaged reputation after his time in politics, also among those who will be his collaborators.
It is also entering a change of cycle with the return of budgetary rules and the change in the trend of monetary policy. One of its main tasks will be to demonstrate its independence within the Bank of Spain, acting as a political counterweight to the current government and proposing its own economic recipes with the aim of improving the country.
