The government’s partners support the appointment of Minister José Luis Escriva as governor of the Bank of Spain, but they also leave him a list of “duties” for his term, which will last six years. ERC, PNV or Podemos, but also Sumar, hope that the institution takes a more social direction. A turn towards families and SMEs.
Until 2030, Escriva will lead the banking supervision and economic analysis tasks entrusted to the Bank of Spain at the national level and will represent our country before the ECB, which decides the monetary policy of the entire eurozone.
This Wednesday, the Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, defended the election of his colleague in the sectoral commission of the Congress of Deputies – he described him as an “ideal” candidate – and responded to the reactions of the parliamentary groups.
Faced with criticism from the PP about its lack of independence after being part of the two coalition governments, the parliamentary groups of the PSOE and Sumar (which are part of the Executive), the ERC or the PNV (which supported the investiture of Pedro Sánchez) accepted in this sense that the origin of politics “cannot be a defect” for access to an institution and that the criterion must be “professionalism” and that the candidate “meets it”. Neither Junts nor Bildu (the other partners of the investiture) were present at the commission.
“He is a bad civil servant,” denounced Eduardo de Olano, spokesman for the PP, who cited as examples the pension reform promoted by Escriva as Minister of Social Security or the development of the Minimum Vital Income (IMV). “What will the next report of the Bank of Spain on the pension system be like?” he asked. “What report will you make on the General Budgets?”
The body assured that the independence of the institution is guaranteed by the Law of Autonomy of the Bank of Spain, and the partners of the coalition Executive agreed, with nuances.
“Even if we respect the law [el nombramiento del gobernador corresponde al presidente del Gobierno]There would be greater control if it were this Parliament [el Congreso] “The one who appointed the governor,” said Sumar’s spokesman, in support of the same previous proposal by the PNV representative in the commission, Idoia Sagastizabal.
“Let’s not kid ourselves, the independence of central banks [del poder político] “This has a negative connotation. It has a certain origin in the fact that we cannot leave the ‘money-making machine’ to the representatives of the people, because perhaps they use it excessively,” added Martín Urriza, from Sumar.
In his last speech, Sagastizabal wanted to emphasize “that the future governor maintains a relationship with the parliamentary groups” and “helps to face the economic challenges that await him.” In the same spirit, Inés Granollers, from ERC, called on the governor to appear before this commission.
“We will be there to remind you that in addition to independence and good professional work, we also hope that you accept social policies, that the economic result of the country will depend on the conditions granted to SMEs, companies, the self-employed, the agricultural sector, family businesses, because we cannot fall into the same error of allocating public resources to save the bank.” “We have already seen what the results have been,” stressed the Catalan MP.
Sagastizabal is particularly concerned that Escrivá “preserves the seriousness, prestige and trust of the institution.” Martín Urriza stressed that his concern is about the independence with which Escrivá will position himself in monetary policy, which is decided by the European Central Bank (ECB), on whose board he will sit from next week, and that currently This benefits Germany – as a net creditor country – and the banks – whose profits have skyrocketed with the rise in interest rates – and harms mortgaged families and small and medium-sized businesses in Spain.
“The future of many families or the future of young people also depends on finding credit to be able to buy a home or continue their studies,” commented the ERC representative.
Sumar’s spokesman listed other of his demands in recent years at the Bank of Spain. First, the need for a more transparent financial products market, which favors the “portability” of mortgages in a context of high interest rates like the current one. Second, the promotion of competition in an overly concentrated banking sector that has not sufficiently increased the profitability of deposits compared to other European countries or in historical terms in this cycle of increase in the “price” of money.
Sumar’s parliamentary group has been denouncing for months that the extraordinary profits of financial entities are not due to “better management” or to the increase in credit – this has contracted sharply – and should be redirected “to recapitalize them and improve their solvency” to compensate families and companies harmed by the monetary austerity of the ECB.
The Bank of Spain itself has repeatedly positioned itself against the coalition government’s main measure to address this situation: the temporary tax on banks. The agreement to form the Executive between the PSOE and Sumar specifically provides for the conversion of this extraordinary tax into a regular tax.
Javier Sánchez Serna, from Podemos, focused on “the growing inequality of wealth, driven by the power of large banks and investment funds. In Spain, we have a banking oligopoly that has been financed with the approval of institutions such as the Bank of Spain.”
The Minister of Economy acknowledged that the Bank of Spain and the ECB face great challenges. “The countries of the eurozone are having great debates. The first is to define the course of monetary policy, with the challenge of promoting price moderation within the framework of a “soft” landing of the economy, that is, without causing a crisis, in economic jargon.
Unions support Escriva
For their part, the general secretaries of the CCOO and the UGT, Unai Sordo and Pepe Álvarez, approved Escrivá’s appointment on Wednesday and believe that he will be independent.
Álvarez stressed that he had demonstrated “more than enough merit to preside” over the Bank of Spain and that he was convinced that he would be a “magnificent” governor. “And I think it is not just a matter of the PSOE, because the PP also pushed him to preside over the AIReF,” stressed the UGT leader, something that Sordo also recalled.
On the other hand, the secretary general of CCOO indicated that he did not see “great disadvantages” in Escrivá’s independence “because of his way of being and interpreting” things, but he admitted that it might be appropriate to regulate this type of political approach towards certain institutions.
