Re: ¿Nadie comenta el nuevo gobierno de ZP?
Solbes, de los peores ministros de Europa...
Y encima es que no es ni medio normal esto, un tio que ya fue ministro, que dejo al gobierno en números rojos...
En fín... Portugal e Irlanda sólo estan detras de nosotros.
European finance ministers: profiles
Published: November 17 2008 20:55 | Last updated: November 17 2008 20:55
Now in its third year, the FT guide to Europe’s finance ministers benchmarks performance, to reveal who is the best performing and most respected – as well as potential future stars.
The challenges this year were greater than ever. The troubles might have started across the Atlantic but the real economic impact on Europe of the near-collapse of the banking sector has been severe, sending many countries plunging into recession ahead of the US.
There was, however, one last man standing. Finland’s Jyrki Katainen has emerged as winner of this year’s competition.
FINLAND - JYRKI KATAINEN
Jyrki Katainen did not really want to be finance minister, preferring the post of foreign minister. But after his Conservative party performed so well in elections, he took the finance job as it is the second most powerful in the cabinet after the prime minister’s role. The ability of the finance minister to stamp his mark on Finnish policy is, however, limited by the consensus driven nature of Finnish coalition politics, and his most aggressive policies have been subsumed beneath more coalition friendly policies.
GERMANY - PEER STEINBRüCK
Peer Steinbrück has been Germany’s Social Democratic finance minister since November 2005. Although a political heavyweight in the country’s ruling “grand coalition” led by Angela Merkel, chancellor, his performance during the financial market crisis has been erratic. Steinbru¨ck, who likes to talk freely, blamed the US for exacerbating the crisis but failed to realise quickly enough that some of Germany financial institutions were also deeply in trouble. German crisis management was initially haphazard.
LUXEMBOURG - JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER
Jean-Claude Juncker is something of a political record-breaker. Having been finance minister for nearly 20 years, a post he has held alongside a 13-year prime ministerial tenure, he is also the European Union’s longest-serving premier. In addition, he chairs the eurogroup, uniting the 15 finance ministers of the eurozone. Supporters praise his significant experience in managing Luxembourg’s economy. But he is criticised for his country’s role as a European tax haven.
SWEDEN - ANDERS BORG
Anders Borg, while renowned for his pony tail and earring, has developed a more solid reputation for his intellectual prowess. Having had a relatively slow start to the complex world of political communications, he has since managed to combine academic excellence with pithy political phrases, enhancing his reputation as a steady manager of Sweden’s economy amid the current troubles.
THE NETHERLANDS - WOUTER BOS
Wouter Bos, leader of the Dutch Labour Party, has held the post of finance minister since February 2007, for most of which time the Dutch economy has been one of the eurozone’s star performers. But rather than shirking away from gathering storm clouds, the telegenic Mr Bos, 45, has appeared to relish his new role as saviour of the Dutch banking system, arguably outshining Jan Peter Balkenende, the Christian-Democrat prime minister in the coalition.
SLOVAKIA - JAN POCIATEK
Jan Pociatek is a close ally of Robert Fico, the Slovak prime minister, and has shaped a relatively orthodox economic policy despite the government’s populist rhetoric. He ran into trouble when he sailed on a Mediterranean yacht on a trip organised by a private equity group accused of profiting from currency speculation before the koruna was revalued against the euro in May. Mr Pociatek denied wrongdoing but apologised and was allowed to stay on by Mr Fico.
FRANCE - CHRISTINE LAGARDE
Christine Lagarde has been one of the most consistent advocates of a concerted European approach to the financial crisis and for the last year has been at the forefront of efforts to forge a co-ordinated response by the EU.
Although often accused in France of being gaffe-prone and politically tone deaf, Ms Lagarde has shown a sure touch when dealing with fall-out from the crisis and has seen her popularity steadily increase. She also steered an economic modernisation law through parliament. The law, which includes measures to further liberalise retailing and strengthen competition, was inevitably watered down, but is one of the more substantial supply-side reforms of Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency.
DENMARK - LARS LOKKE RASMUSSEN
Lars Lokke Rasmussen is seen as the heir apparent to Anders Fogh Rasmussen, prime minister. But the succession is likely to be postponed after the Irish ”No” vote to the Lisbon Treaty delayed the premier’s hopes of a top EU job, while the finance minister was battered by an old expenses controversy. The former top boy scout has bounced back by recently forging a political agreement on the minority government’s 2009 budget but faces another big challenge next year to persuade the opposition to cut Denmark’s 63 per cent top marginal tax rate, seen as the easiest way to ease the country’s tight labour market and avoid recession.
GREECE - GEORGE ALOGOSKOUFIS
George Alogoskoufis, finance minister since March 2004, has pushed through two big privatisations: the sale of Emporiki Bank, Greece’s fifth-largest lender, to Credit Agricole; and, this year, of a strategic stake plus management of OTE, the public telecoms operator, to Deutsche Telekom. But he has recently lost standing in the centre-right government because of budget deficit overruns and a policy reversal over measures to increase tax revenues.
AUSTRIA - WILHELM MOLTERER
Wilhelm Molterer, Austria’s finance minister, is a classic backroom boy whose days in frontline politics may soon end. The poor showing of his Conservative People’s party in September’s elections prompted Mr Molterer to resign as party leader, and his future remains unclear pending negotiations on a new coalition government. Usually in the shadow of ex-chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, Mr Molterer gained international prominence after being named finance minister in early 2007.
POLAND - JACEK ROSTOWSKI
Jacek Rostowski, who grew up in London and lectured at the London School of Economics, advised Poland’s first democratic government during the 1989 transformation from communism to capitalism. He has long advocated Polish entry to the eurozone, at one point suggesting Poland should do so unilaterally. Since becoming finance minister in 2007, he has been one of the strongest backers of Polish entry to the common currency, suggesting it would insulate the nation from the shocks being experienced by developing countries.
BELGIUM - DIDIER REYNDERS
Didier Reynders has been forced to test his mettle this year overseeing the bail out of a string of national banks and insurance groups. However, the turbulence does not seem to have damaged his credentials as a strong helmsman of Belgian finances. Generally popular among European colleagues, Reynders was widely mooted as a possible successor to Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker as chair of the eurozone members until it was decided that Juncker should retain the title.
CZECH REPUBLIC - MIROSLAV KALOUSEK
Miroslav Kalousek, a former leader of the Christian Democrats, has been an advocate of pushing economic reforms through the evenly-divided parliament. While in the past he has been relatively enthusiastic about the euro, many other Czechs do not share his views, seeing the country’s koruna as a stable currency and feeling no pressure to rapidly adopt the common currency.
UK - ALISTAIR DARLING
Alistair Darling has emerged from the banking crisis with his reputation enhanced. His first year in the job was marked by a series of humiliating U-turns on tax that fed suspicions that the chancellor lacked clout. Speculation over his position was scotched by Mr Darling’s assured response to the banking crisis. Officials at the UK Treasury feel buoyed by their role in both the design and implementation of the banking bail out.
ITALY - GIULIO TREMONTI
Giulio Tremonti is a former socialist who joined the first Berlusconi government in 1994 and is also deputy head of the ruling Forza Italia party. A tax expert rather than an economist, his populist and somewhat protectionist policies, as expressed in his latest book, The Fear and the Hope, were key to their sweeping election victory over the centre-left coalition in April.
HUNGARY - JANOS VERES
For a man dealt an impossible card, Janos Veres has proved a remarkably realist custodian of Hungary’s finances. Confronted with an electorate that has repeatedly shown itself allergic to spending cuts, he has chosen to make full use of his limited room for manoeuvre. But the shock of the $25bn International Monetary Fund-led bail out of Hungary recently may change the political equation in a country accustomed to high state spending.
SPAIN - PEDRO SOLBES
With the economy headed into recession, Spain’s finance minister has little to look forward to these days. To make matters worse, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, prime minister, is not only hogging the limelight on the crisis-fighting front, but also announcing measures that clash with Mr Solbes’ fiscal and monetary orthodoxy. Bankers report that he was initially against the €30bn-€50bn fund announced by Mr Zapatero to buy banks’ assets.
IRELAND - BRIAN LENIHAN
Brian Lenihan, a lawyer by training, became finance minister in May. Overlooked by the previous administration, he is seen as one of the intellectuals in Brian Cowen’s cabinet. However he has had a baptism of fire, with Ireland becoming the first eurozone member in recession. The public deficit is set to balloon to more than 6 per cent of gross domestic product next year, twice EU borrowing limits agreed under the stability and growth pact. His mishandling of an October budget forced policy u-turns after protests by pensioners, teachers, farmers and students. The fiscal position could worsen further if Lenihan now has to use public money to recapitalise the banks, as has happened in other countries.
PORTUGAL - FERNANDO TEIXEIRA DOS SANTOS
Since becoming finance minister in 2005, Fernando Teixeira dos Santos has presided over an austerity drive that has succeeded in bringing a spiralling budget deficit under control. His insistence on fiscal discipline has made the economy more resilient, but the global downturn has forced the minister, an independent who previously ran Portugal’s stock market watchdog, to downgrade growth forecasts for 2009, a general election year.
seguidle la corriente, ...al menos hasta que sepamos si es violento)
:lametazo
, sr. Zapatero, lo unico que se le ocurre opara defenderse (por cierto, con todos los partidos en contra) es hablar de la crisis del PP? y a los españoles que leches nos importa? 