Will Spain Accept an ECB Bailout?
The prime minister won’t commit to a rescue by the ECB
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Is Mariano Rajoy a shrewd negotiator, or a hapless gambler? That’s the question as Europe waits—and waits—for Spain’s prime minister to say whether he’ll accept a bailout for his country’s crippled economy.
When European Central Bank President Mario Draghi offered on Sept. 6 to buy unlimited amounts of Spanish government debt in exchange for austerity and economic reforms, Rajoy said he needed time to study the proposal. Then it seemed he might postpone a decision until late October, to avoid a possible anti-austerity backlash during regional elections earlier that month. Rajoy is still deliberating. “Sometimes the hardest decision is not to take any decision,” he told Parliament on Oct. 31.