Editorials
Zapatero on La Sexta - The nutty Prime Minister
By h.b. - Nov 16, 2007 - 7:18 AM
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EDITORIAL COMMENT
Spain’s Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, was interviewed last night by showman, comic, and late show presenter Andreu Buenafuente.
Zapatero seems increasingly at ease during such encounters and commented that he thought it ‘unheard of’ that he has been criticised for defending José María Aznar, in the now famous confrontation with Hugo Chávez at the Ibero-American summit in Chile last weekend. The PM said that it was the first time ever in Spain, or in any country in the world, where an opposition has criticised the leader of a Government because he has come out to defend the very same opposition.
Hugo Chávez meanwhile is someone who seems to thrive on such discord and has been coming out with anti-Spanish rhetoric ever since, and today has worryingly announced that Venezuela is to start its own nuclear program.
Zapatero however is someone who goes out of his way to avoid confrontation. He claims he never gets rattled, but he is obviously angry at how the Partido Popular has been carrying out the role of opposition in Spain.
In the face of the PP scare campaigns the Prime Minister contended that ‘Spain is not breaking up, neither is the family nor the school’ and he claimed that in the 21st century the country was enjoying its best moment in history, compared at least to the two previous centuries. He said he wanted to de-mystify politics and claimed that there were hundreds of thousands of people who could be Prime Ministers.
He told Buenafuente that his relationship with George Bush was ‘plain and correct’ while his passion in life was for nuts – those you eat, in case you were wondering.
He was however ‘very positive and very affectionate’ with Nicolas Sarkozy, who he described as ‘muy simpático’ and hyperactive.
It’s said that power corrupts and the Spanish PM admitted that it must be difficult to leave the presidency of the Government. Next March we will find out if he has to do so sooner than he would like.
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