“More for less” proclaims the strapline on the latest adverts for the Madrid metro. Given that price increases just announced are around 50 per cent, it is an audacious publicity campaign only partly explained by the neat comparative tables that insist that the Spanish underground is still cheaper than its counterparts in New York and London.
Many Madridlenos are not impressed and most posters are amended by comments from travellers who have their own views about the meaning of the words “more” and “less”.
But the grafiteros of Madrid are unlikely to bother the new Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the right-wing Popular Party.
His election with a huge majority – the largest in the modern history of democratic Spain – completes a clean sweep for the PP which also controls most of the powerful regional administrations, including Madrid.
The PP priority is to bring the budget deficit – which currently stands at around 8 per cent of gross domestic product – under control. The mix of spending cuts and tax rises are in roughly equal proportion and the government hopes to reduce the fiscal gap by some 20 billion euros this year.
The across-the-board cuts are deep and painful – only the state pension remains intact. Tax rises announced so far are surprisingly progressive and the prime minister is insisting that the better off pay their share. The marginal rate for the wealthiest has risen from 45 per cent to 54 per cent in some regions.
George Osborne – and all those arguing in favour of abandoning Britain’s 50 per cent top rate – should take note.
Protests at the cuts are muted for several reasons. First, progressive tax rises on income and property convey a sense of “we are all in it together” far beyond David Cameron’s vacuous phrase.
Second, the socialist party, the PSOE, is disorientated after its worst defeat in modern times and has embarked on a leadership struggle which will consume time and energy for the months ahead.
In any event, it was the PSOE which began the current austerity drive which, as Labour knows, makes opposition tricky.
But perhaps the most important factor is a national mood that seems determined to show that Spain will not follow Greece close to the edge of the precipice of default.
So, for the moment at least, Spaniards are generally taking their large dose of fiscal medicine with apparent calm. Or sangfroid, as the Germans say in concert with the French these days.
