Ricardo de la Cierva (1926-2015)historian without too many honors, politician, nephew of Juan de la Cierva (1895-1936), inventor of the autogyro, celebrated the non-appointment of Adolfo Suárez (1932-2014) as President of the Government in July 1976 with an incendiary article in the newspaper El País entitled: “What a mistake, what a huge mistake!”.
He argued that the choice of the one who would be the architect of the transition was something like the continuity of Francoism, with which de la Cierva himself had also collaborated. Skilled, He was quick to rectify his decision and, without rancor, Suárez even appointed him Minister of Culture, although he was a fleeting minister, barely nine months, between January and September 1980.
The appointment of José Luis Escrivá as governor of the Bank of Spain by Pedro Sánchezapplauded by the sycophants of the moment, quite criticized –even among socialists–, above all for being authoritarian, may have been “a mistake, a huge mistake”, or not?, as he would say Mariano Rajoy, that only time will reveal.
The appointment is as legitimate and legal as it is debatable, especially because it affects the prestige of the institution and because appears “partisan,” notes the Financial Times. From there, the unknown. Escrivá, at the head of the institution, can be a ball that he limits himself to applauding Sánchez’s policies or being a good governor like his predecessor Pablo Hernández de Cos. Anything is possible.
José Luis Escrivá is a complex character who owes his political career – and ultimately his latest appointment – to the PP. Or rather, to a former PP minister in Rajoy’s time. The story is well known. Álvaro Nadal was the head of the President’s Economic Office When Rajoy arrived at Moncloa, Nadal organised meetings with economic experts, who sometimes provided advice and other times offered different points of view on the economic situation and strategy.
Among these experts was José Luis Escrivá. With a certain fondness for a moderate PSOE, he let himself be wooed by the PP and no one doubts that he would have accepted a ministry, if they had offered it to him. Nadal and Escrivá established a fluid relationship that became a personal friendship, which they maintain.
When Spain, at the request of the European Commission had to create AIREF (Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility), Nadal played the Escrivá card, against other candidates. Nadal convinced Rajoy and Cristóbal Montoro, then Minister of Finance, that he had the final say. This is how Escrivá became president of AIREF, from where he made life impossible for Montoro himself, He even took him to court for not providing him with all the information he requested.
At AIREF, Escrivá had as his second the current Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, who has had to present and defend his candidacy for the Bank of Spain. It is little known, but Cuerpo left AIREF due to the tense relationship he had with Escrivá. Nadia Calviño’s successor in Economics had other candidates for the Bank of Spain, but It was Sánchez’s decision and he had to obey.
In Escrivá’s professional career, the following stand out:apart from his competence and capacity, which no one disputes, two constants: On the one hand it is unpredictable and sometimes uncontrollable, and on the other hand, the tense personal and professional relationships with his teams. He had differences with his colleagues at the Bank of Spain, at the European Central Bank and as head of the Research Department at BBVA, where he was replaced by Miguel Sebastián, after an exit that did not go through a grand door.
The Popular Party regretted a thousand times having appointed Escrivá president of AIREF. For some he was independent, for others he was already working for the PSOE. Those who know him best insist that he is unpredictable, uncontrollable and convinced that he is always right. At the head of the Bank of Spain, where his former colleagues fear a restructuring/purge, he can also spring surprises. No one expects criticism of Sánchez, but no one rules out him doing more than tickle the ministers in the economic area.
As Governor he is independent of the Government and he can begin to demonstrate this if he is the one who chooses the deputy governor, as planned, and if he prevents his appointment as Council members. Catalan Jordi Pons, apparently agreed between PSOE and ERC and Defender of what he considers to be fiscal plundering of Cataloniasomething that no study by the Bank of Spain has ever suggested. Escrivá is also unremovable from his post for the next six years and, depending on what he does, perhaps someone will remember Ricardo de la Cierva’s “what a mistake, what a huge mistake!”, or not?