The PP chose Fernando Fernández as future director of the Bank of Spain without agreeing with the Government. His name is a unilateral choice of the Genoa leadership that was communicated to Moncloa just a few minutes before making it public this Sunday afternoon. Pedro Sánchez's negotiating team did not have time to react. The profile of Fernández, from the liberal wing close to the popular ones, is very different from that of Antonio Cabrales, the independent economist who had to resign just a few hours after being elected by the formation led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
It was not a pact, as expected from such an important appointment for the independent regulator, but rather an election for the PP set up last week. This Sunday, the Secretary General, Cuca Gamarra, informed the Minister of the Presidency and Relations with the Courts, Félix Bolaños, the name of the chosen one and immediately afterwards the party sent a message to the journalists revealing his choice.
“Fernando Fernández Méndez de Andés has a technical profile of recognized prestige. International consultant on macroeconomic, regulatory and financial issues, he was chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. In addition, he is a member of the Advisory Board of the Spanish Institute of Financial Advisors (IEAF) and of the Foundation for Financial Research (FEF), of the Bruegel Scientific Council in Brussels, and is currently director of the Euro Yearbook, edited by FEF and ICO Foundation”. This was the message in which the PP summarized his career. He also highlighted having been a director of Red Eléctrica Corporación, but omitted having been part of the Bankia board of directors in the time of Rodrigo Rato.
The government has not liked the maneuver launched by the PP. In Moncloa they question the "independence" of Fernández and regret what happened in recent days with Cabrales, forced to resign by Gamarra herself after learning that he signed, as an academic, a letter of support for Clara Ponsatí.
Fernando Fernández does not have a PP card, but he does have a historical link with the party. Party sources associate him with the most liberal wing of the party since the time of José María Aznar. From the first stage of Cristóbal Montoro, specifically, in the Ministry of Finance, with whom he had a relationship. Thus he agreed to the board of Red Eléctrica. A collaborator of FAES in different formats, in recent months he has written several articles critical of the Government's economic policy. That is, he has manifested himself in more political economic issues.
Regarding the taxes on banks and energy companies that have just entered into force, Fernández published last summer that "they are pure smoke, the most rancid Peronism that seeks headlines in a press duly showered with favors."
A historic liberal from the party, with a seat in Congress, declared this Monday: "This one is one of ours." Cabrales, a name suggested by Pablo Vázquez, former president of Renfe and a strong man in Feijóo's economic advisory, was not.
The PP admits that Fernández has, in turn, a certain link, even if it is secondary, with the Government today. He has been director of the Euro Yearbook, a publication linked to the Official Credit Institute (ICO) and, therefore, to Economy. It was a bet that they saw as difficult to reject and more so, they considered, after the PSOE proposed Judith Arnal, former chief of staff of the First Vice Presidency until a few months ago.
The Government anticipates that the appointment of Fernando Fernández, despite not being agreed upon and not having the support of Pedro Sánchez's economic and political team, will take effect this Tuesday in the council of ministers. They admit that Genoa could have acted more gracefully.
