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Pizza delivery falls victim to Spain’s political instability

Spain has been without an elected government for nine months now and the political uncertainty is taking its toll. Even impacting the nation’s hunger for takeaway pizza.

Published: 22 September 2016 10:48 CEST

Pizza delivery falls victim to Spain's political instability

Spaniards' appetite for pizza is on the wane. Photo: pixel_d0ts / Pixlr

Spain’s largest delivery pizza firm Telepizza blamed a lack of growth in company accounts on “political uncertainty and loss of consumer confidence”.

Pablo Juantegui, the CEO of the Telepizza group told reporters at a meeting on Wednesday that “the state of political uncertainty has slowed consumption and that can be seen in a decrease in average spending per customer purchase.”

“Until May we had customers who bought more often and in bigger quantities,” he explained.

Telepizza has seen its share price plummet since being first publically listed on Spain's stock market in April, dropping from €7.75 to €4.23.

But despite the losses Telepizza announced expansion plans for Spain with the opening of 200 new stores, according to a report in Spain’s financial newspaper Expansión.

Spain's has suffered political paralysis since December 20th when the election failed to give any party an absolute parliamentary majority, as upstart groupings Ciudadanos and Podemos shook up Spain's long-established two-party system.

A repeat election in June failed to break the deadlock and Spain look set to suffer another general election at Christmas if political parties continue to fail to reach pacts to form a government.

Despite the fact that Spain is being managed by a caretaker government the economy is expected to continue to grow, with a forecast growth of 2.9 percent for 2016.

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What will Spain's PM do next after resignation threat?

Pedro Sánchez, in office since 2018, wrote in a four-page letter posted on social media on Wednesday that he would suspend public duties while he “reflects” on whether he wants to continue leading the government.

The Socialist leader denounced “the seriousness of the attacks” against him and his wife, saying it was part of a campaign of “harassment” waged by the right and far right who “do not accept the election results”.

READ ALSO: Who is Begoña Gómez? Spanish PM’s partner thrust into spotlight

Sánchez, an expert in political survival who has made a career out of taking political gambles, said he would announce his decision on Monday.

Some analysts said he could decide to stay on, with this move aimed at rallying support and regaining the initiative in the face of the right-wing opposition at a time of extreme polarisation in Spanish politics.

“Sánchez is a political animal,” said Oriol Bartomeus, a political scientist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, adding “he has decided to go on the attack” to try to “change the rules of the debate”.

Paloma Román, a political scientist at Madrid’s Complutense University, said Sánchez had “slammed his fist on the table” as part of a “strategy aimed at putting the spotlight where he wants it”.

Sánchez could file a confidence motion in parliament to show that he and his minority government are still supported by a majority of lawmakers in parliament.

Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, whose JxCat party is an unpredictable ally of the government, has urged Sánchez to pick this option.

READ ALSO: What happens and who takes over if Spain’s Prime Minister resigns?

For the confidence motion to succeed, Sánchez would just need the backing of a simple majority in the assembly and most of the parties which prop up his minority government have already shown their unconditional support.

Catalan separatist party ERC said it would vote in favour of a confidence motion while hard-left party Podemos, which has clashed with Sánchez in the past, blasted attacks by “the political, media and judicial right” on the prime minister and the left in general.

While the conservative opposition has accused Sánchez of playing the victim to rally support, analysts said the possibility that he will resign cannot be completely ruled out.

“Sánchez’s closest advisers and the leadership of the Socialist party will probably spend the coming days trying to convince him to stay,” said Teneo analyst Antonio Barroso.

“The fact that the prime minister allegedly did not consult any of his advisers when drafting the letter suggests personal reasons might be his main motivation. This makes Sánchez’s decision particularly hard to predict.”

If Sánchez does step down, the Socialist party could propose that parliament appoint someone else as head of the government, with Budget Minister María Jesús Montero, who also serves as deputy prime minister, touted as a likely contender.

But Barroso said it “would probably be hard for Montero to cobble together a majority” in Spain’s highly fractured parliament.

Sánchez could instead resign and call snap elections but he would not be able to do so before May 29 since a year must pass between consecutive dissolutions of parliament.

With the Socialists trailing the main opposition conservative Popular Party in opinion polls, this is a risky strategy, although analysts said Sánchez may bet that leftist voters will be galvanised by the controversy sparked by his resignation.

READ ALSO: Spanish prosecutors question credibility of corruption probe against PM’s wife

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