Second Zapatero term bracketed by housing-boom peak and sovereign-debt reversal. Economic school: centre-left stimulus-then-austerity — Plan E Keynesian pivot followed by forced Troika-pressure consolidation. Signature actions: Plan E / Fondo Estatal de Inversión Local (Nov 2008 €8bn) and Fondo Especial del Estado (€3bn) for municipal public works plus €400 IRPF rebate; housing-sector cushion measures; banking reserves (FROB Jun 2009) channelling cajas-de-ahorro consolidation and recapitalisation; constitutional amendment Sep 2011 (Art. 135) introducing EU debt-brake / structural-balance principle — rare PSOE-PP cross-aisle reform signed in weeks; pension-age rise from 65 to 67 (Ley 27/2011); labour-market reform RDL 10/2010 lowering severance for objective dismissal. Popularity: PSOE 43.9% / 169 seats 2008, collapsed to 28.8% / 110 seats in Nov 2011 snap election (PP won absolute majority). Zapatero personal approval fell from ~50% to ~20%. Coherence: low across the term (opposite-direction pivot mid-term under market pressure); moderately high within each phase.
Policy-content fingerprint — how the framework codes this movement on its axes
Size of cash and near-cash transfer programmes (unemployment benefits, means-tested assistance, universal child benefits). Architecturally distinct from forced-saving schemes — see condition welfare_architecture.
decreased · moderate
smaller transfer footprint
Pension age 65→67; public-sector pay freeze/cut 2010.