Anyone who witnessed the protracted slugfest that was the U.S. government’s attempt to agree on a debt ceiling might marvel at Spain’s relatively peaceful efforts to do the same. After all, Prime Minister JosÉ Luis RodrÍguez Zapatero announced an agreement to constitutionally limit the deficit on Aug. 23, and on Friday, just ten days later, the Spanish Congress of Deputies approved the measure by a vote of 316 to 5 (the Senate is expected to do the same on Sept. 7). But as both the public protests and the debate in the congress prove, all is not resolved. And therein lies a lesson for Europe.
At their Aug. 16 summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy encouraged every member of the 17-state euro zone to work a debt ceiling into its constitution. Within a week, Zapatero had become the first leader to take their words to heart. He negotiated a pact with the lead opposition Popular Party (PP) that would reform the Spanish constitution to require every level of government – national, regional, and municipal – to limit its deficit. A separate law will allow the national government to accrue only 0.4% debt.
“It’s a signal designed
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