Spain's PSOE apologise for the policies of their administration

 

In a move that has shocked Spain's voting public, the Socialist PSOE Party has released a Youtube video statement to apologise for their handling of the Economy during Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's 8 years in office.

In the 3½-minute video, a number of senior PSOE party members explain their disappointment in the performance of the Zapatero government, particularly towards it's final months.

One particpant in the video spoke of the administration's sudden U-turn in economic policy of 2010, when it introduced a raft of austerity measures, including public sector wage cuts and a pensions freeze.

"With those cuts we betrayed our voters and our ideas," he says. "It's important to say sorry for things we have done wrong," another added.

Zapatero chose not to run in the 2011 election appointing instead Alfredo Rubalcaba as his successor, when his party was soundly beaten by the conservative Partido Popular (PP) of Mariano Rajoy.

None of those who appear in the video served as cabinet members under the Zapatero administration.

However, the legacy of the Zapatero administration is still haunting the PSOE, who still trail behind the PP at opinion polls.

Although the YouTube apology is unusual, it is not the Socialists' first such move.

Earlier in November the Socialists tweeted that they were sorry for failing to tackle the worsening home repossession crisis when they were in office.