Valencia Trader

Rajoy on Lebanon

Partido Popular leader Mariano Rajoy appears ready to kick into high gear as soon as the new political term starts next week, yet one area appears to have caused some irritation – the sending of Spanish troops to Lebanon. Although he initially approved of the idea, Mr. Rajoy was caught off balance over the numbers of troops to be sent, and added yesterday that despite pulling out from Iraq in record time, Spain now has more troops overseas than at any other time in history serving on international missions in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kosovo, the Congo and the Baltic. Accordingly, Mr. Rajoy is expected to ask the government what the financial cost is expected to be for all these missions. At the same time, he is also expected to pour ridicule on the government for its failure to deal; adequately with the fires in Galicia and the waves of immigrants that are constantly arriving in the Canary Islands – quite apart from the status of the  ‘negotiations’ with the Basque terror group Eta.