THE spectre of new general elections took a slightly firmer shape here yesterday, as the Partido Popular's efforts to persuade other parties to help it form a stable minority government still met no encouragement.
The PP leader, Mr Jose Maria Aznar, is 20 seats short of a majority after last Sunday's elections.
The votes of Mr Jordi Pujol's Catalan nationalist grouping would take him over the line, but Mr Pujol sees little reason to assist a party which has abused him roundly in the past.
"There is a minefield between us", he said. "To clear out all the mines in the next 15 days will be very difficult."
Mr Pujol's best offer so far is to abstain on the vote for the presidency, but since Mr Felipe Gonzalez's Socialist Party (PSOE), with 141 seats, is unwilling to abstain alongside him, Mr Aznar remains hamstrung.
Last night, his negotiator was meeting the Basque Nationalist Party, whose support might influence the Catalans, but he seemed to be getting a similar response. "There must be deep changes in PP policy, not just cosmetic ones," its spokesman, Mr Inaki Anasagasti, said as he went into the meeting.
While Mr Aznar has been given a free hand to reach agreement by his party, it is not clear whether he will be able to pay the high price the nationalists will demand.
One area where they are unlikely to clash is on EU policy. With the exception of the communist led Izquierda Unida (IU), all major Spanish parties are enthusiastic supporters of current European integration strategy.
Diplomatic sources told The Irish Times last night that the PP would probably take a very similar line in Brussels to its PSOE predecessor.
On matters of mutual interest to Ireland, the current generally positive climate would also be most unlikely to change.
However, the style of Mr Aznar in Europe will be very different to that Mr Gonzalez, who has been a major player in the development of the EU over the last 13 years. Only the German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, has a longer record in EU affairs as head of government.
Mr Gonzalez's friends in Europe were not limited to his natural political allies. He has been particularly close to Dr Kohl, and more recently developed a warm relationship with President Jacques Chirac of France.
Mr Aznar is known to have resented the support which European conservatives have given Mr Gonzalez, and his own profile in Europe is, so far, distinctly low.
"Gonzalez's weight in Europe was greater than Spain's," a Spanish diplomatic commentator said yesterday. "Aznar's situation will be the reverse".
Because some sections of the PP are prone to chauvinist rhetoric, there was a perception that Mr Aznar might be a Euro sceptic, and some comments he made at the Edinburgh summit in 1992 suggested that he might have something in common with that wing of the Tory party.
Since then, however, he has become clearly identified with the strong pro EU sectors of his party, represented most strongly his leading MEP and likely Foreign Minister, Mr Abel Matutes.
He is explicitly committed to Mr Gonzalez's goal of meeting all the convergence criteria for European Monetary Union on time, though whether Spain's social fabric can take the pain that may bring is another question.