Spanish PM's diving trip used elite police boat

Presidential diving: the GEOS boat we all pay for

A president having hobbies is not news. Mobilising a GEOS boat, a Falcon jet and even an acompañante fighter to practise them is another story. This week the account circulated of a scuba diving day by Spain's head of government in which state resources were put at the service of his leisure. The story includes a painful detail: a Civil Guard diver with air tanks, assigned to watch over him while he floats, paid for with public money.

The deployment for one dive

The sequence, as it has emerged, is quite something. First, the presidential Falcon for travel. Then an F18 acompañante so the plane would not fly alone. And at the destination, a GEOS vessel —built for assault operations, not underwater tourism— with a Civil Guard officer equipped with air tanks to supervise the activity. All of it so the country's "first swimmer" can enjoy his hobby.

The irony is that public television presents it as routine. But the cost of operating a Falcon and an elite unit does not appear in official reports. Some people have worked out how much each dive might be worth. There is no answer.

A repeating pattern

It is not an isolated episode. There were already ear-pullings when the occupant of La Moncloa (the Spanish PM's residence) went on holiday aboard the Azor right after taking office. The difference is that now the whim includes security forces designed for terrorism, not for escorting a distinguished bather.

The bottom line

The question is not whether the president has the right to switch off. It is whether the treasury should pay for his hobbies with the same money that is missing for other things. Meanwhile, the loyalists will keep calling him "the handsomest". And it falls to the taxpayer to foot the bill.