Xi Jinping is a chemical engineer, unlike any Spanish PM

Xi Jinping is a chemical engineer, unlike any Spanish PM

An uncomfortable fact circulates in economic circles: Chinese President Xi Jinping is a chemical engineer. Not a lawyer, tax inspector, or property registrar. An engineer. This seemingly minor qualification exposes a Spanish anomaly: from Adolfo Suárez to Pedro Sánchez, no head of government has had such a technical-scientific profile. All, without exception, came through Law or legal-economic civil service exams. The political class's academic training becomes a thermometer for a country that entrusts its helm to lawyers while the world is decided in laboratories and production lines.

From Suárez to Sánchez: half a century of lawyers at La Moncloa

The review is relentless. Felipe González was a lawyer. José María Aznar, a tax inspector, passing difficult competitive exams requiring financial mathematics, accounting, and finance. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was also a lawyer, though he never practiced. Mariano Rajoy was a property registrar, a body accessed via Law. And Pedro Sánchez holds a doctorate —whose validity has been questioned in public debate—. All, without exception, stem from the same legal trunk. The conclusion is as simple as it is devastating: in half a century of democracy, Spain has not had a single president with training as an engineer, physicist, chemist, or mathematician. Xi Jinping, however, does.

Does a university degree guarantee good political management?

Here consensus breaks down. Some argue that academic training alone guarantees nothing: Cristóbal Montoro possessed formidable preparation, yet his management left consequences many still dispute. Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba was a chemist —doctor and professor, as recalled— and went down in history as one of the most twisted politicians of the democratic era. Leopoldo Alopécico-Sotelo was a Civil Engineer, top of his class, and his charisma was, let's say, discreet. The equation degree equals competence does not hold. What some do maintain is that a minimum of technical training filters deep thinking, the ability to understand complex systems, and the humility to say "I don't know how to do this."

Sánchez's doctorate and the CV as a battlefield

The conversation drifts toward the CV as a weapon. It is recalled that Manuel Castells had an impressive academic record, yet his time in government left no mark. That the astronaut —Pedro Duque— was not lacking in degrees either. That Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría was a State Attorney. And that Pablo Casado and Cristina Cifuentes also displayed doctorates. The pattern repeats: Spain selects its elites among those who memorize laws, not among those who design reactors. One participant summarizes bluntly: tax inspector exams require cramming VAT law, but that doesn't make anyone Einstein. Memory, they argue, has zero importance in intelligence tests.

The gap between training and professional ethics

The thread turns to more uncomfortable territory. What use is a brilliant CV if the essentials are missing? Professional ethics, honesty, the will to serve citizens. Plato already addressed this in The Republic: the rule of the best requires honest citizens, not just educated rulers. Spanish politics, it is argued, has turned ethics into something assumed, like value in military service. And past —and future— actions regularly disprove the assumption. A participant launches a reflection that resonates: many were educated in basic schooling idealizing the world, and the world turned out to be terrible. Therefore, they conclude, the most base and useless govern us.

The West legislates, Asia builds

International comparison closes the circle. In the West, 90% of presidents and prime ministers come from the legal world, it is stated. Obama was a lawyer. Hence, ironically, the endless stream of laws. Spain even promotes dual degrees in Political Science and Law, perpetuating the bias. Meanwhile, China applies the scientific method to its policies: executing an action in a defined territory, measuring results, and expanding what works. The Hefei model is cited as an example. The question floats: can a country governed by lawyers compete with one directed by engineers?

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The data is disorienting: Alopécico-Sotelo was top of his Civil Engineering class and his tenure at La Moncloa is remembered mainly for NATO entry and little else. The most technical degree in all of Spanish democracy did not prevent a gray mandate. Perhaps the problem is not the career studied, but what is done with it.