One prima donna, after another

First Angelina left them waiting in Davos. Then Zapa stood them up in Cartagena.

Via Barcepundit, ZAPATERO DIO PLANTÓN EN CARTAGENA AL PRESIDENTE DE GENERAL ELECTRIC PORQUE ESTABA CANSADO POR LA GALA DE LOS GOYA Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero stood up GE’s president because he was tired after the Spanish academy award (the Goyas) function.

De acuerdo con distintas fuentes, Zapatero había comprometido en firme su asistencia, pero la suspendió el viernes 28, alegando que la ceremonia de entrega de los premios Goya iba a terminar tarde y él se iba a encontrar muy cansado, teniendo, además, que preparar el debate sobre el Plan Ibarretxe celebrado ayer en las Cortes

According to several sources, Zapatero had been firmly scheduled to attend, but cancelled on Friday the 28th, saying that the Goya awards ceremony would end late and that he’d be very tired, and also had to prepare for the debate on the Ibarretxe that was scheduled for Monday (Jan 31) at the Courts [the Spanish parliament]

This is no minor slight. GE has invested 1.7 billion Euros (over $2 billion) at the factories, the opening for latest of which Zapa was scheduled to attend, and there’s another factory scheduled to be built in the economically depressed province of Murcia. Additionally, the latest EU venture, the Airbus A380,

can be fitted with either Rolls-Royce plc’s Trent 900 or Engine Alliance’s GP7200 engines. Engine Alliance is a joint venture between US-based General Electric Co and Pratt & Whitney.

I guess for Zapa, it’s all showbiz.

Tony Blair would have sent the Queen.

In the meantime, The Anchoress looks at some Euro leaders “warming to Bush”.

Update Barcepundit linked to this post (thank you FrancoAlemán), and brings up another instance where Zapa left them “dressed up with nowhere to go”,

It’s not the first time he’s done something like this: some weeks ago, he cancelled a trip to Poland only 4 and a half hours before the start, with everything ready and the mission deployed, because he was also too tired after his long testimony before the parliamentary commission investigating the March 11 bombings

Barcepundit links to NetWar, which shows Zapa scoring a trifecta,

Talk about a newsmaker. He never rests. He now has irked the Poles, who in fact were already pretty heated at him since his heroic withdrawal from Iraq: the Spanish troops were under Polish command and he didn’t care to warn them in advance that he was letting them down.

Now, the day after his appearance in the Spanish parliament he was due in Warsaw to meet with the Polish PM, Marek Belka. But he felt exhausted after his mastery lesson in political systematic thought. So he just decided to tell Mr. Belka that please, excuse me, I’m not going. Just a little bit tired, you know… And he did that four and a half hours prior to his scheduled arrival to Warsaw, with the honor guard already in order of review. A prowess in diplomatic frankness…

The Poles were astounded. But they became outright flabbergasted, when someone checked out the press kit that the Spanish ministry of Foreign Affairs had distributed to the Spanish reporters who were to cover the talks (You know, some nosey-newsy reporter curious about what those caballeros may know about us). In the kit, it was (still is) said that Señor Zapatero is (well, was) to meet with Prime Minister Leszek Millar. Biography and all. The only detail was that Mr. Miller (not Millar) isn’t the prime minister any longer, the one now, happily in office since May, is Mr. Belka. Mr. Belka wasn’t amused.

Eat your heart out, Angelina.