Articles by Fernando Gonzalez Urbaneja

About the Author

Fernando Gonzalez Urbaneja
Over 30 years working in economic journalism. Fernando was founder and chief-editor at El País, general editor at the business daily Cinco Días, and now teaches at Universidad Carlos III. He's been president of the Madrid Press Association and the Spanish Federation of Press Associations. He's also member of the Spanish press complaints commission.
sanchez

A Pact On Incomes, A Question Of Methodology

Fernando González Urbaneja | Sánchez’s speech in Parliament on Wednesday could go down as one of the most consistent and substantive speeches of his term in office. Then he remained in the debate on the arms shipment to Ukraine, which was an important aspect, but not the most important or the only one. The arms shipment was a rectification, not unusual for Sánchez, of the position he had maintained 48…


VladimirPutin

Ukraine Alters Public Preferences

Fernando González Urbaneja | Recent polls show that Spaniards’ appreciation of NATO has taken a decisive turn; whereas previously there was a high level of mistrust of a defensive and armed military organisation, with a rejection rate of close to 50 per cent, acceptance now stands at over 70 per cent. Rejection of the invasion is overwhelming, more than 90%, compared to an irrelevant and extravagant 1% who see it…


Russian gas pipeline Nordstream2

“Soft Power” May Not Be Soft

Fernando González Urbaneja | The European and US deployment to help Ukraine and stifle Putin’s Russia is not as rhetorical or irrelevant as some imagined a week ago. Putin’s unilateral and criminal war is being met with the patriotism of Ukrainians, determined to defend their country and their freedom, but also with the active revulsion of most of the community of nations. The debate in the United Nations Extraordinary Assembly…


NuñezFeijoo

The Media And The PP: To Inform, To Express An Opinion Or To Decide

Fernando González Urbaneja | The PP’s current crisis, with an uncertain outcome as yet, as there is still much to be done, is a good case study of the role of the media in the evolution of politics and events. The basic function of journalism is to inform with a diligent search for the truth. Reporting after verifying sources and protagonists with transparency, admitting some exceptions, but not many. Sources…


PabloCasado

What Would Sánchez Do In Casado’s Place?

Fernando González Urbaneja | It is a speculative but interesting question to take the political temperature of these liquid times. The Sánchez method in the face of government alliances is none other than to do what the mathematics indicate… apart from a German-style grand coalition. Sánchez made a pact with Unidos Podemos, with the addition of ERC, Bildu and others, contrary to all his repeated and emphatic statements of the…


PPMañueco

Castilla Y León: A Little More Complicated

Fernando González Urbaneja | Elections in Castilla y León: 31 seats for PP, 28 seats for PSOE, 13 for VOX, 3 for Unión del Pueblo Leonés, 3 for Soria Ya, 1 for Podemos Izquierda Unida, 1 seat for Ciudadanos and 1 seat for Por Ávila… The Castilla y León voters have not left any of the candidates happy, with the exception of VOX. It has consolidated its position as third…


ERTES extension

The SMI, An Economic Policy Tool

Fernando González Urbaneja | Wages are set by the market, by hook or by crook. But behind this axiom there are exceptions or nuances. Wages are set by agreement, often asymmetrical, between the payer and the payee. Either through a verbal or individual contractual agreement or through a collective bargaining agreement of any range. In this dynamic, the State intervenes, of course, with mandatory rules. The most typical intervention is…


spain congress

Killing Democracy Step By Step

Fernando González Urbaneja | There is an abundance of modern, current literature on how democracies die; it is a subject that interests academics who theorise on the subject and retired politicians who use their heads to think and review what they have experienced and suffered. In almost all these works there are two indicators that do not fail. Firstly the practice of destroying adversaries turned enemies, and secondly the discrediting…


inflation rises

January: Inflation With Asterisks

Fernando González Urbaneja | The INE published, as expected, the leading indicator of prices for January with two basic data: the year-on-year rate stands at 6% (half a point lower than the previous month) and the monthly rate for January is negative by half a point (prices fell in January) compared with the rise of 1.2 points the previous month. To these two figures we should add a third: core…


The Bank of Spain

Social Pact And Income Pact

Fernando González Urbaneja | Over the last decade, since 2010, trade unions and employers have reached four multiannual and indicative wage agreements under the name of the State Agreement for Collective Bargaining. These have always been under the complacent gaze of the PP and PSOE governments, which provided a reasonable guarantee of social peace. Agreements that responded to a practice of consensus that has been characteristic and habitual throughout the…