The PSOE party, with 137 years of history, has already had four leaders so far this century, none of whom have consolidated their position. That said, Rodriguez Zapatero succeeded in heading up two relative majority governments and two minority administrations between 2004 and 2012.
Spaniards will go out and vote again on June 26, six months after the ordinary elections which took place when Rajoy’s government ended its mandate, having enjoyed a four-year majority. The result of the December 20 polls was an impossible political chessboard, with no group capable of forming a government.
Newcomer to the stock exchange, Cellnex (a subsidiary of Abertis in the business of telecommunications networks) and oldtimer Viscofan (which manufactures cellulose wrapping for the food sector) will substitute two new generation construction companies (Sacyr and OHL). Both of these firms are controlled either by families or professionals.
Ten million Spaniards watched the most important debate between candidates from the four parties which could form a Government in Spain on Monday night. And yet the participants did not clarify the most important point: Will there be a Government after the elections on June 26?
One of the effects of the long, deep crisis has been the redrawing of the political map in Spain, as well as in other European countries, but these new balances need to mature and consolidate. The process is underway, but the destination has not been written down. Over the last few years we have witnessed the confusion of the European social democrats.
The Third Set Of Locks project will open a third lane of traffic for ships and will increase the Panama Canal’s capacity in 2016 to 600 milion tonnes transited from 340 million in 2015, while also increasing the number of journeys to over 16,000 from 13,000. This includes ships with bigger capacity, up to 12,000 containers.
The Panama Papers may have a similar historic reach as the Pentagon Papers, marking the point of no return for reducing the list of countries which protect and promote the lack of fiscal transparency. Tax cooperation between countries with automatic exchange of information (not on request) by all the tax offices does not allow for delays.
Spain’s political debate is going on between two irreconcilable adversaries, each one with its own issues. Meanwhile, in the back room where the accounts are done, there is hard work going on to refinance the public and private debt which matures every day. Without some tailwinds, Spain (BBB) could once again find itself facing serious problems.
Fernando G. Urbaneja | One of the values of Spain’s democracy over the last forty years has been left behind following the general elections: namely, political stability. Now the Spanish political scenario resembles more that of Belgium than Germany. The results obtained on December 20th have disappointed all parties’ expectations for putting together a parliamentary model, leaving all the hipotheses on how to form a stable government in the dark.
MADRID | July 15, 2015 | By Fernando G. Urbaneja | El Corte Inglés, which just sold a 10 percent stake for 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to a Qatari investor, is a rara avis both in Spain and overseas.