MADRID | By Fernando G. Urbaneja | Chancellor Angela Merkel has skilfully governed both Germany and Europe with ambiguity between her pragmatic proposals at home, and her tough declarations outside. Her victory opens a new stage for the German government and for Europe. She has become stronger, although she still needs to seduce.
Wages decline has put Spain back in the beginning of the century. But the warning sign for the country are citizens’ pensions: crucial for the most defenseless. Both President Mariano Rajoy and the Spanish society have an enormous stake in social welfare.
MADRID | If Spain’s democracy owes something to someone it would be Germany. During Spain’s democratic transition, Christian democracy and Social Democracy German foundations sustained and alerted incipient political parties when they need it.
MADRID | The 6.2 million of unemployed is brutal, anomalous, and lacks explanatory references among countries with quite similar structures.
MADRID | By Ricardo Cantalapiedra | A Southern European countries coalition is necessary to counterbalance the troika’s power.What would happen if more countries asked Russia, or even China, for help?
MADRID By Fernando G. Urbaneja | Dation in payment and moreover retroactivity is a very dangerous legal structure because it brings uncertainty, risks and unforeseen consequences, which in many cases are against the spirit of what its proponents intended in the first place.
MADRID | By Fernando G. Urbaneja| The Spanish new regulation follows the old principle that in times of crisis people should be working more and earning less. More working hours are added, up to nearly 1,800 per year, a fact that Germany should note in order to dismiss the cliché of Southern Europeans being lazy.
MADRID | Governments throughout Europe should be less confident that ever before about this general strike passing by without further consequences. From Madrid and Lisbon to Athens, the European middle classes are getting more and more restless.
How much does ‘different identity’ account in fiscal transfers between regions and their central government? Catalan president Artur Mas mixes tax data with sentimental issues and accusations of mistreatment, says Fernando G. Urbaneja, so a necessary dialogue becomes unnecessarily difficult.
MADRID | There will be no dividend from Telefónica over the next fifteen months. The decision is not surprising but consistent with the situation. Yet, it has a devastating effect on many investors the company had promised to pay 77 cents in December as a second dividend in the year, and again in May. The company will now retain its full profits within the 2012 balance sheet (€4-€5 billion) to reduce…