Fernando González Urbaneja | The ECB’s non-binding considerations on the “temporary levy on banks (an economic benefit that is not a tax) could have merited a silent response from the government, an “informed but not concerned” or something similar, but they have produced an irritation with disqualifications and scorn that can only be the result of irresistible arrogance. It is well known that this government, especially the president, does not…
Fernando González Urbaneja | No surprise, the Budgets 2023 presented give everything the government has to offer; coherent with what has been presented so far in the legislature; no more (and no less). Expansionary and electoral budgets. As always, and even more so, since the aim is to win the elections themselves. And this is done with optimism, with generous distribution of benefits, without concern for deficit and debt. No…
Fernando González Urbaneja | Disordered thinking is one of the characteristics of the Prime Minister. It is not necessarily a mistake, since this disorder makes it easier for him to adapt to reality, to change his criteria in accordance with the Marxian principle that these are my principles but if I have to change them…. The liberality with which Sánchez handles facts, data and statistics is astonishing. For example, he…
Fernando González Urbaneja | The sequence of events is relevant to the outcome and has to do with the electoral confrontation. Behind and at the bottom of this debate or storm there is no doctrine or theory, there are no documents with well-founded proposals, it is just a matter of brushstrokes with ideological pretensions of little flight and quite a lot of trickery.The opposition party, with Núñez Feijóo at the…
Fernando González Urbaneja | Both the current and the previous government (Rajoy and Sánchez or Montoro and Montero) have earned a page in Spanish fiscal history with the qualification of a confusing, witty and improvisational period. Both governments commissioned reports from groups of experts for a major tax reform. And both reports, of unquestionable technical quality and with interesting proposals, were buried in the drawer of documents to be forgotten….
Fernando Gonzalez Urbaneja | I don’t want to assign the role of Richard III in the Spanish political drama, but the main contenders, Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, although with different intensity, are doomed to opt for whatever it takes to succeed and fail, like Richard III. The recent debate (combat) in the Senate between the two politicians with pretensions to rent La Moncloa showed desperation, obsession, determination to…
Explains Mariano Marzo, Repsol board member: “If we are going to need oil and gas, and it is clear that they will be necessary for many years to come, we must guarantee their production without demonising them. Failure to do so means tackling an ill-considered energy transition, driven more by ideology than by technology” … “The main risk of this ideological approach, which is quite widespread in many European areas,…
Fernando Gopnzález Urbaneja | Words have meaning. To define well is to begin to understand. The government has announced as the star measure of its economic programme to control inflation a new tax figure called the “windfall profits tax” which, for the moment, will be levied on around twenty energy companies with a high turnover (the figure has not been specified) and on banks in general, which are not many…
Fernando Gonzalez Urbaneja | Economics textbooks have a heading to add to the chapter on inflation: the one dictated by Dr Pedro Sánchez before Parliament. After warning that inflation (10% annual rate) is the most worrying problem for the government, he deployed a series of “anti-inflationary” measures, among them, new taxes for banks and energy companies on extraordinary profits . The president spoke about his concern about the influence of…
Fernando González Urbaneja | The NATO summit in Madrid has been a success in all respects, except for the recalcitrant naysayers, who have hardly been noticed. The rest of those involved leave the summit with the feeling of a job well done. In terms of content, in terms of the relevant “strategic definition” for the future of the organisation and its enlargement, the results are in line with the best…