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Spain will impose a 5% tax on foreign and Spanish companies’ digital services

Markets, Spanish economy 20th February 2020

Spain Pushes Ahead A Regulatory Sandbox For The Banking Sector’s Digital Transformation

The draft law for the digital transformation of the financial system is a long-awaited measure by the banking sector. The project anticipates the implementation of a test bench or regulatory sandbox, which is instrumental in promoting innovation in financial services. It is also a tool for the competition authorities, as it allows for synchronization between supervisory practices and financial regulation and the current pace of innovation and digital transformation.

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Spanish economy 19th February 2020

Madrid Caves In To US Pressure By Freezing The Google Tax

J.P. Marín- Arrese | The Spanish government has tabled a proposal for a Google tax but will refrain from applying it till the year-end. They boasted not so long ago that nothing could deter it from taxing the tech companies. When confronted with the task of delivering its promise, courage seems to falter even if Washington has issued no explicit warning. Presumably, the French discomfiture conveyed a stern lesson of what happens to anyone defying the US.

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Spanish economy 19th February 2020

Spain’s Government Gives The Green Light To The Google And Tobin Taxes

At its cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the government gave the green light to the implementation of new taxes on digital business and stock market transactions, following similar steps by other European countries. The agreement reached between Spain’s PSOE and Podemos coalition government included the approval of the two taxes, with which the Administration expects to collect about 2.050 billion euros (€1.200 Bn with the digital tax and €850 M with the financial transactions tax).

European telcos face the challenge of sustainable investment in 2020

Spanish economy 17th February 2020

The Spanish Government Will Auction 5G In May

In May, the Spanish government will hold an auction for the 700 megahertz (Mhz) frequency band scheduled for this year, 2020, in order to complete the release of the spectrum needed for the mass deployment of the new 5G mobile technology before June 30.

The returm of migration to Spain

Spanish economy 17th February 2020

The Return Of Immigration To Spain

CaixaBank Research | Immigration is back in Spain after years of crisis in which there were many more immigrants departing than arriving (between 2010 and 2014). More specifically, Spain has once again become a net recipient of foreign immigration since 2015 and the trend has intensified in recent years: net inflows of foreign nationals reached 330,000 people in 2018 according to the migration statistics of the National Statistics Institute. The following are the main conclusions.

Spain home sales fell 3.3% in 2019 vs yr-earlier; housing prices rose 7.2%

Spanish economy 14th February 2020

Spain Home Sales Fell 3.3% In 2019 Vs Yr-Earlier; Housing Prices Rose 7.2%

The sale of homes registered a total of 501,085 transactions in 2019. This was due to the decline in second-hand housing transactions, as new home purchases increased 1.2 %, says the National Statistics Institute (INE). On the other hand, housing prices continued to rebound, according to Q4’19 statistics from the Spanish housing registers.

The agreement on the minimum wage and the relative success of the trip to Catalonia encourages the new government

Spanish Politics 13th February 2020

The Minimum Wage And The Trip Of Sánchez To Catalonia Encourages The New Government

Joan Tapia (Barcelona) | The PSOE-Podemos Coalition Government has not failed to confront its two main challenges: economic policy and Catalonia. However, now comes the most important issue: to approve the national budget for 2020 for which it needs a vote in favour of ERC. This time the abstention of ERC is not enough, as in the case of the investiture, which was achieved in exchange for the establishment of a dialogue between the governments of Madrid and Barcelona.

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Spanish Politics 11th February 2020

Open Letter: “Mr. Zapatero, Stop Embarrassing Spain And The European Union” Asks A Spanish MEP

According to Spanish press (Periodista Digital, etc.) Beatriz Becerra, vice-chair of the European parliament’s human rights sub-committee and a member of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE Group), has published an open letter against the former Spanish President, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, of the Socialist Party (PSOE) after reading the message Zapatero sent privately to Juan Guaidó and other leaders of the Venezuelan opposition.