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caixabank2

Spanish Politics 3rd October 2017

Catalan banks in the eye of the storm: investors start to get the jitters

At the moment, the biggest losers in the Ibex 35 index after Sunday’s referendum vote in Catalonia are the banks, particularly the Catalan lenders. Both Sabadell and CaixaBank have acknowledged that if independence were to happen, they would move their headquarters to another autonomous region in Spain. In this way they would keep their access to the ECB’s liquidity and their clients would remain under the protection of the national and European Deposit Guarantee Fund. But perhaps it’s too soon to ring the alarm bells: while the Ibex dropped, other European bourses rose. This shows that Catalonia is still far from becoming a systemic risk for the EU.

 

catalonia referendum

Spanish Politics 30th September 2017

What Can Be Offered To Catalonia

The Corner | The fiscal situation is one of the arguments the pro-independents in Catalonia have been using. And in this regard, we wanted to share with our readers a snippet from a televised debate between Josep Borrell, a former president of the European Parliament, who describes himself as “Catalan, Spanish and European,” and Oriol Junqueras, leader of the pro-independence Catalan Republican Left (ERC) party.

Catalonia referendum

Spanish Politics 13th September 2017

Catalonia Referendum : The Train Crash Has Happened. What Now?

The predicted train crash between the Catalan and the Spanish governments has now happened. But what’s next? It’s difficult for the referendum to be a success, but the the fact there is no independence in the short-term, doesn’t mean that the train crash is not going to have consequences in the medium-term.

catalan way

Spanish Politics 25th July 2017

The Catalonian Spider’s Web

Acting as an “agent provocateur”, Catalonia’s government intends to hold a wholly biased and unrepresentative independence referendum in early October. It knows the outturn will hardly attain half of the potential voters, as only a minority of the population favours an outright split from Spain.

Moroccan migration in Malaga

Spanish Politics 10th July 2017

Migration: An Avoidable Tragedy For Spain And The EU

Spain may not be the most common point of entry for most migrants and refugees to Europe – last year it received only two percent of arrivals – but it does seem to be facing increasing challenges in this area. Cities like Málaga and Tarifa, on the south coast, are currently struggling to manage arrivals, which so far this year have doubled those of the equivalent period in 2016.

Spanish PSOE

Spanish Politics 28th June 2017

The disappearance of Spain’s PSOE party

The PSOE, which governed during two terms of office with an atypical leader, Zapatero, is now so disorientated that it’s suffocating and looking to leftism for some air without any basis. It’s on the point of taking Pablo Iglesias’ bait, that a Grand Coalition against Rajoy is possible.

Spain's left’s inability to unite against the right

Spanish Politics 19th June 2017

Can Spanish left unite?

Some things never seem to change and the Spanish left’s inability to unite against the right has looked like one of them. The two general elections and months of political paralysis Spain lived through between December 2015 and October 2016 saw the PSOE and Podemos locked in a battle for control of the left which turned poisonous at times and allowed the PP’s Mariano Rajoy to stay in power simply by doing what he does best – sitting back and watching.

Pedro Sánchez victory

Spanish Politics 22nd May 2017

Pedro Sánchez 2.0

It was the result Spain’s Socialist bigwigs had feared: a resounding victory for Pedro Sánchez in their party’s primary on Sunday, beating Andalusia premier Susana Díaz and former Basque premier Patxi López, to become leader for a second time.