Spanish Politics

pensiones playita

IEE think tank predicts Spanish businesses to pay highest contributions in Europe after Escrivá’s pension reform

Minister José Luis Escrivá’s recent pension reform will leave a public deficit of up to €22,000 million in the public coffers in 2023 alone, with its consequent negative effects on employment, growth and the competitiveness of the Spanish economy. This is what is stated in the latest report by the Institute of Economic Studies (IEE in its Spanish initials), which, under the title “La subida de las cotizaciones sociales (The…


escriva

Chaos in Social Security, unions call first strike in history

José Luis Escrivá will go down in history as the minister whose trade unions called the first ever strike in the history of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. Staff shortages, delays in appointments and in the recognition of benefits, the closure of offices, and non-compliance with the agreements signed with the trade unions. For all these reasons, the trade unions CSIF and CC.OO. have called partial strikes…


Sanchezbuilder 2

Pedro Sánchez, builder

On the left, Pedro Sánchez promises “93,000 affordable homes for young people and families” at a rally in Toledo on 21 April. On the right, at a rally in A Coruña, a week later, on 28 April, he was already promising 183,000 homes at affordable prices for… And with weeks of election campaigning left.


escriva

The anger of civil servants

Fernando González Urbaneja| The government has not shied away from criticising employers for their labour management and for allegedly poor relations with unions and workers. They say that the beam in your own eye is less obvious than the speck in someone else’s. On labour relations, the government has little to boast of; its performance is abysmal, and the consequences for the customers of public services and for citizens are…


Prisa

Government authorises Vivendi to increase stake in Prisa

The Council of Ministers has given Vivendi, Prisa’s second-largest stakeholder with a 9.94% holding, permission to convert all of its convertible subordinated debentures, increasing its ownership position in the company’s capital. The total amount of the issue was €130 million and the first conversion period started on 1 May and will end on the tenth. Vivendi’s conversion of the subscribed bonds will result, in the final scenario of a full…


Rota

Two more US ships for Rota Naval Base before Sánchez goes to Washington

The Government has just signed a new bilateral agreement with the United States for the deployment of two new US Navy ships at the Rota Naval Base. This new agreement comes on the eve of Pedro Sánchez’s visit to the White House on Friday 12 May, where he will meet with President Joe Biden. It was the Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, who signed the agreement together with the US…


Spanish trade unions

Entrepreneurs more generous than Government

Fernando González Urbaneja | Employers and unions have reached an income policy agreement on their own which is coherent with the previous ones signed during the last decades. There is no break in the social pact policy that accompanied Spanish democracy for decades. The agreement (a salary increase of 4% in 2023 and 3% in 2024) is indicative, a recommendation for decentralized collective bargaining, thousands of sector, province, company agreements……


pensiones playita

Population over 64 in Spain now more than 20%, outnumbers that of under-20s

Funcas | The growing imbalance in the size of the older and younger generations poses a challenge for intergenerational solidarity, with important implications at the economic, social and political levels. Spain is a good example of this demographic trend. While in 2012 the population aged 65 and over accounted for 17.4% of the population, by 2022 already exceeded 20%. In contrast, the population under 20 years of age fell to…


tractorada

Spanish countryside, with 80,000 fewer workers than a year ago, calls strike on May 14th

The total number of people employed in the Spanish agricultural sector at the end of the first quarter was 748,200, compared to 827,700 in the first quarter of 2022. Nearly 80,000 fewer employed than a year ago. This is the largest annual fall in a first quarter since 2015, according to the Spanish National Statistics Institute’s Labour Force Survey (EPA). You have to go back to the first quarter of…


Economia España

Spanish economy starts 2023 stronger than anticipated, growing 0.5% in Q1 and 3.8% in last year

Bankinter : Preliminary Q1 2023 GDP +3.8% year-on-year (versus +3.1% expected and +2.9% year-on-year in Q4 2022 revised up by 0.3 percentage points. Quarter-on-quarter GDP growth of +0.5% (versus +0.3% quarter-on-quarter estimated and +0.4% quarter-on-quarter foreseen revised up two tenths). The implicit GDP deflator stands at +6.2% year-on-year (+1.1 p.p. versus the last quarter). The analysis team’s view: it has been a stronger start to 2023 than was expected. Manufacturing…