Spanish Politics

Just Sanchez

No-confidence motion against Sánchez: How good my government is, how incompetent the opposition is

Fernando González Urbaneja ! The no-confidence motion against the government led by Ramón Tamames and promoted by the parliamentary group VOX will conclude this Wednesday with an unfavourable vote for the promoters and without major consequences, beyond two parliamentary sessions in which Sánchez has deployed the familiar arguments about the achievements of the government and the incompetence of the opposition, especially the one who was absent, namely Nuñez Feijóo. The…


When the Supreme Court adds to the lack of confidence in Spanish politics

More legal uncertainty: Supreme Court imposes dividend of 75% of profit after considering it “abusive” to allocate all of it to reserves

In a “revolutionary” ruling dated 11 January 2023, and “as well-intentioned as it is erroneous, and with serious consequences”, the Supreme Court has not limited itself to declaring the nullity, as abusive, of the resolution challenged by the minority shareholder of a company – not to distribute dividends – but also considers – as an effect of the ruling – a corporate resolution in the opposite direction to the one…


housing overvalued

Doubts over Housing Law, which aims to cap rent rises, paralyses investment by large funds in Spain

Capital Madrid | There is no respite in the battle over the large print of the Housing Law or, more specifically, over the 3% cap on the annual rent increase in contracts. Unidos Podemos wants the bill to be permanent, while the PSOE only wants to extend it for the next year. The political deadlock is causing growing discontent among funds and companies in the sector. Meanwhile, the government complains…


pensiones playita

Fedea warns: pension reform “renounces any savings and will increase spending”.

The Fundación de Estudios de Economía Aplicada (Fedea) warned on Monday that the pension reform that is under way “condemns the contributory component of the public pension system to a basic deficit (before transfers) that will be “high and rapidly increasing over the coming decades”. After analysing the pension reforms as a whole (those already approved and the final phase that is now being negotiated), Fedea calculates that around 2050…


pensioners

Government and trade unions to meet today with employers’ NO to pension system reform proposals

The Government and social partners will meet again today at 4.30 p.m. to discuss the pending issues of the second phase of the pension reform following the proposal presented last Friday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, with the backing of the European Commission and Unidas Podemos. This is a reform that the employers’ association opposes head-on because it is “populist” and means “voracious tax collection”, given…


Madrid Gran Via2

Spain has lowest absorption rate of EU funds (54%)

Scope Rating | Slow take-up of approved EU funds could also jeopardise future EU disbursements, as these will increasingly depend on governments’ ability to deliver on investment projects (mostly ‘targets’) rather than implement reforms (mostly ‘milestones’). Indeed, the low disbursement of EU funds received to date is common among some of the largest beneficiaries of EU recovery funds, such as Greece, Portugal, Spain and Croatia, given the energy crisis, rising…


Spain ratings

10 of the 17 autonomous communities to recover pre-covid GDP this year

According to Funcas, the Foundation of the former Savings Banks, all the Spanish autonomous communities will slow down in 2023 as a result of the impact of inflation on household purchasing power, in a context of global uncertainty and rising interest rates. Despite this, and after the strong recovery in 2022, this year five regions will already recover the GDP level they had before the pandemic: Andalusia, Valencia, Madrid, the…


employed spain

55% of all employment created during Sánchez’s government is in public sector

Although the unemployment rate is still above 12%, the number of workers has once again surpassed the 20 million mark, with temporary employment at an all-time low following the labour reform. But there is a catch to this balance sheet: 55% of the net increase in employment during the legislature corresponds to public sector jobs, which are also confirmed as the most precarious. As the newspaper El Economista explains, according…


Ferrovial

Podemos effect drives Ferrovial out of Spain

Ferrovial, the large Spanish construction company owned by the Del Pino family, one of the 35 companies that make up the Ibex 35, is moving to the Netherlands and the Spanish press is talking in its editorials about “Unrest in the government over Ferrovial’s flight to the Netherlands” (Vozpópuli), “The possible domino effect of Ferrovial” (El Economista) and “The Podemos effect pushes Ferrovial out of Spain” (El Español)…. Given that…


Ferrovial2

Ferrovial moves to the Netherlands and becomes “Societas Europaea”.

CdM | The Board of Directors of Ferrovial has approved a proposal to the General Meeting to merge the parent company of the Ferrovial, S.A. group with its subsidiary Ferrovial International SE by absorption of the former by the latter. As a result, the head of the group will become a European public limited company (“Societas Europaea”) with its registered office in the Netherlands. At the same meeting, the Board…