José Hervás (Capital Madrid) | The Spanish lobby in Washington still hopes the President of the United States will finally meet Pedro Sánchez. But for now, Joe Biden has no plans to meet the head of the Spanish Government at the White House on his first official trip to the United States, from the 20th to the 24th of this month. There will not even be a brief meeting in…
Fernando González Urbaneja | The description as “anachronistic” of the fact that the rapporteur of the Court of Auditors – in the case of the possible embezzlement of pro-independence leaders – was a minister in an Aznar government deserves some reflection. It begs the question of how the president’s mentality works, his concept of the constitutional system and the balance of powers. Added to this are the considerations of Catalan…
Congress made it clear on Tuesday that the President’s credibility is very low He has reduced the internal socialist opposition but his parliamentary and government allies, those who support him, have little appreciation for him. They support him out of necessity, to avoid worse evils and can leave him alone when it suits them. Without credibility, he will not get very far, not the day-to-day, beyond a minimal agreement on pensions that has the sole merit of pure agreement, the scenography in the Moncloa for show. Dialogue is an instrumental value, it serves to reach agreements and underpin credibility. And there is very little evidence of this.
Atlantic Sentinel | Left-wing separatists would allow the social democrat to become prime minister a second time. Spanish Socialist Party leader Pedro Sánchez fell short of a absolute majority in Congress on Sunday to become prime minister a second time. However, left-wing separatists from the Basque Country and Catalonia have agreed to abstain from a second vote on Tuesday, which should allow Sánchez to scrape by with a majority of one.
J.P. Marín Arrese | This motto struck by Bertrand Russell galvanised those opposed to the nuclear weapons race. In his view, surrendering to communism stood as a less harmful choice than the dire prospect of massive immolation in a new world war. Fortunately, we skipped confronting the bad and worst alternatives Mr Russell thought would inevitably emerge.
Shaun Riordan | The other oddity of the debate was the almost complete absence of policy. Many commentators have already noted the absence of economic policy from the election campaign. Last night there was no mention of health or the key issue of further reform of the labour market.
Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez called snap elections for April 28th after holding an extraordinary cabinet meeting in Madrid. The ballot follows Sanchez’s defeat in parliament over his 2019 fiscal plans. Madrid avoids May 26 “Super Sunday,” with local, regional and EU elections the same day.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez this Wednesday will attend a meeting organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Spain (AmChamSpain) during the General Assembly of the UN, together with over 20 leaders of major multinationals, US banks and major investment funds. At the moment, Sánchez has already had the opportunity to greet US President Trump.
From 2019 it is possible that Spain will have difficulties financing its public debt, which is definitely not only the official figure of 98.3% of GDP. Rajoy’s increase of this debt by €649 billion has been financed at very low interest rates, thanks to the ECB’s quantitative easing. On the other hand, Pedro Sánchez has announced substantial spending increases, which will inevitably increase debt in 2019.
Shaun Riordan | The motion of censure against Spanish Prime Minister and the election of socialist leader Sanchez as his successor has briefly spooked markets. But in the end it may make less difference than it seems at first sight.