Fernando González Urbaneja | There are few doubts about the quality of democracy, which can clearly be improved and which is moving backwards like a crab. It is not irrelevant that in The Economist’s ranking of democracies, Spain’s is slipping backwards and dropping down the rankings. The reasons for this backwardness are to be found in the open crisis in the government of judges, which puts their independence at risk;…
Fernando G. Urbaneja | One of the values of Spain’s democracy over the last forty years has been left behind following the general elections: namely, political stability. Now the Spanish political scenario resembles more that of Belgium than Germany. The results obtained on December 20th have disappointed all parties’ expectations for putting together a parliamentary model, leaving all the hipotheses on how to form a stable government in the dark.
MADRID | By J.P. Marín Arrese | The Spanish centre-right leading candidate for the European Parliament has been the center of a sexist row for the last week. And his biggest mistake might be that he only acknowledged the devastating blunder his last remark meant (he said he was worried about ‘cornering a defenseless woman’ in the debate against his socialist rival Elena Valenciano) when socialist MEPs denounced his attitude as utterly inappropriate. His apologies come too late. Mr Arias Cañete is bound to suffer widespread criticism during the hearing process for appointing the next Commission.
BARCELONA | Joan Tapia| That the Spanish economy grew by 0.4% quarterly in the 1Q14, and by 0.6% yearly is a real green shoot. After several years of recession, GDP is to grow moderately, around 1% in year 2014. However, employment continued falling by 184,000 people, at an annual pace of 0.5%. A slap in the face for those who told the recovery was more intense than expected.