Spain nets 140bn euros in compromise EU recovery deal
► Final deal cuts direct grants to 72.7bn, ups loans to 67.3bn with EU oversight ► Spain agrees not to repeal Rajoy-era…
Articles by Progressive Spain
Gov’t to unfreeze local budget surpluses to aid recovery
Spain’s coalition government has told the national association of municipalities and provinces that local town councils across Spain will be allowed to…
Decade of austerity cuts undermined healthcare system
The Spanish section of global rights campaigner Amnesty International has issued a damning report on the gutting of Spain’s public healthcare system…
Minister rebuffs proposed blanket amnesty for migrants
The Minister of Social Security, Inclusion and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, has defended a case-by-case analysis of the situation of each migrant…
Spain led Europe in new solar, wind capacity in 2019
Spain took the lead among European countries in 2019 in the installation of both photovoltaic solar capacity and wind-powered electricity installation according…
Coalition parties fare poorly in Galicia, Basque elections
► Unidas Podemos shocker loss of 14 seats in Galician regional parliament ► PSOE has lackluster showing, to remain as PNV’s coalition…
Relatives urge victims’ removal from Valley of Fallen
The families of eight victims of the Franco regime who believe their family members’ remains are buried in the Valle de los…
Catalonia’s COVID outbreaks muddle nationalist agenda
Nearly all of Catalonia 7.5 million residents will be required to wear facemasks both in enclosed public spaces and in most outdoor…
Trial probes Franco family patrimony of Pazo de Meirás
A court case brought against the family of former Spanish dictator Francsco Franco by government prosecutors in Galicia heard witness testimony this…
Gov’t extends freeze on mortgages, loans, utilities cutoff
The coalition government’s Consejo de Ministros executive cabinet on Tuesday voted to extend through September 30th the moratorium on payment of mortgages…
Outbreaks cascade across Spain’s regional communities
Cascading coronavirus outbreaks have spread across 15 of Spain’s 17 autonomous regional communities since the state-of-alert lockdown was lifted, with the national…
Activists oppose hotel planned for Almeria natural park
The Partido Popular-led right-wing regional government of Andalucía is on the verge of approving construction of a four-star hotel with 33 rooms,…
2,870% hike in Spain arms sales to Saudis in one year
The policy of Spain’s “progressive” coalition government regarding arms sales to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has made a radical about-face since…
Shuttered coal-fired plants not replaced by renewables
Spain has shut down seven of the country’s 15 coal-fired power plants, as plant operators say they cannot afford to invest sufficiently…
Gov’t greenlights ERTEs furlough plan through Sept 30th
Spain’s coalition government on Friday passed decree legislation that will extend the ERTEs temporary work furlough program through September 30th, following an…
Top three Defence Ministry posts now held by women
For the first time in the history of Spain, the country’s Ministry of Defense will be led entirely headed by women, after…
Nissan, Alcoa closures loom large in economic downturn
Spain’s central government and regional authorities in Catalonia and Galicia have been left scrambling to avert imminent plant closures by multinationals Nissan…
Oxfam: Pandemic could push 700,000 more into poverty
Tenuous gains made in the fight against poverty over the last four years as Spain began easing out of its last economic…
Judges overrule PP’s veto of Madrid Central traffic fines
Two local judges have cancelled the year-long moratorium on the payment of fines by motorists for driving vehicles in downtown Madrid in…
Canaries migrant arrivals already reach last year’s total
Spain’s Canary Islands are experiencing an “exponential increase” in the arrival of migrants to the islands off Morocco’s Atlantic coast so far…
Court rules against permanent use of interim employees
A Spanish judge in a district administrative court in Alicante has ruled that an employee of the Alicante municipality who had been…
Madrid denied hospital access to elderly with COVID-19
The scandal in Madrid over denial of hospital access to residents of care homes for the elderly at the height of the…
Talks stall on temporary furlough scheme extension
The coalition government has been forced to delay legislation to extend through end-September a special ERTE temporary work furlough program implemented to…
Gov’t parties say PP seeks to limit recovery funding
The parties of Spain’s progressive coalition government have charged the country’s conservative opposition Partido Popular (PP) party with actively working in Brussels…
Gov’t kicks off guaranteed minimum income program
The Spanish government on Monday launched its new scheme to provide guaranteed minimum income (ingreso mínimo vital or IMV) to the country’s…
Court says harm to domestic animal is misdemeanor
Spain’s Supreme Court has upheld a Cantabrian regional court ruling against a man accused of beating and causing serious injuries to a…
Spain’s economy among worst-hit by COVID, says OECD
More dire predictions for Spain’s economy have surfaced in the past week, with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the…
Pacts signal Ciudadanos returning to political centre
What’s going on with Ciudadanos? The once up-and-coming centre-right party that lurched sharply to the right under former leader Albert Rivera, then…
Post-lockdown ‘new normalcy’ places bullfights on hold
As Spain prepares to return to a “new normality” when the country’s COVID-19 lockdown is lifted later this month, continued restrictions on…
Trial over Spanish Jesuits’ murder in El Salvador begins
Spain’s highest criminal court opened proceedings Monday against a former high-ranking Salvadoran military officer accused of masterminding the murder in El Salvador…
Thousands protest racism at Madrid rally on Sunday
Several thousand people gathered Sunday in Madrid to protest racism and show their solidarity with Black Lives Matter protests worldwide in the…