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…
Coronavirus
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Spain set to receive 140bn of EC’s 750bn recovery plan
Spain is set to receive a total of 77 billion in grants and 63 billion euros in credit as part of a…
Franco-era torturer Billy the Kid, victim die of COVID-19
Justice will ultimately not be served in the case of accused Franco-era torturer Antonio González Pacheco, alias Billy el Niño (“Billy the…
Gov’t eyes microtuning de-escalation within provinces
Spain’s government was expected to confirm Thursday that a de-escalation of the coronavirus lockdown at the provincial level in four phases announced…
PP, VOX refuse to support gender-violence measures
Spain’s Congress ratified emergency legislation on Wednesday over the protests of the conservative Partido Popular and ultra-right VOX parties that provides special…
Cities look to cycling as safe post-lockdown transport
Several Spanish cities are joining a move by authorities in major urban areas worldwide to create more cycling lanes in order to…
Police nab suspected serial killer of Barcelona homeless
Catalonia’s Mossos d’Esquadra regional police force say they have arrested a many they believe to be a serial killer responsible for the…
Parties jockey for position over economic reconstruction
The push from Spain’s government for all-party consensus on how to rebuild the national economy following the coronavirus crisis grinds slowly on,…
COVID-19 hits female health-workers twice as hard
Studies being released by a UN agency and professional and university researchers in Spain are pointing to a clear gender-gap among healthcare…
NO2 pollution and diesel linked to COVID-19 death rate
New research correlating air pollution levels and COVID-19 deaths in Europe has singled out the Spanish capital of Madrid and northern Italy…
Spain floats new finance scheme for EU reconstruction
An ambitious 1.5-trillion-euro compromise proposal by Spain to help Europe finance its way to economic recovery after the coronavirus emergency passes appears…
Gov’t sees gradual lifting of lockdown starting 27th April
► UPDATE: Gov’t to let children under 14 accompany parents on errands ► Criteria change OKs minors in supermarkets, banks, on walks…
Minimum income for most vulnerable to be ready in May
Minister of Social Security José Luis Escrivá confirmed in a committee hearing in Spain’s Congress on Wednesday that a new minimum income…
Numbers chaos over testing, non-hospital deaths count
Spain’s Health Ministry reported a slight decrease in the number of deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, while noting a sharp increase of…
Spain braces for worst recession since 1930s Civil War
► IMF projects Spain GDP to plummet -8% this year, with 21% jobless rate ► Government readies for worst recession since 1936,…
NGOs urge regard for children’s health in confinement
Non-governmental organizations working to promote and defend children’s rights in Spain have urged the government to ease the coronavirus lockdown restrictions on…
Despite criticism, Sánchez gov’t lifts some restrictions
Amid criticism from Spain’s opposition parties, some regional government leaders and unease within the leadership of governing coalition partner Unidas Podemos, on…
Medical NGOs pitch in to help Spain fight coronavirus
Non-government organizations specializing in medical assistance and disease prevention are doing their part to help stop COVID-19 in Spain, deploying to the…
Eurogroup reach compromise deal on COVID-19 funding
Finance Ministers for the 19 Eurogroup countries of the 27-member European Union (EU) reached a compromise deal on Thursday to commit some…