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…
Economy
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Guaranteed minimum income aims to reduce poverty
Spain’s coalition government has given the green light on Friday to a new Minimum Living Wage program, a guaranteed minimum income scheme…
Coalition tenses over Podemos ‘wealth tax’ proposal
The first session of the special “Reconstruction Commission” in Spain’s Congress got off to a bumpy start Thursday, with two opposing viewpoints…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
Sánchez says ‘new normal’ won’t lift until vaccine found
President Pedro Sánchez told members of Spain’s Congress on Thursday that the government’s de-escalation of the measures adopted to combat the coronavirus…
EU marathon meeting fails to reach COVID-19 accord
European Union Finance ministers meeting in an all-night video-conference session Tuesday, adjourned their marathon meeting at 8 o’clock Wednesday morning no closer…
Sánchez: European unity in jeopardy over coronavirus
In an open letter published in ten leading European newspapers on Sunday, Spanish President Pedro Sánchez told EU leaders that the fate…
EU leaders mulling 100bn unemployment, stimulus fund
The leadership of the European Union took a step Tuesday toward building consensus solutions to deal with the economic downturn caused by…
COVID-19 stretching EU consensus to breaking point
► Germany, Holland and Austria insist on ‘every country for itself’ approach ► Spain, Italy balk at ESM mechanism linked to structural…
Germans, Dutch resist Spain’s ‘coronabonds’ relief plea
On the eve of a crucial meeting of prime ministers of the European Union (EU) slated for Thursday, EU finance ministers deadlocked…
Gov’t eyes rent moratorium, minimum income relief
Spain’s Vice-President for Economic Affairs Nadia Calviño confirmed on Monday that the government is considering a temporary moratorium on residential rent payments…
FOCUS: Why Spain’s hospitals are not better prepared
In a televised address Saturday evening on the state of Spain’s coronavirus crisis, President Pedro Sánchez made crystal clear that the primary…
COVID-19: 200bn euros to protect workers, businesses
Spanish President Pedro Sánchez announced Tuesday afternoon that the government will mobilize 200 billion euros in an unprecedented aid package financed with…
Gov’t pledges ‘shock plan’, COVID-19 cases top 1,600
Spain’s coalition government has moved to implement emergency measures as part of a comprehensive “shock plan” that President Pedro Sánchez says will…
Government approves rescue package for farm sector
The government’s Consejo de Ministros executive cabinet on Tuesday used Spain’s express Decreto Ley process to approve a package of 14 measures…
Workers protected from sacking for repeated sick leave
Spain’s new Socialist-led coalition government has taken a first step toward dismantling onerous sections of labour legislation pushed through Congress by the…