MADRID | If Spain’s democracy owes something to someone it would be Germany. During Spain’s democratic transition, Christian democracy and Social Democracy German foundations sustained and alerted incipient political parties when they need it.
All posts by Fernando G. Urbaneja
Why is Spain’s unemployment rate so high?
MADRID |Â The 6.2 million of unemployed is brutal, anomalous, and lacks explanatory references among countries with quite similar structures.
What if Cyprus was the sparkle that set the euro zone on fire?
MADRID |Â By Ricardo Cantalapiedra |Â A Southern European countries coalition is necessary to counterbalance the troika’s power.What would happen if more countries asked Russia, or even China, for help?
Do you really want dation in payment to fix Spain’s mortgage social crisis?
MADRID By Fernando G. Urbaneja | Dation in payment and moreover retroactivity is a very dangerous legal structure because it brings uncertainty, risks and unforeseen consequences, which in many cases are against the spirit of what its proponents intended in the first place.
Spanish big shopping centres’ new regulation: more work, less pay
MADRID | By Fernando G. Urbaneja| The Spanish new regulation follows the old principle that in times of crisis people should be working more and earning less. More working hours are added, up to nearly 1,800 per year, a fact that Germany should note in order to dismiss the cliché of Southern Europeans being lazy.
European Strike November 14
MADRID | Governments throughout Europe should be less confident that ever before about this general strike passing by without further consequences. From Madrid and Lisbon to Athens, the European middle classes are getting more and more restless.
How much is Catalonia owed?
How much does ‘different identity’ account in fiscal transfers between regions and their central government? Catalan president Artur Mas mixes tax data with sentimental issues and accusations of mistreatment, says Fernando G. Urbaneja, so a necessary dialogue becomes unnecessarily difficult.
Telefónica’s dividend back to orthodoxy
MADRID | There will be no dividend from Telefónica over the next fifteen months. The decision is not surprising but consistent with the situation. Yet, it has a devastating effect on many investors the company had promised to pay 77 cents in December as a second dividend in the year, and again in May. The company [...]
President Rajoy made his point, but acted as an accountant
MADRID |Fernando G. Urbaneja|Â Premier Mariano Rajoy did not expect the economic picture to be that overwhelming, although it was predictable, nor former premier Mr Zapatero could believe in May 2010, that he was meant to play the role he so reluctantly played. Both of their reactions are part of Spain's problem: government leaders, alleged leaders [...]
Let's escape the wreck and keep sailing
MADRID | “It is time to resort to the International Monetary Fund or the European rescue fund,” wrote in the January edition of Revista Consejeros Aristóbulo de Juan, former Bank of Spain's director general of inspection. Even Banco Santander's chairman Emilio BotÃn, who's always shown his antipathy to salvage competitors with his money or the [...]
