Theory of Spain's political class | In English. In this article I propose a theory of Spain's political class to make a case for the urgent, imperious need to change our voting system and adopt a majority system. A good theory of Spain's political class should at least explain the following issues: 1. How is it possible that five years after the crisis began, no political party has a coherent diagnosis of what is going on in Spain?
2. How is it possible that no political party has a credible long-term plan or strategy to pull Spain out of the crisis? 3. 4. In the following lines I posit that over the last few decades, Spain's political class has developed its own particular interest above the general interest of the nation, which it sustains through a system of rent-seeking. The politicians who participated in the transition process from Franco's regime to democracy came from very diverse backgrounds: some had worked for Franco, others had been in exile and yet others were part of the illegal opposition within national borders. 1. 2.
Les "indignados" font la Révolution immobilière. Les Indignés du 15-M et d’autres organisations sociales sont mobilisés pour bloquer les expulsions des victimes du krack immobilier. Ils demandent un épurement total des dettes en échange des logements. Le Mouvement du 15-M et la "Plateforme des Affectés par l’Hypothèque" (PAH) se mobilisent pour bloquer les expulsions. Partout en Espagne, ils appliquent la même stratégie : des dizaines de personnes se rassemblent devant l’immeuble dont doit être délogé une famille, interdisant ainsi l’entrée dans le bâtiment de la commission judiciaire chargée de notifier la procédure d’expulsion exercée à la demande de la banque créancière.
Rien qu'en Navarre, selon le Diario de Navarra, une douzaine d’expulsions, ont ainsi été suspendues repoussées -mais pas annulées- depuis que le mouvement du 15-M a décidé de faire des saisies immobilières un de ses nouveaux combats. Victimes de l'ex-boom immobilier Selon le quotidien El País, les expulsions de logement ont été multipliées par trois en trois ans. Spain town reintroduces peseta to boost economy. 5 March 2011Last updated at 16:21 By Sarah Rainsford BBC News, Madrid The Bank of Spain says millions of pesetas were never converted into euros A small town in northern Spain has decided to reintroduce the old Spanish currency - the peseta - alongside the euro to give the local economy a lift.
Shopkeepers in Mugardos want anyone with forgotten stashes of the old cash at home to come and spend it. It is nine years since the peseta was official currency in Spain. But Spain's economic crisis has forced some to be inventive. The hard times have seen thousands of businesses close and more than two million jobs go. Forgotten coins More than 60 shops in Mugardos, a small fishing town in Galicia on Spain's northern coast, are accepting the peseta again for all purchases, alongside the euro. It is an attempt to get cash registers ringing - and help lift the town out of a long and painful economic slump. Shopkeepers were sceptical at first, but they now say the scheme is a great success. España: Alternativas ciudadanas ante la crisis económica. Desde que empezó la crisis socioeconómica, la casta política no ha tomado medidas para fomentar el crecimiento y crear empleo.
Aplica, al contrario, múltiples recortes poniendo en peligro sectores enteros de la sociedad y los derechos sociales de los ciudadanos. Está dinámica agrava la situación de países que ya están al borde de la quiebra. Frente a esta situación, la ciudadanía siente que le corresponde tomar las riendas de su futuro y en España siguen surgiendo movimientos y fenómenos esperanzadores. Son muchos los que apuestan por generar alternativas viables ya sea a través del ahorro o de la creación de un sistema sostenible. Compartir para ahorrar Una de las consecuencias de la crisis es la extensión de la pobreza a la clase media y el empeoramiento de las condiciones de los sectores más vulnerables tal y como lo denuncia un informe reciente de la ONU (Organización de Naciones Unidas) sobre el caso español.
Generar un sistema responsable. Le nouvel exode des Espagnols. Pays d'accueil pendant les années fastes, l'Espagne perd désormais des habitants. Le pays attire moins les étrangers, qui peinent à occuper un emploi, et de jeunes diplômés partent tenter leur chance en Allemagne, en France ou en Grande-Bretagne, où ils espèrent trouver de meilleurs conditions de travail. Entre 2002 et 2008, la population espagnole a augmenté d'environ 700 000 habitants chaque année. Mais, après une petite décennie de croissance rapide, la tendance s'est inversée: l’Espagne perdra 500 000 habitants, soit 1,2% de sa population d’ici à 2021, si les tendances démographiques actuelles se maintiennent, assure l’Institut national des statistiques (INE). Dans 10 ans, le pays ne comptera plus que 45,6 millions de personnes, soit à peu près vingt millions de moins qu’en France, pour un territoire à peine plus petit que l’hexagone.
Terre d'écueil Cette évolution restait supportable tant que l'Espagne restait un pays attractif. Ce n'est plus le cas. Aide au retour des immigrés. Ces dettes « cachées » qui font trembler l’Espagne. Dimanche prochain, les Espagnols se rendront aux urnes afin d’élire leur maire et certains de leurs élus régionaux. Le principal enjeu de ces scrutins ne sera pourtant pas politique : en cas de changement de majorité, des dettes « cachées » pourraient être révélées, venant entacher un peu plus la crédibilité du pays sur les marchés financiers. « Il est évident que les comptes de plusieurs gouvernements régionaux ne sont pas fidèles à la réalité », souligne le rapport de l’institut de recherche Freemarket Corporate Intelligence, cité dans le Financial Times de mardi.
Et d’évoquer le cas de quelque 5 200 entreprises, propriétés des pouvoirs publics, dont l’endettement de 26,4 milliards d’euros n’entre pas dans les chiffres officiels. Ce constat est d’autant plus inquiétant que, d’après la Banque d’Espagne, la dette publique des 17 régions espagnoles a plus que doublé depuis 2008, pour s’établir à 115 milliards d’euros. Photo : steve_h – Flickr.
Homeric Similes And Spanish Debt. “Nihil sapientiae odiosius acumine nimio“ (Nothing is more hateful to wisdom than excessive cleverness) Petrarch, “De Remediis utriusque Fortunae” Like Leo Messi charging his way through a packed Real Madrid defence, twisting now this way, now that, never stopping without being stopped, so did the Spanish sovereign debt surge forward, breaking directly into the red zone near the penalty box, provoking confusion and consternation amongst horrified EU officials and regulators forced to look on as it blindly sought to touch down somewhere well beyond the authorised 100% finishing line.
Spain’s deficit has been much in the news in recent days. Both the target for this year and actual details of last year’s outcome have been the source of much comment, scrutiny, and consternation, but the deficit itself will not form the primary subject matter of this post. What we will be concerned with here is debt, sovereign debt, and the current trajectory of the Spanish variant. And to Bloomberg:
L'Espagne ne sera pas le prochain domino. Contrairement à ce qu'annoncent certains oiseaux de mauvais augure, l'Espagne ne sera probablement pas le prochain pays à demander l'aide de l'Europe. Aucun vent de panique n’a saisi la bourse espagnole jeudi, au lendemain de l’appel au secours lancé par le Portugal. Ceux qui craignaient que la quatrième économie de la zone euro ne succombe aussi à la crise de la dette, après la Grèce, l’Irlande et maintenant le Portugal, dans un effet domino, sont pour l'instant démentis. Nous sommes une économie beaucoup plus grande [que l'économie portugaise] beaucoup plus diversifiée et avec un potentiel beaucoup plus vaste. Nous faisons des réformes importantes à un rythme plus rapide que le Portugal (...) Une possible contagion est absolument écartée", a assuré la ministre de l'économie espagnole, Elena Salgado, sur la radio nationale Cadena Ser.
Rien de comparable avec le Portugal Volonté de rassurer les marchés? Améliorer la compétitivité La reprise se fait attendre. Spain's success abroad fails to create jobs at home | World news. Spain's successful companies are committed to staying in the country, but are unlikely to generate many new jobs for Spanish workers as they expand overseas. Concerns about the country's ability to grow and increasing moves to manufacture and develop new products in emerging markets such as Brazil and Russia means the unemployment rate could remain around 20% for several years to come.
Businesses in some of Spain's fastest growing sectors, such as technology and renewables, said they expect to reduce or at best maintain their workforces as they expanded into new markets. The development is likely to see Spain retain its strong track record as an exporting nation, which has been maintained through the last three years of recession with a steady 1.8% share of world trade despite the rise of China and the far east. But new jobs are likely to go overseas leaving the recovery largely jobless.
"Every day we have no less than 10 companies winning deals overseas. Spain staves off bailout - for now | World news. Spanish store fronts, jostling for space along a single block in Lisbon's João II street, are a sign of just how deeply Spain – which accounts for a third of all Portuguese debt held in foreign banks – is linked to its neighbour. Spain's two global banks, Santander and BBVA, both have branches on this block, along with another bank, a hotel, a travel agency, a dentistry chain, a pizza restaurant and a supermarket – all of them Spanish businesses. Some 8.5% of Spain's exports are sent across its western border, meaning that Portuguese austerity measures and an expected return to recession will be also be felt there.
But Spanish officials who have watched their bond yields improve even as Portugal headed towards a bailout insist there is no danger of it becoming the next eurozone domino to fall. Spanish banks hold around €75bn (£65bn) of Portuguese debt, though only about 30% of this is public debt. Spain had about €25bn in foreign direct investment in Portugal in 2009. Increase in eurozone interest rates would be 'disaster' for Spain, warns Catalonia's economy minister | Business.
A rise in eurozone interest rates next week would damage Spain's recovery and hurt many small businesses and homeowners who are struggling to repay loans, according to Andreu Mas-Colell, the Catalonian regional government's economy minister. The impact of a rate rise would add to a series of shocks that have knocked a hole in the country's annual income and restricted its ability to recover from the financial crisis, he said.
The European Central Bank is considered to be close to pushing up eurozone interest rates from the current 1% following a sharp jump in inflation. ECB boss Jean-Claude Trichet has given strong hints that he has no option but to support higher interest rates to reduce the pressure on prices at the forthcoming meeting on 7 April. "I said two years ago that the disaster ahead would be for the rest of Europe to recover before us and for there to be a rise in interest rates," he said. Spanish covered bond disclosure. It’s the (unheeded) law. ¿Sobrevivirá España al agujero de su sistema financiero? - Libre Mercado. D. Soriano / M. Llamas ¿Caerá España? Ésta parece ser la principal duda entre los inversores y los analistas extranjeros.
Sin embargo, otra cuestión importante es cómo caerá o qué podría arrastrar al país al precipicio. Sin embargo, los tres han sido muy diferentes. Tras Portugal, todo el mundo mirará a España. El sector financiero En 2007 y 2008, durante los primeros meses de la crisis, los sectores financieros estadounidense y británico veían caer entidades del tamaño de Lehman Brothers o Northern Rock, y como muchas otras eran rescatadas con dinero del estado.
Esta percepción fue cambiando con el paso del tiempo, según se hacía palpable que en los balances de las entidades se escondían activos procedentes de la explosión de la burbuja inmobiliaria que podían arrastrar consigo a sus poseedores. Quizás ahora estemos viviendo los momentos culminantes, los que marcarán qué entidades se salvarán y cuáles no saldrán vivas de esta crisis. Bestinver: "España, peor que Portugal" LEAD 2 La Chine investira bien en Espagne /source. * Le fonds souverain chinois dément envisager d'investir $9 mds en Espagne * Une source gouvernementale espagnole évoque une "erreur de communication" * Les "cajas" auraient besoin de E15 mds de financement PEKIN, 14 avril (Reuters) - La Chine s'intéresse à des investissements dans les caisses d'épargnes espagnoles, a réaffirmé une source espagnole jeudi, allant à l'encontre du démenti d'un fonds souverain chinois alors que les investisseurs attendent de connaître la façon dont l'Espagne prévoit de compenser les manques de financement.
Le fonds souverain China Investment Corp (CIC) avait dit plus tôt ce jeudi qu'il n'envisageait pas d'investir neuf milliards de dollars dans des banques, après qu'une autre source espagnole a déclaré mercredi que la Chine prévoyait d'injecter un total de 13 milliards de dollars dans le secteur en difficulté. "Il y a eu une erreur de communication. Le secteur bancaire espagnol aurait besoin de 50 milliards d'euros de refinancement. Six degrees of Spanish bank capitalisation. Eurozone's stability depends on pain in Spain | Business. Another day, another opportunity to whack the bonds of the weaklings of the eurozone.
Even the Dutch finance minister concedes that it "could take months" before stability returns to the eurozone. Behind the broad sweep of pessimism, it is worth thinking about how the "eurozone in crisis" story could eventually improve. Spain is the key. If that domino does not fall, the picture could look different in the new year. According to the optimists, Spain should not have to take a trip to the emergency ward.
Yes, everybody knows about the recession, the 40% fall in property prices and the 20% rate of unemployment. But, as one old market hand puts it, 20% unemployment in Spain used to be regarded as a normal – the "unofficial" economy makes the true number better. The pessimists counter that too much of that debt has to be rolled over in a hurry next year. The point is that there is a genuine debate about the state of Spain. Spain is all about the banks. The Complete Guide To The Oncoming Spanish Debt Crisis That Everyone Is Terrified Of. With the focus firmly on the debt crises in Ireland and Portugal, the real threat is still lurking. Spain is a massive economy, the 5th biggest in the European Union, and the fourth biggest in the eurozone.
By the time and if the sovereign debt crisis spreads to Spain, the eurozone bailout fund now set up to help Greece and Ireland may be too small. Spain, with an economy much larger than Greece, Ireland, or Portugal, may be too big to bail. We've got the details on how it has come to this, why Spain can't escape its situation, and who's exposed to Spain's sovereign debt. During the boom times, it seemed as though Spain was doing well at paying down debt. Spain, unlike Greece, used its period of growth to pay off debts and only had debt of 55% of GDP, which is the Euro zone average, prior to the crisis.
This should, theoretically, make servicing its debt easier as it has less. Source: Index Mundi. Domestically held Spanish debt makes any possibility of restructuring unthinkable. #hagamoscomoIslandia... ¿Debe España dejar caer a la banca y no dar dinero público? Why Spain Won’t Regain Market Confidence « Euro Area Debt Crisis by Megan Greene.