Spainish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will this week detail further plans to manage the COVID-19 pandemic amid fierce criticism from the conservative opposition about the slow vaccination roll-out and controversy surrounding the AstraZeneca vaccine, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.
The Spanish government, trade unions, and employer’s associations announced on Wednesday (3 February) an emergency rescue plan to maintain production capacity in the country’s aerospace factories and save thousands of jobs, mainly in the Spanish branch of EU manufacturer Airbus. EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.
Fresh polls predict a virtual “technical tie” between the two main pro-independence parties in the elections to be held in Catalonia on 14 February. Socialist candidate and Spain's former health minister Salvador Illa is predicted to come third. EURACTIV's partner EFE reports.
Spain’s health minister, Salvador Illa, officially resigned on Tuesday (26 January), after just over a year in office, to run in the upcoming elections in Catalonia scheduled for 14 February. Illa’s exit prompted some criticism, as well as a slight reshuffle in the Spanish coalition government, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reported.
Unity at the national and EU level will be key for Spain and Europe to overcome the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said, adding that his government would successfully implement the €140 billion from the EU for the country's pandemic response and recovery.
Spain’s new taxes on digital and financial services, approved last year, came into force on Saturday (16 January). The first collection is expected in March or April, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.
The Spanish government is currently drafting a detailed “road map” of reforms – including changes to pensions and the country's labour law – in order to speed up access to EU funding and mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.
The Spanish government is ready to approve before Friday (15 January) an extension of temporary lay-off schemes put in place March last year to protect jobs for around 800,000 workers affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the tourism and services sectors. EURACTIV’s partner EuroEFE reports.
Spain’s health ministry will soon launch a WhatsApp interactive channel to fight against disinformation on COVID-19 vaccines, El País reported. This should help reduce the percentage of Spaniards who still refuse to get vaccinated. EURACTIV's partner EuroEfe reports.
The Spanish parliament (Congreso de los Diputados) approved on Thursday with a large majority a controversial bill to regulate euthanasia in the country, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.
With the virus not going away ahead of the Christmas season, the Spanish government is ready to implement tougher measures, Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told parliament on Wednesday, EFE reports.
Spain’s socialist Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, stressed in Paris on Monday (14 December) that "economic growth does not guarantee well-being" and that the world needs a change of paradigm to deal with new challenges. EURACTIV's partner EFE reported.
Spain’s Minister for Territorial Policy, Carolina Darias, encouraged local councils and regional governments in the country to submit "powerful projects", mainly focused in areas such as the “green economy”, digital transformation, social cohesion and gender equality, all of which are eligible for financing under the EU Next Generation fund, EURACTIV's partner EFE reported.
In an exclusive interview in Amsterdam with EURACTIV’s partner EFE, Emer Cooke, the executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), stressed that Europeans are much “better protected" if the COVID-19 vaccine is authorised by the EU agency.
Spain's economy will do slightly better than previously forecast, with a 2.4% GDP increase by the end of this month, the country's Inclusion and Social Security Minister José Luis Escrivá predicted on Tuesday (8 December). EFE reports.
The new restrictions approved by the Spanish government to prevent the spread of the virus at Christmas are “very tough”, health minister Salvador Illa admitted on Monday (7 December) but warned that their success would depend almost exclusively upon every citizen’s responsible behaviour. EURACTIV's partner EFE reported.
The Spanish parliament on Thursday (3 December) approved by a large majority the new state budget bill for 2021, which gathered the support of 11 political parties, including Catalan and Basque separatists, EFE reports.
The European Commission has called for an urgent extraordinary meeting of the Management Board of EU border agency Frontex, which has been accused of "illegal pushbacks" of migrants in the Aegan Sea. EURACTIV's partner Euroefe reports.
While the unemployment rate in the eurozone reached 8.1% in August, it rose to 7.4% for the bloc as a whole, according to Eurostat. EURACTIV's partner EUROEFE reports.
After a journey often marked by violence and abuse, more than 210,000 unaccompanied minors without future prospects who have applied for asylum in Europe over the past five years are living in crowded refugee camps. EURACTIV's partner EUROEFE reports.
While the COVID-19 crisis has had a positive impact on the energy sector by reducing emissions of polluting gases, it has also hampered green investments, making it difficult to implement the EU climate programme. EURACTIV's partner EFE reports.
For Noam Chomsky, the overriding lesson of the coronavirus pandemic is that the crisis represents "another colossal failure of the neoliberal version of capitalism" and the situation is made worse in the United States by "the sociopathic buffoons who are running the government" in Washington.
"We are rewriting the rules of the game," Israeli historian and author Yuval Noah Harari told Efe in an interview, warning that "the decisions we make now will have an impact for years and decades and will reconfigure the planet. We will have to choose between uniting humanity or selfishness and nationalisms".
The economic and health priorities in the coronavirus crisis are the same - to stop the contagion, according to the OECD General Secretary, Angel Gurría, who insists on the need for more globalisation and further multilateralism and also advocates for greater European integration.
