100 posts
Why We Don’t Want To Have The “Instruments of Torture” Used in Spain
We may not want the instruments of torture, but if the Spanish government doesn’t do something to change course and restore growth to the economy, they will be applied. This post is just to draw the attention of anyone who might be interested...
No ACTA transparency from Spain
The Spanish Secretary of State to the EU, Mr. Diego López Garrido, just visited us in IMCO, the European Parliament’s committee for consumer protection and the internal market. He talked for about half an hour in very general terms: ”The...
We've been here before
The Spanish EU Presidency yesterday decided to shelve a vote on the proposed AIFM Directive on hedge funds and private equity due to "a last-minute intervention by Gordon Brown", according to the FT. The talks apparently stalled on British concerns o...
9 Challenges for the Spanish Presidency
Showing global leadership in EU’s external policies in a time of crisis: SOLIDAR calls on the Spanish Presidency in its responsibility for the Europe 2020 strategy and preparations for the 2010 review of the Millennium Development Goals, to use key...
EU Council information assessment early 2010
The Lisbon Treaty was supposed to bring about a European Union “in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen”. Almost two months into the new year 2010, several reasons have contributed to the modes...
Spanish FM: Spain's presidency in EU is opportunity to create solid foundation for cooperation with Azerbaijan
Miguel Angel Moratinos, Foreign Minister of Spain, presiding in the EU, spoke in an exclusive interview with Trend News European Desk. READ MORE...
Spain shoots the messenger
But a real policy difference lurks in there...
Spain’s Incredible Consumer Confidence Index
According to Spain’s Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) the ICC-ICO (consumer confidence index) went up in January by 6.1 points from its December value and is now at its highest level since August 2009. This confidence improvement is largely...
EU-US summit: egotistical wrangling
Everyone agrees that the European Union must get its act together. The wrangling over the next EU-US summit shows that the EU won’t get it’s act together until the egotism of Member State leaders is brought under control. Now it’s the turn...
Success in Spanish: Everyone agrees that good things shall be done
I just came across a press release by the Spanish celebrating the success(es) of their first month as the rotating Council presidency.""The institutions and our partners have given their full and unconditional backing for the fundamental objectives o...
After Greece, and Portugal, Does Spain Come Next?
Well, the Spanish government are due to announce their 2009 fiscal deficit number this morning, together with their adjustment plan for reducing the annual fiscal deficit to below 3% of GDP by 2013. This rather distasteful news will be presented to t...
The Spanish EU presidency: Opportunities in development finance
The start of 2010 sees Spain take the EU presidency for the second time since it joined the EU in 1986. As presiding country, Spain is in a key position to push for stronger deals on development finance. Addressing issues such as aid, capital flight,...
Spanish development NGOs call for another Europe to eradicate poverty
The Spanish Development Cooperation NGOs Platform launched this week in Madrid its manifesto for the EU presidency. Under the slogan 'We want another Europe! Let's stop talking about poverty and eradicate it, the platform underlined the need for: Pol...
London’s Cultural Industries set to benefit from the Spanish Presidency
Addressing the Culture and Education Committee yesterday, Spanish Culture Minister Mrs. Gonzales-Sinde gave priority to the consolidation of culture as a factor for economic growth and social cohesion. As a London MEP I was obviously interest...
Abuses in Spain
Recently there have been more problems for British property owners in Spain who have been served demolition notices on the houses they own, as reported here. The latest incident involves demolition notices being served on with properties in a small v...
Kick-start
Open Europe has a short article in this month's edition of Parliament Magazine, detailing how the Spanish EU Presidency could contribute to getting Europe's economy back on track. We argue:Instead of trying to make economic underperformance illegal...
On the Spanish Presidency Programme
In addition to the Jean Monnet Conference, taking place today in Madrid, where the Jean Monnet professors, chief executives, university rectors, experts and EU representatives participate; and the conference “Paths of Democracy of Europe”, takin...
Near Nada: EU General Affairs Council 25 January 2010
The quantity and quality of information ahead of the General Affairs Council meeting Monday 25 January 2010 is derisory. The agenda tells us that the ministers will be occupied between 10:00 and 15:00 hearing and discussing one agenda item, the Spani...
Spain, best organic grower is COATO in Murcia
Granted with the Agricultural ministry MARM's 22nd award "Food from Spain 2009", the Murcian co-operative COATO is the best Spanish organic company in 2009, with the largest organic cultivated surface in Europe. The ministry MARM underlined the compa...
Spain's EU Presidency Greeted With Skepticism
Spain's six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, which began on Jan. 1, 2010, is off to a bumpy start. With the Lisbon Treaty now in effect, the traditional role of the EU rotating presidency has been downgraded. Responsibility for many i...
So, who’s running the EU now?
BRUSSELS — On January 1, Spain became the first country to take over the six-month rotating EU Council Presidency since the Lisbon Treaty went into effect a month earlier. To Madrid, therefore, falls the challenge of shaping how the new and i...
Green Leader Welcomes New EU Presidency Focus On Gendered Violence
12 January 2010 - Green Party leader and Euro-MP Caroline Lucas has praised the Spanish government for its solid commitment to [...]...
Spain’s Kites Keep The EU Rotating Presidency Flying High
How many days can a Spanish kite stay in the air? About four, to judge from the speed with which Germany and the UK have shot down a proposal from José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain’s prime minister, to introduce binding mechanisms to en...
Mr Bildt went to Madrid
Our blog post Mr Bildt goes to Madrid (8 January 2010) tried to show that the presidency of the Council of the European is – and should be – more restricted under the Lisbon Treaty (despite the fact that Sweden marketed its presidency of the Coun...
Mr Bean Meets The Three Wise Men
Last Wednesday was Epiphany. In Spain it is also a public holiday - Los Reyes Magos - a festival which celebrates the visit of the three wise men who came from the East to find the infant Jesus. Coincidentally on the eve of Epiphany this year the Mon...
The Spanish Presidency Priorities - the same game but different rules
"Following a smoothly run yet challenged Swedish Presidency, the Spanish take on the mantle of the rotating EU Presidency for the first half of 2010. In doing so, they inherit many of the challenges faced by the Swedes."...
Spain toes the line – Sinuous screen represents the European ‘journey’
All of Brussels let out a sigh of relief yesterday as Spain unveiled its decidedly non-controversial art installation to mark the start of the six-month Spanish EU Presidency. The installation in the lobby of the Justus Lipsius building presents a...
Is Spain Getting Left Behind?
This not unreasonable question was asked today by Ralph Atkins on the FT’s Money Supply Blog: The economic news from Spain has turned more worrisome. Eurozone purchasing managers’ indices for manufacturing showed the region’s recovery hummi...
Spanish Council Presidency (begins with a failing website acc to Eurobloggers)
Spanish Presidency official site. Spain takes over EU presidency as Turkey eyes progress Spanish Council presidency website is a failure by Julien Frisch I totally agree with The European Citizen and Grahnlaw that the website of the Spanish EU Counci...
Spain’s EU Council presidency website: New treaty – old communications (Updated)
After Sweden with the last presidency of the Council of the European Union, mainly under the Treaty of Nice, Spain’s presidency website – the first with the Lisbon Treaty in force from day one – paradoxically feels like a throwback to old times...
European Digital Agenda in 2010 on first day of Spanish EU Council presidency
What does the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union hold in store for the European Digital Agenda in 2010? At the same time, searching for statements regarding specific policies offers a test of the functionality of the Spanish pres...
Happy New Year and Good Luck Spain
The year is coming to its end and so is the Swedish Presidency. It has been a fantastic year with so much fun, hard work and a lot of results. It has really been a privilege to be able to move the European agenda forward for six months. Apart for som...
How the Spanish EU Council Presidency can be a success
In two days, the Spanish EU Council Presidency will take over from the Swedish Council Presidency, and the Spanish will be the first rotating presidency under the Lisbon Treaty system. The new institutional setting will need some adaptation, people...
Quantifying Eurozone Imbalances and the Internal Devaluation of Greece and Spain
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Winston Churchill, 1942 Summary The extent, so far, of the internal devaluation process depends on the time period used for analysis. U...
Spanish presidency of EU Council 2010
After Sweden’s six months chairing the Council of the European Union, summed up in a blog post yesterday, the start of the Spanish presidency is just a few days off. Spain becomes the first member state to steer Council work under Lisbon Treaty rul...
Podcast On The Present State Of The Spanish Economy
Caveat emptor, Spanish based blogger Mathew Bennett and I have started doing podcasts, and you can find the first one here. At this point in time we are concentrating on Spain. Among the points we cover are: - How does what’s happened in Dubai affe...
Why Standard and Poor’s Are Right To Worry About Spanish Finances
“Spain’s weaknesses over the developing crisis reflect mainly the reversal of the continuous domestic demand expansion of over a decade, which was associated with high indebtedness of the private sector, large external deficits and debt,...
When 1000s of Spaniards Rallied in Defence of Online Rights (I): A Chronicle
An online fire is burning in Europe. It was set by what appears to be a designed campaign to transform the European intellectual property regime, towards a more restrictive set of rules directly affecting the fundamental rights of freedom of expressi...
EU & Latin America: The cautious approach by the EU Foreign Affairs Council
Now that we are approaching the Spanish Council Presidency, the first rotating EU Council presidency that will not lead the European Council, one of the main foreign policy issues for Spain - Latin America - is gaining importance on the agenda, yet w...
Spanish EU Presidency 'to set precedents'
Spain unveiled on Tuesday (8th December) its priorities for its six-month stint at the EU's helm during the first half of 2010. Spain will be the first country to take the rotating presidency since the nomination of a permanent EU president and a Hig...
The Guinness book of summits
By Diego Lopez Garrido’s reckoning, the Spanish EU presidency is going to summit its way into the Guinness Book of Records. Spain’s loquacious Secretary of State for EU affairs says there will be up to ten summits during the country’...
Reform of Spanish development finance mechanisms
At the end of 2009, the Spanish parliament will vote on reforming the main public mechanisms that generate external debt owed by Southern countries to the Spanish state. The mechanisms that will be affected by the reform are the Development Aid Fund...
