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Government in Spain

  • Spain: Coalition conundrum

    SPAIN, 2016/01/04 The results of general elections on 20 December appear to suggest the end of a bipartisan political environment. Mariano Rajoy’s PP (Partido Popular) won 123 seats in the Congress but failed by 53 seats to achieve an absolute majority. As a result, and in order to form a government, the PP needs to form alliances with other parties with congressional seats. The socialist party (PSOE), the other major traditional party, won only 90 seats, the worst electoral result in its history. Part the new political players, the leftist Podemos won 69 seats and the centrist Ciudadanos 40 seats.
  • Spain’s Left-Wing Parties Reject New Rajoy Government

    SPAIN, 2016/01/03 Spain’s two biggest left-wing parties ruled out supporting a government led by the ruling People’s Party (PP) on Monday, complicating Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s efforts to build a coalition to remain in power next a tight general election. Parties began staking out positions for what are expected to be weeks of complex talks on forming a government next Rajoy’s centre-right PP won most votes in Sunday’s election but fell well short of the 176 seats needed for a parliamentary majority. Two newcomers – leftist anti-austerity Podemos (“We can”) and the liberal Ciudadanos (“Citizens”) – entered the mainstream for the initial time, ending domination by the PP and Socialists stretching back to any minute at this time next dictator Francisco Franco’s death in 1975. The two parties won scores of seats in parliament, tapping widespread anger over a recently-ended economic slump and high-level corruption in the European Union’s fifth-major economy.
  • Catalan results don't give right to move towards independence

    SPAIN, 2015/09/29 Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Monday said the results of Sunday's elections for the Catalan Regional Assembly (Generalitat) would not lead to any move towards Catalan independence, which he continued to insist was against the law. The elections had been presented almost as a plebiscite with the leader of the Generalitat, Artur Mas insisting that if the pro-independence bloc won a majority, they would begin taking steps towards obtaining the independence of the region. Sunday's vote saw 'Junts Pel Si' (Together for Yes), along with fellow pro-independence bloc, CUP, obtain a majority of 72 seats in the 135 seat assembly, however they did this with 47.75 % of the votes, with parties who had positioned themselves against independence or who were ambiguous on the issue gaining 52.25 %.
  • Spain's King Juan Carlos

    SPAIN, 2014/06/03 Spain's King Juan Carlos has decided to abdicate and pave the way for his son, Crown Prince Felipe, to become the country's next king. The announce was made this morning by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. "King is stepping down for personal reasons" , Pm said. However Juan Carlos has lost popular support in recent years following royal scandals, inclunding an elephant-shooting trip he took among Spain's financial crisis that tarnished the monarch's image. He as well suffered from health problems.
  • Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy

    SPAIN, 2013/12/01 The development came as Times columnist Ben Macintyre claimed in an article that Spain’s ambassador to London, Federico Trillo, had been summoned by the Foreign Office over the bag incident. If correct, that would mean that Ambassador Trillo was called in by the British Government twice within the space of a week, the initial time over a 22-hour incursion into British waters by the Spanish research ship Ramón Margalef. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy drew a line under the diplomatic bag incident at the Gibraltar border following a conversation with his British counterpart, David Cameron. The two men spoke on the side lines of an EU summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, although their conversation centered mostly on Scotland and Catalonia, according to Spanish reports. “This (incident) has been resolved” said the Spanish president.
  • King Juan Carlos I of Spain official visit to Morocco this summer

    SPAIN, 2013/07/17 According to the Spanish daily La Rezin, the king who is still recovering from surgery for a herniated disc he suffered on March 3 , is preparing to go to Morocco for a summit visit with King Mohammed VI, the initial between the two men, since the major political changes that took place in the kingdom. La Razon said the trip of the King of Spain to Morocco is of particular importance, since Spain will rely on its monarch to counter the French offensive conducted in Morocco since the national visit of President Francois Hollande.
  • Gibraltar will commemorate the 300 year of the Treaty of Utrecht

    SPAIN, 2013/04/22 Over the years, in the context of European agreements, Mr Picardo said Spain had signed a number of treaties which should have put the issue of Gibraltar well beyond not just its reach but well beyond its ambition. “And from presently on even today and I feel this is the significance of the 300 years – even today 300 years later, we are still one of the focal points of Spanish diplomacy. These guys must begin to find something better to do,” he stressed.
  • Cameron and Rajoy scheduled to meet this month,

    SPAIN, 2013/04/02 Luis Ayllon, said it could not be ruled out that Gibraltar may as well make it onto the schedule. A spokesman for No.10 Downing Street declined to comment on the ABC statement. “We don’t confirm the Prime Minister’s travel arrangements in advance,” the spokesman said.
  • Spain: government predicts recession through 2013 2012-07-24

    SPAIN, 2012/07/24