Spain’s Socialist Utopia Mugged by Reality
Throngs of Spanish youth have gathered in more than 50 cities across Spain to protest skyrocketing unemployment, cutbacks to social welfare benefits and rampant corruption among Spain’s political elite.
Tag: Spain
Europeans React to Death of Osama bin Laden
Leading newspapers and magazines in Europe have provided saturation coverage of the death of Osama bin Laden. Although initial media reaction in Europe was overwhelmingly supportive of the American commando operation, media outlets in many countries quickly regained their composure and anti-Americanism has now returned as their default position.
Why Are Pacifist Europeans Declaring War on Libya?
An unintended but highly illuminating irony of the military intervention in Libya is that it has exposed the duplicity behind European pacifism.
Spain Goes on Mosque-Building Spree
The city of Barcelona has agreed to build an official mega-mosque with a capacity for thousands of Muslim worshipers. The new structure would rival the massive Islamic Cultural Center in Madrid, currently the biggest mosque in Spain. The Barcelona mayor’s office says the objective is to increase the visibility of Muslims in Spain, as well […]
Spain: A Political Risk Analysis
Spain’s debt-laden Socialist government is caught in a Catch-22 situation in which it has failed to satisfy conflicting demands to cut its budget and stimulate job creation and economic growth. If the government cuts public spending to the level needed to reduce the deficit, it will drag down economic growth and make it more difficult […]
Spanish Presidency of the EU: High Hopes, Low Expectations
Spain holds the six-month rotating presidency of the 27-member European Union from January through June 2010. The following analysis explains the domestic political and economic context facing the Zapatero government during Spain’s EU presidency. It then examines in greater detail several of the Zapatero government’s stated priorities for Spain’s EU presidency, and then closes with […]
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.
Mr Zapatero Goes to Washington
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s second term in office has not been a happy affair for Spain. With his poll numbers now at an all-time low, Zapatero is hoping that his October 13 visit to the White House will reverse his foundering political fortunes.
Fifty Years of Basque Terrorism
The Spanish government has accused the Basque terrorist group ETA of responsibility for back-to-back bombings last week that killed two people and injured more than 50 others. The bloody attacks came as ETA — short for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, or Basque Fatherland and Freedom — marked the 50th anniversary of its founding.
Spain Steps Back from Universal Jurisdiction
The Spanish National Criminal Court (Audiencia Nacional) said on June 30 it was scrapping an investigation into a 2002 Israeli Air Force bombing in Gaza that killed a suspected Hamas militant and 14 civilians. The move comes just days after the lower house of the Spanish Parliament voted to limit the scope of a 1985 […]
Franco-Spanish Sub Dispute Shows Challenges Facing EU Defense Market
As if to illustrate the challenges facing an integrated European defense market, the French naval shipyard DCNS is suing Spain’s leading state-owned shipbuilding firm, Navantia, for allegedly stealing trade secrets relating to the Scorpène submarine project.
Immigration Policy a Casualty of Unemployment in Spain
As the once-vibrant Spanish economy plunges deeper into recession, the government of Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is struggling to staunch the country’s skyrocketing jobless rate. And among the first casualties is Spain’s famously lenient immigration policy.
