Re-Election Set For June 26th, Spanish King Confirms

Re-Election Set For June 26th, Spanish King Confirms

Spain had been doing well in spite of having no Government

The Spanish king Felipe-Bella-Naija has confirmed that the next general election in Spain will take place on June 26^th. King Felipe VI confirmed that Spain will go back to the polls once more in a second general election as the first failed to secure a ruling party.

The last vote was held on December 20^th of last year and no party managed to reach a majority. Six months of negotiations between the parties has so far failed to bring together a coalition so a re-election must be held.

The Spanish King used his authority as the head of state to call another election. The date, 26^th of June, will be just a few short days after the British will vote on the EU Referendum and a few days before EU leaders will gather at Brussels for their June 28^th summit.

A recent opinion poll has suggested that former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, the head of the People’s Party (PP) has become slightly more popular since last December. He now has 29% support, slightly up from the 28% he was at last year.

The biggest rival of the People’s Party is the Socialist party. They have seen a small drop in popularity as they went from 22% to 20.3%. The anti-austerity left-wing wing party Podemos has also suffered from a dip in popularity. They went from 20.7% to 18.1%.

The only party to see a significant rise in popularity is the central party Ciudadanos. They have gone up from 13.9% to 17%.

These changes in telecommunications and popularity suggest that Spaniards agrowth of the economy and are less interest in the idea of the total change that is being promised by Podemos and the Socialist party.

The economic growth of Spain and the low cost of living has been one of the best in the Eurozone. This has given Rajoy the chance to brag about the hard work that his party did during their last term. The country suffered from a double-dip recession during the time.

Rajoy told La Razón newspaper that his party was the most useful for Spain. He also said that voting for him was voting for the lesser evil and would be preferable over choosing a government that would attempt to undo all the good the PP had done, such as hard labour reforms.

Summer Has Arrived and Brought a Boost to the Job Market With It

Summer Has Arrived and Brought a Boost to the Job Market With It

Busy beaches and bars are just one of the signs that summer has arrived in Spain. With the season comes the seasonal boost in the job market too.

Summer is here and expected to be a busy season in costa del Sol

Spain has a lot of signals that summer has finally arrived. The mercury rises in thermometers, the streets fill with people, and tourists can be found all over the beaches and bars of the Costa del Sol. Taking a look at these indicators it’s obvious that summer has reached some parts of Spain. As long as you ignore the sunny spells and damp weather that is.

One of the biggest indicators that summer has reached Spain is the job market. The amount of action in the country means that unemployment drops as summer approaches. Spain is one of the most visited countries in the summer and all those tourists are going to need people to take care of them after all.

It’s a trend that has continued this year and the results are encouraging. Statistics released by the Labour Ministry have shown that around 160,000 new jobs were created in April with unemployment figures dropping by 83,599. Spain currently has just over 4 million people registered as unemployed. This figure is pretty high but it is slowly decreasing as the economy continues to improve and new businesses starting in Spain. 

Spain has seen a lot of labour reforms, changes to tax, an improved real estate sector and plenty of other economic growth but really summer is one of the main reasons that things are continuing to improve in the country, even if the growth is a little slower than it was last year. April of last year saw 175,000 new jobs created compared to the 160,000 this year.

The data shows that the most growth was seen in the hospitality, manufacturing and administrative sectors.

Spain Voted Best Place to Study Abroad

Spain Voted Best Place to Study Abroad

Madrid has been ranked the number one place to study in Europe by overseas students. Other Spanish cities Seville and Barcelona and Costa del Sol also placed highly.

The Madrid is voted a great place to study and live

Uniplaces have published a poll in which Spain was voted the best place to study by Erasmus students.

Madrid topped the poll while Seville and Barcelona placed highly as they came in fifth and seventh respectively.

These results mean that Spain had more cities in the top ten than any other country. These results are also confirmation of something that has long been suspected – you can’t beat Spain if you want to study abroad.

Cities were ranked using different criteria in the Uniplaces poll. The main criteria were the living costs, the education standards, the culture, the history and, of course, the nightlife that students could enjoy. Madrid has a party scene that was undoubtedly going to be a big hit with foreign students.

Madrid is also filled with culture, the universities are top notch, and the transport system is great. The city as a whole is safe and affordable. So students have virtually no worries outside of how well they are performing in school.

Spain had more going for it than just that though. Spain has a great climate and low cost of living in Spain that allows students to spend as much time sunbathing as they do studying. There are also so many great bars, restaurants and cafes throughout the country; especially in the big cities.

Spain is, of course, a great place to learn Spanish. For students outside of an English speaking country it also presents a great opportunity to learn English. The country has a lot of people who speak English, including a large number of former British citizens.

The size of the country, along with the variety of the different areas, make it a real treat to explore. Each part of Spain offers something unique and new for students to see. There are mountains in the northwest and the southeast has deserts.

Throw in all the coastline and it’s not hard to see why students are choosing Spain to spend their formative years.

Spanish Property Sales Expected to Go Up 10%

Spanish Property Sales Expected to Go Up 10%

People are beginning to buy property overseas again  in the Costa del Sol and, as usual, Spain has found itself one of the most popular choices.

2015 proved to be a strong year for the Spanish property market and it’s being predicted that 2016 will be even better.

Property for sale in the Costa del Sol is defiantly on the up

It’s expected that more than 440,000 Spanish properties could change hands in 2016. This is according to data from KPMG, one of the leading analysts. A seminar was held last week in which experts gathered to discuss the potential of the Spanish property market. They agreed that the property sector could grow between 10% and 12% in 2016. Overall the market is expected to make over €20 billion.

Transactions in 2015 came to a total of €18 billion and, according to KPMG’s Amparo solis, 2016 will see €2 billion more generated.

Spanish property prices are still low but they are rising. As such 2016 could be a very lucrative year for the Spanish property market, according to Deloitte’s Alberto Valis. Alberto believes that the low interest rates in Spain will spur on the market even more.

Roughly 60% of the property sales in 2015 were funded through mortgages, a sign that Spain has a lot of cash-rich buyers. It’s expected that more homes for sale in the costa del sol and spain will be funded by mortgages this year. This is a good thing too as it suggests buyers on average incomes are able to jump on the property ladder.

It was also accepted that the economic growth that Spain is seeing in general is also part of the reason behind the growth of the property sector, along with the decline in unemployment figures.

PwC’s Jaime Bergaz says that so far 2016 has seen almost €14.5 billion worth of property change hands, and that the average value per sale has gone up. This is in spite of the current political problems Spain is facing and the uncertainty caused by a potential Brexit coming in July.

It’s Not Known Just How Many Brits Live in Spain

It’s Not Known Just How Many Brits Live in Spain

There is now way of knowing the real number of Brits living in Spain

Many of the Brits who own holiday homes in Spain don’t live in the country on a permanent basis, but do still spend a lot of their time there. As a result it’s not known just how many Brits live in Spain.

It could be two million. It could be more or less. The fact is that there is no official number for the amount of Britons that currently live in Spain. This is according to official sources. They say that it is difficult to register and keep track of who is living where and for how long they do it.

When Labour leader Jeremy Corbin spoke about the EU referendum recently he claimed that there were around three quarter of a million Brits living in Spain. The BBC quickly questioned the figure and tried to find out for themselves just how many Brits could be found in Spain. The closest we can get to official data comes from Eurostat. Eurostat says that there are 306,000 UK-born people registered as permanent residents in Spain. Almost everyone else says the number is much higher.

A lot of people throw out the “750,000” figure but this is just an educated guess. There are also claims that twice this number actually spend a majority of their year in the country, especially on the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca.

The BBC also claim that one third of the Brits registered as residents of Spain claim their UK state pension. This is in line with claims that the majority of British expats are retired people who wanted to live the rest of their lives in the sun.

Brits also make up the majority of the holiday travel and property sector. Over six million Brits flocked to Spain last year. There are also plenty of Brits that live and work in the coats del sol an Spain but are yet to register as residents with their local town hall. There are some estimates that the number of unregistered Brits is higher than the number of registered ones.

Whatever the case may be Spain is still the most popular home away from home for Brits and it’s not hard to see why.

Ten Weird Things About the UK That Shocks Spaniards

Ten Weird Things About the UK That Shocks Spaniards

Spaniards love to go to the UK when they decide to live abroad but there are things about the UK that the Spaniards find almost impossible to come to grips with.

The Spanish think the British have

some strange habits

Alcohol

In Spain alcohol is enjoyed as part of a meal and it can take them the better part of an evening to drink it all. In the UK Brits drink as much as they can as fast as they can, only stopping to get something to eat on the way home.

Punctuality

Another thing is that Spaniards take being late nowhere near as seriously as the British do. A Spaniard could turn up 30 minutes late with no problem but if you’re late more than once with a Brit then you’ve got a reputation.

Personal Space

Spaniards also have trouble with personal space. Spaniards are expressive and greet eachother with a kiss while Brits prefer handshakes and formal greetings. Brits don’t even kiss people they know. Physical contact is something that should generally be avoided. Spanish expats are commonly regarded as being a bit too touchy-feely if all they do is just pat someone on the back. A good firm handshake is about as much as Brits are willing to touch strangers.

Bad Coffee

Spaniards find the coffee in the UK terrible compared to the coffee from Spain. It’s just something the Brits have never managed to get right.

Bathroom Carpets

Carpets may help a British home stay warm but Spaniards are used to wooden floors and tiles so it can be surprising to them. They also feel that bathroom carpets are unhygienic.

Winter Dress

British people are so used to the cold weather they can wear miniskirts and stringy tops in the middle of winter. Spaniards may brave the cold but they will only do so if they are wearing plenty of layers. They just don’t get how the Brits do it.

Politeness

While the Spanish say please, thank you, and sorry plenty they feel that Brits will throw these words into conversation too much. They say the words so much they lose meaning to Spaniards.

Takeaway Food

There are so many fast food joints, and the food served there is so bad, that it leaves Spaniards desperate for a nice home cooked meal. They are also surprised when they learn that curry is actually one of the national dishes of England, rather than the more traditional fish and chips or roast beef and Yorkshire puddings.

Queues

The Spanish aren’t exactly surprised to learn how much Brits are willing to queue, but they can be very surprised to learn how angry it makes Brits when someone doesn’t respect the queue and tries to jump the line.

Fake Tan

Spanish expats can’t get over how obsessed with being tanned the British are. All the fake tan and makeup that a British woman is likely to put on comes across as tacky to them.