Spanish Government Plans to Create 20,000 Public Sector Jobs Across Next Two Years

Spanish Government Plans to Create 20,000 Public Sector Jobs Across Next Two Years 

creating more jobs can only be good for everyone 

The Spanish government has pledged to create 20,000 additional public sector jobs leading up to 2019. The move is part of an effort to provide the official authorities and services of the country with more support. 

The El Mundo newspaper is reporting that 7,000 of these jobs will be for general state administrations, along with another 3,360 positions opening for the judiciary.

4,000 jobs will go to the Spanish civil service, social security, and tax authority institutions as Madrid is looking to boost the ability of the government in key areas. 

It’s expected that many of these prospective roles will be announced – and potentially filled – by the end of the year. If this is the case, it would be one of the most powerful recruitment drives ever by a Spanish government. The vice president of CSI-F – the majority union in the Central State Administration – spoke to El Pais; saying that the plan looks to ensure the viability of the administration which has seen young staff decimated in the past six years. 

The official data shows that only 1,388 of the 190,858 public sector workers in Spain are under 30 years old. This statistic shows not only how public sector roles have been the domain of the old and connected Spaniard, but also the need for a fresh young mindset and new ideas. 

This doesn’t help that absolutely zero public sector roles have been created in the country since 2010. Spain has been dealing with austerity since 2010, but the current economy is holding strong and prospects are good, giving the government the freedom to bolster the public sector while they can.

Spain Finally Has a New Government

Spain Finally Has a New Government

This past Sunday the Socialist Party of Spain (PSOE) finally agreed to step aside and let stand-in

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his Popular Party (PP) go back to running the country after a ten month long political impasse.

Spain has continued to do well without a government

While the decision the PSOE made to stand aside and accede defeat wasn’t popular with the left-leaning Spaniards the political deadlock finally ending can only be good for the country. Rajoy is expected to take the helm of the country some time next month. He will be much less powerful this time around however.

Rajoy failed to secure a majority number of seats in the election from last December and the June election of this year; meaning that the PP will only control 137 seats out of the 350 seats available in Spanish parliament.

As such Rajoy will need to negotiate most of his political decisions with the other people in parliament with him. Watering down Rajoy’s power was one of the few positive things that the PSOE took from their move; arguing that it would be better to end the deadlock and stop the PP in parliament when needed than keep the impasse going for a third election.

Rajoy is expected to meet with King Felipe before two additional rounds of Congress voting will see the Popular Party reinstated as the Spanish governing party by the end of next week.

It’s somewhat of a “tradition” in Spain that the Popular Party and the PSOE trade power as the country swings from left to right. The recent recessions and cost of living of the country saw the emergence of two additional smaller parties that messed up this delicate balance. They were the Podemos party of the far left and the centrist Cíudadanos party. Both of these parties took some votes from both of the major parties but the PSOE in particular were badly hit.

There’s no doubt that the new leader of the PSOE Javier Fernandez must have had trouble choosing to stand aside. Even so he said that his decision was the lesser of two evils and the Spanish public are in agreement, along with the press and economists who are happy to finally see the political disputes of the past year come to an end.

The PSOE saw that 139 regional voters agreed to their decision to lift their veto to allow the PP to form a government while 96 were against it. This shows that there is still a pretty big divide in the party and that Rajoy will not find it so easy to run the country during his second term at the helm.

Fernando Vallespin; politics professor with the Autonomous University of Madrid said that it is unprecedented for a Spanish government to have such a small amount of parliamentary support. He added that Rajoy will most likely need to negotiate any laws he tries to introduce.

With the new government finally being formed Spain will continue to be a better place to live.

Bloomberg Suggests Lack of Spanish Government is Blessing in Disguise

Bloomberg Suggests Lack of Spanish Government is Blessing in Disguise

Spain is doing very well without a government

Most economists would be driven crazy by the idea that a country could go nine months with no one at the helm. Spain is currently a strange situation where the opposite seems to be true however. The country hasn’t had a leader since last December when the national election resulted in a hung parliament. The country went back to the polls in June but, once again, no party was able to secure a majority or a coalition.

Things haven’t changed much since June. The leaders of the parties refuse to budge and are not accepting any peace offerings made to them. It’s looking like Spain could face an unprecedented three elections in one year and the third one could even take place on Christmas Day.

While it seems like such a thing could lead to economic disaster things are actually going well for Spain. Things are going so well that the political analysts at Bloomberg are suggesting that this lack of leadership could be more of a blessing for Spain as they navigate their way out of a recession as living in Spain continues to go well.

No one is quite sure how but the stats don’t lie and they say that Spanish GDP grew 3% this year; which is better than most other European countries. There are plenty of reasons why there as this growth but main underlying factor seems to be that Spain has always had a decentralised government with local authorities and bureaucracy meaning that Spain has always been good at taking care of itself.

It’s different from the UK where London could be considered the centre of power. Spain is a country with many regional powerhouses including Barcelona, the Valencian economy along the Mediterranean, the cultural capital of Seville, and other places of power such as Malaga, Santander, Bilbao and San Sebastian.

The bumper tourism season this summer has also helped a lot with jobs created organically rather than through some kind of employment program. This has worked perfectly in combination with the employment reforms acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his PP introduced that allow businesses to come to their own agreements with unions. The end result is a strong and liberal job market.

The Bloomberg piece is basically suggesting that Spain has a lot of policies and regulations that allow it to run itself for the near future at least. It’s obvious that there will need to be some leadership at some point so things can be tweaked but, right now, Spain is pretty much on autopilot and things are going quite well and has kept the cost of living relatively low. 

Many hope it continues for as long as it can.

Spanish Socialist Party Urged to Allow PP To Form Government

Spanish Socialist Party Urged to Allow PP To Form Government

The idea that Spain could hold a third general election in 12 months, on Christmas Day of all days, looks like it could be too much for some of the Social Party (PSOE) of Spain. It’s expected that they will pressure their leader, Pedro Sánchez, to go ahead and let other parties form a government.

Spanish Parliament is still looking for someone to lead Spain

It looks like some PSOE members have given up on forming a minority government of their own and are ready to let Mariano Rajoy and his Popular Party (PP) gather the remaining votes he needs to form a coalition.

The regional elections held last weekend saw that the PSOE have lost some ground in northern regions of Galicia and Basque Country; leading some members of the party to accept that perhaps they should bow out of the race with grace and dignity now.

At the minute Sánchez is showing no signs of backing down however, even saying that his “no” to Mr Rajoy is as justified as ever. Even so senior member of the PP Pablo Casado has asked Sánchez to reflect on possibly allowing Rajoy to put together a government.

The PP have managed to secure the most votes but have also failed to secure enough votes to form a majority government. Instead they have been forced to look to other parties to form a working coalition with them. The PSOE holds the second highest number of votes, giving them a strong veto hand that they’ve been using since the first election back in December.

If Sánchez were to stand aside however then the PSOE votes would be counted as abstention, which would mean that they were not included in the final tally and the PP could take control of the government once again; even if it was as part of a coalition involving centrist party Ciudadanos.

But if Sánchez cannot be persuaded by the 31^st of October then the Christmas vote is pretty much guaranteed for Spaniards. Interestingly enough Sánchez has called for the PSOE to have a leadership race on October 23^rd, which would suggest that he is not going to change his position at all, but that he will give the chance for someone else to take over and abstain.

Living in Spain without a government hasn't done the country any harm, on the contrary the country has continued to do well without either party in power.

Spanish King Gives Deadline to Politicians to Form New Government

Spanish King Gives Deadline to Politicians to Form New Government

The Spanish King Felipe VI is stepping in to finally end the impasse that has crippled the Spanish government for around eight months now.

King Felipe VI insists that the politicians form a new government

Could this finally spell the end of the political impasse that has seen Spain without a government for eight months?

The signs are definitely there that Spain could have a new government as early as next week. King Felipe VI began the legal procedure that means the acting prime minister has just one week to form a new government.

Since the elections were held once again on June 26, following the failure of the last general election in December, Mariano Rajoy has stayed on as acting Prime Minister while the political parties attempt to come to a deal and form a majority coalition.

King Felipe VI is adamant that there will be no third election and held a meeting with the Speaker of Congress Ana Pastor to discuss the political deals, partnerships, and problems that the country could face. The main aim for King Felipe VI is to finally end the deadlock that Spanish politics has been in since December.

Interestingly enough the Spanish economy has managed to recover quite well during this time and the cost of living has been kept low. Both GDP and job numbers are on the rise. Some industries, such as the real estate industry, are doing very well right now.

There are still many issues that should be addressed at the highest level. One of the most urgent is that Spain may be fined by the EU for going past their deficit containment. As such King Felipe will speak with Rajoy, the head of the Popular Party (PP) to discuss what options he has. As Rajoy was the one who secured the most seats at both elections it is believed that he will be the one who needs to end the deadlock and come up with a solution that works for Spain.

The Socialists staked their own claim for leadership but they failed to get enough support from the other parties. This is one reason things have become so tricky. Many of the smaller parties don’t want to join up with the PP but the socialists, who came in second place, are also having trouble making deals with the other smaller and mid-size parties to create a coalition of their own.

Even though King Felipe is stepping in and issuing this deadline there could still be a third election in Spain, something that very few people at the top of Spanish society and government seem keen about.

Under Article 99 of the Spanish Constitution the monarch must meet with the leading candidates and decide if any of them is the best fit to form a government. Unfortunately the king doesn’t have the power to force them to make a deal.

Political Deadlock Extended as Spanish Socialists Reject Conservative Government Plan

Political Deadlock Extended as Spanish Socialists Reject Conservative Government Plan

Considering the political turmoil Spain is coping very well

Spaniards are thought of as being easy going when it comes to living in Spain and willing to just go with the flow. They can smile their way through summer and deal with tourists, they can find shade when the sun gets too much, and they can make the most out of any situation.

It’s probably why the Spanish people have such a disconnect with their politicians. The leaders of the country have been stuck in a political deadlock since last December with no one able to agree on who should be in charge. The country was forced to have another election last month and the end result was that there wasn’t much of a result.

Things were a little hopeful after the election in June. In the days following the election incumbent Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was left emboldened that his People’s Party increased their vote while the far-left Podemos Party saw their votes go down.

Things changed on Wednesday when the Socialists, currently the second biggest political party in Spain, said that they do not support Rajoy being the prime minister just as Rajoy was getting ready to go back to the job he’s had since 2010.

The leader of the Socialists, Pedro Sánchez ruled out a coalition between his party and the People’s Party even though he is on record saying he would do “whatever it takes” to avoid the need for a third election. Apparently joining forces with the centre-right PP is not something he can do after all.

Rajoy has been trying to convince the leaders of the smaller parties to group up and create a coalition with the PP but he’s not having an easy time doing it. This is because most of these smaller parties were created to fight the PP, not join up with them.

The alternative for these parties is the Socialists, who won the second-most number of votes in both elections. One option is for the Socialists could to join up with the liberal party Ciudadanos and Podemos. The problem here is that Ciudadanos only garnered the fourth-largest number of votes and won only 32 seats, which doesn’t equate to a lot of political clout.

Things were made worse for the socialists following the news that the leader of Ciudadanos, Albert Rivera, said that he and his party would abstain in a confidence vote in a conservative government. He essentially said that if the PP were able to put together a majority government then he wouldn’t fight them.

Rivera said that he was keen to remove the deadlock and move forward and that he believes a technical abstention would be better than having a third election at this point. He also spoke of his hope that the other parties would feel the same way and do the same thing.

An abstention from Ciudadanos would mean that the PP would need to find 23 additional seats to support the 137 they won in the election in order to create a majority parliament. If the Socialists were to also abstain then the election would basically go to the PP but this seems unlikely given Sánchez’s feelings about the PP and Rajoy.

So Spain is still where they were last December. Well, the economy is doing better, as is the job market and the cost of living in Spain is still relatively low. In fact outside of the political deadlock the country is doing quite well. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if they kept squabbling and let the country run itself.

Spanish Economy Thriving Despite Lack of Government Says Santander

Spanish Economy Thriving Despite Lack of Government Says Santander

It looks like politicians from abroad need to take note – the Spanish economy is doing pretty well despite there not being an official government in the country since last December.

Spain continues to preform very well without leadership !

The leading back in Spain, Banco Santander, has analysed the most recent economic data and found that the economy is doing pretty well without leadership. The CFO of Santander José Antonio García didn’t say the country should stay leaderless though.

He released a statement saying that he hoped there would be a government by the time the second general election was over with in June. He did add that there was no negative impact on the GDP during 2016; a year that has seen Spain not have a Prime Minister.

The economy has been bolstered by the recovering real estate market and is actually performing better than expected. The CFO of Santander told Bloomberg that mortgages have gone up 25%, business lending in Spain has gone up 13%, and this has been happening year-on-year. He sees it as a sign that the Spanish economy is performing very well.

There are more metrics that suggest things really are improving. Property Sales in the Costa del sol and Spain  have gone up 4.4% in the retail sector, suggesting that consumers are becoming more confident in the high street. Mortgage lending also peaked at €5 billion in February. This was the highest that it has been in over six years, which also gives credence to the idea that a strong real estate market is a sign of a strong economy.

Spain will go back to the polls on the 26^th of June to vote once more in the hopes that this time there will be either a clear majority winner or, at the very least, a favourable coalition.

If the first five months of 2016 are an indication though it looks like Spain might not need as much leadership as was first thought. The country is doing a good job of running itself.