The extraordinary regularization of immigrants will help alleviate the problem of vacancies in the hospitality sector this summer. This is one of the conclusions presented by Asempleo, the employers’ association representing temporary employment companies, in the presentation of its hiring forecasts for the coming months.
The philosophy of prioritizing the European lands in the technological sphere. The European Commission has developed an ambitious technological sovereignty package with which it aims to try to reverse the enormous structural dependence that the European Union has on foreign digital products and services. Especially, from the U.S. and China. The set of legislative measures —which still requires the approval of the European Parliament and the Twenty-Seven— introduces a series of new criteria that could exclude Silicon Valley giants, such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, from highly sensitive public tenders. For example, those that handle the most critical public data of the community countries.
The European Commission recommends that Spain limit the use of the reduced VAT and specifically points to hotels and restaurants, as, in its view, these preferential rates have a “very limited redistributive effect” on society despite their high cost to the State. That is, they benefit higher incomes more than lower ones because they consume it the most, according to community sources. Meanwhile, the impact of this tax that is not collected is enormous: the 10% VAT for hospitality is costing Spain 0.4% of GDP, or the equivalent of almost 7 billion euros each year.
Spain is the only euro economy that sees its growth forecasts for this year improve, according to the OECD’s calculations, which on Wednesday prepared its global outlook report. Specifically, the organization has raised its GDP growth forecast for this year by one tenth compared to March, to 2.2%, the same figure handled by the Government. It is almost triple the eurozone average (0.8%) and well above Germany (0.7%), France (0.7%), and Italy (0.5%). “It is balanced growth. The OECD attributes the dynamism to domestic demand, with private consumption supported by strong employment and investment driven by European funds,” the Government values.
President Pedro Sánchez has brought to the 41st Annual Meeting of the Cercle d’Economia the commitment to begin processing the 2027 State budgets in the coming days. “We will start processing them this very week” with the approval of the ministerial order that activates the entire machinery, he announced.
A critical Europeanist is defined. The British Martin Wolf (London, 1946) has received the European Construction award given each year by the Cercle d’Economia. His columns in the Financial Times have inspired the debate on the global economy for decades.
The National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) approved on Monday a report that represents a setback for Aena’s investment plan for the period between 2027 and 2031. The regulator recommends a reduction of airport fees by 0.59% annually, compared to the airport manager’s proposal, which advocates increasing them by 3.8% per year to undertake, among other things, the expansion of El Prat airport.
European regulation slows investment on the continent and causes much of the savings generated in the region to end up fleeing to the United States. “Regulation and European fragmentation reduce market agility,” said Tomás Muniesa, president of Caixabank, during his speech at the Cercle d’Economia Meeting, held this week in Barcelona.
It was not possible to bring positions closer between Catalonia and Galicia regarding the proposed reform of the financing system in the colloquium held this Tuesday at the Cercle d’Economia. In a forceful tone, President Salvador Illa defended that the model agreed upon between the Government and ERC reduces inequalities between communities and warned that Catalonia “is not going to ask for permission to make proposals or to lead Spain.” His counterpart in Galicia, Alfonso Rueda, denounced that the bilaterality contemplated in the new model is negative for all communities because it encourages “divide and conquer.” And he asserted that “I am not going to ask for permission either.”
The Government will face a very complicated path to reach an agreement on the reform of regional financing. Yesterday, Monday, the Ministry of Finance, led by Arcadi España, announced that it had sent letters to the ministries of the autonomous communities in order to arrange bilateral meetings to agree on a new financing system. However, today the majority of communities with Popular Party governments have already decided that they will not attend these meetings with the Secretary of State for Finance, Jesús Gascón.