Economía

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.

The King entered this Tuesday the plenary hall of the Palau de Congressos in Barcelona welcomed by applause, surrounded by the president of the Cercle, Teresa García Milà, and the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and urged Europe to wake up and regain its pride above the criticisms it receives in these turbulent times. “To the most skeptical, it should be reminded that one of the constants of the construction of united Europe has been to make real what seemed a distant aspiration, even a utopia. The entire integration process has been a journey from the improbable and extremely complex to the real and tangible.”

The Government of Spain has responded to the complaints from the autonomous communities and has approved this Tuesday in the Council of Ministers a royal decree-law that includes advance payments corresponding to 2026, so that they can be allocated to the maintenance of public services in each of the territories.