The Spanish Senate is poised to activate Article 155 of the country’s constitution on Friday, giving Madrid the power to take over Catalonia’s institutions and police and remove its regional leader from office.
Spain’s government proposed a law to control more tightly the financial activities of political parties, after corruption scandals in recent years involving both left and right. The law will ban legal and corporate entities from making donations to parties, and banks will no longer be allowed to cancel their debts or negotiate with them interest rates that would be below market levels. Donations are currently allowed up to a limit of 100,000 Euros a year.
Spanish Foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo addressing parliament on Tuesday described the current diplomatic conflict with the UK as an ‘important fire’ and blamed it on three apparently minor incidents: Gibraltar authorities having dropped the agreement with Spanish fishermen a year ago; the recent dumping of cement blocks in the bay of Algeciras (Gibraltar) and the construction of a new reef.
Britain has asked the EU to “urgently” send a team to Gibraltar “to gather evidence” on extra border checks at the centre of a growing row with Spain. PM David Cameron spoke to EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to raise “serious concerns” that Spain's actions are “politically motivated”.
The value of bad debts held by Spain's banks in July rose to 169.3bn Euros, according to latest figures from the central bank. The Bank of Spain said 9.9% of banks' total loans were in arrears, up from 9.4% a month before.
Spain is expected to ask the Euro zone for help with recapitalising its banks this weekend, sources in Brussels and Berlin said on Friday, becoming the fourth country to seek assistance since Europe's debt crisis began.
The United States and Spain discussed the possibility that direct loans from Europe's emergency fund could be a solution for ailing European banks, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Thursday.
The Argentine government expressed “great concern” on Monday following the decision from the Spanish government to ban bio-diesel “not produced within the European Union” from the country.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Margallo has sent a letter to his UK counterpart William Hague responding to Prime Minister David Cameron’s remarks on self-determination.
Spain's Conservative government ruled out a bad bank to deal with toxic property assets, wary of adding more debt to a nation fighting to control its deficit and putting the onus on lenders to make their own provisions.