Spain's conservative People's Party won a regional election in Andalucia but did not secure the outright majority it expected, depriving Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of a symbolic boost to help him push through harsh spending cuts.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti expressed concern about Spain's public finances and said it would not take much to reignite the Euro zone debt crisis and revive the risk of it spreading to Italy.
The British Government is understood to be supporting a local Gibraltar–Campo (Spain) fishermen resolution to the recent spate of exchanges over fishing rights in British Gibraltar territorial Waters.
Argentina and Repsol-YPF oil corporation again clashed on Wednesday over the future of the Spanish owned company while members of President Cristina Fernandez administration said measures “can not be discarded” thus re-launching fears about further government actions.
Gibraltar appeared to be heading back to scenes of over a decade ago: clashes with Spanish fishermen and politicians. On Monday evening the Spanish ruling Popular Party from neighbouring Algeciras Mayor, Jose Ignacio Landaluce, boarded the vessel ‘Joaquina’ backing a protest sail into Gibraltar waters.
Adding fuel to the quarrel between Argentina and Spain for disagreements over Spanish investors administrated YPF, Spanish Industry minister of José Manuel Soria vowed on Tuesday to defend his country’s interests.
Rating agency Moody's said on Tuesday that Spain's fiscal outlook remained challenging despite recently softened deficit targets. The announcement comes when the Secretary for Public administration admitted that 4.000 ‘ayuntamientos’ town councils in Spain are not financially viable.
Argentine Planning Minister Julio de Vido lashed out at Spanish Industry Minister José Manuel Soria by saying that oil company YPF is an Argentine corporation run by Spanish investors and should not be considered an asset of the European country.
Italy is in recession, final data confirmed Monday. Italy's economy shrank 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2011, following a 0.2% decline in GDP in the third quarter.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in Spain rose by 112.269 in January, taking the overall figure to 4.7 million. Spain’s unemployment rate stands at 22.9%, the highest in the 17-nation Euro-zone.