News 12-02-19
PM Pedro Sánchez is considering calling a general election on April 14 as he has been unable to secure sufficient backing for his 2019 budget.
In trying to please the Catalunya regional parties, whose support he needs, due to his party only holding around a quarter of the seats in Parliament, Sánchez has angered those who are staunchly against the north-eastern region’s independence drive.
A huge demonstration held in Madrid on Sunday, convened by the right-wing PP and centre-right Ciudadanos, called for early elections, saying Sánchez and his cabinet were ‘unelected’ due to having gained power through a no-confidence vote against the PP last June.
If Sánchez does proceed, he will have to dissolve Parliament in a week’s time – on Tuesday, February 19 – as this has to take place 54 days before an election.
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https://www.thinkspain.com/news-articles#p:/news-spain/31301/sanchez-may-call-april-elections-following-sunday-s-protest
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Twelve Catalan politicians go on trial today for their role in the region’s failed 2017 independence bid, putting the spotlight back on Spain’s biggest political crisis in decades.
The start of the trial will refocus attention on the region’s push for secession which rattles Spain’s political and cultural identity.
The trial will decide if Catalan nationalist leaders stay in jail with the public prosecutor is seeking prison terms of up to 25 years on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds.
At stake are Spain’s stability, the future of Catalonia’s independence movement as well as the region’s and the central government’s image abroad.
Pro-Catalan independence protests had quieted down in recent past months but separatist groups have called a series of protests in Catalonia and in Madrid to coincide with the trial.
Their supporters say they are political prisoners, while Madrid accuses them of breaking the law.
Among the many witnesses will be Mariano Rajoy, who was Spanish prime minister at the time of the independence vote and its aftermath.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-politics-catalonia/catalan-leaders-go-on-trial-in-madrid-over-independence-bid-idUSKCN1Q01LD?rpc=401&
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Spain will join a Franco-German project to build a new fighter plane by 2040.
Defence Minister Margarita Robles will sign a letter of intent with her French and German counterparts on Thursday on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels.
The project launched in July 2017 is known as the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), which in addition to a new combat aircraft also plans to include drones and cruise missiles.
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https://www.france24.com/en/20190211-spain-joins-france-germany-new-combat-fighter
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The Bank of Spain has issued a warning against trading cryptocurrencies saying there are currently no laws in Spain governing the currency.
Therefore central bank said, no trading platform or exchange offering its services to retail investors has the approval of Spanish authorities.
The blog post also highlighted dangers that investors face due to the volatility of cryptocurrency prices and it believes that, due to the total lack of transparency surrounding the structure of cryptocurrency markets, “price formation…could be manipulated.”
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https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/regulation/bank-of-spain-crypto-makes-consumer-rights-an-impossibility/
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