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Articles by Fernando Gonzalez Urbaneja

About the Author

Fernando Gonzalez Urbaneja
Over 30 years working in economic journalism. Fernando was founder and chief-editor at El País, general editor at the business daily Cinco Días, and now teaches at Universidad Carlos III. He's been president of the Madrid Press Association and the Spanish Federation of Press Associations. He's also member of the Spanish press complaints commission.
JoseJuanRuiz

Interviews 11th July 2024

“Mercosur is perhaps an idea that people have fallen in love with and are keeping because everyone is too embarrassed to liquidate it”

Fernando Gónzález Urbaneja interviews José Juan Ruiz, president of the Real Instituto Elcano and director of Redeia, in Consejeros, who states that “The intellectual prestige of pessimism is one of the characteristic features of Western civilisation. But, to give an example: in terms of CO2 emissions, everything may be in chaos, people’s perception may be that we have done nothing, but the European reduction in emissions is 32% compared to…

Figures for consumption

Spanish economy 15th April 2024

Spain: confidence to consume, not to invest

Fernando González Urbaneja | “GDP and employment are increasing, the external balance is improving… while productivity, per capita income, and convergence with the EU stagnate”. The Spanish economy shows ambivalent signs that, depending on the data and periods chosen, serve a multitude of purposes. The government chooses the best of the repertoire to conclude that the economy is the electoral weapon to win support; in fact, the new economy minister…

BOGAS

Interviews, Spanish economy 1st March 2024

“Spain has a good energy plan but if things don’t change, it won’t be fulfilled”

José Bogas, ENDESAS’s CEO, explains in Consejeros magazine that “295,000 million of investment is needed for the period 2021-30, and we have many years ahead of us when when we are not investing at this pace. Of these 295,000 million, 118,000 million are for renewables; 85,000 for energy efficiency, but almost nothing has been done so far; 53,000 for networks, which is more than 5,000 every year and we have…

Nadia proud spain

In Spain 3rd January 2024

Calviño’s legacy… Is it historic?

Fernando González Urbaneja| Nadia Calviño’s legacy after four and a half years at the helm of the Spanish economy is “historic”, as she herself concluded to journalists. Historic because of the excellent results of her policy, which is that of its president, since in this government nothing is unconnected to Pedro Sánchez. Juan Francisco Martín Seco, however, has reached another conclusion in the article published in “La República” a few…

spanish PM pedro sanchez

In Spain 28th December 2023

The happy Spain that Sánchez sees

Fernando González Urbaneja| Pedro Sánchez proposes an account of his political management full of successes; he contrasts with his predecessors and sees a Spain that had no horizon and was all black until his arrival and then a bright, sunny panorama as a result of his management. It must be assumed that he believes this and defends his work with enthusiasm. After his speech to the press at the Moncloa,…

FeijooyRueda

In Spain 22nd December 2023

PP calls elections in Galicia on February 18

Fernando González Urbaneja| There is no electoral truce. On 18 February the PP will put its majority in Galicia at stake in elections that are being brought forward by five months. The last elections were held in July 2020, coinciding with the Basque elections and following the European elections a year earlier, which produced an unprecedented multi-party result with nine groups winning seats and the PSOE’s 33% majority (thirteen points…

Tezanos

Relevant News Item 11th December 2023

Tezanos at the CIS, or it never rains but it pours

Fernando González Urbaneja | Among the government’s first appointments (ratifications) was that of José Félix Tezanos (77) as president of the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS). Of course it is legal; it is the government’s right to choose whomever it pleases for a post in the state organisation chart, as long as it does not incur legal grounds of ineligibility. But what smells of scorched earth are the explanations of…

Congreso

In Spain 26th November 2023

Spain: Somebody please bring down the tension

Fernando González Urbaneja | The electoral tension is over… at least until the next time. Which is close, but deserves some respect, some time to rest. The government is legitimately constituted, everyone has played their cards and made their commitments, the cards have been dealt, and it would be a good idea to give a little leeway while the positions reached settle… At least a Christmas truce, until the new…

Gobierno 1

In Spain 21st November 2023

A renewed government that needs to land: “by their deeds you will know them”

Fernando González Urbaneja | Pedro Sánchez’s new government follows the model of the previous one: on the one hand a coalition government with five portfolios from the minority group and 17 under the discipline of the president, including four described as independents, although very close to the PSOE and Sánchez. The 22 members of the cabinet belong to six parties (PSOE, PSC, Sumar, Comunes, Izquierda Unida and Más País). But…

Puigdemont

In Spain 10th November 2023

PSOE-Junts: The inconsistency of an (allegedly) historic agreement

Fernando González Urbaneja | If we look at the first versions of the PSOE-Junts agreement, we are faced with a historic event that aims to resolve a conflict that dates back three hundred years. An agreement drawn up on the basis of mistrust between the parties and full of misgivings and more than a few ambiguities. The supporters of the agreement, in their first approximations, say that all’s well that…