Financial Times praises Spain as new ‘economic star’
The FT has sung the praises of Spain’s economic outlook in an article titled “The new economic stars born through crisis”.
“Spain cut benefits for pampered pensioners but raised them for one of Europe’s largest impoverished populations — a calibrated approach that still produced significantly lower deficits and debt,” writes the article’s author Ruchir Sharma.
“And with talent hard to recruit in an ageing world, it is welcoming immigrants when much of Europe is closing its doors, and has eased rules on hiring, firing and part-time work.”
Other financial publications and big names such as The Economist and the BBC have also lauded Spain in recent months, referring to it as an “economic miracle” and “the envy of Europe”.
The Spanish press tends to cover any positive or negative mention of Spain in the big international press, so logically this latest flattery by the Financial Times has been mentioned in numerous publications.
READ ALSO: Is Spain's 'economic miracle' making Spaniards richer?
New Trump alcohol tariffs threaten Spanish wine industry
US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to impose 200 percent tariffs on wine, champagne and alcoholic products from European Union countries, in retaliation against the bloc's planned levies on US-produced whiskey.
Spain is the fourth largest supplier of wine to the US by value, with $391.4 million in sales in 2024, and in terms of volume it’s the seventh biggest supplier with 67.3 million litres exported last year.
For Spanish sparkling wines , the US is the main importer.
Spain's most prolific tourist scam gang busted in Tenerife
Police on the Canary island of Tenerife have busted a criminal gang which defrauded more than €8 million from over 3,200 holidaymakers in the touristy south of the island.
Their MO saw several members of the criminal network lure tourists to their bazaars, where they obtained their personal data through purchases and charged them extra when making payments on card machines.
They then ensured the holidaymakers left the country before noticing the fraud and produced fake invoices to justify the illegal charges in case the holidaymakers were to make a claim.
Spain closes Russia probe against Catalan separatist leader
The Spanish Supreme Court on Thursday said it had closed a treason investigation against Catalonia's exiled separatist figurehead Carles Puigdemont over alleged Russian interference in the region's failed 2017 secession bid.
The worst crisis Spain had experienced in decades saw the wealthy northeastern region hold a secession referendum and proclaim a short-lived declaration of independence whose aftershocks continue to reverberate.
A judge from a lower court placed Puigdemont under investigation for high treason to determine whether he had contacts with the Kremlin or tried to gain Russian support for Catalan independence in return for financial compensation.
The Supreme Court said in a statement it had "decided to close the proceedings" opened into the "alleged Russian interference in the Catalan independence process".
Spain's top court last year shelved a separate investigation against Puigdemont for a terrorism charge related to 2019 protests in Catalonia against prison terms handed out to separatist leaders for their role in the secession bid.
Puigdemont has lived in exile in Belgium since the crisis and remains Spain's most-wanted fugitive as he was excluded from the remit of an amnesty law introduced by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's leftist government to heal tensions.
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