Good morning!
How are you doing this week? The Christmas holidays are very close, time to rest, gargantuan meals and reunion with the family. Although they are moments of peace and calm, they are also moments of conflict in families. Government partners also return to the fight.
In this case it is for a fundamental issue for citizens. After a multitude of previous disagreements, the Ministries of Economy and Labor are once again confronting each other. The origin of this new struggle is the intention of the Economy to delay the entry into force of the reduction in working hours.
There are two points that have caused the clash: the date of application of the reduction in working hours and the salary increase for people hired part-time. Officially, the agreement is expected to be closed in the coming days with the unions and approved as a draft bill, which may cause many changes during its parliamentary processing due to the political fragmentation in Congress. Here we explain the keys to the struggle between Economy and Work.
Now is the time to move forward with reducing working hours. We say now because a measure of this magnitude can only go ahead with the tailwinds that the Spanish economy is enjoying, a good performance recognized internationally, and when the labor market is in better conditions. The opportunity to improve the lives of citizens cannot be lost; the reduction of working hours must be approved.
The graph
“We are at a stage where the darkest days of winter seem to be behind us and we can begin to look forward.” It is always positive to have the soul of a poet in an institution like the European Central Bank, even though beautiful words have preceded a period of monetary policy that has impoverished millions of people and has severely squeezed companies. The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, turned to the book ‘The Seasons’, by Kristijonas Donelaitis to announce that she is confident in the moderation of inflation to the theoretical objective of 2% in 2025 and that, if there are no surprises , the ‘price’ of reference money for mortgages and loans in general will continue to drop over the coming months. It did so four days after the ECB approved the fourth drop of 0.25 points in official interest rates in the eurozone, to 3%. More poems to soften the economically orthodox heart talking about ECB bureaucrats. Here we explain how it seems that the ECB will continue to lower interest rates in 2025.
The data
What’s more is the increase that the Government has accepted in the premium that private insurers will charge for the private health service they offer to civil servants through Muface. The Executive’s proposal represents an amount of 4,478 million euros for the years 2025, 2026 and 2027. In the end, the Ministry led by Óscar López has swallowed everything that private insurers asked for, despite the fact that it had previously defended that the initial increase of 17% was “the largest increase in history” and a report prepared by Muface in which it was stated that private insurers “do not provide evidence of costs” for a premium increase. In the end, the weight of future votes has prevailed given the possibility that Óscar López will be the candidate to compete for the presidency of the Community of Madrid and the payment for social peace. Here we tell you how the Ministry of Public Function once again falls into the trap of the private health service for civil servants.
Entrepreneurs
In this week’s business saga, we bring you how entrepreneurs to one of the richest families in Spain, the Isidro Rincón. His listed real estate company (socimi), Ibervalles, has just lost in the National Court a tax lawsuit of 734,000 euros (not counting interest) that he had been dragging on for more than a decade. The dispute dates back to 2013, when the AEAT sanctioned Ibervalles for the illegal deductions that were recorded in the 2007 Corporate Tax with the capital gains obtained from the sale of a luxury home in Madrid. How has it taken so long to resolve this dispute? The strange twists and turns of Justice. It was a well-advised company legally, Vicente Guilarte advised the jurist for 25 years until in July 2023 he was appointed interim president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). Here we tell you the story of the fictitious rent for the matriarch and its illegal deductions: a judicial blow to one of the richest families in Spain.
Every time he speaks the bread rises
I also have very good memories of our time working in the ministry.
Carlos San Basilio
— president of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV)
In the political history of Spain there has always been an institutional distribution of positions between the PP and the PSOE. The partisan negotiations of the State institutions are repeated every legislature, with more or less dissimulation. The presidency and vice-presidency of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) were positions to be distributed between both political forces after the agreement by the General Council of the Judiciary. This week the two candidates have been ratified in Congress. The president of the CNMV will be Carlos San Basilio, whom the PP deputy Irene Garrido recalled was a senior official of Rajoy (director of the Treasury) and coincided with him in the Economy, with Luis de Guindos as minister. “I also have very good memories of our time working in the ministry,” San Basilio responded. The vice president of the CNMV will be Paloma Marín, who after 20 years at the Bank of Spain, is leaving the monetary policy body after certain incompatibilities, according to internal sources, with the current governor. And the ship goes. In this link we tell you how Congress endorses the Government candidates for president and vice president of the CNMV.
public good
One of lime and another of sand for the Ministry of Finance. Let’s start with the good news. The State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT) has opened the door for the first time to expel from the forum for dialogue with large companies those companies that commit very serious violations of the Tax Law. This forum of “good tax practices” was created 15 years ago, come on, it was not yesterday, and yes, it is surprising that fraudulent companies can sit down and talk to the Treasury in search of smoothing out rough edges in the interpretation of tax issues, preventing fraud and reduce litigation. This expulsion of the fraudsters is welcome. Here we explain that the Treasury will expel large companies from its forum of tax “good practices” in case of “flagrant” fraud. And the other side of the coin: the Bank of Spain calls into question “the tax reform” that the Government managed to agree on in an agonizing negotiation on the left and right. The changes in taxes approved in Congress will increase State collection by 4,500 million next year – 0.3% of GDP – but will be reduced to 3,000 million – 0.2% of GDP – in the following years “the progressive reduction to small businesses.” At least it seems that the extension of the tax on extraordinary profits of large electricity companies will be approved by Royal Decree after verifying the impossibility of reaching agreement among all parliamentary partners. Here we tell you how the Bank of Spain questions the Government’s tax reform because income will be reduced by a third from 2026.
We like competition
In this section we bring you a series of articles from other media that we found interesting:
We finish and go on vacation. This newsletter also takes a break during Christmas. We will return in 2025 eager to face economic news that will be full of interesting news. You already know that you can write to us at [email protected] with your proposals, complaints or ideas. Happy Holidays and we wish you the best for 2025.
Happy holidays!
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