/13.02.15/.- The FAES Foundation has celebrated the second edition of its ‘Economy Table’, on the subject of Greece and the future of the Euro, attended by the director of the Chair in International Finance System at the IE Business School, Fernando Fernández, and the Chief Economist of CEMEX, Manuel Balmaseda. Moderated by the director of Economy and Public Policy of FAES Foundation, Miguel Marín, they have exchanged views about the potential evolution of the negotiations between Greece and the Eurozone; the consequences for Spain and the monetary union of an eventual Greek euro exit, and the lessons that should be learned from the Greek crisis.

On Saturday January 29, Sergio Mattarella, judge of the Constitutional Court, was elected new President of the Italian Republic. Mattarella's election took place on the fourth ballot, with 665 votes in his favour, 160 more than the 505 he needed. Sergio Mattarella comes from a family with a long political tradition, always in the ranks of the Christian-Democrats (DC). His father, Bernardo, was MP and minister in the first government of Aldo Moro. His brother, Piersanti, President of the Region of Sicily, was killed by the Mafia in 1980. 

The Prime Minister of Japan, conservative Shinzo Abe, announced last November 18 the dissolution of the House of Representatives of the Diet (lower house of the Japanese Parliament) and called for early general elections to be held on December 18. It is highly unlikely that the Japanese political landscape will change in such a short period of time as much as to make the coalition government headed by Abe, made up by the historic Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Buddhist party Komeito, lose their majority – currently overwhelming – in the House of Representatives. According to the polls, the LDP would reduce its parliamentary representation by 55 seats maximum, allowing for the comfortable survival of the ruling coalition.

On Tuesday November 11, Susanna Camusso, secretary-general of the CGIL (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro), announced the call for an eight-hour general strike next December 5th. The CGIL has justified the call for a strike in protest against the labour reform promoted by the Government of Matteo Renzi. The strike announcement thus culminates a process of gradual estrangement between the Partito Democratico and its historical ally, used to having, in the past, a harmonious coexistence between party and union. 

Six of the twenty-nine parties that have run for the early parliamentary elections in Ukraine have won more than 5% of the vote and have thus ensured their presence in Parliament, the Supreme Rada. The victory of the pro-European parties – Poroshenko Block (of the President Petro Poroshenko), National Front (of the current Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk) and the Self-Help Association (founded by the mayor of Lviv, Andri Sadovi) – ensures the creation of a coalition government of European vocation. The new government will have to address four old outstanding tasks: rebuilding the State, consolidating the fragile peace agreement in Donbas, fighting corruption and adopting unpopular measures necessary to make structural reforms in the economy.

Zapatero firmó la Declaración final de la cumbre sobre los mercados financieros en la que, pese a la desinformación y confusión vertidas por el Gobierno, se afirma que las "reformas únicamente tendrán el éxito si están firmemente fundamentadas sobre un firme compromiso con los principios del libre mercado, incluyendo el imperio de la ley, el respeto por la propiedad privada, el comercio y las inversiones libres en los mercados competitivos y se apoyan sobre unos sistemas financieros eficientes y eficazmente regulados".

Between 1996 and 2004, Spain enjoyed the longest period of prosperity in its democratic history. Five million jobs, convergence of up to 98% with regard to the average EU income per capita, low inflation, a favourite destination for foreign investment, reduction of the public debt in terms of GDP, a budget surplus and creation of a Social Security Reserve Fund, are all results of a new economic model introduced by the Partido Popular. The key aspects of this model are described in this book by Lorenzo Bernaldo de Quirós and Ricardo Martínez Rico. The foundations of this new economic model consisted of the following measures: restraints on public expenditure, reorientation of expenditure based on efficiency criteria, reductions in income tax and corporate tax rates, the elimination of certain forms of taxation, privatisation, liberalisation of the goods and services markets, promotion of competition, independent regulatory bodies, labour market reforms and more open economic links with abroad.

The Spanish economy has a strong degree of momentum in terms of economic growth (above the European average) based on the significant expansion of domestic demand. Over the year and a half in which the present government has been in power, not a single significant economic measure has been introduced, although the effects of previous reforms continue to be felt.

Jaime García-Legaz: Las necesarias reformas para continuar hacia el pleno empleo Alberto Carnero:La Europa reunificada como parte de la comunidad atlántica EspañolJavier Zarzalejos: Reforma constitucional: ¿hay alguien ahí? Miguel Ángel Cortés: La excepción cultural: antidemocrática y perjudicial para la cultura en español