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Pope Francis meets with Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy

April 15, 2013 09:05
Vatican City, Apr 15 (EFE).- Pope Francis had a private audience Monday with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, with the two men speaking alone for 24 minutes. Francis received Rajoy in the Private Library, the two exchanged greetings and then sat face to face. The Spanish leader told the pope he attended the 2006 World Meeting of the Families in Valencia with his then 1-year-old son. The doors of the library closed and the two men continued their meeting in private.

Spanish PM talks economic crisis with Pope Francis

April 15, 2013 08:51
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Monday became the first European leader to meet with Pope Francis, with the Vatican saying the two discussed the country's steep economic crisis. Talks focused on the economic crisis "that Spain is facing along with other European countries, which has provoked a grave employment crisis that involves many families, particularly the young," the Vatican said in a statement. The role of the Roman Catholic Church in helping those most in need in Spain through charities like Caritas was underlined during the talks.

Thousands protest against scandal-hit Spanish monarchy

April 14, 2013 11:00
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Madrid on Sunday to demand the abdication of Spain's scandal-hit monarchy. Waving thousands of red, gold and purple republican flags, the crowd chanted: "Tomorrow, Spain will be republican". "Nobody elected the king," said protester Veronica Ruiz. "We want a referendum. It would be the fair and democratic way to find out what the people want."

Google, EU near deal on search probe

April 13, 2013 07:15
US Internet giant Google is preparing changes to its dominant search system to satisfy EU anti-trust authorities, the Financial Times said Saturday. In a five-year accord with Brussels, Google has promised to make users "clearly aware" when promoting its own search services in specialised areas such as restaurants, finance and shopping, the FT said, citing people familiar with the deal. It will also highlight links to rival specialised search services.

Spanish region to temporarily block home evictions

April 12, 2013 14:01
The left-wing regional government of Andalucia in southwestern Spain, which has the country's highest unemployment rate, will temporarily block evictions from homes belonging to banks or real estate firms to help families in need. The measure, which came into force in Spain's most populous region on Friday just three days after it was approved by decree, is opposed by the conservative central government, which sees it an attack on private property rights.

Spain politicians to be fenced off from evictions protesters

April 10, 2013 15:37
MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police will erect barriers around politicians' residences to shield them from protests over the growing number of home evictions and to call for changes to mortgage laws. The Interior Ministry said on Wednesday it ordered police to keep demonstrators at a distance after protests outside the houses of senior members of the governing People's Party, including the Madrid home of Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria.

EU warns Spain, Slovenia pose biggest economic risks

April 10, 2013 11:33
The European Commission warned Wednesday that Spain and Slovenia pose the biggest economic risks and must quickly tackle excessive imbalances while France's growing debt was turning into the eurozone's "major challenge." Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he had taken the Brussels "reprimand" on the chin but insisted that concrete results would feed through from further reforms due to be announced April 26.

Spain says ECB should help periphery firms get funding

April 9, 2013 07:01
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's economy minister said on Tuesday the European Central Bank should do more to help firms on the euro zone periphery obtain funding, keeping up pressure from Madrid for the bank to extend its crisis-fighting mandate. Speaking at an event in Madrid, Luis de Guindos also said the Spanish economy was likely to have shrunk by 0.6 percent of gross domestic product in the first quarter. That would mean the rate of its decline slowed from 0.8 percent in the last three months of 2012.

Spain and Britain pushing economic reforms

April 8, 2013 16:03
Madrid, Apr 8 (EFE).- Spain and Britain said again Monday that reforms are the way they will deal with the economic crisis, though Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insisted that the European Union must also do more. Rajoy met Monday in Madrid with Britain's David Cameron to analyze the international economic situation and that of the EU in particular, but then came news of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's death.

Spanish PM defends king after drop in approval rating

April 8, 2013 14:34
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy rushed to the defence of King Juan Carlos on Monday, a day after a poll showed the monarch's approval ratings have plunged due to a corruption probe involving members of his family. Rajoy recalled the king's role in helping to restore democracy following the death of dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975 and the decisive action he took to fend off an attempted military coup on February 23, 1981. On that day a section of the army seized parliament, firing shots over the heads of lawmakers, in a bid to establish another military regime.
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