Turkey’s accession process to the EU is in limbo: only 14 of the 33 chapters of the acquis that require negotiations have been opened in 10 years (the last one in November 2013) and just one provisionally closed.
http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/web/rielcano_en/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_in/zonas_in/wp14-2015-chislett-turkeys-10-years-of-eu-accession-negotiations-no-end-in-sight#.VhNQwLSqqko
Category: Elcano Royal Institute
Pro-independence parties win the Catalan regional election
Pro-independence parties won an absolute majority of seats in the elections for the regional parliament of Catalonia, but just under half the votes. The poll was cast by Artur Mas, the Catalan Prime Minister, as a plebiscite on setting up an independent republic, which he said he now felt legitimated to roll out over the next 18 months, setting him on a collision course with Madrid that has denied a Scotland-style referendum as there is no provision for it in the constitution. Secession is illegal under Spanish law.
Inside Spain (21 July-21 September)
Spain to take 17,000 refugees.
Pro-independence camp set to win Catalan election, Madrid moves against tax plan.
Population fast greying and forecast to shrink.
IMF warns of risks to economic recovery.
Ibex companies generate larger share of revenues abroad.
http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/wcm/connect/7cf2c48049f1a9dc97149f207baccc4c/120_InsideSpain_ElcanoNewsletter.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=7cf2c48049f1a9dc97149f207baccc4c
Inside Spain (15 June-20 July)
Mas agrees joint ticket for early election, support for Catalan independence wanes.
King Felipe improves the monarchy’s standing in his first year.
Government upgrades growth yet again, brings forward income tax cuts.
Qatari sheikh acquires 10% of El Corte Inglés for €1bn.
The international position of Spanish companies: on the rise
Spanish companies stepped up their direct investment abroad in 2014, but it was still far from the pre-crisis annual average between 2005 and 2007.
http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/web/rielcano_en/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_in/zonas_in/ari36-2015-chislett-international-position-spanish-companies-on-the-rise#.VZpl9O2qqko
Inside Spain (19 May-15 June)
US force for Africa at Morón air base to become permanent.
Brussels proposes mandatory quota of 4,300 asylum seekers.
Anti-establishment parties make big gains in municipal and regional elections.
IMF and OECD confirm accelerating upturn.
Turkey’s elections: AKP loses absolute majority, thwarts Erdogan’s bid for executive presidency
Turkey’s Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its absolute parliamentary majority for the first time since sweeping to power in 2002, and with it Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ambition for greater power by changing the constitution to become an executive president.
http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/web/rielcano_en/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_in/zonas_in/commentary-chislett-turkeys-elections-akp-loses-absolute-majority-thwarts-erdogans-bid-for-executive-presidency#.VXWss2Sqqkp
Anti-establishment parties make big gains in Spain’s elections
Spain’s two-party system is not dead, as predicted, but it took a beating in municipal and regional elections where the upstart parties, the leftist anti-austerity Podemos and the centrist market-friendly Ciudadanos, made big inroads into the ruling conservative Popular Party (PP) and the Socialists (PSOE), which between them have dominated political life for more than 30 years.
http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/web/rielcano_en/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=%2Felcano%2Felcano_in%2Fzonas_in%2Fcommentary-chislett-anti-establishment-parties-make-gains-spain-elections#.VWMrV2Sqqkq
Inside Spain (20 April-19 May)
Spain stays in 11th position in Elcano’s Global Presence Index.
Podemos ideologue quits frontline politics, party moves towards the centre as support wanes.
Higher growth, stronger job creation and balanced budget in 2015-18.
Spain leads the world in WEF’s tourism competiveness ranking.
Volkswagen to invest €4.2bn in its Spanish plants.
Northern Cyprus presidential victory revives hopes of reunifying the island
The overwhelming victory of Mustafa Akinci in the Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus presidential election raised hopes of progress finally being achieved in reunifying the ethnically divided island, split since Ankara’s 1974 invasion which was in response to an Greek-engineered coup seeking union with Greece.
William Chislett 