The reason is that diesel vehicles cause more pollution than other vehicles. Enviromentalists have also been voicing concern about th effects of the drought. The Spanish Government has revealed that it wants to increase the tax on diesel vehicles because they ‘contaminate more’. The change will be a modification on the vehicle matriculation tax. The Secretary of State for the Environment, Federico... 

Olli Rehn has dismissed the requests made by Mariano Rajoy Olli Rehn – EFE Brussels has made it clear to Spain that it wants them to publish their budgets for this year before it enters into any discussion on relaxing deficit targets. Mariano Rajoy had been hoping to get the budget deficit for the end of this year changed ahead of the budgets which will be given at the end of March, after the... 

Spain’s government will unveil reforms to rigid labour laws today that it hopes will be radical enough to get to grips with sky-high unemployment while not severing links altogether with unions ahead of key regional elections. Investors will be watching closely as the legislation also marks the latest stage in a concerted campaign by Madrid to persuade markets it can slash its public deficit... 

Spanish Banks received a third of all the European Central Bank money loaned in December, at a total of 118.861 billion €, from the total request from European banks for 400 billion €. However the banks from other European countries reduced their requests over the month. Experts have ruled out that the so-called ‘free bar’ from the European Central Bank, where banks are being offered three... 

Agreement between employers and unions seems less likely José Manuel Soria – EFE The chances of reaching a grand agreement on the labour market between unions and employers are reported to be receding. Despite the continued participation of the leaders, the talks are reported to be stalled, and now a minimal agreement is being discussed. Businessmen consider that the Government should have... 

Spain’s government does not plan to raise value-added tax, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Tuesday in his first interview since his government passed a slew of austerity measures, including tax hikes. “We felt that the best for the economy was not to do it, and so we do not plan to raise value-added tax,” Rajoy said during an interview with state news agency EFE. The government... 

EU agrees punishments on countries which do not meet their EU deficit targets The European Union has reached an agreement on the punishments to be handed down on countries with a high deficit. The mechanism will be for fines equivalent to 0.2% of the country’s GDP for those countries which fail to meet their European deficit objective. The money obtained from such fines will be used to deepen the... 

The IPC inflation index rose by 0.1% in February to take the annual rate to 3.6% according to the National Statistics Institute. Transport costs have risen by 10% over the past year as the price of oil continues to soar. Underlying inflation, which does not include energy or food costs, rose by 0.2% to reach 1.8%. The IPCA Harmonized index, used to compare inflation across Europe rose 0.4% to reach... 

The Spanish Economy shrank in 2010 by only 0.1% of G.D.P. The number is less than expected, as much as 0.2% lower than the Government’s own expectation. After showing no growth in the third quarter, the economy grew by 0.2% in the last three months of the year. The number comes from the Bank of Spain, which forecast a ‘horizon of slow recovery’ for 2011. However the latest bulletin from the Bank... 

Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has said it will take Spain five years to correct the structural imbalances in its economy. Speaking in Congress after the last meeting of the European Council in Brussels, Zapatero said that the assets which Spain has to face the new stage ‘are the merits of everybody’. He called for responsibility from other political groups, saying... 

The government is making working people pay who had no responsibility in creating the crisis. This is unjust.” Spanish steps towards general strike say two biggest trade union confederations If you are holidaying in Spain this year you may learn a couple of new words – huelga general. In the coming days and weeks the Spanish for general strike will be splashed across posters and on the... 

Spanish Air Traffic Controllers voted on Tuesday to start strike action after August 15th, but they failed to decide on a concrete date at this stage. A three day stoppage is planned and is expected to start on either the 18th or the 20th of August. The union is to meet on Wednesday to decide on the exact dates. Union sources say that 92% of the 98% of the workers who cast their vote, voted for strike...