Theres No Business Like Love
As Greece heads steadfastly towards Grexit whichever version finally occurs, Spain has become, by contrast, the peripheral European country with no intention of becoming a failed state. Not yet, at least.
As Greece heads steadfastly towards Grexit whichever version finally occurs, Spain has become, by contrast, the peripheral European country with no intention of becoming a failed state. Not yet, at least.
While Spain is going through a very bumpy 2015, with general elections just around the corner, many people have vowed to leave the country if radical-left leader Pablo Iglesias makes it to the presidential Moncloa Palace. Spanish economy is resurfacing at a rate of 3%, but that alone cannot ensure President Rajoy his reelection in a country with a whopping unemployment rate, eased from 27% to just below 24%. Polls are undecided, though right-wing Partido Popular, now in power, is still preferred over socialist PSOE, communist Podemos or liberal Ciudadanos.
As Greece heads steadfastly towards Grexit –whichever version finally occurs–, Spain has become, by contrast, the peripheral European country with no intention of becoming a failed state. Not yet, at least. Spanish local elections have changed the scene dramatically, with all leftist politicians willing to join sides against the governing conservative party, massively (unfairly?) considered –even by many of their own members– responsible for everything, from the structural malfunction of the country to the economic crash.
Symptomatic of Spanish hardship is the amount of people dribbling out of the country since the fatal 2007 crisis. Recently President Rajoy stated in Parliament that only 24,000 persons have left Spain, while opposition leader Mr. Sánchez countered that it’s at least half a million. Some local newspapers have claimed that 2 million unemployed Spanish citizens have been forced to abandon the country.
Not all Spanish expats are in dire straits, though. Alejandra Silva, a 32-year-old upstart from Galicia, has been Richard Gere’s girlfriend for a year now. Going by her husband’s surname –Friedland– on Twitter, she’s divorcing the 64-year-old American millionaire while expecting to hold on to Villa Treville, the family hotel in Positano where she met her Pretty Man Gere, now 65. Crisis? What crisis?
