MADRID (Reuters) – A Spanish judge charged Princess Cristina – younger daughter of King Juan Carlos – with tax fraud and money laundering, possibly paving the way to an unprecedented trial of a member of the royal family, the Superior Justice Tribunal of the B... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Catalonia’s president has called on European Union prime ministers for support as the region seeks a vote on independence in November this year, the source of an increasingly bitter fight with Spain’s central government. In letters dating fr... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Brazil’s antitrust watchdog has given Telefonica 18 months to comply with a ruling to loosen its grip on the Brazilian mobile market, sources said, time which may help the Spanish group ward off a growing rebellion over its strategy. Brazili... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – U.S. casino operator Las Vegas Sands (LVS.N ) said on Friday it was abandoning plans to invest over $30 billion in a gambling resort outside Madrid, a major blow to the capital as Spain tries to restart its economy after a five-year slump. T... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has invited euro zone officials to a meeting in Berlin on Friday in a bid to come closer to a solution on a planned European resolution mechanism to deal with troubled banks, a German newspaper said... More »
AMSTERDAM/MADRID (Reuters) – Standard & Poor’s agency cut the Netherlands’ credit rating on Friday, reducing the euro zone club of full triple-A nations to just three, while rewarding Spain for efforts to reform its public finances. S&P lowered the Netherlands... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s economy is on a strong enough recovery path to achieve three more years of deficit reduction without further spending cuts or tax hikes, the treasury minister told Reuters. The economy started shrinking after a property bubble burst ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – There is no evidence Spain broke EU law by imposing tight controls at its border with Gibraltar, the European Union executive said on Friday, urging both sides to act to ease bottlenecks that strained relations between London and Madrid. T... More »
ZURICH/MADRID (Reuters) – Switzerland’s Novartis has agreed to sell its blood transfusion testing unit to Spain’s Grifols for $1.68 billion, in an increasingly buoyant market for healthcare deals. The sale comes as Novartis carries out a broad review of operat... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain summoned the U.S. ambassador on Monday to discuss alleged spying on Spanish citizens and said that, if true, the action was unacceptable behavior by an ally. Earlier, Spanish newspaper El Mundo said the NSA recently tracked over 60 mil... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Thursday announced new delays in rolling out President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform, saying small business and Spanish-language health insurance enrollment services would not begin on October 1 as planned. The ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications Inc has in recent weeks held discussions with banks about an initial public offering, according to three people familiar with the matter, as strong stock markets encourage private ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union will send a team to investigate the border dispute between Spain and Gibraltar next week, Britain’s Foreign Office said on Tuesday. Officials from the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, will visit the British ove... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission is to send a fact-finding mission to Gibraltar to examine the legitimacy of border controls imposed by Spain in a growing dispute over the British Mediterranean enclave. It broke out after Gibraltar’s construction o... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy appeared in parliament early on Thursday to testify about his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal that is undermining the authority of his ruling People’s Party (PP). Luis Barcenas, a former treas... More »
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain (Reuters) – Spain was to hold a memorial service on Monday for the 79 people who died in the country’s worst rail disaster in decades, hours after the driver of the train was freed pending trial on charges of reckless homicide. Th... More »
LONDON/MADRID (Reuters) – The dramatic earnings turnaround boasted by four Spanish banks obscures the uphill battle they still face to contain bad debts, grow their businesses and increase shareholder value against the backdrop of one of Europe’s most challeng... More »
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain (Reuters) – The driver of a Spanish train that derailed, killing at least 80 people, was under police guard in hospital on Friday after the accident, which an official source said was caused by excessive speed. The eight-carriage ... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Dissent is growing within the usually disciplined ranks of Spain’s ruling center-right People’s Party over a corruption scandal, but there are few signs yet of any rebellion strong enough to topple Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Rajoy has den... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Spain’s Banco Santander (SAN.MC ) has considered investing in Commerzbank (CBKG.DE ), Germany’s second-biggest bank, the daily Die Welt reported, citing financial sources. The paper said on Tuesday that Commerzbank’s retail banking busine... More »
LA PAZ (Reuters) – Spain apologized on Monday for its part in the events that led Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane to be delayed earlier this month during an international search for U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden. Bolivia has accused Spain, France, Portuga... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday called on the European Central Bank to create a cheap funding scheme for small businesses, mirroring those used by authorities outside the euro zone to try and get credit flowing via banks. Ra... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – France and Spain fell short of their budget deficit goals last year and debt levels swelled across the euro zone but the pressure may be easing on Paris and Madrid as the European Commission signals an end to sharp spending cuts. Outlining... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission warned of deepening economic problems in France, Italy and Spain on Wednesday, and said Slovenia must take urgent steps to offset the risk of a wider destabilization across the euro zone. Unveiling its second review... More »
MILAN/MADRID (Reuters) – Small companies struggling to repay loans in Italy and Spain signal bigger problems on the horizon for the euro zone after the dust has settled on Cyprus’s last-ditch bailout this week. Defaults by small and medium-sized enterprises (S... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – A Spanish association representing open-source software users has filed a complaint against Microsoft Corp to the European Commission, in a new challenge to the Windows developer following a hefty fine earlier this month. The 8,000-member Hi... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – The Bank of Spain said on Saturday there were no signs of capital flight from Spain as a result of developments in Cyprus, where euro zone ministers are demanding that depositors forfeit some of their savings to avert bankruptcy. “As far as ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – France, Spain and Italy dragged the euro zone into a deeper downturn in February, according to business surveys that showed the chasm between these countries and prosperous Germany widening yet again. While British services companies had a s... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The euro zone will not return to growth until 2014 and struggling Spain and France will be among those who miss debt-cutting targets as a result, the European Commission said on Friday. Paris and Lisbon said they would seek more time from ... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – A bleaker-than-expected economic outlook from the European Commission on Friday will add pressure on Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to review economic policy over the rest of his term, economists and European sources say. Rajoy, who sa... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Friday that Spain did not need to tap for now the European Central Bank’s bond-buying program for troubled euro zone governments but did not rule out asking for aid in the future. Rajoy has faced ... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain will soon intensify pension reforms, possibly accelerating an increase in the retirement age and restricting index-linking of pension payouts to meet European Union demands to fix the country’s troubled public finances, Spanish officia... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Global stocks faltered on Monday on weak corporate results and outlooks, while the euro gained after a regional vote in Spain was seen as moving a solution to the euro zone debt crisis one step closer. U.S. stocks eked out gains in a late-... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel raised new hurdles on Friday to using the euro zone’s rescue fund to inject capital directly into ailing banks from next year, dashing Spain’s hopes of soon removing the cost from its strained national debt.... More »
MILAN/MADRID (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund called on the eve of a European Union summit for both Spain and Italy to seek euro zone assistance to draw a line under the bloc’s debt crisis, but Rome has rebuffed the idea and Madrid seems likely to a... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Spain on Friday said a European bond-buying plan was fully ready for use and that there was absolutely no political resistance from within the euro zone to a Spanish bailout request. The situation in Spain, which is considering seeking an aid... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Greece, Spain and the euro zone’s slow progress toward debt reform take centre stage at IMF meetings on Friday despite Europe’s best effort to remove itself from the spotlight. The International Monetary Fund recommended that some of Europe’s... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel will make her first visit to Greece next week since the euro zone debt crisis erupted, in a show of support for Athens after it said it would run out of money at the end of November without fresh international... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hardening her stance on additional help for struggling euro zone economies like Greece and Spain as pressure from parliamentary allies and a looming election campaign shrink her room for maneuver in Europe.... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Tuesday a request for European aid was not imminent following a report the country could apply for help as soon as this weekend. Rajoy made the comments after meeting in Madrid with the 17 leaders... More »
NICOSIA (Reuters) – Spain told euro zone finance ministers on Friday it will set clear deadlines for structural reforms by the end of the month, in a move European diplomats said would pave the way for an aid request before long to help it tackle its debt pile... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – European banks should face penalties if they loan cash for share issues by other banks, national regulators from across Europe told Reuters. This comes after a Greek bank was found to have raised money from offshore companies financed by oth... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Mario Draghi was under intense pressure from investors, European leaders and even the United States to deliver on Thursday on his pledge to do whatever it takes to save the euro. Draghi faced the biggest te... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Political leaders in Greece have agreed on most of the austerity measures demanded by its creditors and are now eyeing pension and wage cuts to find the final 1.5 billion euros of savings still needed, a source close to the talks said on Sun... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Mario Draghi pledged on Thursday to do whatever was necessary to protect the euro zone from collapse, sending a strong signal that inflated Spanish and Italian borrowing costs were in his sights. Fears about t... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – The euro zone’s biggest bank, Santander (SAN.MC ), said on Thursday first-half profit halved after it took writedowns on deteriorating Spanish real estate assets while deposits in Spain jumped during the quarter. Santander said it had now co... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain is not considering seeking immediate help from the European Union to ease its spiraling borrowing costs, two Spanish sources said on Thursday, although the euro zone is eyeing possible action for later this year. With the troika of int... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German lawmakers look set to approve on Thursday Berlin’s contribution to a euro zone aid package for Spain’s ailing banks in a vote seen as a test of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s authority within her centre-right coalition. Merkel can count o... More »
