In Spain, the economy is growing rapidly and trade is going well – But why are the prime minister’s close colleagues in prison?

MADRID. The Spanish celebrate Christmas more prosperous than ever, at least statistically.

Many say that salaries cannot keep up with the three percent inflation rate, rents are skyrocketing and taxation is getting tougher, but still private consumption is growing, and the value of family housing assets has risen by a whopping 12 percent per year on average across the country.

Construction and housing trade are busy. Similarly, tourism is a huge source of income.

The stock market is on the rise

The main index of the Madrid stock exchange Ibex35 has broken all-time records this year, rising by almost 50 percent in a year.

The growth rate of the economy is almost three percent annually. Last year, the growth was 3.5 percent, and almost 2.5 percent is expected next year.

From the perspective of Finland, of course, this sounds like happiness.

But politics is needed in a crisis. News about the corruption revealed at the top of the Socialist Party, which leads the left-wing government, is flooding the headlines.

Prime Minister, Socialist party leader Pedro Sánchezin during the reign of more than seven years, both party secretaries have been remanded in custody.

The other, former Minister of Transport José Luis Ábalosis currently in prison. The charges concern bribery. He is also suspected of getting young women to accompany him as bribes, who were lured into fake jobs on the payrolls of state-owned companies.

Second Party Secretary, Santos Cerdanwho, as Sánchez’s confidant, negotiated with the Catalan nationalists, has financed threshold money from public contracts, according to the police report.

The raid on the Socialist party office revealed that the party’s accounts do not match. Some of those interrogated say that they carried a lot of cash in plastic bags to the party house.

And we should get more help

Next year will be the third year in Spain without a new state budget. Sánchez will not bring the budget proposal to parliament because the government does not have a secure majority.

The right-wing opposition is fiercely demanding Sánchez’s resignation and elections. In polls, half would now vote for the right-wing and only about 35 percent for government parties.

But the government has a problem with the election. Another 25 billion euros will be requested from the EU next year for the recovery of the corona pandemic. In the past, EUR 55 billion in grants and EUR 16 billion in loans have already been received.

In addition, 200 billion euros of new market loans have been taken out since the pandemic, even though tax revenues have grown considerably.