Euro Weekly News - Axarquia 18 - 24 July 2019 Issue 1776

FINANCESTAT OF
WEEK
14
€936.5 million
www.euroweeklynews.com • 27 June - 3 July 2019
This is the amount Santander has agreed to pay
Allianz group for its 60 per cent share in joint
venture Allianz Popular.
Spain escapes
EU law fine
SPAIN has been ‘let off’ an €80
million fine for delays in implementing
its new mortgage law.
The European Commission
has informed the European
Court of Justice that the law has
now been brought in correctly,
so it is withdrawing the case
and possible fine.
Political instability, the situation
and repeated elections have
been blamed for the delay in
implementing the legislation
that brings Spain into line with
EU regulations, which should
have come into force in March
2016.
Trump threat over Google tax
PRESIDENT Donald Trump has
told Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez the
US will react “very harshly” if plans
for a ‘Google Tax’ go ahead.
The warning came on the eve of
this week’s G20 summit and is
aimed at Spain and France in particular,
as well as other European nations
who may consider such a
charge.
US Trade Representative Robert
Lighthizer, who is the main advisor,
negotiator and spokesman for Trump
in the area of trade, was speaking to
a Senate committee when he issued
the warning.
By Dilip Kuner
He said that “President Trump
will respond very harshly” against
European countries that insist on applying
tax pressure that, in his opinion,
“discriminatorily penalise
American companies.”
The US ambassador to Spain,
Duke Buchan, wrote to the Spanish
government last November to ask
that a proposed new tax be withdrawn,
saying that Sanchez should
not try to impose such a tax without
international agreement within the
Organisation for Economic Development
Cooperation (OECD).
The government has said that it
plans to create a new tax as soon as
possible because it considers it necessary
for Google and other digital
platforms to pay more than they currently
do. It hopes to raise €1.2 billion
annually.
Nadia Calviño, Spain’s Minister
of Economy and Business, said: “It
is a priority to jointly address the
special challenges posed by the taxation
of new business models of digital
platforms. The government assures
that this declaration does not
change the plan to create the new
tax.”
BUSINESS EXTRA
MONEY SPINNER: Sports make big contribution.
Sports spend
on the rise
SPORTS tourism was worth €2.44 billion to Spain in 2018, up
10 per cent on the previous year.
According to figures in the Annual Sports-Related Statistics report
from the Ministry of Culture and Sport, €1.41 billion of that
came from visitors to the country, compared with the €1.26 billion
spent in 2017.
Tourists resident in Spain spent €1.03 billion on sport-related
trips, compared with €957 million the previous year.
In total, 4.1 per cent of all trips made for leisure, recreational or
holiday purposes by Spanish residents were for sports purposes.
The number of sports clubs increased in 2018 to 67,512, a rise
of 0.7 per cent in 2017.
Cash deal for
machine firms
BASQUE automotive group CIE
Automotive has spent 58 million
acquiring two companies dedicated
to the machining of parts in Celaya,
Guanajuato State (Mexico).
It has bought Maquinados de
Precisión de México and Cortes de
Precisión de México, whose Ebitda
(gross operating margin) is expected
to reach €16 million by the end
of 2019. Jesús María Herrera, CEO
of CIE Automotive, explained that
the purchase will allow it to expand
significantly physically and commercially
in the future.
The companies are being paid for
in cash.
Price rise
slowdown
INFLATION in Spain dipped
on the back of lower than expected
electricity and fuel
prices in May to a year-onyear
rate of 0.8 per cent from
1.5 per cent the previous
month, according to the National
Statistics Office.
Big exposure
THE eurozone financial system,
including banks, investment
funds, pension funds and
insurance companies, has a total
exposure to companies affected
by anti-emissions regulations
of €720 billion, says
the ECB.
Breaks price
SOCIAL media use, checking
personal emails plus unscheduled
coffee and cigarette
breaks cost Spanish
companies €3.3 billion a
year in lost time, according
to a study by work analysts
Adecco, although unions say
breaks can increase productivity.
Call for closer banking ties
SPAIN’S central bank has called for closer banking
ties within the EU and in particular a euro
zone deposit insurance scheme and stabilisation
fund.
It says that Europe as a whole faces significant
financial risks from ageing populations, low productivity,
high national debt and a Brexit-related
economic slow-down.
The Bank of Spain said that the European Deposit
Insurance Scheme (EDIS) would make the
financial sector more resilient and be the final
part to a full banking union within the eurozone.
Speaking in a presentation of the bank’s annual
report Governor Pablo Hernandez de Cos
said: “It is necessary to complete (the) revision
of the Economic and Monetary Union to avoid
the single currency still being exposed to tensions
in case of high-calibre disturbances.”