Good morning!

How is the week going? At elDiario.es we fully support this the Declaration of Recognition of the State of Palestine made by the Government of Spain. It is a measure in favor of peace and coexistence and against the genocide that Israel is committing in Gaza. The same day, The leader of the far-right Vox party, Santiago Abascal, was traveling to Israel to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.. Abascal's journey will mark him throughout his political life. It is relevant and a warning to sailors at this time, when so much is at stake in the European elections.

In fact, over the past five years, the far right in the European Parliament has pursued a strategy of nationalism, xenophobia and rejection of the ecological transition, without offering solutions to the problems facing EU countries. The party led by Santiago Abascal and its far-right partners have dedicated this term to boycotting measures that could raise the living standards of Spanish workers.

Combating the gender gap, improving the rights of platform workers with a European 'rider law' or a standard to strengthen the obligations of multinationals to respect human rights are some of the legislative initiatives that have been tackled against Vox and its far-right allies .

In other cases, when the political interest was evident, Abascal and his followers chose to abstain so that it would not be clear that they were positioned against the workers, as was the case with the agreement to establish a “ adequate minimum wage” in the government. EU and strengthening collective bargaining. In this information we give you more information and explanation about the position of the extreme right and Vox against the interests of Spanish and European employees.

Every time he speaks, the bread rises

It's certainly nothing to write home about… We are faced with crushing economic mediocrity

Alberto Núñez Feijoo
— Chairman of the Popular Party

It is true that the boast that the economy is running “like a rocket”, as the president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, said, with a growth of 2.9%, is somewhat exaggerated, but what has no basis or basis is In response, we are “faced with crushing economic mediocrity,” as Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the president of the Popular Party, has noted. Of the EU's four major economies, France and Germany are behind Spain, with only Italy growing more strongly since 2019. Our country, although it has a very high unemployment rate, has more than 21 million workers and, as confirmed by the OECD, the real disposable income of households is on average above 2019 levels.

When they don't know what to hold on to, the right tends to hold on to everything. Now it is the lack of investment from companies, as if there had been no pandemic or inflation crisis. The Bank of Spain even confirms this The factors that limited business investment in Spain have diluted. The Spanish economy still faces many challenges, but it certainly does not come close to the apocalyptic vision of the PP leader. Here we show you the graphs that dismantle Feijóo's economic catastrophism.

The data

1,865.8 euros per square meter

According to data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda, this was the price of free housing in the first quarter of 2024. This represents an increase of 4.3% until March and is the highest level since 2009. This data corresponds to the first anniversary of the Housing Actwhich celebrates a year the support of the Constitutional Court for most of the text. Housing remains a serious problem for Spanish families. The Bank of Spain warns about this half of tenants are at risk of poverty because rental contracts eat up most of your income, while Real estate developers warn that home purchase prices will not stop rising. Given this situation, elDiario.es asked experts from academia, activism and business how to tackle this crisis to find a solution: Here you can read the solutions to the housing problem in Spain.

The image

When a company multiplies its profits by seven in the first quarter of 2024, from $2,043 million to $14,881 million, and its income rises 262% to $26,044 million, it is leading a change that goes beyond its accounting. This is what is happening with the semiconductor company Nvidia led by Jensen Huang. It is the leading company in the important artificial intelligence infrastructure emerging around the world and its growth is based on sales of chips for advanced data centers. In this link we explain the dizzying rise of the technological giant Nvidia.

The furore on the stock markets is also reflected in Spain. Criteria Caixa, the holding company that manages the corporate assets of the La Caixa Foundation, has strengthened its presence in major listed companies with operations that would exceed 5,000 million euros in the first half of 2024. On the one hand, Criteria has taken a leading role in the future of Naturgy and is negotiating for the CVC and GIP funds to sell their 40% of the energy company to Emirati investors. On the other hand, the company led by Isidre Fainé has purchased 9.4% of ACS's share capital, becoming the second largest investor in the construction company, after president Florentino Pérez. In addition, it has acquired 3% of Puig's capital, in colonial SOCIMI it will go from 3% to 17%, and in Telefónica, where it already controls 5%, it has intention to reach 10% and match the weight of the State Society of Industrial Partications (SEPI). to form a hard core together with the State to the Saudi group STCwhich is also almost 10%. Here we explain how Criteria, the investment arm of La Caixa, becomes the big buyer of the year.

Entrepreneur

We have several candidates for this week entrepreneur this week. On the one hand, Edith Rodríguez, Argentina's richest woman, has strengthened Spain's weight in the network of companies that its opaque oil company Pluspetrol has been weaving in different areas for years to avoid taxes. The two sister companies, Petro Andina Resources Spain SL and Petro Andina Spain SL, have their headquarters in the offices of the international company Intertrust in Serrano, 41. They share an address with the network set up in recent years by other anonymous Latin American billionaires, the Guillermo Prietos. With these assets for 41.3 million euros, without employees or invoicing, these two Spanish companies own 100% of Pluspetrol Uruguay SA. Here we tell how Argentina's richest woman uses Spain to avoid taxes at her opaque oil giant.

Another example of this entrepreneur is Teresa Pérez from Madrid, owner of an interior design company in Pozuelo. This decorator confessed to the American stock market regulator that in early 2023 she had illegally made a profit of approximately 270,000 euros using privileged information about a business operation that she had become aware of through the computer of her husband, a lawyer by profession. He did not lack initiative. In this link we tell you the story of the decorator who won 270,000 euros using privileged information from her lawyer husband.

And finally an old acquaintance from the elDiario.es news, David Hatchwell. The investor had to restate the accounts of his business conglomerate, Spain's Excem Grupo 1971, SA, revealing losses of 2.8 million euros in addition to those initially declared, following a series of accounting errors that led to the sudden dismissal in 2022 of the managers of the financial area. Here you can read how Netanyahu's friend and partner of Nacho Cano corrects the accounts of his business group and attacks the financial sector.

Letters that are a treasure

This week we recommend the book 'The Money Game' (Peninsula Editorial), by Gary Stevenson. The author, who came from a working family, worked as a trader at Citibank selling and buying shares, exchanges and other financial products, where we bet that the economy will collapse. A ruthless world, where greed is the main driver for young people and companies who get rich off the poverty of the rest of the world, as he explains in his book. After this personal experience, Stevenson left the world of financial markets to devote himself to explaining how the economy works and combating inequality. Here you can read an interview with Gary Stevenson about his experiences as a 'trader' that he includes in his book.

public good

The Court of Justice of the European Union convicted in January that Spain is in violation of the European Directive on Equal Treatment in Employment, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Although it may be hard to believe, the Workers' Statute stated that the employee's total or absolute permanent disability was grounds for termination of the contract. It was the worker – José Angorrilla, who you see in the image – who took his case to court, putting an end to the injustice that affected people who, in addition to a health problem, were fired. Now, the second vice president of the government, Yolanda Díaz announced a reform of Article 49 of the Workers' Statute and “discrimination has been corrected.” Here you can read a report by David Noriega, with testimonials from those affected, on how disability will no longer be a reason for dismissal.

We like competition

In this section we offer you a selection of articles from other media that we found interesting:

We end here, we'll meet again next Thursday. For ideas or comments, please write to us at contraoferta@eldiario.es. We remind you that the Festival of Ideas and Culture (FIC) takes place on June 28 and 29 in Barcelona, where Margaret Atwood, Sidonie and Juan Diego Botto will be present. It's a free event and open to the public, so don't hesitate to come along.

Good week!