Yearbook 2019
Spain. In mid-February, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez
announced his election. According to
CountryAAH, the government's draft budget had
been voted down in Parliament, not only by Conservative
People's Party (PP) and Liberal Conservative Ciudadanos, but
also by the two Catalan separatist parties that previously
supported Sánchez. This was seen as a response by the
separatist parties to the government's refusal to discuss
independence for the region of Catalonia. However, it would
turn out to be two parliamentary elections - one on April 28
and one on November 10.
In the April 28 election, Prime Minister Sánchez and his
Socialist Party (PSOE) became the largest party with about
30% of the vote. The Left Union Unidas Podemos (UP) gained
14%, the Conservative PP backed and ended at just under 17%,
Liberal Conservative Ciudadanos gained 16% and the farmer,
right-wing extremist Vox, landed at just over 10%. This
meant that no block was given a majority. It was in June
2018 that PSOE and Pedro Sánchez took over the government
after a vote of no confidence which forced the then prime
minister and PP leader Mariano Rajoy to resign.
After several attempts to form a government - the UP
wanted a government coalition while the PSOE wanted to
continue its minority government - Sánchez was forced to
once again announce new elections. In the November
elections, right-wing extremists Vox went ahead strongly,
from 24 to 52 seats in parliament. According to analysts,
the crisis of independence with Catalonia is seen as one of
the main reasons for the success of Vox. The stalemate in
Spanish politics continued because none of the parties got a
majority in the elections.
In December, Pedro Sánchez was commissioned by King
Felipe VI to form a government. After the election, Sánchez
succeeded in settling a deal with the UP, but in order to
gain a majority in Parliament he must now apply to the
bourgeois parties PP and Ciudadanos. This was not clear at
the end of the year.
In the European Parliament elections on 26 May, the PSOE
and its Catalan sister party (Catalonia's Socialist Party)
became the largest party with 33.2% of the vote, giving 20
seats. In second place was PP with 20.4% (12 seats),
followed by Ciudadanos, which received 12.3% (7 seats); a
coalition with the UP in the lead took home 10.2% of the
votes (6 seats). Right-wing extremes Vox ended up at 6.3% (3
seats). Then followed a number of coalition parties, which
together shared 6 seats. The turnout was 60.73%, which was
significantly higher than the EU average, which was 50.66%.
In October, the twelve Catalan politicians who were
charged with, among other things, insurrection and
incitement in connection with the Catalan Declaration of
Independence in 2016 were convicted. The longest sentence
was given to the former vice-regional president of Catalonia
Oriol Junqueras, who was sentenced to 13 years for
incarceration. A further three defendants were convicted of
disobedience but received no prison sentence. Following the
verdict, violent protests erupted in the Catalan regional
capital Barcelona, including at the international airport,
where over 100 flights had to be canceled. On October 26,
hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Barcelona
demanding independence and the sentenced to be released. The
next day demonstrated the same number of people instead of
Spanish unity.
Catalonia's former leader Carles Puigdemont was not among
the defendants because he had left the country and therefore
could not be prosecuted. Some day after the verdict,
however, Puigdemont surrendered to authorities in Belgium,
where he has been on the run since 2017. Spain had issued a
new arrest warrant against him. However, Puigdemont opposed
extradition to Spain. In connection with the verdict against
the separatist leaders, he wrote in the British newspaper
The Guardian that the judges "will strike back against
Spain. There is now only one way forward for Catalonia
[...]. It must become an independent state in the form of a
republic. We will never back down. This is now an
international issue. "
In October, former dictator Francisco Franco's remains
were excavated and moved from El Valle de los Caidos, a
mausoleum about 5 miles north of Madrid, to be buried at the
El Pardo cemetery in Mingorrubio. According to the ruling
party PSOE, it is extremely inappropriate to have a
"mausoleum dedicated to a dictator" in a democratic country.
The Mausoleum, which was established by the fascist regime,
was built to some extent by forced labor from political
prisoners.
The Spaniards will have the longest average life
expectancy in 2040. According to Bloomberg's annual ranking
of 169 countries, the Spaniards would then become the oldest
with a respectable age of 86 years. A well-functioning
primary care together with the classic Mediterranean diet,
which according to research reduces the risk of
cardiovascular disease, is said to have been crucial. Sweden
came in sixth place.
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