SPAIN: POLITICAL RISKS SURROUNDING THE VOTE OF THE DRAFT BUDGET

Mid-February, the Spanish Congress is going to start the legislative process for adopting the 2019 draft budget. This is the last hope for Pedro Sanchez’s government having a budget complying with its political objectives and satisfying its agreement with its parliamentary partner Podemos. The process is going to be tricky due to the need to negotiate with Catalan separatist parties to reach a majority. The first obstacle will be the vote of the amendments on the whole budget introduced by the separatists that should take place on 14th of February, two days after the start of the trial against the former executives of the region prosecuted for having organized an illegal referendum on 1st of October 2017.