Europe Comes Together in Spain this Week

There´s not much to say about the Spanish political situation this week that wasn´t predicted. The PP failed to secure the necessary numbers in both votes last week, in fact, support declined in the second, so now we wait to see if acting President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez of the PSOE, has more success with his coalition before it might be put back in the public´s hands in January.

On Monday, the final Purchasing Managers’ Index data for September that will be published in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, the Eurozone as a whole, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan will be the main reference for a day in which the evolution of unemployment in August will also be released, after standing at 6.4% of the active population the previous month.

In Spain, the week starts with the Bank of Spain disseminating the liquidity and financing indicators of non-financial corporations and households for August. The National Statistics Institute (INE) publishes the August survey of occupancy in tourist accommodation and prices.

On Wednesday, IHS Markit will publish the final data on the Eurozone services PMI, which rose slightly in September in its first reading to 48.4 points, compared to 47.9 points the previous month.

Subsequently, the rate of change in retail sales in the Eurozone in August will be known, after contracting 1.0% year-on-year in July.

On account of Spain’s Presidency of the EU, European leaders meet in Granada on Thursday for the third European Political Community Summit. Rishi Sunak is expected to try to push immigration to the top of the agenda, something already being discussed at an EU level, whereas Spain is hoping to focus on the growth, implementation, and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) and Ukraine.

Depending on how you see the man and his mission, the EU summit may or may not be fortuitous for Sunak as it comes in the midst of the Conservative Party conference, which is likely to be their last official gathering before the next general election, with Jeremy Hunt taking to the stage on Monday, and on Tuesday, Home Secretary Suella Braverman continues the message she introduced last week in Washington DC, that received mixed reviews from party colleagues. In completely unrelated news, the annual hate crime statistics for England and Wales are published later in the week. Prime Minister will offer his closing speech on Wednesday, just before heading to Spain, hoping no doubt to unite the party, but with division seemingly growing daily, it is possible they leave more divided than ever before.

The UK also sees doctors and consultants on strike, train drivers implementing an overtime ban and strike, Liz Truss, somewhat ironically, speaking at the Great British Growth Rally, and Module 2 hearing begin in the Covid-19 inquiry, and we get to see what happened in Downing Street during the height of the pandemic, as Partygate: The True Story airs on TV.

Pro-Brexit, but now he can’t get the staff and beer prices have had to go up as a result, Tim Martin, will no doubt be doing the interview rounds later in the week as J D Wetherspoon announce their current financial results.

Over on the other side of the big swamp, Donald Trump will be in the news, as following a bombshell ruling last week, finding the former president and his company persistently committed fraud by inflating the value of his assets, the trial is set to get underway on Monday.

Globally, it’s Nobel week, culminating on Friday with the announcement of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. In addition to announcements throughout the week in such fields as science, economics and literature, we know only that this year there are 351 candidates, of which 259 are individuals and 92 are organisations.

If you’re an animal lover, you can celebrate World Farm Animals Day on Monday, and World Animal Day on Wednesday, and if you’re not an animal lover, then the same day in the UK is National Vodka Day, so perhaps that will suit you more. Cerebral Palsy, dyslexia, teachers, poetry and even James Bond have special days this week, and in the fictional world the latter might see an opportunity to crash a birthday party and correct some of the global wrongs, as Vladimir Putin turns 71 on Saturday.

Finally, with all the drama, hatred, stress and overall bad news in this world at times, we should all take a step back on Friday and celebrate a very important day that recognises something most of us are guilty of neglecting, for October 6 is World Smile Day.