Spain says goodbye to visits from the 'men in black'

MadridFor more than ten years, the State has periodically received visits from the so-called men in blackBut from December 11th onwards, this will no longer happen. Spain will say goodbye to the supervision of officials from the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the European Central Bank (ECB) after paying more than 75% of the money disbursed by these institutions, known as the "troika," in 2012 to save the Spanish financial sector and "rescue" the state. "With this December's payment, we will exceed 75% of the loan repayment, which means no longer receiving visits from the men in black"," announced Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo at a press conference this Tuesday, following the cabinet meeting.

The technicians dubbed as men in black These are men and women who have ensured that the European governments bailed out after the financial crisis implemented the reforms and cuts agreed upon in exchange for the financial aid they received at the time. Specifically, with this December's payment, sources at the Ministry of Economy explain that the State will have repaid more than 80% of the loan from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) granted in 2012 to restructure the Spanish financial system, amounting to 41.3 billion euros – in total, Spain received nothing.

Since receiving this money, the three European institutions have been conducting biannual monitoring – twice a year – in Spain. Since that year, the "troika" has been traveling to Madrid, although at the time the government of Mariano Rajoy (PP) denied it.

Reforms and cuts

That bailout meant the Spanish government committed to a series of reforms and cuts, spearheaded by the then Minister of Economy, Luis de Guindos (PP), now Vice-President of the European Central Bank (ECB). Amid the fiscal adjustments, also marked by tax increases, labor reform, pension reform, and reforms to education and public administration were implemented. The Asset Management Company for Assets Arising from Bank Restructuring, or Sareb, was also created, which quickly became known by a much more familiar and descriptive name: the bad bankAt the end of 2012, Sareb was established with a mandate and objective: to absorb the toxic assets that threatened to collapse the entire Spanish banking system. In fact, the creation of abad bankIt was the seventh of the 32 conditions that Brussels imposed on Spain in that turbulent summer of 2012 to access a bailout of up to €100 billion, necessary to halt the decline. These assets that Sareb absorbed were of two kinds: real estate that banks had acquired by foreclosing on unpaid loans in the early years of the Great Recession (often properties with no market value, or even half-built), but also non-performing or bad loans.