The detection of positive cases of African swine fever (ASF) in wild boar in Catalonia has set off alarm bells. An outbreak hadn't been detected in Spain since 1994, and many questions are arising about the scope of the problem. What is this disease and how does it manifest? Is it contagious to humans? What are the health and economic consequences? We review the key points to understand this crisis. It has even mobilized the European Union.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump He denied in a press conference that he planned to fire Jerome Powell., the chairman of the Federal Reserve (the Fed, the US central bank). That same morning, several media outlets such as Bloomberg and The New York Times They had published that Trump had a draft letter to send to Congress to oust Powell, which led to an immediate drop in the dollar on the foreign exchange market and put the US stock market in the red. Only with the president's denial, a few minutes after its publication, did the situation in the markets normalize.

The economic emergency plan to counter the consequences of the war in Ukraine will also include measures to labour laws, housing and protection of the most vulnerable population. The package totals €16bn, €6bn in direct aid and tax rebates and €10bn in state-secured loans. "It is an unprecedented challenge", said the Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, in a press conference after the Council of Ministers. These are the details of the new measures.

The Spanish government will subsidise fuel for the whole population, who will now pay 20 cents less per litre. This will the star measure of the government's shock plan to counter the economic impact of the war in Ukraine, which will be passed tomorrow by the Council of Ministers. This President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, made the announcement this Monday and also explained that the plan will include up to €6bn in direct and fiscal aid and €10bn in state-secured loans for companies most affected by the crisis.

The OECD has given Spain good news and bad news. The good: that it will be the Eurozone country where the economy will grow the most this year. The bad: that, among advanced economies, it will be the second slowest to recover the GDP per capita it had before covid, only behind Iceland.

Adjusting the contributions of the self-employed to Social Security to the real income is a historical demand by a group that has traditionally felt mistreated in comparison with employees, much more protected by labour legislation. The Spanish government has finally made public its proposal for a reform that should come into force in 2023 and would be put in place gradually until 2031. The idea is that the minimum quota, which now stands at €289, would be lowered to €200 for the self-employed who earn less than €3,000 a year, while for those who earn more than €49,000 it would be €400. Over the next eight years these €200 would be lowered to €90 and the €400 of the highest band would be raised to €1,220 a month. In between there would be a whole scale of fees depending on income.

25 February 2020. Alba Vergés: "I'm on the train on my way to Madrid for the Interterritorial Council, a meeting that takes place periodically between health ministers. This time the agenda is focused on the new variant of the coronavirus, about which we know very little. The phone rings. It's the Secretary of Public Health, Joan Guix. He confirms that we have the first case in Catalonia. The news hits the press shortly afterwards and a swarm of journalists is waiting for me in Madrid. Pere Aragonès: "It's Tuesday, government day, and I'm at the Palau. Minister Vergés informs me by message that the first case has been confirmed in Catalonia. She is on her way to Madrid. The whole team is immediately activated and the first meetings begin. We are concerned about the patient's condition and the measures that have to be taken. It is now half past seven in the evening and we continue to meet with the health team. I know that the Catalan health system is very prepared, but I am worried about the uncertainty and the lack of knowledge about the virus".

The way out of the economic crisis does not only depend on the success of vaccination against covid-19. There are other factors to take into account, the main but not only one being European aid. This Wednesday the State has announced a new aid package of €11bn aimed in particular at the hospitality industry, tourism, small businesses and SMEs and the self-employed. Welcome, but let's see how fast they are distributed and where they end up. For starters, it has not yet been clarified whether a part will be direct aid, a relevant detail. Unlike other countries, Spain so far has not given any: it has chosen to reduce some taxes and contributions, offer moratoriums, give guarantees and, above all, assume the cost of furlough. A set of measures that have barely stopped the blow. In fact, according to the European Central Bank Spain has devoted a smaller percentage of GDP (1.3%) to combat the economic crisis with direct aid than any other eurozone country.

Article by Grup Pròleg*