FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL
Agency on coalitions RATINGS agency Moody’s has said a coalition government between the left-leaning Partido Socialista (PSOE) and the centrist Ciudadanos would be most likely to implement economic reform. The agency said a pact between the two parties could see reforms that it claimed would shore up the Spanish economy and the state pension system. PSOE may also be able to govern alone after winning 123 seats in the Congress of Deputies in the snap election. The party would also be in a position to reach out to Podemos and regional parties, Moody’s added. The rating firm said minority governments returned from elections from 2015 onwards had so far meant that structural economic reforms could not be undertaken. PSOE’s position in the Congreso opens the way to achieve a more stable government which could boost Spain’s credit rating, making it cheaper for the country to borrow, Moody’s added. The ratings agency said the economic fallout from the Catalan independence situation could be more easily contained due to the election results.
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9 - 15 May 2019
Don Quixote cheese ruling COMPANIES producing manchego cheese which features Don Quixote branding on packaging could be breaking trading rules if they are not covered by product origin rules, an EU court has said. The EU’s Court of Justice ruled companies that do not have accreditation from the Denomination of Origin Queso Manchego organisation could not feature images related to the fictional knight-errant. The court ruled imagery which evoked a certain region, such as Don Quixote and La Mancha, could lead consumers to mistake unofficial products for those protected by Denomination of Origin status. The ruling follows a complaint lodged by the Denomination of Origin after the Quequera Cuquerella company featured images of a famished man on a landscape of windmills and sheep. Another one of its cheeses
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Fuel prices increase THE price of petrol increased by 1.73 per cent to almost €1.40 a litre during April while that of diesel rose by more than 1.2 per cent to almost €1.30 a litre, according to EU Oil Bulletin figures.
Stake buy
DISPUTE: The company used Don Quixote-esque imagery. was called Rocinante, the name of Don Quixote’s horse in Miguel de Cervantes’ 1605 novel. The Court of Justice ruling came after Spain’s Supreme Court asked the EU institution to clarify the Denomination of Origin dispute. The organisation’s seal of
approval features Don Quixote in front of several windmills in a nod to scenes from the book. The EU court also said the use of imagery without words could still constitute an improper use of them. Producers unauthorised to use the branding could be unfairly taking advantage of
it to sell their goods. There can be no exceptions to using the imagery if a company is not accredited, even if the cheesemaker is based in La Mancha, the court said. The Supreme Court is now set to weigh the EU court’s decision in its ruling on the use of the branding. The case continues.
BARCELONA-BASED pharmaceutical company Grifols has bought a controlling stake in the American blood donation firm Interstate Blood Bank Inc for about €89.1 million, with the former now owning 51 per cent of the latter’s stock.
Share payout AMANCIO ORTEGA, the founder and largest shareholder of fashion company Inditex, has taken home €813.1 million in dividend payments and is expected to earn more than €1.6 billion from payouts this year, according to company figures.