E
URO NEWS
Google News has announced that it will no
longer operate in Spain after the government´s
decision to impose a tax on the service.
The tax was urged by the Spanish Federation
of Journalists Associations, who claim that
Google News has been reproducing its content
without payment. Google claim that the
increased traffic to news sites justifies the service.
The Association claimed that the tax did not
affect free speech: "Despite the suspension of
Google News, access to news on the internet
will still be guaranteed as it can be found via the
news organisations' own websites or web
searches," it said in a statement.
However, smaller news providers have
complained that they were not considered in
the measure, and will end up losing traffic to
their own sites.
Facebook and Twitter are not covered by the
tax and may continue to link to news sources
for free.
Rajoy: “Crisis over.”
Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy
claimed that “the crisis is over” in
early December.
owever, after widespread criticism from
opposition politicians, Rajoy added that
the aftermath of the crisis was by no
means over, saying that “recovery will not
be complete until it reaches every Spanish
H
household.”
The much-trumpeted Spanish recovery has so far only
been experienced in certain sectors and in an election
year, the incumbent government will waste no
opportunity to claim that they have beaten the crisis.
However, for the vast majority of Spaniards, including
24 per cent of them who are unemployed, the light at the
end of the tunnel still remains a dim prospect.
Juncker
warns
Greece
10
| January 2015 | The Gazette
Google take their
ball home
The President of the European Commission,
Jean Claude Juncker, has been criticized for
threatening Greeks not to vote in the
“wrong” way in a forthcoming election.
“I assume that the Greeks - who don't
have an easy life, above all the many poor
people - know very well what a wrong
election result would mean for Greece and
the euro zone," said Juncker in an Austrian
radio interview.
Juncker, who recently faced strong
criticism for the “sweetheart” tax deals he
arranged for multinationals while ruling
Luxembourg, was clearly warning against a
victory by the Greek left-wing party Syriza, who
are currently ahead in the Greek polls.
Juncker´s warning has already been
interpreted as sending a message to Spain as
well. The anti-austerity Podemos party recently
topped Spanish polls, and could form a
powerful influence on the General Election that
will take place this year.