SPAIN’S recession ended in 2013, but in Extremadura, a scenic, sparsely populated region in the country’s south-west, you would be forgiven for not noticing. Last year unemployment stood at 26.3%, among the highest rates for any region in the EU. At the People’s University, a municipal college in Cáceres, the region’s second town, a dozen youngsters studying tourism declare the local situation hopeless; most are resigned to seeking jobs elsewhere once they get their diplomas. A nearby fast-food joint offers a lunchtime “Menu Anticrisis” (roast chicken, baguette, packet of crisps and a soft drink). Extremadura’s woes render it, in the bloodless jargon of the European Union, Spain’s only “less developed region”.
You might think this is a tag politicians would be keen to shed. But losing it would be a “disappointment”, says Rosa Balas, the regional government’s head of external action. Why? Because that classification helped put Extremadura in line for EU subsidies...Continue reading
Souce: Europe https://ift.tt/2rhYwVz
EmoticonEmoticon