STUDY OF THE TRENDS IN SPAIN

GEOGRAPHIC: Officially the Kingdom of Spain is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal. Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llvia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometers (194,610 sq mi), it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France. Because of its location, the territory of Spain was subject to many external influences since prehistoric times and through to its dawn as a country. Spain emerged as a unified country in the 15th century, following the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs and the completion of the re-conquest, or Reconquista, of the Iberian Peninsula in 1492. Conversely, it has been an important source of influence to other regions, chiefly during the modern era, when it became a global empire that has left a legacy of over 500 million Spanish speakers today, making it the world's second most spoken first language.

DEMOGRAPHY: The demography of Spain showed a considerable decline of the fertility rate. Spain has a low population density compared to the other Western European countries. Madrid in Spain has the highest population in Spain. In keeping in mind the demography of Spain, it should be kept in mind that the population of Spain had almost doubled in the twentieth century. More and more people migrated to the developed industrial sectors. They wanted to leave behind agriculture and take up jobs in the industrial sectors. There was a considerable fall in the birth rates in the last quarter of the century. The fertility rate of women is 1.28 and it is the lowest in the whole world.90% of the Spain's people are Catholic. The reason behind Spain's low fertility rate was due to the lack of family planning systems in the educated masses. In 1970 abortion was legalized and it resulted in the drop in the fertility rate. Women were reluctant to have more children. Many of the women remained childless. The demography of Spain changed due to an increase in the national population after it became the capital of Spain. Again the population decreased due to the growth of city state fringes. The population of Barcelona increased in1979 and again decorated in 1980 and 1990.This was due to the settlement of people in the metropolitan areas. Bilbaos population has gone for a drop due to the expensive real state estates. It has become the costliest place in Spain. The growth of the industries has led to the settlement of people in the developed areas. The geographical location, the growing industrial sectors and the demand of labor were some of the reasons for the immigration of people to Spain. Therefore various factors seem to have affected the demography of Spain.

SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND LEGAL: Branches of Government: Spain is a constitutional monarchy, with a hereditary monarch and a bicameral parliament, the Cortes Generals. The executive branch consists of a Council presided over by the Prime Minister, nominated and appointed by the monarch and confirmed by the Congress of Deputies following legislative elections. By political custom established by King Juan Carlos since the ratification of the 1978 Constitution, the king's nominees have all been from parties who maintain a plurality of seats in the Congress. The legislative branch is made up of the Congress of Deputies with 350 members, elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation to serve four-year terms, and a Senate (Senado) with 259 seats of which 208 are directly elected by popular vote and the other 51 appointed by the regional legislatures to also serve four-year term. The Spanish nation is organizationally composed in the form of called Estado de las Autonomas ("State of Autonomies") it is one of the most decentralized countries in Europe, along with Switzerland, Germany and Belgium for example, All Autonomous Communities have their own elected parliaments, governments, public administrations, budgets, and resources; therefore, health and education systems among others are managed regionally, besides, the Basque Country and Navarre also manage their own public finances based on foral provisions. In Catalonia and the Basque Country, a full-fledged autonomous police corps replaces some of the State police functions. Political parties: Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), Popular Party (PP), and the United Left (IU) coalition. Key regional parties are the Convergence and Union (CIU) in Catalonia and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) in the Basque country.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM OF SPAIN: The Judiciary of Spain consists of Courts and Tribunals, composed of judges and magistrates (Justices), who have the power to administer justice in the name of the King of Spain. The Spanish legal system is a civil law system based on comprehensive legal codes and laws rooted in Roman law, as opposed to common law, which is based on precedent court rulings. Operation of the Spanish judiciary is regulated by Organic Law 6/1985 of the Judiciary Power, Law 1/2000 of Civil Judgment, Law of September 14 1882 on Criminal Judgment, Law 29/1998 of Administrative Jurisdiction, Royal Legislative Decree 2/1995, which rewrote the Law of Labor Procedure, and Organic Law 2/1989 that regulates Military Criminal Procedures.

The Spanish Constitution guarantees respect for the essential principles necessary for the correct functioning of the judiciary. Impartiality: to guarantee the assured effective judicial trusteeship to all citizens by the Constitution, judges must remain impartial in cases that they judge and must abstain from cases that they have no reason to enter into. Independence: courts and tribunals are independent of all authority or people in the exercise of jurisdictional power. Immobility: judges and magistrates are immobile and cannot be moved, suspended, separated or retired without cause and with guarantees established by law. Responsibility: judges and magistrates are personally responsible for their disciplinary infractions and crimes committed in the exercise of their office; this responsibility can only be demanded by the established legal disciplinary tract, without interference by the executive or legislative branches of the government or through ordinary legal proceedings. Legality: in the exercise of their jurisdictional functions, judges and magistrates are subject to the Constitution and to the rest of the laws just as other branches of government and citizens are.

ECONOMY AND TRADE POLICIES The economy of Spain is the twelfth-largest economy in the world, based on nominal GDP comparisons, and the fifth-largest in Europe. It is regarded as the world's 20th most developed country. Until 2008 the economy of Spain had been regarded as one of the most dynamic within the EU, attracting significant amounts of foreign investment. Spain's economy had been credited with having avoided the virtual zero growth rates of some of its largest partners in the EU. In fact, the country's economy had created more than half of all the new jobs in the European Union over the five years ending 2005. In 2011 this process was rapidly being reversed. Banking System. The Spanish banking system has been credited as one of the most solid of all western banking systems in coping with the ongoing worldwide liquidity crisis, thanks to the country's conservative banking rules and practices. Banks are required to have high capital provisions and to demand various guarantees and securities from intending borrowers. This has allowed the banks, particularly the geographically and industrially diversified large banks like BBVA and Santander, to weather the real estate deflation better than expected. Indeed, these banks have been able to capitalize on their strong position to buy up distressed banking assets elsewhere in Europe and in the United States. TOURISM During the last four decades Spain's foreign tourist industry has grown into the second biggest in the world and was worth approximately 40 billion Euros, about 5% of GDP, in 2006. ] The total value of foreign and domestic tourism came to nearly 11% of the country's GDP and provided employment for about 2 million people. AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY The automobile industry in Spain is a large employer in the country, employing 9% of the total workforce in 2009 and contributing to 3.3% of the Spanish GDP, despite the decline due to the economic recession of the past couple of years. In 2009, Spain was in the top ten of the largest automobile producer countries in the world. Apart from its domestic brand SEAT, which is the major contributor to the automotive sector of the country, and Santana Motor, many suppliers and foreign car and truck makers - like Volkswagen, Nissan, Daimler Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Renault, GM/Opel, PSA Peugeot/Citron, Iveco, Chery etc. - have facilities and plants in Spain today developing and producing vehicles and components, not only for the needs of the internal market but also for exportation purposes, with the contribution of the automobile industry in 2008 rising up to the second place with 17,6% out of the country's total exports.

Educational System About 70% of Spain's student population attends public schools or universities. The remainder attend private schools or universities, the great majority of which are operated by the Catholic Church. Compulsory education begins with primary school or general basic education for ages 6-14. It is free in public schools and in many private schools, most of which receive government subsidies. Following graduation, students attend either a secondary school offering a general high school diploma or a school of professional education (corresponding to grades 9-12 in the United States) offering a vocational training program. The Spanish university system offers degree and post-graduate programs in all fields--law, sciences, humanities, and medicine--and the superior technical schools offer programs in engineering and architecture.

TRADE COMPOSITIONS OF EXPORT & IMPORT Spains weak trade scenario is attributable to several factors, predominantly the nations increasing reliance on imported petrol and decreased market competitiveness. Additionally, the steady decline of Spain exports is also attributed to the strength of the euro, since it was adopted by Spain for international trade, which has made Spanish exports more expensive. Spains top export and import partners are from the EU region. Key export commodities of the nation include motor vehicles, foodstuffs, medicines, machinery and pharmaceuticals. During 2009, Spain had net earnings of $215.7 billion from its exports. This represented a decline of $70.2 billion from the export earnings of 2008. Spains imports were valued at $293.2 billion in 2009, which was a considerable decline from the 2008 level of $415.5 billion. The reason for such a wide gap between Spains exports and imports is the lack of resources in the nation, particularly oil. The nation imports a sizeable 1.813 million barrels of oil per day. Other vital import commodities of Spain are mechanical and electric machinery, and iron and steel. Export Partners France 18.4%. Germany 10.6%. Portugal 8.7%. Italy 8%. UK 6.7%. US 4.2%. Export Commodities. Machinery, motor vehicles, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medicines, other consumer goods. Import Partners Germany 14.5%, France 11.1%, Italy 7.4%, China 6.3%, UK 4.6%, Netherlands 4.4%. Import Commodities. Machinery and equipment, fuels, chemicals, semi finished goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, measuring and medical control instruments. Spain is Australia's 27th largest merchandise trading partner. Trade in 2010, was around A$2.2 billion. Australian merchandise exports to Spain were around $490 million. Australian export successes include wine, crustaceans, outdoor furniture and sophisticated internet technology. Potential demand exists for Australian goods and services across a wide range of sectors. Australian imports from Spain in 2010 stood at around $1.6 billion, with the biggest import items being medicaments. Other Australian imports from Spain include goods vehicles, rubber tyres, treads and tubes, and vegetable oils and fats.

SPAINS TRADE WITH INDIA

India is keen to acquire renewable energy technology, especially in the wind and solar energy sectors, from Spain which is considered the world leader in the fields. The worlds biggest photo voltaic solar cell-based plant is located in Spain. Leading Indian wind power company Suzlon is already present in Spain and is seeking the Spanish assistance in the field. In the tourism sector, Spain, which is the worlds number two destination after France for visitors, India will be seeking assistance of the European country in improving its tourism infrastructure, officials said. India will also be aiming at more visitors from Spain. In the field of agriculture, India is keen to get food processing technology from Spain to utilise the surplus food items produced by it. Eyeing the big Indian market, Spain is keen to invest in the country, the worlds second most populous nation with a stable economy. Indian exports to Spain comprise textiles, chemicals, steel, auto components and automobiles. It imports chemicals, raw aluminium, pharmaceuticals, petroleum derivatives, auto accessories and electronics for defence industry from Spain. Spain is Indias sixth largest export market in the European Union, and officials say there is a great potential for expanding Indo-EU trade and investment links.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
http://www.infodriveindia.com/india-exports-trade-data.aspx http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/23/stories/2009042353722000.htm http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=MEI_BOP http://www.unido.org/Data1/IndStatBrief/G_Composition_of_Trade.cfm?print=no&ttype=G&Country=SPA&Gro up= http://www.workmall.com/wfb2010/spain/spain_economy.html http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/general/spain-political-system.html