The noticias have been buzzing with the austerity measures recently announced by the Spanish government and the coal miners' protests. More austerity measures have been announced to reduce Spain's budget deficit and everyone's talking about them... the sales tax is being increased, the unemployed will receive less benefits, bonuses will be suspended for the public sector, etc. Needless to say, the rest of the EU is satisfied with these measures but not a single Spanish person is happy about any of the new policies.
The situation of the coal miners, whose demonstration is perhaps not so coincidentally simultaneously occuring in Madrid, is quite devastating. The government cut back on subsidies (it's now around one-third of what it was before) for the coal mining industry, and many families are suffering. Hundreds of miners walked from northern Spain to Madrid to protest the cuts.
You can read some more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18792427
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