Political Environment

• After an inconclusivve general election at the end of 2015 in which PP (Partido Popular) gained a majority vote but failed to win sufficient seats to form a majority government, negotiations are currently taking place between major and minor parties in a bid to form a coalition.
• There are three levels of government, the national government, the autonomous regions, and the local councils (ayuntamientos). Several functions have been passed down from the national to the autonomous levels, such as traffic, local taxes, labour matters etc. Much time can be spent identifying who is responsible for what. Some autonomies require documents, labels etc in Spanish plus the regional language.