SPAIN’S recession ended in 2013,but in Extremadura, a scenic, and 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, and a municipal college in Cáceres,the region’s moment town, a dozen youngsters studying tourism declare the local situation hopeless; most are resigned to seeking jobs elsewhere once they gather their diplomas. A nearby mercurial-food joint offers a lunchtime “Menu Anticrisis” (roast chicken, and baguette,packet of crisps and a soft drink). Extremadura’s woes render it, in the cold jargon of the European Union, or 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...
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Source: economist.com