Spain extends COVID furlough scheme to January

Spain on Tuesday agreed a last-minute extension of a scheme supporting hundreds of thousands of workers furloughed due to COVID-19, as part of a broader social protection package. Spain is the European country with the highest number of coronavirus cases and its economy, the euro zone’s fourth-largest, is in its deepest recession on record. In a deal reached hours before the ERTE furlough scheme was due to expire, the government agreed with unions and businesses to extend it until Jan. 31. “It’s a day of hope for our country’s businesses and workers,” Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz told a news conference after a weekly cabinet meeting. “If we can make it through the autumn and the winter, then we will definitively be entering a recovery.”