UGH 1:

The financial crisis threatening to bring down the economies of Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain (the so-called “PIGS” countries) has long-term consequences which will affect whole generations in those nations. But the problems in Spain — high unemployment and immigration woes, regional tensions, and a low birth rate — seem to be combining in a "perfect-storm," making a financial meltdown perhaps even more likely there than in any of the other troubled European Union member-states.

Ugh 2:

Spain has always been considered too big to fail and too big to bail. Spain accounts for 8 per cent of the eurozone’s GDP and is the world’s twelfth largest economy.

But the May elections exposed the true weak underbelly of its economy as the populace rejected the tough austerity measures imposed upon them.

Stuart Thomson, chief economist at investment house Ignis Asset Management, says: “Spain is different from the smaller peripheral economies. Ireland has a banking crisis, Portugal has a private sector debt crisis and Greece has a public sector debt crisis, whereas Spain has a combination of all three.”