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Weekly Report – 24th October, 14

Business Over Tapas

By Lenox Napier and Andrew Brociner

viernes 24 de octubre de 2014, 02:25h

A digest of this week's Spanish financial, political and social news aimed primarily at Foreign Property Owners: with Lenox Napier and Andrew Brociner - For subscriptions and other information about this site, go to businessovertapas.com - email: [email protected]

***Now with Facebook Page (Like!)*** Note: Underlined words or phrases are links to the Internet. Right click and press 'Control' on your keyboard to access.

Editorial:

'If you came to Spain today and travelled around the entire country, you'd doubtless be amazed and impressed in equal measure. Magnificent new roads; a high-speed train system that's the second largest in the world; stunning geography; wonderful, friendly, fun-loving people; excellent food and wine; a mind-boggling historical heritage; and marvellous beaches. All-in-all, a thoroughly 21st-century country going places. Below all this, though, is a corrupt corporate-political nexus of truly depressing dimensions. Which forces you to ask how many hotels, roads, railways, airports and numerous 'vanity' projects were really necessary and how many were built primarily because of kickbacks. Is there another developed country in the world quite like this? Greece? Italy? Either way, Spain has been managed like this for centuries and one wonders how long it'll be before things materially improve'. (Colin Davies dixit)

Housing:

A radio podcast from the BBC4, 'You and Yours', on illegal homes in Almería here.

'A pre-election move to amend chaotic urban planning laws in Andalucia has been fast-tracked at the Junta following talks between the PSOE and the IU. The amendments will regulate 25,000 homes under the so-called Law on Urban Planning of Andaluca (LOUA).
The changes, that would attempt to regulate homes built on isolated clusters on non-developable land, will be ready in January...' (I doubt they'll get many votes from the foreign home-owners). Report at The Olive Press.

'If you are desperate to sell, then drop the price', says an article by 'Tristan el subastero' (Tristan the auctioneer) over at Rankia.

'How to inherit a property without being ruined in the process'. This one's at El Plural. It begins: 'According to several studies, in the past five years, refusals to inherit properties have doubled. The reason? Besides indebted legacies that nobody wants, inheritors must face the dreaded inheritance tax which means that, to keep the property, the heir will have to pay anything between 9% and 35% of its value...'.

Tourism:

The President of the Consell de Mallorca, María Salom, says that her island could support tourism all year long, with a high-quality offer which is much more than the simple sun and beach variety. Eco-, adventure, and rural tourism being three types of attraction for visitors. The story is at El Mundo.

Finance:

How much does the AVE cost each and every citizen? While this remains a question one must never ask, Vozpópuli has asked it anyway. The story is titled: 'The ruinous AVE, after 22 years in function, income hasn't yet reached a third part of the cost'. The AVE has cost so far 47,000 million euros (47 billion) while takings stand at around 14,200 million. The president of ADIF calls the network 'unsustainable'. Another site, keen on ecological matters, is Urbanismo Patas Arriba, which notes: '...the foolishness which states that each provincial capital must have its smartly appointed AVE station; that a mid-range country like Spain should have the second most extensive high-speed train service in the world (after China) … it all sounds like the plot for a bad science fiction novel...'.

The Bank of Spain says that the heavy emigration of Spaniards abroad in search of jobs will contribute to a slow-down in the economy and suggests strategies to bring them home.

The latest attempt by the power companies to wrestle more money from our pockets is reported in El Ventano. It appears that the coal-fired power stations in Spain – there are ten of them – must use a proportion of Spanish coal mined from Asturias, León and Aragón. But from January, when thanks to EU rules they must clean up their emissions by 60%, the power stations will also be free to buy the coal elsewhere – putting 3,000 minors out of work. The solution – brace the Government for subsidies...

Politics:

President Mariano Rajoy has decided to drop the 'electoral reform' he was mooting just a few months ago (first past the post and so on). Like the dropped abortion law, it now seems unlikely that this plan will go ahead before next May's local elections. Story here.

Campaign financing will be increased for the election year of 2015 by 84% - that's 156 million euros from the State as against 85 million in 2014.

The new European Minister for Energy and Climate Change is the controversial Miguel Arias Cañete (the former Spanish Minister for Agriculture who claimed that yoghurts were still good after their expiratory date). Suelosolar, a 'Green' energy site, notes that '...Europe chooses a man who belonged to a Government and a Ministry that has been characterized in recent years by attacking relentlessly renewable energies in Spain, a man who supports both fracking and extractions of crude oil; who denies climate change and is a defender of actions aimed to privatize and weaken protections of the Spanish coast, of national parks, environmental assets, publicly owned forests, waters, fishing grounds, etc. A man who in the past has been the director of numerous real estate interests on the Spanish coasts which have helped in restricting the public domain while approving an extension of 75 years of transfers of use. He participates in a private or family way in oil companies that have opened up savage conflicts of interest. He has even done the unthinkable by facilitating the entry of transgenics (GM crops) to Spain and Europe...'.

Susana Díaz, the President of the Junta de Andalucía, on rumoured disagreements with her boss, the General Secretary of the PSOE: '...She said she will support Sánchez every day, but she won’t keep quiet when she disagrees with him. She still refused to say if Sánchez has her support saying, ‘we’ll see what happens’, which could indicate, given her popularity in the party, she may be thinking of standing as leader herself; something she has always denied saying her job will always be in Andalucía...'. From Typically Spanish.

The PP mayoress of Fuengirola, Esperanza Oña, is to leave office after 23 years to concentrate on her work in the Andalucian Parliament. Her 'Number Two', Ana Mula, will take over as mayoress of the Málaga town.

The mayor of Estepona is the very capable José María García Urbano who has done much in the past three and a half years to repair his town's accounts. He has just proposed ten suggestions to reform local administrations. 'Simply put', says the mayor, 'the public administration is designed, I think, to not work properly'. His ideas include a national IBI, less paperwork, more agility and an obligatory citizens' padrón. The ABC reports.

'Podemos' – a nice name for a political party. Apparently, the name was copyrighted by a TV company back in 2008. The Office of Patents is reviewing whether the use of the word is different enough to allow the political group to continue with... its own name. The story comes from Euro Mundo Global.

Corruption:

Another ex-minister (and ex-Secretary General of the PP) in the news. The always-smiling Angel Acebes is to see the Judge Pablo Ruz next Tuesday, together with ex-Party-Treasurer Álvaro Lapuerta and the businessman Antonio Vilela over buying some shares in a right-wing radio station with money from the undeclared 'Caja B' of the Partido Popular.

'How Greed Destroyed Spain’s Oldest Savings Bank. This is a sordid and ongoing tale of how a public bank – Caja Madrid – with a clear mission was corrupted and destroyed by a clique of self-serving politicians, business men and women, and union leaders'. The story at Wolf Street.

The Fundación Caja Madrid would not only display a certain agility in keeping political sources happy in some sort of voluntary protection scheme it appears, it would also pay out on an irregular basis donations to the three main parties' own 'invisible' foundations – the Fundación para el Estudio de los Problemas de las Ciudades (PSOE), the Fundación de Estudios Municipales y Territoriales (IU) and the unfortunately named Fundescam for the Partido Popular. None of these interesting sounding foundations has a web-page or any other apparent presence much beyond a bank account. Between 2009 and 2011, the three foundations received 1,422,331€ from the Fundación Caja Madrid. It begs the question – does anyone else make similar donations?

'Former Spanish deputy prime minister Rodrigo Rato has voluntarily requested to temporarily suspend his membership of the Popular Party (PP) until the case of the Caja Madrid credit card abuse is resolved...' from El País in English. This following a three million euro bail set by the High Court judge Fernando Andreu. The black card 'ringleader', Banker Blesa, whose bail was a staggering 16 million euros, has unsuccessfully petitioned his insurance company to pay for it (!).

The rise and fall of Comrade Villa – the Asturian mining union boss who was found to have 1.4m euros stashed away in foreign parts and has now been ejected from both the Union and the Party. Story at El País.

The efforts made by the new Valencian President Alberto Fabra to cleanse out his party (PPCV) is discussed in Público. So much so, that a coalition of the Left might remove the Partido Popular from the Valencia Government if an election was held today. The site helpfully lists the current worst cases of corruption in the Region.

'An Alicante court has issued a writ to indict and interrogate French banking magnate Baron Rothschild, who will now appear in court. Spanish lawyer Antonio Flores, of Marbella-based Lawbird Legal Services, has succeeded in his demand for the Denia court to indict Baron David de Rothschild, the chairman of Swiss holding company Rothschild Continuation Holidays. The writ comes as part of an ongoing criminal case against N.M Rothschild & Sons, for fraud and fraudulent advertising...'. From The Olive Press.

Courts

'Spain's top judge said on Tuesday the penal country's system isn't up to dealing with the complex corruption cases it faces and urged the new justice minister to roll out radical reforms aimed at greater efficiency. The chief magistrate of Spain’s Supreme Court and president of the judicial watchdog the CGPJ said Spain cannot make democratic advances while the justice system remains ineffective and overburdened...'. From The Local.

Catalonia:

There will be 1,255 polling stations across 938 municipalities for the unofficial vote of November 9th. Anyone resident in Catalonia over the age of 16 may participate, as well as Catalonian residents living abroad (but not in the rest of Spain).

Various:

The Madrid nurse infected with Ebola has passed two tests without any sign of the virus and has now been declared 'cured' by her medical team. She remains 'under observation'.

'Spain, Norway and Luxembourg have together donated less money to the global fight against Ebola than Ikea, according to the United Nations. It said that the three European countries have committed less than €3.2m, in comparison to a donation of €5.3m from the Swedish furniture seller. Britain has given €157m and Ireland €16m...'. From The Irish Independent. (Spain is in for just 423,000€ to date – more here).

An editorial in Nueva Tribuna criticises the profits of the electricity company Endesa. On October 29th, the company will pay dividends to its shareholders of 14,606 million euros.

Spain is getting older. In 22 provinces, over 30% of the population is 65 or older. The interior is dying out, says El País in an article called 'España Terminal'.

Facua is the citizens' consumer protection group which is a perennial thorn in the Establishment's side. Here, they compare high banking commissions, with the worst four: Barclays, Santander, Unicaja and La Caixa.

'Paella Day' in New Jersey USA is on Saturday, October 25th. We hope they remember the paper plates...

Finally:

To cheer us up, here's Nat King Cole with 'Quizas, quizas, quizas'. What he loses in the accent, he more than makes up for in the song...

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