Editorial:
We have seen how important political control over the State broadcaster RTVE is. The PP was able to introduce the type of programming it liked and to broadly decide what went on the national news. Now it’s the turn of the PSOE together with its partners. Those who work at the radio and television have been either bemused or angry at the political intervention over the past few months – even taking to wearing black as a protest.
Now comes the news of a probable new board for the broadcaster (as we wait for a final decision by the Senado on four members), a board which is controlled by ten consejeros, with a likely five members of Union-Podemos including Cristina Fallarás, a zealot who has already announced her intention to remove both Catholic masses and all bullfights from the programming. Until now, viewers were always expected to switch to another channel if there was something they didn’t like...
From the one side – propaganda; from the other – intolerance.
However, the good news is that this new board will only last for three months (!), giving time to choose another more permanent (and hopefully responsible) management which will replace the interim board agreed by the PSOE with Podemos, ERC and the PNV.
How about an independent state broadcaster, similar to the BBC or the PBS? Perhaps such a thing would be impossible.
Housing:
An opinion piece from El Confidencial: ‘We are heading towards the largest real estate bubble in the history of Spain. You don't need to be a genius to understand that if there was a real estate bubble with 4% interest rates it is bound to be much bigger with zero rates...’.
Senior members of AUAN criticise the Junta de Andalucía over the issue of ‘illegal houses’ with the title in La Comarca Noticias ‘Susana Díaz doesn’t want to deal with the British homeowners’. The group has the support of Ciudadanos in their search for a solution to the issue of illegal houses bought, usually in good faith by mainly British settlers (bringing with them prosperity to the dying villages of the interior of Almería and Málaga).
From the Financial Times comes ‘...The long, cold winter that lasted well into spring has doubtless made many long for sunnier climes and join about 900,000 Britons who live in mostly warmer EU countries. If the thought of spending your retirement years sipping cool drinks under the shade of a palm tree, eating out at a fraction of UK prices and enjoying a more measured pace of life appeals, you are not alone. There were 204,074 Brits aged 65 and over living in the EU at the beginning of 2017 and 41 per cent of the British population in Spain and 39 per cent in Portugal were retired, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. Far from deterring UK residents from moving to France, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Malta — the most popular European destinations — the Brexit vote appears to have galvanised interest in emigrating. Many would-be expats are scrambling to move before the end of 2018 to be in situ before the Brexit transition period begins on March 29 next year...’.
‘Spain’s property market is booming. And the facts don’t lie – the number of mortgages granted in Spain this April soared by 34% year-on-year. The average mortgage value also rose by 9.1% to €123,256 ... Foreign demand is still driving growth and the British remain the biggest group of buyers, with Nordic and Belgian markets playing catch up. But with such strong growth, some are worrying of a repeat of the boom and bust years.’. A report from The Olive Press here.
The Banco Santander has managed to sell off much of its collection of properties to the American vulture-fund Blackstone, but now it appears that much of the rest of the bank’s exposure is being put on the market at bargain prices. An article in El Boletín says that a final 6,000 million euros worth of property will be put out to tender this month – and suggests that Blackstone could be back for another bite.
Tourism:
Is my flight affected? Ryanair strikes begin this week according to The Daily Star here. ‘Everything you need to know ... As a result of the strikes, many flights will be cancelled...’. El País in English talks of further strikes with the airline: ‘...for July 25 and 26 in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Belgium...’.
Cruise ships offer a kind of ideal tourism. All paid up front, no competition or undercutting once on board and a delightfully tenuous control on the number of visitors (did they really all get off in Málaga?) coupled to a satisfyingly exact set of accounts. On this last observation, Hosteltur reports that the cruceros brought 47,860 million euros to the European economy in 2017, of which Spain saw 4,253 million euros.
Finance:
Good reading from The Corner here: ‘Spanish economy’s unprecedented figures: jobless rate falling notably; current account in sustained surplus’. They say ‘...In the short term, if existing risks such as protectionism or political uncertainty do not materialise, we expect that Spanish GDP will grow this year by close to 3 per cent, and by 2.5 per cent next year...’.
‘Pedro Sanchez will raise taxes, but not by as much as what he was proposing three months ago when in the opposition. Although presented by the Finance Minister as "a new tax system for the 21st century", the reforms will be moderate and will focus more on big business than on “the ordinary citizen”’. So says El Diario here.
‘It’s payback time for Spain’s financial sector. At least that’s what the country’s new centre-left coalition government appears to believe. After receiving the biggest financial bailout in the country’s history — over €60,000 million in direct state aid, and as much as €371,000 million if you include all the recapitalisations, the mass buyouts of impaired assets, the deferred tax credits and government guarantees — it’s time for the banks, which have been racking up profits of late to return the favour...’. The introduction to Wolf Street’s news that ‘Spain’s New Government Threatens to Do Unthinkable: Raise Taxes on Bank Profits’.
(However) One of the targets of the new Government is 'contaminative-energy sources'. Before the end of the year (among other things), the intention is to raise diesel taxes to bring them to a par with patrol, that's to say, between 10 and 15 cents extra per litre (around 6 euros per tank). The story is at VozPópuli here.
The best answer (for The Poor at least) is to tax The Rich a bit more. According to a study at La Información, inefficient tax planning and collection towards The Wealthy has left Spain in a position where they pay less than in France, Italy or the UK. The article says ‘...The percentage of tax that a taxpayer pays on his assets with goods declared over 100 million euros is just 0.230%, practically the same as that paid to the Hacienda by another taxpayer who declares a much more modest asset of between 700,000 and 800,000 euros (0.234%). This is data from the annual analysis of the Wealth Tax returns made by the Dirección General de Tributos which is hardly ‘progressive’...’. Indeed, the same site says here that ‘Hundreds of Spanish fortunes elude the payment of Patrimony through a legal loophole’.
‘Italy and Spain have new governments. Not many have noted this, apart from those who fancy reporting on the supposed ‘colour’ of Italian politics or Spain’s (usually successful) football. Italian politicians might be ‘neophytes in wild parade’, to paraphrase a sentence by the Resistance writer, Beppe Fenoglio, but there is also much more to it. The sum of Italy’s and Spain’s GDP is higher than India’s and slightly lower than Germany’s; the two countries have four banks in the world’s top 50, in contrast with Germany’s single case (Deutsche Bank). In other words, calling Italy and Spain ‘EU’s periphery’ is frankly ungenerous, even in purely quantitative terms...’. From ‘Can Europe Make it? A story of Italian neophytes and Spanish constructors’ at Open Democracy here.
Politics:
The ‘Sánchez Effect’ is moving the popularity of the PSOE ever upwards, says Público, with the results in from its latest survey here.
National Public Radio writes that ‘Spain's Socialist Leader sets a new course on Migrants, Gender and Catalonia’ in a nice article here.
The two candidates for the leadership of the PP Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría and Pablo Casado duke it out as the party approaches its Congress on July 20th and 21st according to El Mundo here.
‘...What is it with you, Spain? Why does everything have to be only black or white, (or red or blue), or left or right? Why are there only two extremes? Why is anyone who isn’t a PP, C’s or (God forbid) a Vox supporter, a ‘communist’? And vice versa, why is anyone who is a PP or C’s supporter a ‘fascist’? It goes on and on and on … and at some point it needs to stop...’. Rant from blogger Tim Parfitt here.
Catalonia:
‘Pedro Sánchez breathes a little more easily after his meeting with Quim Torra despite the disagreement in self-determination. The Government accepts that the Catalan conflict will not be resolved in the next few years, but welcomes the recovery of the bilateral relationship’. Headline in El Diario following the Monday meeting. Reuters was similarly upbeat: ‘Spain’s Prime Minister signalled a thaw in relations with Catalonia on Monday, signing up to joint initiatives in a first meeting with the region’s leader but again ruling out any moves toward Catalan independence. In an atmosphere his office described as cordial, Pedro Sanchez spoke with pro-independence Catalan leader Quim Torra for more than two hours...’. On Tuesday, after appearing on Catalunya Ràdio, El Confidencial reported Quim Torra as saying ‘...“I explained to Pedro Sánchez that I am 56 years old, that my children are grown up and that I have nothing to lose", following which, he gutted his entire meeting at the Moncloa. He did not literally tell him that he was willing to go to jail, but he left it in the air, according to his version of the meeting. If on Monday all parties chose to offer the Disney version of the summit in Madrid, this Tuesday Torra preferred to detail on public radio the ‘adult’ version...’.
On Wednesday, Quim Torra was in Scotland meeting with Nicola Sturgeon, causing some tension among Spanish politicians, says El Nacional, quoting the Herald Scotland ‘Spain 'monitors' Sturgeon's meeting with Catalan leader amid diplomatic tension’ here. Both states are more than interested in the thorny issues of independence. Dios mío, he's not going to talk about 'political prisoners' again, is he?
The truculent judge Pablo Llarena has suspended Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras, Raül Romeva, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull and Jordi Sànchez as deputies in the Catalonian government. Following this, the ‘Parlament’ may now choose others to take over their seats (according to their party allegiance), while Judge Llarena is himself declared finished with the case. The story at El País here. El Mundo adds that ‘Quim Torra will not ask the suspended deputies for their resignations and sees Llarena's decision as unseemly'.
Courts:
In a burst of what must only be described as political opportunism, ‘Spain’s deputy PM proposes “yes means yes” law for sexual assault cases. Carmen Calvo, who is also equality minister, wants to avoid rulings being open to the interpretation of judges, as happened in the Sanfermines rape trial. The story is at El País in English here. (‘Would you mind awfully just signing this form that I happen to have beside the bed while I go and light a candle?’). Not to be outdone, Podemos is suggesting that the lowly piropo (the lavish Spanish form of the wolf-whistle) should be punished by up to nine months clink says El Español here.
Media:
Following a narrow victory for common sense in the European copyright issue (the PP and PSOE both voting for the motion in Brussels, Ciudadanos and Podemos voting against – see here), El Confidencial reports that ‘...the Internet as we know it was experiencing a new historical test in Europe last Thursday July 5th. After the Committee on Legal Affairs adopted the text of the controversial copyright directive that could be implemented in Europe in the coming years on 20 June with a rather tight result (14 to 9), the European Parliament had to decide whether or not to accept this legislation. Activists against this policy have put all their efforts into trying to stop it in the community chamber, and so far they have succeeded in doing so...’. On to the next battle.
There aren’t many major countries around the world without Google News. Actually, there are just two: Spain and China. VozPópuli reports here.
Diario 16 looks at Florentino Pérez and his ACS business empire here.
Ecology:
From November, cars without a new ambiental sticker – which vehicles built before the year 2000, or diesel cars before 2006 aren’t going to get – will not be allowed to circulate in Madrid. RTVE reports here.
Various:
Is the Spanish Constitution sexist? No, not favouring Spanish males over their sisters, but in the gender-wording. The Left has always been in favour of using ‘you and you’ (‘vosotros y vosotras’) when on the stump, but shouldn’t references to ministros and diputados be addressed and upgraded? Here El Confidencial explains. The Real Academia Española, the ultimate word in anything to do with language, insists that the whole idea is silly here.
The Spanish are tolerant and friendly towards the immigrant population, says El Diario, quoting various sources. One, from the European Social Survey, shows Spain to be close to Sweden, Denmark and Finland in their tolerance, and worldwide (according to Gallup here) as 17th out of 138 countries.
A playful piece from El País in English: ‘10 things Spaniards used to do in the summer that now seem unthinkable. From giving your 12-year-old beer, to driving 400 kilometres without wearing a seat belt, much of what was once considered normal in Spain now raises eyebrows’. Photos and story here.
‘The French anti-fraud services have uncovered a large-scale fraud in which rosé wine imported in bulk from Spain was sold as if it were French, says 'Le Parisien'...’, as reported by Invertia here. ‘...The Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF), which carried out an investigation in 2016 and 2017, estimated that more than 70,000 hectolitres of Spanish wine were faked into French produce, that’s ten million bottles...’.
Ryanair obliges its hostesses to sell ‘a bottle of perfume, something to eat and at least eight lottery tickets...’ according to El Español. A dream job it ain’t.
4,200 municipalities in Spain might end up without inhabitants as people move away to the cities says 20 Minutos (Sin comentario).
‘Almost 11,000 packets of expired frozen jamón and cured meat, which were about to be put back on sale, have been seized in Andalucia. The Guardia Civil discovered hundreds of tons of old meat in a cold store in Vaqueros, Granada, with some products having expired as far back as 2015...’. From The Olive Press. According to an excitable Economía Digital on Wednesday ‘Susana Diaz's government hastily hides the case of the rotten ham. The Regional Government of Andalucía destroys in record time the 11,000 rotten Iberian pork products discovered in Granada and hides the brands and companies involved’. The news-site adds ‘...The rapid destruction of the goods was carried out without judicial authorization and without notifying the public prosecutor's office or any court on duty, as far as this medium has been able to ascertain through sources close to the operation...’
See Spain:
Our favourite traveller Mike Arkus visits ‘Guadalest - a castle in Spain, a castle in the sky’ here.
Teruel has some fabulous places to visit, if you only knew. Nueva Tribuna explores here.
El Español shows us its ten favourite beaches here.
Finally:
Spain has the world’s most interesting borders; including The Oldest Border in the world The Shortest Border in the world & The Most Accidental Border?? Here's a run-down on all of them on YouTube.
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