Editorial:
A new and youthful leader for the PSOE this week as the main parties try and shake off the threat from Pablo Iglesias, the long-hair from the radical left-wing Podemos, who has already insisted on cutting his and his colleagues' wages over in Brussels. The ordinary people like what they see, and some reports say that Podemos is taking away support across the political spectrum.
Housing:
'The prosecution has requested a total of four years in prison for four architects and developers charged with an offence against territorial planning and also the demolition of seven homes that are located in the urbanization Las Palmeras de Albox which were acquired by several British families...'. Says La Voz de Almería laconically.
'The boom in property prices in the UK coupled with the massive fall in real estate prices in many Mediterranean hotspots is tempting many disenchanted Brits to move abroad earlier than they’d planned. It’s also providing opportunities for ex-pats looking to put together a portfolio of buy-to-let holiday homes.
Spain, Portugal and Italy have all seen drastic falls in house prices, especially in repossessed homes, often seen as an opportunity to undercut costs still more. However, care should be taken by potential buyers as regards investigating the reasons why repossession has taken place...'. From emigrate.co.uk
POLL : Is Spain still a great option for retirement abroad?. The answer on the Eye on Spain question seems to be 'yes!'.
Tourism:
Luddite politics continue. Madrid prohibits the use of Airbnb for stays of less than five days. Actually, it's the hotel lobby that's just protecting its monopoly. Here. Meanwhile, thrilled, 'the Madrid hoteliers celebrate the new rules over short-rentals' here. El País in English writes about the crackdown, as it stands in Barcelona, here.
Finance:
'Moody’s Investors Service kept its negative outlook on Spanish banks, citing bad property loans and new European regulations.
The introduction of European rules designed to alleviate the cost to taxpayers of bank resolution processes has increased the risks for unsecured creditors, Moody’s said in a report on the outlook for the industry today. Meanwhile, bad loans will “remain at very high levels,” Moody’s said...'. From Bloomberg.
Some better news from El País in English: 'In the space of six months, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has changed its 2014 growth forecast for Spain significantly: from 0.6% to 1.2%. Improved economic performance that caught the government and the main analysis services by surprise has led the Washington-based group to add three tenths of a point to its GDP growth forecast in April of 0.9%, which was three tenths above that in its January report...'. Yet, Edward Hugh at Spain Economy Watch remains unconvinced.
We pay high bank commissions here, says El Mundo. 'Spain is the country among the seven richest EU where customers pay more to obtain money from an ATM. In addition, it is the only country that charges customers for withdrawing cash from their own networks (Servired, 4B and Euro6000), according to a study by Kelisto.es that analyses prices from Germany, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and Spain...'. Spanish banks, says the article, obtain 3,266 million euros from commissions on cards annually.
Corruption:
95% of Spaniards see Spain as a country with high rates of corruption, according to Corruption Report 2014 as quoted by El Día.
Tax:
The Telegraph says 'Don't get caught out by new Spain tax laws': 'There are a number of changes afoot which could trip you up faster than a flamenco dance. These include:
· A new double tax treaty
· New disclosure rules
· New tax allowance bands
Before becoming too entangled in the new rules, you need to clear whether you are a resident for tax purposes. This applies to ex-pats and home-owners. You are a Spanish resident if you spend more than 183 days (roughly six months) in Spain in one calendar year, and they don’t have to be consecutive days.
But you will also be presumed to be a Spanish resident if your “centre of vital interests” is in Spain. For instance, if your husband or wife lives in Spain and you’re not legally separated...'.
More on the new plusvalía rates from 2015 at El Diario. The article begins: 'The proposed fiscal reform approved just three weeks ago by the Council of Ministers and designed by the team of the Minister of Finance, Cristóbal Montoro, hides depth-charges among the hints of tax reductions and improvements to the treatment to families: a phenomenal rise in the tax bill associated with the sale of one's home...'.
'A group of Chiclana ex-pats claim they are being ripped off by the town hall’s calculations of property tax. The association, IBI Real, insist that many families in the area are being charged too much IBI – similar to council tax in the UK...'. From The Olive Press.
Politics:
'Why does the Government of Spain have so much interest in imposing the AEDE canon?, asks ALT1040. This is the special tax for aggregators known as the Google Tax. By quoting 'fragments' from sites – any Spanish sites – a small contribution must be made to the select group that makes up the AEDE, the Asociación de Editores de Diarios Españoles.
The article continues: 'July 22 is the date designated to approve the new copyright protection bill and the imposition of the AEDE Canon in Spain, right in the month when there is no parliamentary activity and debate is nil. The Government of Spain wants to impose this canon, but why?...'. As seen previously, this will be a chance for the failing daily newspapers to make some income from Google and other sites that connect to news; although some sites will simply omit the link or, perhaps, be obliged to close down. BoT, being a newsletter, may be safe from this peculiar form of censorship.
From The Entertainer Online: 'The PSOE had a rare public vote for card-carriers (militantes) on Sunday to choose their new interim leader after Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba handed in his badge. While the natural leader (apparently) was Susana Díaz, the President of the Junta de Andalucía (placed there last year by the outgoing and disgraced Griñán): a candidate supported by the ex-King (!) amongst others of the Great and the Good, in the end, three other candidates duked it out, with an eventual win for the Susana-supported Pedro Sánchez who will be the inevitable candidate to lead the party forward following their primaries planned perhaps for November. He's young and handsome: just 42, a university prof and a party member from Madrid (Wiki)'. In Catalonia, the socialists – there known as the PSC – also chose a new leader, in Miquel Iceta. Iceta takes over the secretaryship from Pere Navarro and appears to be more open to Catalonian nationalism.
El País in English features an interview with the new PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez here.
One apparently positive step from Sr Sánchez will be to force ex-ministers to either refuse boardroom positions in strategic companies, or to resign all links to the Party. See more on this at El Espía en el Congreso. There are currently some 20 ex-ministers from the PSOE (and many more from other parties) who are currently enjoying the fruits of their time in Government with succulent private sector posts.
Courts
'The Popular Party (PP) government on Friday turned down pardon requests from several high-profile figures who have been convicted of a variety of offences. The most internationally renowned is former High Court judge Baltasar Garzón, who was barred from the bench for 11 years for ordering wire-taps of prison conversations between members of the Gürtel bribes-for-contracts ring and their lawyers...' From El País in English. The judge laughingly said later that he was relieved to hear that he had not been pardoned by this Government 'as I would not have accepted it.'
Various:
Electric cars are – perhaps – the future of personal transport. The Government is keen to encourage us to buy an electric auto, with subsidies as high at 6,500€. The story can be found at La Voz de Almería with more information from the government site Expo Electric here.
Movistar has announced it will charge customers for listening to their phone messages from October. Facua, the consumer's union, says that this, being a breach of contract, allows the consumer the right to break their contract with the company.
The Revista de Derecho del Mercado Financiero asks 'What is Usury?' and gives a full answer in legal and financial terms. Interestingly, if your loan is deemed usurious by the court, you only have to pay back the principal, with all interest previously paid to be returned to you.
The President of Catalonia is spending a million euros, according to the right-wing ABC, on seducing the southern neighbours of Valencia towards the joys of 'el catalanismo'. The referendum for Catalonian independence is scheduled for the 9th of November...
Lots of pictures, high jinks and a few gorings at this year's San Fermines in Pamplona. The Huff Post has the story here.
Hidden from Google is '...to list all links which are being censored by search engines due to the recent ruling of "Right to be forgotten" in the EU. This list is a way of archiving the actions of censorship on the Internet. It is up to the reader to decide whether our liberties are being upheld or violated by the recent rulings by the EU'. Here.
'€UROESTAFA – Un documental incómodo'. The full story of Spain's slide into 'crisis' in a 70m documentary in Spanish on YouTube.
'It's summer in Spain which means there are a wealth of music festivals to choose from, whatever your taste in tunes. Over the next two months, the country's cities and towns will play host from everything from cool guitar to hot jazz and electronica'. A list at The Local.
Finally:
And here they are, fifty fascinating facts about Spain from The Culturist.
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