Editorial:
France, the United States and Spain were the three countries who received the most tourists in 2013. Spain, in third place, had an impressive 60.7 million foreign tourists (as far as they can measure these things). Of these three preferred destinations, Spain relies much more on its tourism as a vital addition to its GNP (10.9% according to OCDE in 2012), and if things were to go suddenly wrong in this industry – a terror attack, an outbreak of some mortal disease, the sudden collapse of an airline or a sharp increase in the price of gin – this could easily change. Indeed, tourism is one of the most fickle of industries, where cheaper offers or new resorts opening up can bring about rapid redeployment of the tourists, their wallets and their beach-towels. You might argue that encouraging 'residential tourism' would make more sense, but this is not an area with a ministry, a champion or a budget.
Housing:
'"The consumption of cement is like 80 years ago", says a spokesperson for Cementos Molins. The fall of consumption in the seven years of the Crisis is dramatic. Between 2007 and 2014, the drop in orders is 83% in Spain...'. Indeed, production now way outweighs use.
'Let's see, Len and Helen Prior had their house demolished in January 2008, and we are now in August 2014. Since then, they have been living in their garage. That's for the past 80 months. What has Almería lost as a result of this atrocity? Billions of Euros and an indeterminate number of jobs (we have 36% unemployment here). What has Almería gained by demolishing a foreigners' house in a quiet area behind Vera? Nothing whatsoever! (Mine)
"All this is a poor redaction of the Penal Code, which we have asked to be changed. It makes no sense that the only person to suffer from these criminal proceedings, is the victim". The words come from Maura Hillen, President of the Association Abusos Urbanísticos Almanzora-No...'. Story at La Voz de Almería. The main lawyer for the AUAN is Gerardo Vásquez who is quoted on this subject in El Indálico.
'On the 9th of July, in a fiercely fought battle, the government of the Balearic Isles voted in a landmark amnesty for 20,000 illegal homes across the islands. The vote was forced through, and bitterly opposed by the opposition, ecologist groups and the national government. Well, the opposition have spotted a loophole and lodged an appeal to have the Constitutional Court overturn the vote – because the voting chamber didn’t have the official photo of King Felipe VI on the wall, only the old one of Juan Carlos...'. Blimey, what a silly country! From David Jackson's Blog.
Tourism:
If the sun is shining and the water is wet, there'll be tourists, says El País is an opinion piece, pointing out that the vast majority of tourism is the simple beach and sun variety.
Almost a million tourists descended on the Canaries in July apparently.
'Why hotel guests always know best. Web comments have a huge influence over major chains – and give smaller players a helping hand', article at El País in English.
Finance:
'Spain's public debt has topped €1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) for the first time, the central bank announced on Thursday, despite years of government-imposed austerity. The nation's accumulated public debt mushroomed to €1.007 trillion at the end of June from €996 billion a month earlier, the Bank of Spain said in a report.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government has struggled to contain annual deficits by raising taxes, freezing public salaries and curbing spending on services such as education and health care despite angry street protests...'. From The Local.
Spain is facing losses of more than €580 million following the new bans on exports to Russia. Opposition groups, farmers’ unions and the Russian embassy produced the estimated figure, which makes up 1.8% of Spanish exports. But the Spanish government disagrees, claiming the real figure is closer to €337 million. Russia has retaliated to European sanctions imposed this month by announcing a ban on imports of food from the EU, US, Canada, Australia and Norway. The ban includes meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and dairy products and small European farms are bearing the brunt...'. From The Olive Press.
Spaniards are now suffering their eighth year of La Crisis and they are becoming impatient. A study at El País from the head of Metroscopia, explains the current mood, according to statistics and surveys carried out recently.
'While football clubs might owe some 500 million euros in taxes to Hacienda, the President of Athletic de Madrid, Enrique Cerezo, is not all that worried ... He says: “Of course the tax-man wants his money, but football generates a magnificent social factor, since, from September to May, we entertain a huge part of the citizenry”...'. Thus begins an article at El Diario. In all, the football clubs owe around 660 million euros to Hacienda, but they do keep people's minds off the crisis and other unpalatable conditions...
'The Spanish government’s decision to significantly reduce social security contributions for new self-employed workers has encouraged thousands of people to work for themselves. …
The Popular Party (PP) introduced the measure in February 2013 in an attempt to stem the loss of self-employed workers in Spain as a result of the ongoing crisis and the difficulty in meeting the monthly payments of nearly €260...'. From El País in English.
Corruption:
Mercedes Alaya, the judge in the ERE investigation, puts the misappropriated funds in question at 855 million euros. She considers that it was used 'to favour persons and institutions close to the Andalucian Government, the unions and the PSOE.'. Story at El Diario. El País adds that Ayala insists that 'the two ex-presidents Griñán and Chaves knew about the fraud' which ran from 2000 to 2012.
The Gowex scam: 'For nearly 10 years, Spanish internet company Let’s Gowex SA said it was making money by providing public wi-fi in cities around the world. Most of the contracts, it now emerges, never existed. Instead Gowex chief Jenaro Garcia Martin used a series of tricks to fool company employees, investors and regulators. The discovery of the deceit last month crippled the company and undermined credibility in Spain’s stock market just as the country recovers from a four-year recession...'. Found at Reuters.
White Elephants:
'The regional government of Valencia has paid €660,000 to soccer club CD Castellón as part of a sponsorship deal that the unused Castellón Airport (Aerocas) signed with the third division side for the 2009-2010 season. The regional government owns 99 percent of Aerocas, which cost €170 million and was officially opened in 2011, but has yet to see a plane land or take off there...'. From El País in English.
Politics:
As the European Dream continues its slow descent into dystopic nightmare, leaving millions of economically disenfranchised Europeans languishing in the gutter of misery, public anger is growing. Nowhere is this more evident than in austerity-ridden Spain, where political protests have been a constant thorn in the side of the country’s knee-jerk authoritarian government. Last week that government hit back with a declaration that evoked chilling echoes of Spain’s not-so-distant past. In response to a query by a member of parliament, the Ministry of Interior announced that during a public demonstration the police can confiscate any filming device if officers have reason to believe that it could be used to “commit an illegal act.”...'. From Wolf Street.
PP mayors and candidates fear that the plan to change the election laws may backfire on the Government. The initial plan was to give any victorious local party that secures a minimum 40% of the vote the automatic mayor's slot. This would stop – in some measure – strange coalitions (particularly to do with upstart leftist parties like Podemos). However, a 40% Government would need to, ah, have a coffee with one of the opposition groups if it wanted to get anything done... More on this at Vozpópuli which notes that the PSOE are against any reform. The concern of some conservatives is that strong local coalition groups would be born before the elections. Despite this, the Government is to go ahead with another electoral reform before the 2015 municipal elections, with an even simpler 'most voted takes the pot' rule, according to Wednesday's El Mundo (with more at Te Interesa).
Susana Díaz, President of the Junta de Andalucía, said on radio Monday that she would do all she could to demolish that “urban aberration” outside Carboneras, the Hotel Algarrobico. She also stated that party-members found with money in offshore banks would be summarily ejected from the PSOE-A. (Sin comentario).
'Both Bárcenas and Rajoy, the EREs in Andalucia, the corruption from Fabra, from Pujol, the unions; so many broken promises, in short, such a mess. And now, when we expected the new leader of the Socialists to get us out of the Crisis, this marvellous new General Secretary says that the priority of his Government would be to review the Concordat with the Vatican. Brilliant! Fantastic! This is without doubt the one thing that has been preying on our minds and interrupting our sleep...'. An amusing article from Félix Ortiz in El Indálico.
Courts
Be careful who you target. A cartoonist was handed a sentence of 35,000 euros fine from a court in the Canaries for two pen and ink jokes he had placed in a local satirical magazine referencing a local prosecutor who has an illegal house in Lanzarote. Not funny!
Various:
We've seen the madness of the 'Google Tax' in past weeks, now here's the lunacy of the 'Book Tax'. That's right, another piece of legislation to remind us that writers, poets, musicians and artists pursue their creation not, as some might expect, for the inherent satisfaction of their production but rather, like the rest of us, for the raw pleasure of repeated payments. The Book Tax ('el derecho de remuneración a los autores por los préstamos de sus obras realizados en determinados establecimientos accesibles al público') is to charge libraries and others lenders a small fee (to be handled by the CEDRO, a special culture-bleeder bureaucracy) to pass on a fraction of this to the author. So, if you lend a book to someone (or even this newsletter), Don't Tell Anyone! Silly? A direct attack against 'La Cultura'? The imminent closure of many libraries (and jobs)? Would more money from the libraries to the CEDROcrats mean less money for new books (and their authors), of course! Here's the story at El Mundo. They'll be charging us for looking at paintings next.
'Spanish universities are "among the best in the world" according to the director general of University Policy at the Ministry of Education, Jorge Sainz, who says that "one must not take undue notice of the recent Shanghai World University Ranking”, which says that there is no Spanish University among the World's top 150 (The University of Barcelona makes it this year into the Top 200)...'. Found at El Huff Post.
The current drought in Alicante has made that province the driest populated area in the world, according to Avamet. Last year, the average rainfall was 104 litres per square metre, 16l less than that recorded in the Sahel (area between the Sahara and Sudan).
Tax: Restricting non-residents’ entitlement to the UK personal allowance: From Gov.UK.
'A ruling party politician is facing calls to resign after she blamed Spain's record €1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) public deficit "on subsidies offered to homosexuals" by the previous socialist government. Popular Party senator Luz Elena Sanín told journalists that Spain’s ruling conservative party had increased its public spending due to "the debts" caused by “subsidies for NGOs and homosexuals”. Sanín, who represents Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta in the Senate, said former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero with the country's opposition Socialists had forced the country’s debt to surpass a record €1 trillion with "his favours"...'. From The Local.
'Vacations in a Black Spain' – old photographs and a book about a trip across this great country, with the Asturian artist Darío de Regoyos and his friend, the Belgian poetess Émile Verhaeren, back in the 1890s. The story is told at Jotdown.
Ten things you should be doing in Spain (and that means not watching the telly). The list comes from resident Graham Hunt.
Finally:
The New York Times introduces Madrid in 36 hours with an article and a superb video.
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