Editorial:
Looking for some cheery news, I typed in 'Good News from Spain' on the Google and found an article in The New York Times from March last year. The piece is called 'In struggling Spain, an effort to promote optimism' and it introduces us to a blog written by a bilingual Spanish woman called Elena Herrero-Beaumont who writes Bright Spain ('Stories of brightness and success happening in Spain'). Or rather, who wrote it, since there is nothing posted after February 1st this year, with an interview with the lawyer and politician Antonio Garrigues Walker who told her “Spaniards used to have great passions, democracy, Spain, Europe.” Prior to this final offering, comes another post from August last year – another interview this time with Eduardo Serra, another lawyer and politician who is (was) convinced that things were getting better. Thin stuff. The New York Times, warming to its subject, then introduces the reader to another upbeat news site called 'Buenas Noticias' (Good News) from the Camilo José Cela University, which turns out to be a once-off pdf from December 2012. The best-known provider of good news about Spain (apart from those property sites that show up uninvited on our emails and our poorly written free English-language newspapers) is Marca España which is a Government-sponsored website. It has a wealth of useful information on business, news and culture. It's worth a look.
Sadly, the reality is that there isn't much good news coming out of Spain at present. Instead we must read of rampant corruption, the bad economy, massive unemployment, political threats to the Spanish democratic system, the twin evils of Government sponsorship and censorship of the media through institutional advertising on the one hand and ill-thought out muzzling-laws on the other, the wretched 'illegal houses' business which has lost Spain so much sorely needed foreign investment and, finally, the threats to the very cohesion of this country coming from Catalonia later this year with perhaps the Basque Country to follow.
Housing:
'Home sales in Spain are increasing but price are continuing to fall with the latest data from the Notaires (notarios?) showing transactions up 16% compared to a year ago. But the same set of figures show that prices are down 5.7%, although the general opinion is that the Spanish property market is well on its way to recovery. Apartments saw the biggest jump in sales activity with an increase of 11.6%. The average price per square meter was €1,214, a 5.7% drop from a year and 35.7% below prices in 2007...'. Found at Property Wire.
'For just a few hundred euros you can pick up a plot of land in Spain's beautiful Cuenca province. Is there a catch, you ask? You'll probably have to put up with being the youngest person in the village. With an average age of 75, Olmeda de la Cuesta’s 35 residents have officially made their village the place with the oldest population in Spain. … So why would anyone even contemplate living in this desolate hamlet in Spain’s arid Castilla and La Mancha region? A fresh start, and a cheap one at that...'. From The Local.
'Year after year, journalists drop by the town of San Fulgencio in Alicante province to check whether the trend persists. And the answer is, yes, it does – in fact, it’s even growing. The latest head count by the National Statistics Institute (INE) shows that 77.7 percent of residents registered in the municipality are foreign-born. That means that nearly four out of every five inhabitants are not Spanish...'. Found at El País in English. (A quote we like: 'Language, one might say, is the main barrier to integration here. A notary who wished to remain anonymous said that several British citizens who wanted to apply for Spanish citizenship gave up when they found out that speaking Spanish was a requirement').
Tourism:
Seems the tourists aren't drinking or eating enough. 'The Hostelry Association of Almería ASHAL is pleased by the level of occupation of the hotels this summer, indeed they consider it to have been the best holiday period in years, but the satisfaction is not complete because the increase in occupation has not been accompanied by a parallel consumption in catering establishments...'. From La Voz de Almería.
'Spain’s tourism trap. Sun and sand are helping drive the country out of crisis, but is too much reliance placed on them?'. An article in El País in English: '...A walk along the seafronts of Salou, Benidorm, Gandía, Magaluf or Maspalomas shows them to be virtually indistinguishable from those in the Carihuela area of Torremolinos: a succession of tatty souvenir shops offering low-priced, made-in-China beach towels and swimwear; or else restaurants and bars vying with each other to offer the cheapest meals and drinks. In other words, it is a race to the bottom, which requires ever-greater visitor numbers to turn a profit: quantity versus quality. Overall tourist figures may be up by around seven percent in Spain, but earnings have risen by just 0.5 percent, say sector sources...'.
Finance:
An interesting document called 'The Kingdom of Spain's Economic Policy Strategy and Funding Program' (June 2014) with sections on closer EMU integration, the Spanish economic policy, the transformation of Spain’s growth model and the funding programme of the Spanish Treasury. A complete presentation from the Ministerio de Economía in English pdf format. The short version: the Ministry promises to foreign investors that there will be additional 40,000 million euros in cuts to public spending (beyond the already announced 10,000 million) in the next three years. Found at Cuatro TV with video which highlights the planned cuts in public salaries (30,000 million), unemployment benefits (15,000 million) and public investment.
'A Deputy Secretary-General of the PP, Carlos Floriano, defended this Saturday "the successful" economic policy developed by the Government of Mariano Rajoy, which means that "Spain has emerged from the economic crisis and is in the process of recovery". All of this he added, "while the PSOE has not stopped for a moment to try and put a spoke in the wheels"...'. Found at 20 Minutos.
'With the ink still drying on Mexico’s historic energy reform, global oil and gas majors are salivating at the prospect of gaining access to one of the world’s largest and until recently most nationalized energy markets. One of those companies is the Spanish electricity giant Iberdrola, which expects to massively expand its operations in Mexico through increased investments of close to €1 billion...'. From 'Spain's Silent Reconquest of Mexico' over at Wolf Street.
There's always some extra cash for the military...'. Over 914 million euros authorised for the Ministerio de Defensa for arms and training'. Article at La Información. An article in El Indálico wonders which country manufactures the arms used in the various conflicts around the world. Spanish arms manufacturers export a large amount of military material (see here) with 1.953 million euros sold in 2012 to various foreign powers – notably Australia with 506 million euros of business.
How much does your town owe? Plus, how much per inhabitant? Just type in the name here.
Politics:
Rajoy has promised Angela Merkel 'fresh cuts' - “We shall continue with our structural reforms”, he said. In exchange, the German Chancellor will support the candidature of the Spanish Minister of the Economy Luís de Guindos to chair the Eurogroup next year when the seat becomes vacant.
What would happen if, in a town with a minority mayor, the opposition ganged up with a 'moción de censura'? The 'anti-Podemos electoral reform', as Vozpópuli calls Rajoy's planned changes in the rules for local elections to be introduced well in time for next May's elections, has apparently considered this – as there would be no point in forcing through a minority mayor if the larger opposition forces could then push him out in a motion of censure. (The current PP mayor of our town in Mojácar, for example, has participated in two motions of censure over the past twenty years). What about corruption? Or what of 'transfugísmo', where a councillor betrays his party ('his conscience') and his voters by jumping ship? Occasionally for monetary considerations. Clearly a larger change becomes necessary than was originally suggested. El Huff Post notes that with the new law in place before the last local elections in 2011, the PP would have controlled 40 rather than 33 of Spain's 50 capital cities. Huh. Local election results also serve to swell the diputaciones (similar to County Councils') with party members.
'Gibraltar: The ongoing confrontation. Spain and the Rock have taken many of their grievances to Brussels, with uneven results for both'. An article in El País in English. The Spanish version in El País has a more interesting title: 'Gibraltar, la ‘guerra de Margallo’'. José Manuel García-Margallo is Spain's foreign minister and is considered a hard case.
'Spain would veto Scotland's entry into the European Union if the country voted for independence in an upcoming referendum, an Irish politician and former top EU official said on Sunday. “In my opinion, it is highly probable that at least two member states, maybe more, will vote no," said Ruairi Quinn, who headed up the EU's Economic and Financial Affairs Council in 1996 and helped lay the groundwork for the introduction of the single currency...'. Found at The Local. (Unless, of course, England left the EU...?).
One way to get the unemployment figures down – follow Germany's plan to deport foreigners who can't find a job. Question for readers in El Mundo.
Courts:
Tightening up the rules of incarceration, all those with two years or less suspended sentence will go to jail if they commit any crime any time in the following five years, according to the Constitutional Court. Story at El Mundo here.
Taxes:
Hacienda gives retirees six months, from January 2015, to regularize their foreign pensions with the tax agency. This is mainly for foreign residents, together with those Spaniards who have worked abroad. The story at 20 Minutos.
Lawyer Antonio Flores has a useful blog here. A recent article on buying property through Spanish limited companies starts with - 'If I say that Spain is –undeniably- a country in love with bureaucracy, your response will be: “really…I don’t believe you for a minute?!” Sarcasm is rarely better suited to a statement that here. Yes, unfortunately a good proportion (not all) of the 2.7 million Spanish civil servants need to move paperwork around to justify their jobs and that includes the Spanish “Hacienda”. However, these last ones seem to be getting better all the time and one example is the clampdown on tax loopholes on buying shares of a property owning company, even considering the exasperatingly confusing layers of new amendments...'.
Various:
The best explanation so far of the idiotic 'Canon AEDE' ('Google Tax'), here. The most likely outcome (once the law is ratified by the Senate in September) will see Google Noticias en España close down, relieving the Spanish news sites of millions of extra visitors (now running at 10,000 million visits a month worldwide, according to the Director of Google News for Spain, who reminds us that it is only for sites who ask to be included in the service). Of course, the law will be good news for foreign-based and owned services... More at Business Insider which notes: '...This sounds crazy: Google News, which lists major headlines on a given topic with a line from each piece, is great for publishers because it pushes tons of readers onto their websites...'.
Under the heading of Recaudación, money collected, this useful article adds '...generally, criticism is therefore in agreement with what has been published by the Spanish online news and opinion services (although, one must note, with a certain media blackout on the subject in the traditional media). To give an idea of how much income the daily newspapers that make up the AEDE might expect to receive...' (after the CEDRO bureaucrats have taken their cut), '... The Wall Street Journal suggests that the AEDE Canon could raise about 80 million euros thanks to the levies imposed by the norm … According to a report by the consulting firm Afi for the Coalición Pro Internet (understandably against the project), the canon would have a negative impact on the efficiency of the news providers for consumers, the search for information, freedom of business information, competition and judicial security, together with an estimated annual cost of 1.133 million euros for the Spanish Internet users. The figures are based on the time that users will need to waste in finding what they are looking for and what the media will charge them for news services.'... Quotes from an article at PuroMarketing. Last point to ponder: the right to use links is accepted by the Court of Justice of the European Union.
'Getting into a Spanish university just got a degree easier for foreigners. In a bid to attract more international students, Spain has eliminated its university entrance exam known as the Selectividad. Education minister Jose Ignacio Wert described the exam as being ‘a huge barrier’ to attracting non-Spaniards to higher education in Spain...'. From The Olive Press.
Information about the ICP switch in your fusebox '...is a switch which is installed in a lockable section of the properties fuseboard or in a separately sealed box and is designed to control the amount of electric that is used at any one time. All ICP switches differ in value. The bigger the switch the more current is allowed to pass through it. Once the limit is exceeded the switch is designed to trip...'. From Family Life in Spain.
Olive oil and the digestive system. An Eye on Spain article of interest. From the same source, Spain's ten best cheeses, here.
So, what about those prickly pears, eaten by la cochinilla del carmín? The wild boar and ibex are descending from the hills to root around in our gardens as the ecologists refuse to have anything to do with the fly. Diario Información has a story filed from Jávea on the Costa Blanca a year ago telling of the decimation of our chumberas. Things have gotten worse since then.
Here's an Interactive Map of British Schools Abroad. And here are some tips for staying sane while living in a foreign country.
The 'World's smallest film festival', held for the past three years in the tiny hamlet of Ascaso in the Huesca Pyrenees, started again on Tuesday. Until Saturday, the festival shows a small number of independent European films. Story and picture here. YouTube trailer here.
Finally:
Peret died yesterday. He was a gypsy from Barcelona famous for his 'rumbas'. Here's a recent one (2009) from YouTube called El Muerto Vivo (it's really good!).
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