Business Over Tapas

Editorial:

Politics seems to be more about criticising the other parties than talking excitedly about one’s own formation and its program. We know more about the others than we seem to know about ourselves. What a strange situation!

We have seen videos of candidates buying drugs, or washing their hands in apparent disgust after shaking the hand of a black supporter, we read of leading candidates not speakin’ English or (if we like Facebook) perhaps having a beer with Che Guevara or Adolf Hitler or how about Genghis Khan. We hear of secret plans to ruin the country, plots, lies and scandals, often placed by agent provocateurs – including one secret letter supposedly from the ISIS jihadists excitedly asking for everyone to vote for Unidad Podemos. If only. Another story doings the rounds this week tells of the Spanish Interior Minister plotting with the head of the Catalonian anti-fraud police to create attack stories against the ERC and CDC political parties in front of last September’s regional election there. It seems that it’s all on tape (remarkably, the Minister says the ‘claim’ is simply a heinous attack released during election times – ‘that’s the conspiracy’, he says).

There are sites which are dedicated to making jokes at the candidates’ expense: Mongolia, El Jueves, Rokambol and El Mundo Today keep us (mostly) amused. One site, simply called Rajoy Presidente, was taken down earlier this week after a threatening letter from the Partido Popular: a little too close to the knuckle apparently (later re-launched here). Other sites are more similar to Fox News – simple attack sites without the humour. OKDiario is a good example.

It must be hard for TV watchers to know where the truth stops and the manipulation starts. It can’t be much easier for newspaper readers. Institutional advertising is partly responsible, but the fear of losing one’s sinecure, or position, or scam, makes for dishonesty in the written and spoken word.

In Spain there are apparently 3,000 professional politicians who carry weight (made up of 1,268 regional politicians, 1,031 provincial deputies and 139 Island leaders, the fifty leading mayors and another 500 public figures between the central and regional governments). Of these, one out of every two will have a critical link to them in the first ten links to their name as provided by Google.

After all, look what we’ve been saying on Facebook or Twitter about Nigel Farage... or Donald Trump.

Or course, they’re not all lies – but is it too late to start sticking to recommending one’s own political ideas and programs, rather than resorting to out-and-out insults, fabrications and calumny?

Housing:

‘Developers in the Valencian Region have recommended demolishing homes that can never be sold to help clean up the market, reports the Spanish press. Demolishing the housing stock with no market helped “accelerate the recovery” in Ireland after it went through a real estate crash similar to Spain, explains a recent article in El Mundo. Now it seems a similar strategy would “fit like a glove” in the Valencian Region...’. And a little more: ‘...The inventory of never-sold homes on the market in the Valencian Community stands around 99,000 according to a recent study by Servihabitat, most of it in the hands of banks...’. The story at Mark Stücklin’s Spanish Property Insight here.

Metrovacesa and Merlin are to merge to create the largest real estate group in Spain. Controlled by Banco Santander, their combined assets will have a total value of 10,300,000,000€ with the Banco Santander holding 70%. See more at El País here. Story also appears at Bloomberg here.

‘Thousands of Britons who lost large deposits on Spanish properties which were never built have been offered the prospect of reclaiming their cash. An estimated 100,000 British property buyers put down cash deposits totalling as much as £4bn on "off-plan" Spanish properties that were never completed...’. From The Telegraph.

Despite suggestions given by the mayor of Vera following the recent public demonstration in favour of the Priors, who lost their home to the bulldozers in January 2008, with broad hints that the Town Hall would quickly reach an accommodation with the couple, their lawyer confirmed earlier this week that so far, no undertaking had been offered to help resolve the issue. Currently, a settlement of around half the value of the claim from the Priors had been ruled by the court (despite legal costs for the couple approaching 200,000€), however, the Town Hall has appealed, apparently under advice from its insurance company. So, failing any fresh agreement, Len and Helen Prior must continue to live in their garage located in a peaceful area beyond the town and wait, once again, for events. More here.

Meanwhile, there appears to be a daily caravan with some thirty cars (or more) claiming water and electricity for homes without these basic services driving into and through Cordoba, no doubt distracting normal traffic. Organizers say that they will keep on doing this until the government changes the LOUA (planning laws) to give them the basic services that any householder should expect (particularly in a hot area like Córdoba). An association called ‘Nuevo Higuerón’ claims responsibility. More here.

Finance:

More on the Banco Popular and its 15,600,000,000€ real-estate exposure: ‘Atop a hill in southern Spain sit a cluster of cement apartment blocks surrounded by scruffy gardens. Built during the go-go years of the country’s property bubble, the development was eerily still on a recent June morning. Banco Popular Español SA, which took ownership in a foreclosure, is offering flats for as much as 147,000 euros. Fatima Smanri, a resident, is sceptical. The gated complex, called Hacienda Casares, lies inland from the sea and almost 100 kilometres from the nearest Spanish airport...’. Story at Bloomberg.

‘Senior bankers in Spain and Italy can breathe a collective sigh of relief after Europe’s finance and economic ministers decided on Friday to postpone, for at least 18 months, a decision on setting a limit on the government bonds some banks can hold as eligible “risk-free” capital. It was one of four things keeping Spanish senior bankers awake at night. Now, they can sleep a little sounder...’. Wolf Street says ‘...one thing that is abundantly clear is that, Brexit or no Brexit, the Eurozone is destined to languish in economic limbo for at least another year and a half, assuming it lasts that long...’.

There has been a great variation in inheritance tax payable across Spain, depending on the region where one lives. More than a few beneficiaries have even refused to accept a settlement as the tax – for example on a building – was simply prohibitive. The highest rate for inheritance tax has long belonged to Andalucía, and in what might be considered as a piece of electioneering, the Junta de Andalucía has announced that it is easing the tax on inheritance to more bearable levels, with the first 250,000€ now free from tax from parents to children or other direct family. More here.

Opinion: ‘For a long time, and particularly since the crisis, it has been clear that the excessive level of payment default in our country is one of the reasons, if not the main one, behind the demise of our companies, above all SMEs. The report “Credit Risk Management in Spain” prepared by the Observatory of Cash Management and sponsored by Crédito y Caución, Iberinform and the IE Business School, reveals that at this moment 13% of companies run the risk of having to close down. Not because they are not selling anything, but because…they are not being paid, or are being paid late. Furthermore, 31% of companies are facing substantial non-payments...’. From The Corner.

General Elections June 26:

The postal vote is thought to be about double the number sent during the General Election of December 20th, with 1,450,000 requests attended says Nueva Tribuna here.

An interview with Pedro Sánchez in El Diario here: ‘the difference between me and Pablo Iglesias is that I want to be the President of Spain and he wants to be the Leader of the Opposition’.

Electioneering continues until midnight Friday, with Saturday left as a ‘day of reflection’ (politicians take the day off, go cycling and other wholesome activities for the cameras) and the voting is on Sunday.

Politics:

Pedro Sánchez, the PSOE leader, stars in a short video message to the British ex-pats living in Spain. Speaking in good English, he tells us to vote to remain in the referendum over Europe. Perhaps a little late, but nevertheless: well done Pedro, and more importantly, thank you for noticing the ex-pat community, normally rather ignored by senior Spanish politicians (except when the talk turns to taxes...).

A nice article here about Spain’s ‘new political model’ from The Guardian’s Owen Jones. It begins - ‘The lamps may not be going out all over Europe, but they’re flickering. The continent is being tugged in different directions by competing forces, and it is unclear who will succeed. Two potentially historic events this week will help define its future. On Thursday Britain could choose to become the first nation to leave the European Union, the consequence of a campaign dripping in bigotry and the scapegoating of migrants. And on Sunday Spain goes to the polls for a re-rerun of an inconclusive election in December. The newcomer Unidos Podemos party, standing on a platform of opposing cuts and democratising Spain and Europe, is attracting the support of millions of Spaniards. The votes highlight the competing visions of Europe’s future...’.

One of the smaller parties in Spain's rich spread of political groups is the far-right Vox party. They earned their fifteen minutes on Monday when a small group of them climbed to the top of Gibraltar and unfurled a giant 18 metre-deep Spanish flag from the top of the Rock. While others escaped (one swimming towards Spain as we speak), the leader of the Madrid chapter of the party has been arrested by Gibraltar's Finest. More here.

‘Cross party calls for the dismissal of the acting Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz, found to be plotting with the head of the Catalonian anti-fraud police to plant fake stories against the ERC and CDC parties in the region’s elections of September 2015. Pablo Iglesias has declared ‘This is one of the most serious things ever to have happened in our country’ regarding the alleged conspiracy committed by a member of the cabinet...’. Story at Typically Spanish. More at Reuters here. Unions from the police and the Guardia Civil are now calling for Fernández Díaz to go. Story at Post Digital. Mariano Rajoy defends his minister at La Razón here. Notice how El País plays it down (From El País in English): ‘Secret recordings drag Spanish minister into conspiracy scandal. Acting interior chief Jorge Fernández Díaz says revelations of his talks with anti-fraud agency to go after Catalan politicians is motivated by the upcoming elections’. Spanish TV news failed to mention the scandal for two days, says El Huff Post here.

Corruption:

Andalucía: ‘The recovery of defrauded funds remains a pending issue. The Junta, according to the Minister José Sánchez Maldonado, has spread around 2,896 million euros without any control over ten years in worker preparation schemes. Of these, the Administration has claimed back 90 million and has recovered just three. Of the 855 million euros disappeared in the ‘ERE Investigation’, the amount recovered to date is unknown. Resolutions to repay ERE funds so far are valued at 84.57 million, but it is unknown how much of this has been recovered. In September 2014, Sánchez Maldonado spoke of ‘1.2 million had been returned in the voluntary period’: which is only 0.1%. Of the more than 36 million in the ‘Invercaria Investigation’, ‘around 10.7 million between principal, interest and capital gains have been replaced'. The ‘Marismas Investigation’, a grant worth 40.1 million, the Minister of Agriculture revealed this week that it had recovered not one single euro although the aid to modernize irrigation dates from the year 2004...’. Story at La Razón here.

Courts:

A Spanish court on Wednesday wrapped up the embezzlement trial of the Spanish king's brother-in-law and his wife, accused of tax evasion, ahead of a verdict expected in a few months' time. The court in Palma on the Mediterranean island of Majorca will consider prosecution demands for a 19-year jail term and €980,000 fine for Princess Cristina's husband Iñaki Urdangarin, an Olympic handball medalist turned businessman... Found at The Local.

Catalonia:

Following the action of the junior partner in the Catalonian Government, the CUP, to refuse to support the Government’s budget for 2017, six of the fifteen councillors in the group summarily walked out of the party last Friday. Story at Crónica Global here.

Brexit:

‘...That the political atmosphere was febrile and fetid before Jo Cox’s death hardly needs stating. “How foul this referendum is,” wrote the novelist Robert Harris this week. “The most depressing, divisive, duplicitous political event of my lifetime. May there never be another.”...’. from The Guardian here.

Comedian John Oliver makes the case for staying. Video here.

Media:

While we may watch videos on our computer screens, the TV is still the dominant system in Spain for news and entertainment. According to El País, over 88% of Spaniards have a TV in their home, watching an average of 234 minutes a day.

Various:

Dear Mr Ambassador, please stop messing with our Spanish cuisine. One more paella with chorizo, and we’re invading Gibraltar, says an amusing article at El País here: with a video starring British Ambassador Simon Manley.

‘Blight threatens to devastate Spain's sherry grape harvest. A warm and wet spring has caused havoc in the vineyards of Andalucía where vintners report that fungus is threatening this year’s sherry production. Winegrowers fear that as much as 80 percent of their crop could be destroyed thanks to mildew fungus caused by warm temperatures and unusually high rainfall during spring...’. From The Local.

Sad to relate - around 200,000 animals are abandoned each year in Spain. These pets include dogs, cats, horses, rabbits and others, says El Ideal.

The number of millionaires (as defined in US dollars) in Spain has grown over the past year by 15,000 people to 193,000 of them, says El Mundo here.

Spain leads the world in the density of bars, with one drinking establishment for every 175 people. Spain has 260,000 bars. It’s time for a beer and a tapa... Story at El Ideal.

Remember the plan last year by the Junta de Extremadura to build a padel-tennis court in the Roman amphitheatre in Mérida? Well, unlike the earlier idea, which eventually was withdrawn after massive criticism from the public, the next-door Junta de Andalucía has now managed to turn the central plaza within the Almería Alcazaba into a concert stadium - at the cost of drilling various metal supports into the already weakened walls. A recent study describes the stronghold as in ‘a dramatic and lamentable situation, with a serious deterioration of the walls and interior buildings’. It seems that the Department of Culture from the Junta de Andalucía is spending ever less money on the upkeep of Almería’s most important relic. ‘Our leaders worry about the number of visitors to the monument, as if that mattered. It’s the presence of this beautiful castle, high above our city, what matters: not the number of tickets sold’, said a local politician this week.

‘...Alarms sounded on United States Air Force bases in Spain and officers began packing all the low-ranking troops they could grab onto buses for a secret mission. There were cooks, grocery clerks and even musicians from the Air Force band. It was a late winter night in 1966 and a fully loaded B-52 bomber on a Cold War nuclear patrol had collided with a refuelling jet high over the Spanish coast, freeing four hydrogen bombs that went tumbling toward a farming village called Palomares, a patchwork of small fields and tile-roofed white houses in an out-of-the-way corner of Spain’s rugged southern coast that had changed little since Roman times...’. The nuclear incident in Palomares, Almería 1966: ‘Decades Later, Sickness among Airmen after a Hydrogen Bomb Accident’. From The New York Times.

What might have happened if Operation Pilgrim had been allowed to go forward? The plan was to invade and take Grand Canary Island by Allied forces back in September 1941 ‘To capture and hold for our own use the island of GRAND CANARY with the harbour at LA LUZ and aerodrome at GANDO’. How close were the Allies to attacking a neutral country? Very close. The story here at WW2Talk.

Finally:

Diana Navarro. An astonishing singer from Málaga with her new song ‘El Perdón’. Enjoy!