For a number of years around 2018 – 2012 I conributed paid for columns to a number of the English Speaking Newspapers here in Spain: The Reader, The Sol Times, The Round Town News and The Euro Weekly News to name but four!
Reading through my notes for these columns, I was taken by a) how relevant many of them still are today, and b) I had no online record of them of my own.
So I have added the original submissions to this blog, so if you want to read them just search for expatarticles.
There are a LOT and I have no record of which were submitted to which paper so I have grouped them together into a series of short essays!
Deja Vu
A real case of Deja Vu in the Spanish headlines this week with the smoking ban, fears over the contagion effect from Portugal and the relationship with China dominating the front pages.
With respect to the smoking ban the hostelry and gaming sectors have united and collected 600.000 signatures against the legsilation introduced on the 2nd January this year, prior to a protest march in Madrid on the 9th May.
The group, or platform as they are known in Spain, is called the Libertad Sin Humo (Freedom Without Smoke), are calling for a relaxing of the legislation as the sector faces huge losses as a result of the legislation: a 20% drop in the hostelry sector and a 30% drop across the Bingo Halls of Spain.
As a ex smoker I have always been against the ban primarily on the basis of freedom of choice: people should be free to decide if they want to smoke or not, businesses should be free to decide if they want to allow smoking or not, non smokers should be free to decide if they frequent an establishment or not. Freedom of choice and free market forces every time for me!
I had this debate again recently with some non smokers who said that now the ban was in place they went out more. Good on them I said, but how much more are you spending? Are you spending enough to make up for the 10,000 jobs that will be lost and the associated decline in taxes and consumer spending, and what about the 3€ billion loss of tax revenue that will need to be replaced to keep the Spanish economy hobbling along?
And then there is the erosion of the traditional Spanish culture: the cafe society, the outdoor terraces, the way of life that so many associate with living in Spain.
The general view on the economy seems to be that Spain is not in the same class as the troubled peripheral trio of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, according to the European Central Bank Governing Council, primarily because Spain has a much lower public debt than the other countries.
The problem though is that all the speculation and debate is costing Spain (much needed) money as they were forced to pay sharply higher rates than a month earlier when raising 4.66€ billion in 12- and 18-month bills in an auction on Monday.
If there isn’t a problem, how about we stop speculating that there is, and allow the markets to pay lower rates, which means we will all be out of this mess a little bit sooner.
Silence is golden as they say!
And with respect to China I have said before that it wont end until every street in Spain is filled with Chinese restaurants, bazars and knock off DVD sellers, and I heard on the grapevine that the sign makers are already working on the new Costa Bejing, Costa Shanghai and Costa de Tibet signage!
Couldn’t resist a small smirk earlier in the week when I read that Zapatero had got somewhat over excited on his recent visit to Bejing, where he was entertained in some style and given all kinds of reassuring tones that China would invest in Spain, so much so that he declared that China was about to invest 9€ billion in the ailing Spanish Savings Banks.
Seems that the chap that made the ‘promise’ was a Mr Xie Ping who it turns out isn’t as important in the structure of the China Investment Corp as Spain had thought, and the CIC in fact had never considered such a large lone at any time.
Some things never change eh? No matter how good the Chinese is at the time, you always wake wanting more!
Health Care
Is it just me or is Spain becoming more like the UK by the day? The smoking ban, dissatisfaction with the austerity measures, the erosion of the power of the unions, the inevitable election results which will see the PP (Conservatives) replace the PSOE (Socialists) at both a local and national level.
These are all ‘issues’ that we read about daily in both the British and Spanish press, and in far to many instances they are in effect the same story.
By way of example take this week in the Spanish press on the subject of the Health Service. Now, touch wood, I have had very little to do with the health service here in Spain but those that I know that have are full of praise, with the exception of the issue of after care and the fact it is the responsibility of the family.
Three headline stories caught the eye this week, and could well have been written in a British paper:
180,000 Spanish residents would have to pay for FREE healthcare in Spain because they do not pay into the Social Security system, which is the condition required to be entitled to free health care. The 1986 Public Health Law gave the right of access to the public health system to every resident in Spain, but the individual must be paying into the Social Security system, and apparently 180,000 aren’t including those who have never worked or the unemployed who no longer receive any state benefits, but have income which is higher than the minimum inter-professional salary of 641 € per month.
If you have no income at all you are guaranteed coverage but others such as lawyers or architects whose professions are not included within those set out in the Social Security regulations for self-employed workers aren’t entitled to free access.
Another report on the same story reported that 300,000 people living in Spain have no entitlement to free healthcare.
And here is the bit that reminded me most of the UK: even those who wish to pay social security in order to have free medical treatment are unable to do so if they do not work! I suppose it should be comforting in a way that the whole world is as mad as each other, but of course what that means is that most early retirees (even from EU countries) are not entitled to it.
The result? Hundreds of thousands are forced to take out private health insurance policies, because the FREE service isn’t available to everyone!
In another health service related story a 30 year old, single Spanish lesbian, has been denied fertility treatment because her hospital in Asturias is ‘under orders’ from the regional ministry to refuse to attend to single heterosexual women, or lesbians.
And finally, to prove my point further, take a look at this headline “Jobless man, 25, sues parents for monthly maintenance “. Admit it that headline could so easily have been in one of the ‘Red Tops’ in the UK, although to be fair I am not so sure that the outcome would have been the same.
The 25-year-old, who does not have a job and does not go to college, lives with his parents, who already provide his food and pay the loan and insurance on his car, without asking him to contribute towards the bills.In addition, he wanted them to pay him 400 euros a month spending money which they refused, as they did not have the means, which led to their son taking them to court.
Not only did the judge rule in their favour, he also ordered the son to leave home, find a place of his own, and get a job, although the parents have to pay him 200€ a month for two years.
In some ays at least Spain is still very different than the UK!
Terrorism In Spain
Impossible really not to comment on the death of Osama bin Laden this week.
As I write this column I am fortunate to be sat outside on our balcony, the sun shining down through a perfectly clear sky, and across the golf course, marina and mediterranean. I can hear the golfers on the golf course, see the yachts tacking across the calm, blue sea, and I can even hear sounds of construction taking place: a most welcome sound after months of inactivity.
I know I am not alone. I suspect that many of you reading this column are in a similar position: somewhere along the coast, enjoying a glass or two, watching the world go by, hardly a care in the world …….. exactly what you came to live in Spain for and a million miles away from the threat or thoughts of terrorism.
But we shouldn’t forget that Spain is more than the Costa’s and in the cities like Madrid and Barcelona they have lived with the very real threat of terrorism for years, and tragically at times the effects. Non more so than the Madrid Train Bombings, which have been in the news again this week following on from the death of bin Laden, with many experts pointing out that bin Laden never actually denied being involved.
So for these cities, and many others around the world I suspect the news will have been met with mixed feelings: joy that in the long term it will prove to be a step in the right direction, but in the short term …… what is the saying “let sleeping dogs lie”.
Already the Spanish Prime Minister is to study increasing security measures in Spain, to face possible reprisals after the death of Osama bin Laden and has boosted the security of its embassies in North Africa, the Sahel region, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
NATO has vowed to carry on with it’s mission, and spare a thought for the French hostages captured by Al-Qaeda in Maghreb in September, the obvious target for an immediate reprisal strike.
Of course all the positioning has now started. Zapatero has admitted that, as a democrat, he would have preferred to see Osama Bin Laden in court facing charges like any other terrorist, but acknowledged that he too would probably have sought his death after committing such atrocities. Osama bin Laden’s daughter has claimed her father was captured alive before being shot dead by US special forces, and as he was also unarmed people are asking why he wasn’t captured and brought to court: well to the best of my knowledge the victims on 9/11 were alive and unarmed before he struck so I suspect that argument wont find much sympathy!
Unfortunately Spain is more than used to the effects of terrorism, having lived with the effects of ETA for many years. This week ETA have been in the news again, as the Basque Nationalist Party, PNV, has announced the suspension of its support for the minority Zapatero administration in response to the decision of the Supreme Court to annul all the candidate lists from the Bildu coalition for the local elections in the Basque Country on May 22.
The PSC, the Catalan Socialist party, will ask the Constitutional Court to allow the Bildu coalition to field candidates in the Basque local elections and the PSOE are betting on a ‘yes’ to Bildu being allowed to field candidates in the decision due from the Constitutional Court. After talking to Zapatero and Rubalcaba, the PNV is giving ‘a margin of trust’ to ‘recover agreements’ after the decision of the Constitutional Court.
Why do people never learn? Given the events in Pakistan this week, surely the best thing to do is to ensure that all parties are talking and engaged in the democratic process: it may not be perfect, and no doubt some will disagree, but it must be better than yet more violence and blood shed?
English Skills
Spain’s economic downturn is sending jobless workers flocking back to school to learn other languages, mainly English, to boost their appeal to employers, providing a boon for language academies.
With an unemployment rate of over 21 percent, the highest in Europe, many of those with a job are also brushing up their languages skills in the hope that this will help them keep it or lead to a more secure position.
“The deeper the crisis, the stronger people’s desire to develop their skills,” said Antonio Murillo Isidoro, 37, the director of expansion at English Connection which runs Spain’s largest network of English language schools.
English Connection plans to open 20 new schools this year, bringing the total to 36. Over the next five years it plans to open a total of 100 schools.
Other private language schools are also growing as is the popularity of going abroad for a short period to learn to speak another language.
About 150,000 Spaniards traveled abroad to study a language, mostly English, last year, up from 105,000 in 2006 before the start of the economic slump, according to Spanish Association of Promoters of Courses Abroad.
Poor foreign-language skills have long been a weakness of the Spanish workforce.
Nearly one in two Spaniards, or 46.6 percent, cannot speak a foreign language, the fourth highest level in the European Union after Romania, Hungary and Portugal, according to European Union statistics agency Eurostat.
Neither Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero nor the leader of the main opposition Popular Party, Mariano Rajoy, speak English — although Rajoy said during a radio interview last month that he studies the language for three hours a week and practices it whenever he travels.
Part of the problem is that the vast majority of Spain’s adult population received the bulk of their education while the country was under the sway of dictator General Francisco Franco, who kept the nation isolated.
The overwhelming majority of foreign television shows and movies continue to be dubbed into Spanish, limiting contact with foreign languages.
And while the importance of foreign language education in public schools has increased since Franco’s death in 1975, the number of hours dedicated to language training has until very recently lagged what is the case in most other European nations.
“The history of English in Spain is very short, it does not even have half a century. In the 1970s nobody heard English,” said Cornelia Hubner, the director of the language training centre at Barcelona’s Esade business school.
But as Spanish companies, even smaller operations, have become more global in recent years, pushing into new markets across Europe and beyond, more and more employers are looking for workers who speak more than just Spanish.
Knowledge of a second language is a requirement for 58 percent of all jobs in Spain targeted at recent university graduates, and for 65 percent of job offers for mid-level executives, according to recruitment consultancy Randstad.
On a recent morning at an English Connection class for adults in Mostoles, a working class Madrid suburb, all eight students said their main motivation for learning the language was because employers demand they be able to speak it.
“Everyone asks for it, even for entry level posts,” said Javier Ruiz Medrano, 43, who sat in the first row of the class and hopes improving his English skills will land him a better-paying job.
The government has moved to ensure the next generation of Spaniards is fluent in other languages as part of its bid to improve the nation’s economic competitiveness.
During an interview with YouTube last month, Zapatero said Spaniards had an “obvious” problem with English but a “massive implementation” of language training was underway to correct this.
In the Madrid region, one in three state primary schools are bilingual, offering between 30 and 50 percent of class work in English or another foreign language. The goal is to raise this proportion to one in two schools by 2015.
Fully 98 percent of all Spanish primary school pupils studied a foreign language in 2008, the last year for which comparable figures were available, the highest level in the EU after Luxembourg, Sweden and Italy, according to Eurostat.
Poor foreign language skills among the British workforce are leaving the UK under-represented in European Union institutions, an official has said.
The head of the European Parliament’s London information office has warned of a “serious problem”.
Only 5% of the jobs in the European Parliament and Commission are taken by British workers – although the UK contains 12% of the EU’s population.
The government is aiming to reverse a decline in language study in schools.
On Monday, for the first time, the European Parliament and European Union are holding an open day for UK school leavers and graduates encouraging them to think of a career in Brussels or Strasbourg.
Michael Shackleton, who runs the European Parliament’s communications operation in the UK, said: “People like me are coming to retirement and its very clear there are not enough people to take our places.
“I think it matters at all levels of the institutions not just at the highest levels – having people from British backgrounds adds to the mix, it’s really important if you want to influence what is going on.”
“The balance of the use of language has been in favour of English, but to understand what people are thinking about you also have to get a sense of them and how they see the world,” he added.
‘Renaissance’
Since the last government made learning foreign languages optional in England from the age of 14 there has been a decline in the numbers of students studying them to GCSE level.
The proportion of students taking language GCSEs has fallen from 61% in 2005 to 44% in 2010.
In 2001, about 347,000 pupils sat GCSE French, but this has fallen by nearly half to fewer than 178,000 in 2010.
There is a similar pattern for German language studies, with more than 135,000 sitting the exam in 2001, but only about 70,000 in 2010.
However, the coalition government has introduced the English Baccalaureate, which will be awarded to students gaining good GCSE passes in English, maths, two science qualifications, a foreign or ancient language, and history or geography.
The number of pupils gaining the EBacc will be included in schools’ league tables data, and demand for language teachers has increased, as institutions have moved to boost baccalaureate subjects.
At Hendon School, in north London, a specialist language school which is also a mixed ability comprehensive drawing children from a wide range of different communities, every child has to study French, Spanish or German – and Japanese is offered at GCSE and A-level.
Deputy head teacher Rebecca Poole said she expected to see “a renaissance” in language learning and language teaching.
“In my opinion that can only be an excellent thing,” she said. “I think there will be a lot of jobs advertised out there.”
However, in January, the education watchdog Ofsted warned that language lessons were “weak” in too many secondary schools in England.
And concerns about the decline are also shared in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where foreign language learning to the age of 16 is also not compulsory – although all pupils in Wales must study Welsh to that age.
Old Favourites
Once again the Spanish news is dominated this week by a number of old favourites: ETA, Corruption, Domestic Violence, Tourism, Smoking, and China all make a welcome return, along with a classic ‘Typically Spanish’ story, but more on that later.
It was certainly encouraging to read recently that a new guide of resources available to women who suffer form domestic violence has been published by the British Consulate in Alicante, with information in English on helplines and emergency phone numbers, plus contact details for victim support offices, but, and I don’t want to sound disparaging here, it is hard not to feel that it is still very much a case of too little, to late.
Look at these recent stories, all from the last week:
A young woman who was attacked by her boyfriend has been admitted to intensive care in La Ribera district hospital in Alzira, Valencia with stab-wounds to her stomach and chest. The victim was knifed in her home by her former partner in front of their five-year-old son.
A thirty year old woman from Almeria has become the latest victim of domestic violence, stabbed twenty times by her former partner. When police arrived on the scene they found the lifeless body of the woman on the street and the murder weapon next to her body.
Police and firemen entering a house in calle Ascensión Bielsa in the Puente de Vallecas district of Madrid found the decapitated body of a forty year old woman. The husband, who had tried to commit suicide, was also discovered in the house.
These victims are either dead, or intensive care, so I suspect that a helpline and a few brochures really isn’t going to be that much use to them.
On a more positive note the court in Motril recently expelled a Moroccan man from Spain for ten years, on charges of domestic violence. The court had earlier handed down a year’s jail sentence on the accused, placed a 500m distancing order against him, and ordered him to pay compensation of 155 €, and when that didn’t deter him took more drastic action.
On a more cheerful note according to the Ministry for Development there are going to be 7.4% more seats on flights to Spain this year, and that so far this year more than 40 million travellers have passed through Spanish airports in the first three months of the year. But …….. before you all go rejoicing British and German owners of property in Spain came to visit less with the fall in the number of Britons with a second home being 17% and in the case of the Germans 11%.
Remember I have written before about the steady takeover of Spain by the Chinese? Yet more evidence as China’s fourth-biggest airline group, HNA Group, has bought a 20-percent stake in leading Spanish hotel chain NH Hoteles for 431.6€ million. What was of more interest though was that it was also announced that the two firms will set up a joint venture for the development of a chain of four-star hotels in China, one of the world’s fastest-growing tourism markets.
This is all part of China’s plan to develop it’s own tourist market as only as recently as 2000 it received just eight million visitors, but will become the world’s most visited country in 2020, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.
The country replaced Spain last year as the world’s third most visited country behind France and the United States. It received 55.98 million international arrivals in 2010, a 10 percent increase over the previous year.
So Spain is forging an alliance, or is that a dependence, on a country with a stated aim of competing for the same tourist business. It will all end in tears ……..
And finally …… only in Spain! A drunk driver has been acquitted in Spain because of the skill in which he fled the police. It happened in Murcia last month where the driver refused to stop for a roadside alcohol test, jumped red lights, and skidded on the curves but he did so ‘driving skilfully at speed’. When he was finally caught he gave a level of 0.45 grams of alcohol per litre of blood. Initially convicted the judges in the higher court considered the sentence was ‘absurd’ because it made no sense that if he was drunk, how was he capable of controlling a vehicle at great speed and even making handbrake turns?
Shock, Horror? Not Really!!!
Another terrible week news wise here in Spain: the decapitation in Tenerife, the earthquakes in Lorca, the dead baby found in a cupboard, another domestic violence arrest ……… and Spain didn’t secure the 2018 Ryder Cup.
Shock, horror, outrage! Those are the natural thoughts and emotions when reading these stories, but hand on heart who felt like that?
Now let me clear. All of the above events were terrible, well maybe not the Ryder Cup decision to be fair, and have left many devastated, distraught and disturbed without question.
Let us take that for read, as it isn’t the point that I am trying to make.
Lorca is about 175km from where I live, I drive past it regularly and it is a lovely part of Spain. Friends in and around Mojacar, 120km from where I live, felt the earthquakes and were quick to share the experience via Facebook and Twitter within seconds of the event. We have friends in Lorca who were on the phone within hours giving us a eye witness account, long before the mainstream news companies had picked up on the details: the town hall bell in the square, the crushed cars, the ongoing fear of more aftershocks.
The thing is though it all felt so well normal really! Tsunami one month, hurricane the next, tornado last year, earthquake this year, it all sort or morphs into one feeling of “oh another disaster”.
Take the decapitation in Tenerife. I was sat in a bar and a friend said to me “Have you heard about the lady who had her had chopped off in the Supermarket ……”, and I honestly thought he was going to tell me his latest current joke. When I heard the full story, about the attempts to purchase the knife, that the killer was wanted by police already, and that he had tried to kill someone only months before did I feel shocked? Was I surprised? No and No. Tragic and needless it certainly was, and it seems that it could have been prevented if the authorities had been able to do their job properly, but hand on heart was I shocked, did my world stop, did it surprise me that such a horrific act could take place in “this day and age” ………
Earlier this week police arrested a 38 year old woman in Jaén after finding a newborn baby dead in a cupboard at her home. The baby was wrapped in a blanket with its umbilical cord wrapped around its neck. Again it is hard to imagine how someone could do this, or the torment that they must have been suffering to make them kill their own child. Again, tragic, terrible and devastating for all involved, but ………. did it take me surprise? When I read it did I feel a sense of disbelief? Again no and no, and I really am a compassionate person honest!
Again earlier in the week a 47 year old man was arrested in Torre del Mar for allegedly assaulting his wife and threatening to kill her. She had been attacked and the husband had thrown the TV at her during the incident. Not surprisingly this was not the first violent incident and she had reported several previous incidents, the last being in March of this year. The really sad thing about this story? She was the lucky one in this weeks column!
How mad is that?
And on the subject of madness why are Spain bleating that they didn’t get awarded the 2018 Ryder Cup ‘in memory’ of Seve? Great man and a great golfer, but sport should never be about the individual. However emotive people’s feelings are now we are talking about a competition in 2018 and I for one think they were right not to award it to Spain, not least because Spain has hosted the Ryder Cup once (ironically when Seve was captain and won it) and I feel that they should share the venues across Europe as it is after all the European Ryder Cup Team.
Perception Is Reality
Many many years ago, before the Internet. mobile phones or social networking sites, I started my career as a Graduate Trainee in the Customer Services Division of a large UK Computer company.
From day one it was drilled into us that “perception is reality”. It didn’t matter how good the call to fix times were, if the customers perceived them to be poor we had to accept that and sort it out, not least because customers talk to each other at User Group meetings and the like, so word of mouth then, like now, could be your best friend or your worst enemy.
As I said this was before all the messaging, communication and discussion options that are available today, all of which have in effect given more power, and importance, to the word of mouth.
I was reminded of this last week when I read that Benidorm, fed up with how people perceive it, want to change their brand values and go more ‘up market’. First thought? Good luck with that one! Second thought? Why! As the old saying goes “if it aint broke don’t fix it” and like it or not Benidorm does “exactly what it says on the tin” as far as everyones perception goes. I doubt anybody goes to Benidorm expecting anything other than what they get, and rarely come away thinking they have had anything other than a great time. To try and change that I suspect will be a disaster. The current customers will stop going and head off in search of it’s replacement, as they know exactly what they want and if they can’t get it at Benidorm they wont thing twice about finding an alternative. And as for the new profile of customers they want to attract well lets be honest …… would you want to be the first to try and see if they had got it right?
I would leave things be, milk what you have and accept that perception is reality, and with so many people still happy to pay for that particular reality in this current climate I would be extremely grateful.
Moving on.
Last Sunday we had the local and some regional elections in Spain. Do’t know how it went where you are but generally down our way there were few surprises. The fact that the PSOE got hammered everywhere was only to be expected, as was the fact that the majority of powerful, or is that corrupt, obtained the votes they expected. We even had a case where one Mayor locally proudly said a week before the elections that they had secured the number of votes needed …….. money talks as they say, and allegedly the going rate for selling your vote was 300€ this year!
The general perception among the expats living in Spain around here is that the Spanish have no interest in the English, and in many cases people believe they are actively against having the English in their towns. Now I doubt that is the reality, but it is certainly the perception of many.
In discussing this with friends recently I took my life in my own hands and pointed out that IF that was the case would it be so hard to blame the Spanish? By way of example I referenced three bits of news from this week.
On the Costa del Sol Jamie Dempsey, one of the most wanted criminals in Britain, was arrested in the town of Benhavis by Spanish police after an intesive search for him. Mr Dempsey had an international search warrant issued against him for the crime of drug trafficking.
On the same day it was reported that the National Police had arrested a 48 year old British man, named with the initials P.D., for allegedly attacking another British man with a knife after he accused the other man of having sex with his wife.
On Tuesday the following story was all over the online blogs and websites. The issue of benefit fraud is one that authorities are particularly keen to stamp out, as demonstrated by the establishment of a dedicated fraud hotline for expats in Spain because the issue of ‘abroad fraud’ refuses to go away, and at at estimated 80€ million a year the UK authorities are launching a fresh purge on the problem.
Now I know that these cases relate to the significant minority of British Expats living in Spain, but put yourself in the position of the Spanish, reading this day in and day out, and what would you think?
Perception is reality, and my suggestion was, and is, that if us British Expats truly want to be accepted by our Spanish hosts we should put our own house in order first.
Cucumber Debacle
Only one story grabbing all the headlines down our neck of the woods this week, the E.coli cucumber ‘have they haven’t they’ debacle.
As I write this the current position is that having initially suspected the cucumbers of causing the outbreak of E.coli and the related deaths, then it being confirmed that it was indeed the organic cucumbers that has caused the outbreak, it now appears that Germany are not sure at all what was the cause, but have confirmed that the cucumbers are not to blame.
The two Spanish companies named in the E.coli cucumber alert always claimed that the contamination is unlikely to have taken place on Spanish soil, insisting all tests carried out have shown no trace of the bacteria. Málaga-based Frunet Bio and cooperative group Costa de Almería, which has its headquarters in Roquetas del Mar, Almería, have said it is their belief that the contamination with E.coli happened on arrival in Germany or during transportation.
With 16 already dead and a further 470 in hospital the outbreak has been described as the biggest of it’s kind, and it goes without saying that it is a tragedy for those effected.
It is also a tragedy for those that have been wrongly accused, and damned, and who knows what long term damage will have been done to the companies involved. The ‘greenhouses’ have suffered like everyone else during the crisis, so to see the images of thousands of perfectly safe cucumbers being dumped in skips will have been a real knife through the heart for the industry. No wonder that Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba has said. “A lot of money has been lost, and our image, and we don’t rule out taking action against the authorities who cast doubt on the quality of our produce, in this case the authorities in Hamburg.”
Apparently Spanish fruit and vegetable exporters are losing as much as 200 million euros a week in sales as consumers avoid the country’s products.
The real issue surely though is that demonstrates yet again just what a joke a ‘united’ Europe really is. First sign of trouble and none of this “we are all in it together” tosh that Cameron likes to spew out, not it is an immediate case of “everyman for himself” and damn the consequences.
Other stories of note included the announcement that Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has proposed Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba as the candidate to lead the ruling Socialists (PSOE) into the 2012 general elections. No surprise really, nor that it followed a bout of infighting between supporters of Rubalcaba and Defence Minister Carme Chacon, but the most striking observation to me is the similarity between the Blair ‘handover’ to Brown, a ‘hospital pass’ if ever there was one. I can’t help feeling that this is just going to be a case of history repeating itself, with the slight exception that Zapatero will remain as Prime Minister until the 2012 elections now that his successor has been identified. Rubalcaba must know that he has no chance at all of winning the 2012 election though so why he would he want the grief?
And on the subject of the EU did you see the proposals for an inflation-busting budget rise that would see Britons forced to pay £200 a year directly to Brussels. Euro MPs plan to raise the cash with a stealth raid hitting millions of families with taxes covering everything from consumer charges to aviation levies.
When will they learn eh?
Normal Services Resumed
Looking at the headlines this week in Spain it seems very much that normal service has resumed after the excitement of the elections, although the ongoing Cucumber Debacle continues to astound.
It is now clear that Spanish cucumbers were ‘not guilty My Lord’, and neither were the beansprouts, or indeed the restaurant that took the flak for a day or two. Spain is now demanding 100% compensation from the EU, and in the meantime the search continues for the guilty party: what odds Ryan Giggs?
As far as the other headlines were concerned though we had the usual mix: another domestic violence fatality, more protests from the indignados, a warning from Moody’s, the 110kph speed limit is here to stay, a pointless branding exercise, and ……. it was hot in May!
As far as the domestic violence fatality story is concerned it was somewhat different than the usual ones as this time a 79 year old man in Museros, Valencia, appears to have killed his 82 year old wife and then committed suicide. Smacks to me of a ‘pact’ between two old people who had for one reason or another ‘had enough’, and I find it hard to blame them!
I must confess to an element of surprise at the ongoing efforts by, and support for, ‘the indignants’ (indignados) who are planning a major demonstration on June 19, and intend to continue their peaceful protest until then. This group have now been campaigning since May 15th, whch shows both a remarkable resolve and commitment not normally associated with the Spanish, and their organisation and ‘style’ has to be admired with their tents, barbecues, televisions and giant cinema screens, and cooking publicpaellas for members, as well as organising clean-up rotas in the area.
They have even formed a council with representatives from at least 56 cities to make decisions and discuss the future of the movement. The protest on June 19th has been confirmed, but not the venue, although Madrid remains the most likely.
Now that the elections are over and the process of identifying the true levels of debts is under way Moody’s has warned that Spain’s government will find it “very difficult” to meet deficit-cutting targets because it cannot curb wayward semi-autonomous regions.
Spain’s government has promised to reduce the deficit from 9.24 percent of GDP in 2010 to 6.0 percent in 2011, 4.0 percent in 2012, 3.0 percent in 2011 and 2.1 percent in 2014.
Experts are once again predicting a rise in the level of interest Spain will have to pay on it’s bonds debt, which in turn is going to result in more debate about Spain needing a bailout.
Absolutely no surprise to read that the Government are talking about keeping the 110kph speed limit in place, claiming that it has brought ‘enormous’ savings. It is initially due to remain in place until June 30, but Industry Minister Miguel Sebastián has said the savings made on fuel consumption have surpassed the 3% forecast and are now at around 5%.
For those of you that like facts and figures a recent report said that May was the third hottest since 1950 with average temperatures of 2.9ºC above the norm. Not sure what it has been like in your neck of the woods but it has been a very unsettled start to June down here on the Costa Almería.
Must confess to being at somewhat of a loss for words when I read that Málaga Airport has now being renamed and henceforth will be known as ………. Málaga – Costa del Sol in an attempt to reinforce the brand name ‘Costa del Sol’ within the tourist industry. I am sorry, but this is just mad! rather like trying to re-brand Benidorm it is total waste of time and money. Perhaps the May heat went to their heads, but whoever is responsible would do well to look at the Moody’s warning mentioned above and stop all this unnecessary spending. I doubt that anybody in the tourist industry doesn’t know that Málaga is in the Costa del Sol.
And finally to France, who have for reasons only they know about decided that people will no longer be able to say the words ‘Facebook’ or ‘Twitter’ on French television or radio networks unless the words are said “in direct relation” to a news story.
Trust Me I’m A Government Minister
Let me see if I understand this correctly! Jose Blanco is Spain’s Development Minister, although you have every reason for never having heard of him: after all being Development Minister during a ‘crisis’ can’t exactly require too much work. I wonder exactly what he has been ‘busy’ developing?
To be fair to him he has been busy in recent weeks visiting the Spanish Embassy in London to explain to businessmen that “This is the ideal time to invest in Spanish real estate.”
Apparently with 700,000 unsold holiday homes in Spain and prices having “fallen in real terms by more than 20 per cent on average; even more in large coastal towns” now is the time to buy.
Now I tend to be a ‘half glass full’ type of person but I am struggling with this one. NOT because I don’t think people should come and live in Spain, or buy a second property for their holidays, but with the logic and dare I say ‘hypocrisy’ of the situation.
Broadly speaking there are 850,000 British Expats living in Spain. We know this because Blanco said so when dismissing fears over the ‘illegal property’ issue as effecting less than 1%.
This is Point 1: Blanco is saying that 1% is statistically irrelevant.
Now, later in his sales pitch he used the argument that Spain’s economy is showing signs of improvement “in the fourth quarter of 2010 Spanish GDP increased 0.6% year-on-year and the forecast for the coming months confirms this”.
Now apart from the obvious that a forecast refers to the future and the fourth quarter of 2010 is in the past, we are now been asked to believe that 0.6% is statistically relevant.
I am going to call that Point 1.1 because Point 2 is all about timing. If we are to believe Blanco then the ‘time is right’, but this from a man that elected to pitch his presentation at the same time as the criminal complaint lodged against the Junta de Andalucía’s councillor for public works and housing by British residents of the Almanzora Valley was being thrown out by the court.
You may recall that the regional councillor Josefina Cruz made these comments regards British residents in the Almanzora area of Almería who own ‘illegal properties’: ‘I do not know if you are defending the intrusion of people, do not know if you are defending the interests of a group of people who are not of this country, who have settled here illegally …. I am concerned with the general situation, and I am not interested in the particular situation of a group of people who have settled illegally in our territory …. and who are now demanding that we resolve a problem that they are responsible for creating’.
Or how about the case of alleged fraud in Torremolinos Crown Court on the Costa del Sol where a 69 year old Spanish Lawyer by the name of Jose Luis Garcia Maseda has been accused of embezzlement and fraudulently taking ‘at least 1.8m euros’ from the string of mostly British clients.
A familiar story? Maseda, who claimed to be a lawyer, financial consultant and tax advisor, convinced hundreds of clients to invest their money from his Eurobrokers office, in Benalmadena.
“A father and son from Liverpool are among the victims, claiming that they lost 185,000 euros and 80,000 euros after investing in houses that were never built.”
Many will argue that these are isolated cases, and they would be right. Many will argue that the statistics tell us that there are more enquiries on for property sales in Spain (and Portugal) as many investors look to snap up bargains. Again they would be right, but please don’t confuse an investor who ‘plays’ the market, knows how to take risks, and accepts the occasional loss with Mr & Mrs Second Property Owner who ‘just’ want a property in Spain to enjoy a few holidays and then in later life retire amongst friends.
Spain is and always will be a great place for these people, and they should not be put off by the current issues, but they will do well to learn from them.
As indeed would Snr Blanco. Perception is reality for many so a word of advice: concentrate on fixing the current issues and the future will look after itself, and if you want some suggestions as to where to start: punishment of corrupt officials, reform of town planning, end of Ley de Costas, regulation of estate agents & the legal profession, enforcement of bank guarantees, compensation for victims of property scandal, judicial security, an end to land grabs ….. that should keep you busy for now!