ARCHIVED - Murcia and Spanish news round-up week ending 22nd February 2019
A late February heatwave this weekend in the Costa Cálida!
The last weekend of February looks like being a good time to be in the Costa Cálida as a mini-heatwave hits practically the whole of Spain, and with cloudless skies all over the country the maximums on Saturday are currently forecast to reach at least 26 or 27 degrees in inland areas of the Region of Murcia!
This comes at the end of a week which began considerably cooler, and choosing the right clothes could be tricky over the next few days as the early morning minimums will still remain at between only 2 degrees in the north and 7 or 8 on the coast. However, while choosing between t-shirts and sweaters at least it shouldn’t be necessary to look out any long-unused umbrellas: not a drop of rain has fallen in most parts of Murcia this month, and only a millimetre has accumulated in the regional capital since mid-December, making this one of the driest winters on record!
Away from the weather, the new airport in Corvera continues to make front page news, and this week a national Congress committee finally gave its approval to a request to name the facility after Juan de la Cierva Codorníu, the aviation pioneer who was born in Murcia in 1895. De la Cierva is regarded as one of the most important Murcianos of the 20th century, and is already commemorated in the name of one of the secondary schools of the regional capital and in street names in various towns, and some have attributed the delay in accepting the name to a very tenuous link he had with the uprising in northern Africa which eventually led to the Civil War and the dictatorship of General Franco.
Exactly what the new name will be is not yet certain, but it seems likely that most people, faced with the task of referring to the “Aeropuerto Internacional de la Region de Murcia – Juan de la Cierva” will prefer to continue with the name they have been using for the last ten years or more: “Corvera”!
Other news regarding the airport in Corvera is that this week a report was published in the Spanih language media to the effect that Palma in Mallorca has been added to the summer flight schedule - although Murcia Today has not been able to verify this as yet – and the announcement that classical chamber music concerts are to be offered inside the terminal building. Passengers will be able to listen to performances by members of the Region of Murcia Symphony Orchestra and the regional Youth Orchestra in a series of 25-minute recitals, the first of which is scheduled for 30th March.
But the most eye-catching scenes of the week concerned an incident in which a plane lost part of its undercarriage and skewed off the runway while landing, leaving 2 dead and 53 injured. Fortunately this was just the scenario acted out in an emergency simulation which was held in line with international air safety requirements, and the training exercise involved staff belonging to Ryanair, Azul Handling, Protección Civil, the Town Halls of Murcia, Torre Pacheco and Fuente Álamo, the regional health service, the fire brigade, the Guardia Civil, the Policía Nacional and Cruz Roja.
Tourism news
Pipper the canine influencer reaches the Costa Cálida on his tour of Spain: dog-friendly tourism in the spotlight as Pipper the Parson Russell terrier arrives in the Region of Murcia for a five-day stay.
Government study aims to make tourism compatible with preservation in Sierra Espuña: concerns over the natural environment in the mountains as visitor numbers rose to 134,000 last year.
Spring clean-up for the Charco del Zorro beauty spot in Jumilla: a popular spot for a day out just behind the castle is being made safer and more attractive.
Free visits to the lighthouse of Cabo de Palos on 16th and 17th March: the first open days at the 150-year-old lighthouse last November were a great success and tickets will be allocated by a randomized computer system.
Agriculture and the environment
100,000 tons of lemons are being left on the trees in Murcia: bitterness for Murcia lemon growers but better news for artichoke farmers despite competition from Peru and Egypt.
Mar Menor seahorse population recovering spectacularly: a five-fold increase in a year when the water quality improved substantially has seen the number rise to 24,000, but the numbers are still far lower than the 200,000 of a decade ago!
Arsenic found in mining waste off the coast of Portmán: the bay was the scene of one of the worst ecological calamities of the 20th century, and heavy metals have been washed into the Mediterranean from the massive landfill created. On a similar note, the CHS is considering the possibility of creating green filters to protect the Mar Menor from heavy metals in the Sierra Minera: activists denounce harmful runoff from open mines along the ramblas of El Beal, La Carrasquilla and Ponce every time it rains in the mountains.
24-hour bus services in Águilas during the main events of the 2019 Carnival: no need for late-night and early-morning revellers to take a taxi back to their hotels!
Regional park of El Valle y Carrascoy to be extended by 910 hectares: the park in the mountains just south of the city of Murcia will henceforth include part of Monte Miravete in the outlying district of Torreagüera.
Other items in the Murcia news this week
San Javier windmill restoration project nears completion: other mills have already been restored in nearby San Pedro del Pinatar, and the one at El Maestre in San Javier has cost 80,000 euros.
Bell-tower roof installed at the church of Santa Maria de Gracia in Cartagena: 15,000 bricks are being repaired or replaced one by one at the 18th century church, and work cannot be completed in time for the Semana Santa processions which start on 12th April.
Former Cartagena Mayor repeats demands for a separate province: MC in Cartagena, led by José López, believe that the Murcia government discriminates against Cartagena.
Rail services from Murcia to Lorca and Águilas suspended for five days more: longer journey times as the substitute bus service remains in operation until 28th February.
Swipe card machines alongside collection plates at churches in the Diocese of Cartagena: quick and easy donations for members of the congregation in a pilot scheme in Cabezo de Torres as the Catholic Church aims to keep abreast of the times.
The inflation rate in Murcia is the lowest in Spain! Prices in the Costa Cálida in January were just 0.6 per cent higher than last year.
840 kilos of hashish seized from Mar Menor smugglers: six arrested after drugs were found to be being brought into Spain from Morocco via the lagoon.
Emaciated American Staffordshire Terrier in Alhama: the owner faces charges and the Guardia Civil call upon the public to report suspected cases of maltreatment of pets.
The winter flu epidemic looks to be dying out in Murcia: the number of new cases reported has dropped by 30 per cent in each of the last two weeks, but the death toll from flu-related complications is now up to 49.
Águilas man faces hate crime charges after advocating violence against Muslims: three years of Facebook activity led to two of his accounts being closed as he advocated death for those professing the Muslim faith.
More obstacles for the completion of the San Javier-Santomera motorway which ends in an orange grove: the tarmac ends abruptly in an orchard and locals seem intent on keeping things that way!
Government investments announced in San Pedro del Pinatar: a new medical centre is to be built in Lo Pagán, staffing is also to be increased at the SMS centre in San Pedro and a budget of 1.5 million euros is being set aside for improvements on the main road between the town centre and Lo Pagán on the shore of the northern end of the Mar Menor.
Mazarrón woman faces charges after reporting non-existent burglary: the version of events offered by the accused did not tie in with crime scene investigation findings.
General election forces postponement of Cieza fiestas: the main events in the annual Fiestas del Escudo y la Invasión have been put back a fortnight to 11th and 12th May.
Drama as 7-year-old is rescued from open drainage pipe in the municipality of Cartagena: open pipes and wells have been sealed in Cartagena and Alhama in light of the recent tragedy in Málaga.
Murcia and Spanish property news
Spain’s property registrars have added their voices to those reporting a positive year for the property market in this country in 2018, calculating an increase of 11.3 per cent in sales figures to over half a million (the highest total for a decade) and an 8.22 per cent increase in the average price paid per square metre: this means that since 2014 the market value of housing in Spain has risen by almost 30 per cent, although it is still reported to be 16 per cent lower than the peak which was reached in 2017.
More on the issue of market prices later, but the registrars confirm that the sharpest growth in sales figures last year was in the Region of Murcia, one of the least expensive areas in the country, and in theory at least that ought to exert downward pressure on the average national price as reflected in sales.
Another interesting aspect of their report is that approximately 65,500 sales were made to non-Spanish buyers during 2018, representing over one in eight of all transactions, and that among these the British accounted for the largest proportion: 15.5 per cent of all purchases made by non-Spaniards, and 2 per cent of the entire sales total.
In other words, UK nationals bought just over 10,000 homes in Spain 2018, the most since 2010 and an average of 28 per day, more than double the figures for Germany and France. At the same time, during the last quarter of the year Murcia had the fourth highest percentage of foreign buyers in Spain’s 17 regions (behind the Balearics, the Canaries and the Comunidad Valenciana). From this it can be assumed that the British and other non-Spaniards buying property in Murcia were largely responsible for the 24 per cent growth in sales figures!
The registrar’s price data, though, are less easy to corroborate. Other sources this week have identified yearly variations of only 3.7 per cent in the Comunidad Valenciana, 3 per cent in Andalucía and just 0.8 per cent in the Region of Murcia in terms of new-build properties (these data come from ST), and 3.9 per cent in all properties, no matter their age. This second figure is arrived at from data compiled by the Ministry of Development, and with much of the increase accounted for by rises of 8.1 per cent and 5.8 per cent in Madrid and Catalunya respectively, Murcia is one of four Regions where a decrease was observed (of 1.3 per cent).
At the same time, the Ministry’s historical database shows that in Spain as a whole the average price of housing is now 23 per cent lower than at the height of the boom in early 2008, having risen by 11.2 per cent since bottoming out in the autumn of 2014, but in Murcia the situation is reported to be very different: prices are still almost 40 per cent lower than in late 2017, and remain almost unchanged since the slide stopped four years ago.
Spanish news summary – tension over Brexit overflows in Gibraltar dispute
Following last week’s announcement that a general election will be held in Spain on 28th April the news has been full of speculation regarding the accusations being levelled by party leaders at each other as they jostle for position ahead of the official campaign. Unfortunately this campaign looks like being a particularly fierce one, due partly to it coinciding with the tension surrounding the trial of Catalan separatist leaders who were involved in the events of autumn 2017, and is likely to dominate the headlines until well after the voting actually takes place.
But if political tension is high in Spain, it is also rising throughout the EU as the date of Brexit approaches, and as is so often the case a climate of political unease between Spain and the UK is most strongly felt in Gibraltar. Last weekend the Gibraltarian government once again reported that a Spanish navy vessel had trespassed in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW), and a very strongly worded Gibraltar government statement on Monday condemned “yet another senseless provocation that achieves nothing except generating an atmosphere of mistrust and hostility”.
Chief Minister Fabian Picardo added that he was “shocked by the cavalier and quixotic actions of the Spanish military vessel at the weekend”, and that “this childish behaviour is unsatisfactory”, before concluding that “incidents like this are a useful reminder of why we will never agree to be Spanish."
It should be pointed out that the Spanish Ministry of the Exterior have denied that any serious incident occurred, explaining that the offshore patrol vessel “Tornado” was simply on a routine voyage in an area which they refer to as “Spanish territorial waters”.
But arguably of even more importance is a request made by Spain for the word “colony” to be used in reference to Gibraltar in the EU statute book. At council level the 26 states which will remain in the EU after 29th March have backed the demand, but in the European parliament on Wednesday the use of the term was rejected, and in response Spain has re-invoked an earlier threat to impose visa requirements on UK nationals entering the country after Brexit.
The reaction in some quarters of the British press has been one of outrage: “Fury as Spain is set to charge Brits £52 to visit”, proclaimed the Sun (although presumably those who are “furious” are not the ones who voted in favour of leaving the EU, as by doing so they were accepting that “free movement” in Europe was not a priority). But there is also concern in other quarters, and the Guardian quotes a Czech MEP as saying that Spain is “playing with fire” with only five weeks to go before Brexit, and warning that if the British government adopted a similar approach, “that would be a disaster.”
Other stories to catch the eye this week include the Vatican finally giving its full backing to the government’s plan to exhume the mortal remains of General Franco from the monumental burial site of El Valle de los Cáidos (although it is not impossible that the project could be put on hold if the forthcoming election produces a change of government), the arrest of suspected arsonists after the Cantabria countryside was ravaged by at least 180 wild fires last weekend and an agreement signed between Spain and Morocco which will allow Spanish maritime rescue vessels to take some unauthorized migrants straight back to north Africa after intercepting or rescuing them in the Mediterranean.
This should not be interpreted as a solution to the problem of migration and immigration, of course, but at a practical level it will, on the face of it, contribute to alleviating the overcrowding which has become almost permanent in Spain’s immigrant detention centres.
The only downside to have been identified is that conversely it could lead to more deaths at sea. This is because when the perilously small and overcrowded boats used in migrant crossings are in danger of sinking, as inevitably they often are, at present it is the norm for those on board to notify the Spanish authorities and maritime rescue service with a Mayday call, but if the migrants are aware that such a call will lead to them being taken directly back to Morocco they may be less willing to make it, putting their own lives at further risk.
For more on these and other stories in the Spanish news this week, scroll down the feed box below:
-->Would you like to receive this bulletin?
If you enjoyed this free weekly round-up, then please forward it on to your friends. If you have received this from a friend and would like to have it sent directly, then click Register for weekly bulletin to sign up.
CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE THIS FREE WEEKLY ROUND-UP BY EMAIL
NONE OF THE TODAY PRODUCTS HARVESTS OR SELLS EMAILS IN ANY WAY and we GUARANTEE your details will not be passed on, sold, or used for any other purpose, and are maintained in an off-site facility from which you can unsubscribe at any time.
We also welcome contributions from local charities or clubs, including post event reports, news items and forthcoming events. Use the contact button in the top header to contact our editorial team.
Images: Copyrighted Murcia Today, full or partial reproduction prohibited. Main image from the Regional Park of Calblanque, Other images are provided as attributed on individual news articles.
