ARCHIVED - Murcia and Spanish news round-up week ending 23rd September 2016

Environmental issues to the fore in Murcia as the Gota Fria storms hold off

The autumn officially began in mainland Spain at 16.21 on Thursday afternoon, but although the beaches are now substantially less crowded than they were a month ago the appetite for fiestas in the Region of Murcia remains undiminished and the weather is set fair, at least for the time being.

In Cartagena, where Friday is a local holiday, the Carthaginians and the Romans are doing battle all over again after Hannibal wed his bride Himilce on Monday, and at the same time many localities in the north-west of the Region are also immersed in their annual September festivities and ferias.

At least this year these fiestas have not been marred by the heavy storms which so often spoil the fun – the grape harvest has begun in Jumilla, Yecla and Bullas without interruption from hailstorms - and the weather forecasters are confident that in the short term at least there are no signs of the arrival of the Gota Fría downpours which can cause destruction and even loss of lives at this time of year.

Meteorologists are predicting that the autumn in Spain will be drier and warmer than usual.

Environmental news

Issues concerning the environment continue to dominate the regional press, with the situation in the Mar Menor still top of the list. During the week it has been reported that more damaging substances are being drained into the lagoon, and at the same time the draft plans for avoiding the run-off of nitrates and phosphates are on public display until Sunday night. The process of dealing with suggestions and objections will then begin.Click to read a round-up of the stories relating to the situation in the Mar Menor this week.

Pollution is also in the news with regard to the dangers to marine species of the huge amount plastic waste floating in the Mediterranean – mullet and hake are among the species most at risk – while a different type of clean-up is required in parts of the River Segura in order to reduce the risk of flooding should the heavy autumn rains appear. Work is currently being carried out in Cieza, Moratalla and Calasparra to clear the river of reeds and undergrowth.

Should the autumn storms make an appearance in moderation it will come as a great relief to the farmers of the Region of Murcia, but for the time being the 3-year drought goes on. This week the prolongation of the drought emergency status has been confirmed by the national government, and in consequence those who criticized the Valdelentisco desalination plant in Isla Plana are being forced to reconsider: production at the facility is to be raised to the maximum in order to supply as much irrigation water as possible.

Away from the coast, the regional government of Murcia announced on Thursday that the emergency work to repair the environmental damage at the Proambiente waste dump in Abanilla will be completed before the end of this year. By that point a total of 13,800 tons of leachates will have been removed at a cost of almost 3 million euros, and the final part of the job will be to restore 6.5 hectares of countryside to its original condition.

High-speed rail link expected “soon”

The president of the Murcia regional government expressed confidence after a meeting in Madrid that the long-awaited AVE high-speed rail network will finally arrive in the Region within the next few months.

Obstacles to the network opening in Murcia are reported to have been removed, but at the same time there is still plenty of work to do, and unfortunately the high-speed rail network’s arrival in Murcia has been a decidedly low-speed process so far!

Tourism news

One of the largest tour operators in France has signed a deal with the ministry of Tourism in the regional government of Murcia which will bring thousands more visitors to the Costa Cálida, mainly to the south-westernmost municipality of Águilas.

It is expected that as a result more than 15,400 additional nights will be spent in Costa Cálida hotels over the course of the next two years, adding further momentum to the increased tourist activity in Águilas, where this year the summer hotel room occupancy rate is reported to have reached 88%, six points higher than in 2015.

High-profile double murder trial starts next Wednesday

Over three years after the murder of Dutch volleyball player Ingrid Visser and her partner Lodewijk Severijn at a rural property in Molina de Segura, it has been confirmed that no out-of-court plea-bargaining agreement has reached and that the case will therefore go to court next Wednesday.

A huge media presence is expected at the trial, and over 80 press organizations have already been given accreditation to attend the proceedings, which are expected to last up to two months.

The prosecution is pressing for 50-year prison sentences to be handed to those who are accused of being responsible for the two brutal murders in May 2013. Visser and Severejn were tortured, beaten to death and their bodies were and cut into pieces before being buried in a lemon orchard.

Other news stories this week

100 tons of lemons stolen in Murcia and Alicante: at this time of year the petty theft of various crops in the fertile agricultural areas of the Vega Baja del Segura is far from uncommon – after all, who hasn’t stopped by the roadside occasionally to pick a lemon or two? – but this week the Guardia Civil have tracked down a group of people who stole no fewer than 100,000 kilograms of lemons, mainly in the Guadalentín valley. Looking at the image, ir's easy to see why police had their suspicions about the activities of the suspects.

Two harpoon fishermen from Cartagena arrested in Cabo de Gata: the Cartagena divers were detained on the beach of Rodalquilar in Almeria.

Man chokes to death on piece of bread: the 42-year-old suffered a heart attack in Javalí Nuevo while choking on the bread.

34 more treasures recovered from the wreckage of the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes: the ship was sunk by the British in 1804.

9 tons of marijuana confiscated from large Lorca plantation: 20,000 marijuana plants under plastic sheeting.

Animal cruelty allegation investigated in Lorca: chained dog dies in the sun in Tercia.

Murcia government creates tiger mosquito committee: two cases of zika have been reported in the Region of Murcia in the last year.

Batel auditorium investigation committee to interview the architect: the cost of building the Cartagena auditorium escalated to 65 million euros.

Walker rescued from Sierra Gorda in Cartagena: the 66-year-old man suffered an accident in the mountains between Cartagena and Escombreras.

Eagle owl rescued in Sangonera la Verde: the owl was caught on barbed wire fencing.

Three Roman statues recovered in Cartagena and Lorca: but the Niño de las Uvas from Bullas is still missing.

Bye bye Barbecues in Sierra Espuña: barbecue facilities in the mountains of south-west Murcia are about to disappear.

Murcia property news

The latest data regarding property mortgages in Spain show a notable increase in the number of fixed-interest mortgages being registered (see below), and in the Region of Murcia they now account for 19.5% of all new loans signed, according to the country’s notaries. This is the second highest rate in Spain’s 17 regions, behind only that of the Balearics.

We also have an interesting interview with one estate agent working in the Costa Cálida who maintains that the Br-exit vote isn´t as bad for business as was first thought.

Spanish news round-up week ending 23^rd September 2016

Spain is still without a government as the country enters autumn

These are uncertain times for the mechanisms of democracy in Spain, with the prospect of a third general election looming ever larger, but King Felipe VI expressed confidence during his address to the UN in New York on Tuesday that the country will overcome the “complex situation” in which it currently finds itself.

The Monarch recognized during his speech that Spain’s political future is unclear at the moment, but also recalled that the country has survived “difficult times” in the past. He referred not only to the impasse which continues to delay the formation of a new national government, but also to the situation in Catalunya, where the regional government is pursuing its policy of “disconnection” from Spain and intends to hold a full independence referendum next summer. Felipe also found time to call upon the UK to put an end to the “anachronistic” situation in Gibraltar and to restore Spain’s “territorial integrity”.

The King of Spain may be optimistic about the ability of the country’s politicians to break the current deadlock, but at present there are few signs that any significant progress is being made in the efforts to avoid another general election. On Wednesday Albert Rivera, the leader of the Ciudadanos party which entered a pact with the PSOE following last December’s election and then made a similar agreement with the PP after the vote in June, expressed his disappointment at the inability of Mariano Rajoy (PP) and Pedro Sánchez (PSOE) to reach any kind of agreementwith each other.

However, the following day Pedro Sánchez revealed that he intends to unite all of the major opposition parties in order to secure a majority which would allow him to head a new government and avoid a third election.

This task is far from easy, and considerable scepticism has been forthcoming both from inside the PSOE and from other parties. Leading PSOE figures such the presidents of the regional governments in Andalucía and Castilla-La Mancha have disassociated themselves from the scheme, claiming to be uninformed as to their party leader’s intentions, while doubt has also been cast over the feasibility of the plan by Albert Rivera., who described it as “unviable”.

In the meantime, attention is temporarily diverted from the national political panorama to the regions of Galicia and the Basque Country, where regional elections are being held this Sunday, and the latest opinion polls suggest that the PSOE showing is likely to be disappointing.

Recent elections have shown that polls can be proved wrong, but if on this occasion they turn out to be correct there may be serious problems ahead for Sr Sánchez. In the Basque Country, a poll published early in the week suggests that the PNV (Basque Nationalist Party) will once again receive more votesthan any other group although they will still fall short of the 38 MPs required for a majority government. 

Amid all the machinations and campaigning at least a little attempted humour was introduced into the proceedings on Monday by the PP, who borrowed an image from the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Madrid to satirize Pedro Sánchez’s refusal to allow a minority PP government to take office!

Catalan independence process

While much attention is focused on the increasingly desperate attempts to form a government and the elections this Sunday in Galicia and the Basque Country, the issue of Catalunya’s “disconnection” process from the rest of Spain was also in the news once again this week.

Francesc Homs, who was a minister in the regional government of Catalunya at the time of the “informal consultation” regarding independence from Spain which was held on 9th November 2014, made a two-hour appearance in the Supreme Court in Madrid on Monday to make declarations regarding the holding of the vote. He was accompanied to the entrance of the court by Artur Mas, who at the time of the vote was the president of the regional government and who was the driving force behind the “referendum” being held, and who stated outside the Supreme Court that the very principle of democracy is at stake in this investigation.

While the authorities continue to attempt to apportion blame there appears to be a very real risk of Sr Mas and Sr Homs being converted into martyrs for the cause of Catalan independence, and of the separatist movement gathering more momentum as a result.

Meanwhile, the search for a new name for the political party of which Artur Mas is president continues, with hopes high that the latest suggestion of PDECAT will prove acceptable to all concerned.

While on the topic of Calunya, Carles Puigdemont, the president of the regional government, was unhurt on Wednesday morning when the official car in which he was travelling was hit by the wheel of a lorry.

Sr Puigdemont posted an image of the damaged Audi on his Twitter account, and by coincidence, the very next Tweet to be published by the regional president was a reminder that Wednesday was European No Road Deaths Day!

Illegal immigration

The slight worsening of conditions at sea this week appears to be having little effect on the steady stream of would-be immigrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean from north Africa to the coast of Andalucía, and on Tuesday another 54 sub-Saharans were brought ashore in Motril in the province of Granada. 

The 54 people crammed onto the launch included 6 women and a baby, and all received medical attention from the Red Cross although no serious injuries or illnesses were reported. 

Off the coastline of Almería on Thursday another interception and rescue operation suddenly became more urgent when one of the women attempting to cross into Spain went into labour. Her waters broke while she was on board a rescue helicopter, but eventually the newborn came into the world in the safe surroundings of a hospital maternity unit and both mother and baby are reported to be in good health.

Crime and emergencies

The crime story which has featured most highly in the Spanish media this week came to light in the Guadalajara municipality of Pioz, where the Guardia Civil were called out on Sunday to investigate a putrid smell in a chalet and discovered the dead bodies of a man, his wife and their two small children.

The four members of the Brazilian family had been dead for at least a month, and the evidence suggests that they were murdered by professional hitmen. The bodies were contained in six large plastic bags in the living room of the property, with those of the 40-year-old owner and his wife having been dismembered and packed into two bags each. 

Other crime stories:

Motril man throws fridge out of window: his attempt to land the fridge neatly in a skip is best described as a partial success.

Forgetful Granada drug dealer arrested at bus station: the man returned to recover a suitcase containing 120 grams of hashish. 

Two more Jihadists arrested in Madrid: one of the arrested threatened to attack a secondary school in the Spanish capital.

One dead and 20 injured in Soria coach crash: the coach in which they were travelling collided with a slow-moving lorryon the A-15 motorway.

Club-wielding robbers arrested in Madrid: the five men carried out five thefts in shopping centres in the space of only three days.

Tarragona postman convicted of failing to deliver: 541 undelivered items of mail were found in the man’s home.

Granada farmer investigated for starving sheep: 200 sheep and two dogs were left to starve in Granada.

Other stories in the news this week

The calm of the early hours of Sunday morning was shattered in the Barcelona town of Premià de Mar by an explosion in an apartment block on the main street, in which it has since emerged that one woman died and seventeen other people were injured. 

All seven floors of the building were hurriedly evacuated, as were the two neighbouring buildings, and it has since been confirmed that three of the injured are in serious condition. In the panic immediately after the blast one of the occupants of the flat in which it took place was on the point of leaping from the balcony to the street in a desperate bid to avoid the flames, but eventually managed to clamber down to the first floor instead.

Barcelona proposes cruise ship tourist tax: 2.5 million cruise passengers visited the Catalan capital last year.

Lugo doctor prepares for late motherhood: Lina Álvarez is preparing at the age of 62 to give birth to her third child.

Moslem student allowed to wear traditional veil and head-cloth: Takwa Rejeb had been disallowed from wearing her Hijab to classin Valencia.

Gay ref hangs up his whistle again after receiving death threats: Jesús Tomillero is Spain’s only openly gay referee.

Sevilla votes on whether to extend the Feria de Abril: half a million voters will decide whether the 2017 Feria starts earlier.

Valencia bison population threatened by food poisoning: the alpha male of the European bison herd in the province of Valencia was found decapitated last Friday.

Málaga skyline to be revolutionized by new port hotel: Qatari group Al Bidda has presented its plans to build a 135-metre-high skyscraper on the Dique de Levante.

Palma de Mallorca woman forced to pay back 17,000 euros in benefits: she received the benefits despite honestly declaring income from a prize draw.

Weather news

The autumn which officially begins at 16.21 on Thursday in Spain is likely to be warmer than the historical average, according to the State meteorological agency Aemet, with temperatures exceeding expectations throughout the country.

At the same time, Aemet confirms that data collected over the last three months show that the summer of 2016 was the third warmest in the last 51 years.

First snowfall in Sierra Nevada: the Granada ski resort of has already seen the first snowflakes of the 2016-17 season.

Spanish property news

The latest data issued by Spain’s notaries regarding residential property mortgages in the second quarter of this year show that while in general terms the number of loans granted rises slowly in line with the amount of sales activity, the last few months have also seen a notable increase in the number of fixed-interest mortgages being registered. 

Curiously, the fixed-rate share of the market tends to be higher in Mediterranean regions of Spain than elsewhere. While in Spain as a whole they are reported to have accounted for 12.1% of all mortgages signed between January and June – the highest figure yet observed - this percentage rises to 23.2% in the Balearic Islands, 19.5% in Murcia, 15.95% in Catalunya and 14.9% in the Comunidad Valenciana.

In a quiet week for property news the EU’s statistical bureau report that while the level of construction activity during the month of July in the Eurozone was 3.1% higher than in the same month last year, at the same time the increase in Spain was far more significant at 12%.

In Almería, meanwhile, the demolition of the controversial Hotel El Algarrobico in Carboneras moved one step closer this week when the joint commission formed by the national government and the regional government of Andalucía confirmed that the company which promoted the development, Azata del Sol, will be required to accept the forced expropriation of the property at a price of 2.3 million euros.

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