ARCHIVED - Murcia and Spanish news round-up week ending 30th November 2018
Christmas is coming … and so are the first flights at Corvera!
With December just around the corner the festive season is almost upon us, and gradually the festive season is encroaching on the Costa Cálida as the preparations for Christmas begin.
With the weather acting in a suitably wintry way – strong winds on Monday were followed later in the week by sub-zero temperatures in the north of the Region of Murcia – the Town Hall in the regional capital has already confirmed its security plans for the key dates over Christmas and the New Year, beginning on Saturday 1st December with the switching on of the lights on the 40-metre tree in Plaza Circular. That event and other major celebrations will be accompanied by a ban on HGVs in the city centre and road blocks and the installation of giant flowerpots as part of the Christmas decorations to prevent terror attacks using motor vehicles.
In Lorca, meanwhile, work is beginning to plant 5,000 locally grown poinsettias and numerous other decorative plants as well as to install street decorations including over 700,000 LED bulbs, a 20-metre tree in the Plaza de España and a 3-metre gift box in the Alameda de la Constitución.
But even the approach of Christmas cannot drive the issue of the new airport in Corvera out of the Murcia news, and with the date for the first flights just over 6 weeks away the latest this week is that the regional government is attempting to attract airlines offering services to and from Madrid and Barcelona. The government believes that demand for seats would be sufficient to justify these services without the need to subsidize them, and apparently there has already been interest expressed in the Barcelona route by two airlines, Volotea and Vueling.
The last attempt to make the Murcia-Madrid route viable ended in January 2017, when Iberia Regional-Air Nostrum cancelled its service on the grounds of insufficient demand, and with the AVE high-speed rail connection scheduled to become operational in 2020 or 2021 any service would face competition from the trains.
Meanwhile, as the long-awaited opening date approaches, the regional government has confirmed that 773,000 euros have been set aside in next year’s budget for the development of the business park alongside the airport, reflecting the commitment to creating industrial and economic activity in and around the terminal building.
Agriculture and the environment: Los Alcázares residents demand long-term flooding solutions
In the aftermath of the flooding which hit Los Alcázares last Monday as a consequence of heavy rain both in the town and further inland, in the crop fields of the Campo de Cartagena, locals took part in the first of what promise to be various protests in the town centre on Saturday.
This is an issue which unites different political parties along the shore of the Mar Menor, and most are of the opinion that if flooding has become more common it is mostly due to unwise urban and agricultural development, which has gradually dismantled the network of natural floodwater channels, including the ramblas. This means that more water finds its way into the remaining ramblas, like that of El Albujón, or follows other routes to the sea, such as those provided by tarmacked road surfaces.
In the days following last week’s flooding the regional government announced its intention to speed up the construction of floodwater tanks in Mar de Cristal, Islas Menores and Torre Pacheco, but while this sounds at first like a step in the right direction there has been criticism of the move on the grounds that floodwater tanks are designed to receive and contain the first rainwater to fall. This is the water containing most waste and contamination, but the tanks cannot be sufficient for the amount of water which periodically surges over land towards the Mar Menor as a result of the violent storms which characterize the climate of Murcia, and this was demonstrated once more by the flooding of a fortnight ago.
Águilas beach regeneration project made possible by new breakwater: the national government steps in to save the Playa de la Cola near Calabardina.
Migration
In a "normal" year the migratory flow of Africans attempting to cross the Mediterranean and gain unauthorized entry into EU territory via the southern coast of Spain grinds to a halt with the onset of colder weather and adverse sea conditions, but this is no normal year, and with the migrant figures already having set a new record in 2018 of almost 50,000 there is no sign of any significant let-up as yet.
In the Region of Murcia another small boat made it ashore on Wednesday night, and was spotted along with its eight occupants (4 men and 4 women) by the Policía Local of Águilas and the Guardia Civil at the beach of Matalentisco. This was followed just hours later by the interception of another 15 migrants off the coast of Cartagena, with the Red Cross reporting that two of them required hospital treatment.
By Thursday morning the total had risen to 76 migrants intercepted along the Costa Cálida on 6 boats in 36 hours, with more boats having been spotted near Monte de las Cenizas and Cabo Tiñoso, and among those brought to port were four women, one of them pregnant, at least two children and a baby. This brings the figure in the last few months up to over 400, but to put that into perspective on Wednesday and Thursday alone more than a thousand were rescued in the Alborán Sea (the western Mediterranean between Andalucía and north Africa).
Political volatility in Murcia illustrated by dispute in Cartagena Town Hall
During the week an opinion poll suggested that the regional elections next spring are likely to result in another minority government in Murcia, with the possibility of as many as eight parties sharing the 45 seats as voters lose faith in the established political groups.
What this does mean is that there is a lot to play for over the next six months as parties jostle for position, and although the latest poll shows voters appearing to return to the “traditional” PP and PSOE parties that trend could easily be reversed between now and May.
Meanwhile, there was more chaos in Cartagena Town Hall on Thursday when council was suspended for the 6th time in the last 2 years, once again due to the headstrong behaviour of former Mayor José López and his erstwhile colleague in the power-sharing agreement, Ana Balén Castejón. The agreement between the PSOE and MC groups was never going to be an easy one to maintain, but in the second half of the 4-year term the conflict in the power-sharing alliance has caused turmoil in the local government, and this perhaps offers a foretaste of what could be a very interesting local election campaign in the spring!
Other items in the Murcia news this week
Sunday morning fright for residents of Fortuna with earthquake of 2.9 mbLg: the tremor was felt in Archena, Blanca, other parts of central Murcia and Crevillente in Alicante.
Excavation to resume at prehistoric site in Santomera after a 50-year interval: an Iberian settlement in Sierra de Balumba dates from between 1800 and 300 BC, and archaeologists will search for a burial ground and sanctuary nearby.
Drummers in Mula and Moratalla join Jamaican reggae on UNESCO’s World Heritage list! 22 towns in Spain form the consortium of drumming festivals which has been declared an item of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Four arrested in Alhama for stealing property from the deceased: over 3 million euros’ worth of residential and other property was claimed after the owners passed away by a group falsifying pre-dated sale and purchase agreements.
Fire threatens butane gas deposit in Puerto de Mazarrón: the fire brigade successfully defused the alarm in Avenida Doctor Meca on Sunday evening.
More progress towards construction of the new “gateway to the Ricote valley”: a 2-lane bridge between Ulea and Villanueva del Río Segura will ease road traffic into one of the most attractive areas of Murcia at a cost of 1.8 million euros.
The Arrixaca in El Palmar is named the 13th best hospital in Spain: two other public hospitals in Murcia drop down the rankings while the Santa Lucía in Cartagena remains 78th.
Middlesbrough FC ordered to pay a million euros to Real Murcia! Kike García, last seen scoring for Eibar against Real Madrid on Sunday, boosts the ailing coffers of Real Murcia as FIFA orders the Boro to pay up on a clause which entitles the Murcianos to a million euros for promotion to the Premier League in 2016.
Lorca protests against 6 month backlog to renew NIE numbers and process residency requests: at present UK nationals do not have to renew residency every five years, but those who do are facing long delays in re-legalizing their status in Spain!
Owners to be charged 100 euros for abandoned and escaped pets picked up in Murcia: the zoonosis centre in Murcia introduces measures to encourage more responsible ownership and reduce the number of animals in their care.
Affordable ski trips to Sierra Nevada and the Pyrenees for young people in Murcia: a regional government scheme is open to those aged between 14 and 36, offering all-inclusive trips to the snow this winter for as little as 61 euros.
Search for missing teenager in San Pedro del Pinatar leads to three arrests for arson and theft: the missing girl was found in the company of a group who had stolen goods from a San Javier warehouse.
Digging out old heaters and braziers for the winter? Beware faulty devices! Over 100 cases per year are reported in Murcia of people inhaling potentially lethal fumes due to defective heaters, so think twice before buying second-hand or operating potentially faulty braziers.
Former Camposol hotel owner enters liquidation: Manoli Hotels, the former owner of the Sensol hotel, has been placed in liquidation by the mercantile courts of Murcia, ending a period of receivership and insolvency which began in 2015.
Murcia and Spanish property news
The most eye-catching news regarding the Spanish property market this week came out on Friday, when government figures for September showed that the monthly total of loans registered was the highest for over 7 years at 32,457.
At the same time, the amount of money borrowed was the highest since March 2011, and as a result the average loan capital per mortgage during the month was 127,732 euros, 4.1 per cent higher than in September 2017 and the highest since December 2008!
In the Region of Murcia the figures were only a little less spectacular, with a bumper September for the sector providing 866 loans (the most in a single month since May 2012) and a total loan capital of 75,084,000 euros, the highest figure since September 2011. The result was an average loan capital of 86,702 euros, a spectacular 16 per cent more than in the same month last year, and the broader picture shows that the running 12-monthly totals for the number of loans taken out is now 5 per cent higher in Murcia and 7.8 per cent higher in the whole of Spain than a year ago.
Even more impressively, the figures have risen by 69 per cent and 86 per cent respectively in the last four and a half years, illustrating the degree to which banks are now willing to lend against the current market values of residential property!
The end of the week also produced an optimistic forecast for 2019 from the leading Spanish property valuation firm Tinsa, predicting an average rise in the market value of housing in this country of between 5 and 7 per cent and expressing the expectation that as the market continues to stabilize the recovery is forecast to spread to more areas.
On a side note, following the introduction in 2013 of a scheme by which non-EU nationals can gain Spanish residency by investing at least half a million euros in residential property Spain now tops the “golden visa” residency-for-investment table in the EU. There are concerns over the ethics of “selling passports” in return for injections of capital and over the possibility of favouring money laundering, but Spain is just one of 13 EU member states offering such deals, and in this country those most commonly taking advantage are natives of China, Russia, the USA, Brazil, India, Venezuela and Mexico.
Spanish news summary: changes in Gibraltar after the Brexit deal and controversy over migrants stranded on an Alicante fishing boat off the coast of Libya
The week began with the dominant story in the Spanish news being the Gibraltar deal which was agreed upon at the last minute by the Spanish and British governments and the EU, enabling the EU to ratify the terms of the UK’s departure from the Union.
In the end Spain agreed not to use its right to veto the deal, having won concessions regarding any future discussions concerning the status of Gibraltar, and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, while admitting that the agreement by which Brexit is governed represents a sad landmark for both the EU and the UK, also affirmed that “as far as Gibraltar is concerned, Spain wins”.
There were those among Sr Sánchez’s political opponents who were determined to find a negative side to the deal, but this is inevitable in such a polarized political spectrum as exists in Spain at present, and in general press commentators agree with his appraisal. His new-found power to bring about change in the Rock was underlined on Thursday, when four new agreements were signed between the governments in Madrid and London on some of the issues which have been most contentious in recent years, one of them involving the sale price of tobacco and cigarettes in the Rock. At present, cigarettes are around 48 per cent cheaper on the Gibraltar side of the border than in the neighbouring region of Andalucía, and this has brought about large amounts of contraband tobacco being brought into Spain: however, that differential is to be reduced to 32 per cent by the introduction of taxes on tobacco in Gibraltar before June 2020.
On the other hand, the government is facing considerable criticism in relation to its policy towards the migrants heading for the EU across the Mediterranean, as by Friday afternoon 12 migrants who were saved from the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya by a Spanish fishing boat (the “Nuestra Madre Loreto”, based at Santa Pola in Alicante) were still awaiting news of their fate after eight days stranded at sea. The 24-metre boat was at sea 100 miles from Tripoli and 120 from Malta, with twice the maximum number of people allowed on board and nowhere to sail to due to the government’s refusal to allow the captain to head home to Spain with the migrants on board.
The government maintains that in this situation the safest port is the nearest, i.e. Libya, but such is the desperation of the migrants that they have reportedly threatened to thrown themselves overboard if taken back to the country, and the condition of one of the migrants has worsened to the extent where the crew have pleaded for medical help. On Thursday of this week the Open Arms rescue ship, which had been in port in Tunisia waiting for stormy weather to pass, set sail to provide assistance with a doctor on board, but there is more and more pressure on the government to modify its stance and make another humanitarian gesture like those which were forthcoming in the first two months after the PSOE came to power in early June.
For more details on these and other stories in the Spanish news scroll down below…
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Images: Copyrighted Murcia Today, full or partial reproduction prohibited. Other images provided by Ayuntamiento de Cartagena, the Town Hall of Moratalla and Lorenzo d'Agostino (Open Arms)
