ARCHIVED - Murcia and Spanish news round-up week ending 3rd February 2017

Courgette crisis was just tip of the iceberg, fake plumbers hit the elderly and regional president may be forced to resign

There’s no doubting the biggest story of the week in the Region of Murcia, which was the announcement by the regional High Court on Thursday that it will require the regional president to answer questions as it investigates the case of the alleged irregularities surrounding the construction of the auditorium of Puerto Lumbreras, related to which Pedro Antonio Sánchez, the president of the regional government, faces possible charges of falsifying official documents and misuse of office and public funds.

In the light of this development it now seems inevitable that at some point Pedro Antonio Sánchez will be called to give evidence to the High Court, and equally inevitably there was immediately lively political debate over whether or not he should be allowed to continue as regional president.

This is only questionable on account of the terms of the voting pact which allows the PP to govern in Murcia: at the regional election in 2015 the PP won 22 of the 45 seats in the regional parliament, insufficient to form a majority government, and the agreement by which Ciudadanos allowed Sr. Sánchez to take office specifies that any regional MP who is placed under investigation by the authorities is required to resign or be removed from office. Four politicians have already been forced to resign when they were called to answer questions by the courts in the region since the last elections, in order to maintain the agreement reached.

However, it's a very difficult situation for those placed in this position, as they have not actually been formally charged with anything as the Spanish courts system operates a pre-trial investigative system, the final trial usually being over in a couple of days after a four year investigation.

The system is always being criticised as it can lead to situations whereby people who are found to be innnocent of any wrongdoing are discredited and lose a job or face the prospect of damage to their career without any allegations against them ever actually being proven.

On Thursday afternoon the Ciudadanos party in Murcia announced that they will not be demanding his resignation, at least until such time as he may be required to answer the questions of the investigating judge. In the meantime, according to party spokesman Miguel Sánchez, the assumption of innocence will prevail until there is good reason to doubt the president’s integrity.

Other opposition parties have not been quite so understanding. Rafael González Tovar of the PSOE expressed the opinion on Thursday afternoon that Pedro Antonio Sánchez would have been giving evidence to the judge long ago if he had not enjoyed impunity from questioning by lower courts as a member of the regional government, while Óscar Urralburu of Podemos was even more damning in his comments, stating that this is the end of the line for the regional president, and adding that “his time is up”.

The regional government maintains that the president is innocent of any wrongdoing and is keen for the case to be over and done with, so that any "adminstrative errors" can be resolved as swiftly as possible.

The president maintains that he would resign if he were indicted for corruption, but says that this situation relates to an "administrative question, " not corruption.

Lettuces and olives in the news

In the aftermath of the heavy storms, unusual frosts and even snowfalls in the Region of Murcia and the province of Alicante over the last six weeks, there has been a wave of "mini crises" in the UK. Of course, this is not all related to the problems experienced in Murcia, as the bad weather has caused crop failures in several areas of Europe, principally Greece and Italy.

Following on from the "courgette crisis" there is now a shortage of iceberg lettuces on the shelves of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, and in response chains such as Tesco and Morrisons have introduced “rationing”, limiting customers to two or three icebergs each.

For most shoppers this is of little concern, as February isn´t generally the month for piling the salad plate high and one iceberg is enough, but the British media have yet again gone into a frenzy over the "food shortages" currently being suffered in the UK, blaming Spanish weather.

At the same time, British shoppers are facing prices which are around 50% higher than before Christmas, and are now paying between 79p and £1.30 per iceberg and £5 for a kilo of broccoli.

But there is good news for those who are upset about these prices: it is now over six weeks since the heavy flooding which decimated crops in the Campo de Cartagena, the daytime temperature in early February in Murcia is in the mid- to high teens, and the soil was dampened yesterday by a couple of light showers. In these conditions, it is likely that the supply of leaf vegetables and other commodities from Murcia will very soon be back to normal levels, with the new crops planted after the flooding in December already at picking stage. See the photo taken in Águilas during the last few days: a glorious field of fat iceberg lettuces growing in the spring sunshine.

The Region’s olive growers, on the other hand, are feeling the effects not of the flooding, but of the drought which preceded it, and it was announced this week that the 42 olive oil presses in the Region produced only 4.97 million litres of oil last autumn, a figure which represents a decrease of almost exactly 50% in comparison to the same period in 2015.

Similar effects were noted by olive growers and oil producers all over Spain, as the national production level fell by a hefty 38%, and as a result, as supply falls short of demand, market prices have risen significantly, by 23% in the case of extra virgin olive oil.

However, this year the future may be brighter for growers of olives following the heavy rains and snow which have caused so many problems for those growing lettuces! Aemet reports that the weather in January was the coldest in the last 11 years and that the period since October has been the wettest in the last 75 years!

Meanwhile, the region continues to recover from the spate of bad weather, with investigations underway in Cehegín to ascertain why the sports pavilion collapsed.

Mediterranean marina project in La Manga annulled

The jurisdictional council of the Region of Murcia announced on Monday that the order by which permission was prolonged in 1988 to extend the marina of Tomás Maestre in La Manga del Mar Menor by building the “Puerto Mayor” has been annulled, meaning that the regional government will now have to decide whether or not to insist on allowing this controversial development to be allowed to go ahead.

The resolution which was passed in December 1988 allowed Tomás Maestre to build an artificial port and harbour on the Mediterranean side of La Manga next to the bridge of El Estacio. This prolonged a permit which had originally been granted in 1975 to the man after whom the existing marina is named, but at that time little if any attention was paid to the possible environmental consequences of such projects, and attitudes have altered radically since.

Even if the regional government now decides to review the documentation, the decision will effectively send the Puerto Mayor project back to where it stood just over 28 years ago.

Meanwhile, in the Mar Menor the scientific evaluation programme set up to evaluate the progress of the waters following the algal issues last year, report an improvement in the water visibility and the visit of some rare birds to the shores of the lagoon. The project to create a large reed filter at the mouth of the Rambla del Albujón has also been approved with a number of modifications and passed on up the chain as work continues to resolve the issues created by agricultural run-off last year and the heavy rains from before Christmas.

Economy and tourism

Murcia foreign tourist numbers up by almost 25 per cent in 2016: last year proved to be one of the most successful ever for the Region of Murcia in terms of the number of foreign visitors who came to the Costa Cálida, with the total rising by 24.5% to 996,150.

It is also encouraging to note that much of the increase of 200,000 in visitor numbers during 2016 corresponds to what is traditionally considered the “off season”, i.e. the whole year except the summer: this ties in with the efforts being made by the tourist authorities in the Costa Cálida to de-seasonalize the sector and provide year-round employment for more of those involved, and appears to indicate the success of promoting seniors tourism, sports tourism and city breaks.

International tourism Murcia has been dominated for the last couple of decades by the British market, and last year the UK provided 43.8% of all of those who travelled here from abroad. The next largest proportions were those accounted for by France (16.5%) and Germany (6.3%).

Meanwhile, the cruise ship season has started in Cartagena and this year record numbers of passengers are scheduled to visit the port as the cruise success story continues.

Lorca continues to recover from the May 2011 earthquake and motorists should be aware that there will be disruption in the main arterial road running through the city for the next few months as work is undertaken to completely overhaul the city centre.

More good news regarding the economy of Murcia is that the rate of economic growth last year was 3.7%, significantly higher than the national average of 3.2% and the third highest figure in Spain’s 17 regions, and at the same time the latest figures show that the number of people registered as unemployed in the Region has fallen by 9.2% over the last year.

Trial begins in Murcia of biggest banknote forger in Spain

The trial began in Murcia on Tuesday of Juan Pedro González Sánchez, who is considered by the Policía Nacional to be the most prolific forger of banknotes in Spain and one of the most important in Europe, and who has been arrested on three separate occasions.

Each time he was found to be in possession of notes with a face value of millions of euros ready to distribute into public circulation, and if found guilty of all charges he could be sentenced to up to 15 years in jail.

As well as a prolonged term behind bars, Sr González Sánchez could now face fines totaling over 10 million euros: however, should he choose to pay these in cash, it can be assumed that the notes he uses will be subjected to minute scrutiny!

This week police also released information about a Jumillan horse-owner who faces animal neglect charges under the Penal Code after leaving two horses to starve to death.A police campaign launched a few months ago has made it easier to denounce animal maltreatment, leading to a rise in the number of cases coming to light.

Police also warned residents not to allow tradesmen claiming to represent utilities companies into their homes without verifying the validity of their claim to be carrying out maintenance work,  following  a spate of thefts by "fake plumbers."

More Murcia news

Yacht gifted to Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton lies rotting in Águilas port: The regional authorities cannot begin the procedures to remove it until it becomes a threat to the environment. New legislation passing through the regional parliament aims to permit removal of these vessels earlier.

No more hedgehogs please! Regional wildlife centre warns that disorientated hedgehogs don´t necessarily need rescuing!

Number of flu cases continues to rise as annual epidemic intensifies: There's still time to get vaccinated.

96-year-old couple die in Caravaca house fire: Benito and Manuela were well known and popular in the neighbourhood, and condolences have been received from the Mayor.

Traffic increases at last on the ghost motorway between Cartagena and Vera: in 2016, according to the latest data published by the Ministry of Development, the average number of vehicles using this stretch of road every day rose by 9.9% to its highest level since 2011. 

Spanish national news: Catalan separatists and giant waves compete with Trump for the headlines

At the end of a week during which headlines all over the world have been dominated by just one man, it seems appropriate to preface this bulletin with a warning for anyone of a nervous disposition: the word “Trump” appears in this text on no fewer than 6 occasions, including the two already gone.

As usual, though, while the magnate-turned-President’s actions and words over the last week have caused strong reactions in Spain, the weather has also been a constant talking point, and by midweek Spain was back on the alert for more inclement conditions, this time in north of the country. There might have been a tinge of relief in Galicia, which has been suffering from a drought over the last seven months, but by Thursday and Friday almost the whole country was affected except for Mediterranean coastal areas, and the coastline of Galicia was battered by ferocious waves which reached heights of well over ten metres on Thursday. Although conditions are forecast to improve slightly on Friday night, more wet and windy weather is expected to arrive from the west over the weekend, leaving the region of Galicia in no doubt that the drought of the last few months has well and truly come to an end.

The Catalan independence debate

However, the biggest story in the national press has concerned the developments regarding the separatist movement in Catalunya.

The week began with Francesc Homs, the spokesman for the PDeCAT Catalan party in Spain’s national parliament, registering an official accusation of civil disobedience against Mariano Rajoy, the President of the national government.

Sr Homs is one of those accused of disobeying the orders of Spain’s Constitutional Court by organizing the unofficial “consultation” on the issue of Catalan independence on 9^th November 2014, an accusation which he maintains is born not of a desire to see that justice is done but of purely political motives. For this reason, he clarified on Monday that the intention underlying his decision to level charges at Mariano Rajoy is to provide a “stress test”, to see whether the President is placed under investigation in the way that the separatists in Catalunya have been.

This, however, paled into insignificance the following day, when it the current vice-president of Catalunya, Oriol Junqueras, warned that in the case of “exceptional circumstances” arising, the proposed independence referendum, for which the intended date has until now been in the month of September, could be brought forward to before the summer. The conviction of former regional president Artur Mas in a trial which begins on Monday would be one of these “exceptional circumstances”, as would the possible barring of Carme Forcadell from continuing in office as the Speaker of the Catalan parliament.

There are reports in some sectors of the Spanish press that all of this talk could be a cunning strategy on the part of Sr Junqueras and Sr Mas. Their intention, according to these sources, is to call a referendum and set a date, wait for the Constitutional Court of Spain to outlaw it, and then call a regional election. During the campaign Sr Mas would bid to regain the presidency, but if he is barred from holding office by the courts of Spain this would strengthen his cause, as he would be seen to have become a martyr.

This, of course, is no more than speculation, but it is an intriguing possibility, and it will be fascinating to observe developments over the next couple of months!

Sr Junqueras’ declarations sparked a response from the national government to the effect that if the referendum is brought forward the reaction could extend to the closure and sealing off of polling stations, a threat to which Carles Puigdemont, the president of the Catalan government, responded by tweeting “Democracy cannot be sealed off”.

Yet more was to come on Thursday, when a long investigation into alleged corrupt practices in the political hierarchy of the city of Barcelona and the rest of the region of Catalunya took another step forward, and 18 people were detained and various house and office searches were carried out. Among those arrested on Thursday were Antoni Vives, the former deputy Mayor of Barcelona while the top job was held by Xavier Trias between 2011 and 2015, and Sr Trias was scathing in his criticism of the timing of the operation. It is “curious that these things always happen at certain moments”, according to the former Mayor.

The issue of the independence referendum in Catalunya may have been on the back burner for a long time, but it certainly came to the boil this week!

Extraordinary scenes in the Spanish parliament

The PP’s position in government appears to have been strengthened in the three months since Maraino Rajoy took office by the two leading opposition parties failing to heal internal rifts, and thus doing little to increase their credibility as viable alternatives. One of these, the PSOE, the PP’s main traditional rival, is extremely unlikely to decide on a new General Secretary of the party before the summer, and in the meantime the party runs the risk of being seen as without direction.This week the former leader of the party, Pedro Sánchez, who was forced to resign due to his lack of flexibility in negotiations with the now ruling PP to facilitate the formation of a Spanish government, a situation which led to the country being without a government for an entire year,  has announced his candidacy to run for the party leadership once again.

At the same time, there are serious internal disagreements within the Podemos party, which was the third most popular group in the June 2016 election. Some members are unhappy with the leadership style of Pablo Iglesias and have thrown their allegiance behind Íñigo Errejón, and although both men pronounce themselves committed to working together they do seem to have an unfortunate tendency to hang out their dirty washing in public, so to speak.

This was once again the case on Tuesday, when Sr Iglesias and Sr Errejón engaged in a heated argument on the front bench of the national parliament just ten days before a party congress at which they hope, at least outwardly, to present a united front. Other MPs were left open-mouthed in astonishment, and Ana Vázquez Blanco jumped at the opportunity to take photos of the dispute!

Illegal immigration

It seems that nothing can stop the steady flow of African would-be immigrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean into Spain, and on Saturday another 73 were brought ashore in Almería after they were rescued from two small inflatable launchesin the Alboran Sea. Three of those on board were women, and all are reported by the Red Cross to have been in good health on arrival.

Unfortunately, though, these were the fortunate ones last weekend, a fact underlined by the disturbing discovery of the dead body of a boy aged around six on the beach of Barbate, just to the west of the Strait of Gibraltar in the province of Cádiz. In an incident bearing uncomfortable similarities to the case of Aylan Kurdi, it is believed that the little boy was on board a small boat which set off a fortnight ago from Cape Spartel, near Tangiers, but which failed to reach the Spanish coast safely.

On Tuesday around 200 people gathered on the beach to attend a memorial service for Samuel, before moving on to the centre of Barbate to take part in a demonstration in which banners demanding an end to deaths such as these were prominent.

Economic news

The Spanish economy grew by 3.2 per cent in 2016: there had been fears that the recovery of Spain would be dented by the political uncertainty which prevailed throughout almost the whole of last year, but in fact the rate of growth remained steady. The official data regarding Spain’s Gross Domestic Product in the fourth quarter of 2016 were published on Monday morning, and show that the economy grew by 0.7% during the three months and by 3.2% during the whole of 2016.

Spanish unemployment figure registers small January increase: January is not generally one of the best months for the unemployment figures in Spain as many people are laid off after finding temporary jobs over the Christmas and New Year period, and 2017 proved to be no exception, with the total rising by 57,000 to 3.76 million, However, at the same time the latest total is 9.41% (or 390,000) lower than a year ago, and more than a million lower than in January 2013.

Also this week, much has been written recently in Spain about the sharp rise in the cost to consumers of electricity, and one of the effects of this has been to send the inflation rate up to 3%, its highest level in over four years!

Tourism

Almost 18 million UK tourists visited Spain last year: the final data concerning the number of foreign visitors to Spain during 2016 confirm that the number of foreign visitors last year went up by 10.3% to 75.6 million, following a year-on-year increase during December of 13.3% to a monthly total of just under 4 million.

At the same time, the figures show that for the time being there has been little or no adverse effect due to Brexit. Those coming from the UK accounted for 23.6% of the overall annual total, following a 12.4% increase which widened the gap over the next most important markets (France and Germany).

Later in the week, the tourist spending figures were released, and it was no surprise to learn that British visitors propelled the figures to a new record high. On average visitors from the UK spent over 44 million euros PER DAY in Spain last year, as the overall annual total climbed by 9% to 77.62 billion euros.

Also related to tourism, in Barcelona the Mayoress, Ada Colau, continues to implement revolutionary measures, particularly in respect of urban planning and housing, and last Friday the council voted in favour of a new regulation which effectively bans the opening of new hotels in the city centre.

Spain reacts to Donald Trump

Madrid Mayoress compares Trump to Hitler: Manuela Carmena, the Mayoress of the city of Madrid, won applause from councilors representing almost all political parties in a session of council on Monday, although not for her initial comments, when she pointed out that the first thing to remember is that the 45th President of the United States was elected according to the democratic processes of his country, and that this has to be respected.

Sra Carmena found support when she went on to add that during the 20th century the world saw the largest and most destructive genocide it has ever known, and that some of the political leaders responsible for the killing of millions of Jews were also democratically elected.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday the former president of the Spanish government Felipe Gonzalez warned against international cowardice in opposing the US President, describing Mr Trump’s policies as “radically wrong” and including “xenophobia, discrimination and white supremacism”.

He also expressed his “full solidarity with Mexico” over the issue of Mr Trump’s proposed frontier wall, and warned that “the great danger is that this gentleman believes that he is above the law.”

Also in the news…

San Antonio the trade unionist takes to the streets of Trigueros: the saint has been a member of the local branch of the UGT trade union since 1929, when he was drafted in because those in charge considered that his policy of distributing land was in line with those of the organization.

Three crushed by clothes in Alicante flat: a married couple and their 12-year-old daughter died in tragic and bizarre circumstances in the city of Alicanteon Saturday morning, when they were crushed and suffocated by hundreds of kilos of second-hand clothes which they had collected and stored in their apartment in order to sell them in northern Africa.

Neapolitan mafia boss arrested in Malaga: a leading member of the Camorra was detained in Alhaurin de la Torre.

6-year-old falls to her death in unexplained circumstances in Zamora: the Policía Nacional are investigating the death of a young girl who fell from her fourth-floor flat in Zamora on Monday, with various puzzling circumstances having come to light since the tragedy.

Navarra villages celebrate early Carnival parades: pointy hats, cowbells and horsehair brushesare the order of the day in Ituren and Zubieta.

Zaragoza youth football referee reports racist insults: two fathers were arrested for insulting the ref while their sons played football.

60 name-and-shame speed cameras to be installed on the roads of Spain

A raft of new initiatives includes the installation of 60 new radar speed guns which warn drivers that they are exceeding the speed limit by showing the registration number of their vehicles on display panels, while another is the installation of sound bands similar to those on the side of motorwaysin the centre of single-carriageway roads.

Carrefour halts panga fish sales in Spain: the French chain highlights food safety controls in Vietnam and south-east Asia, and the ban could have a far-reaching effect as in 2015 Spain imported more panga than any other EU country.

Zaragoza Town Hall under fire over gender violence sculpture: members of the Town Hall of Zaragoza, the fifth largest municipality in Spain in terms of population, must have been under the impression that their decision to erect a memorial to the victims of gender violence was likely to receive universal support, but in fact the installation of the sculpture last week has caused unforeseen controversy.

Malaga couple investigated after their baby swallowed cannabis: the one-year-old was taken to hospital in Malaga suffering from extreme drowsiness.

Girona village left in the dark by marijuana plantations: frequent power failures inconvenienced the residents of Sant Miquel de Fluvià as the “amateur gardeners” tapped illegally into the mains electricity supply.

Barcelona woman fights to save phone box: tourists are making the trip to the Horta-Guinardo district of Barcelonato take nostalgic photos of the last surviving cabin of its kind in Barcelona.

Spanish property news

Bankia to return all mortgage floor rate overpayments: many Spanish banks are continuing the fight to minimize the compensation they are obliged to pay to mortgage customers as a result of minimum interest rate clauses which have been deemed by the courts of this country and the EU to be “abusive”, but Bankia announced on Monday that it will yield to the pressure and return all money received as a result of such clauses at an estimated cost of approximately 200 million euros.

Building permits up by 32.5 per cent in Spain: the latest figures reveal that by the end of November last year the total of building licences for residential properties issued during the year stood at over 59,000, representing an increase of 32.5% compared to the equivalent period in 2015 and the highest eleven-month total for five years.

The scale of the boom-and-bust cycle which swept the construction sector away in Spain is illustrated by the fact that the current level of construction activity is running at only around 7.3% of what it was a decade ago!

Spanish mortgage instalments fall again as Euribor continues downward slide: the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (or Euribor), on which most Spanish mortgage interest payments are calculated ended the month of January at yet another record low, providing more good news for homeowners with outstanding loans.