ARCHIVED - Murcia and Spanish news round-up week ending 5th April 2019

The Costa Cálida prepares for Semana Santa as British visitors boost Murcia tourism figures

With just a week to go until the Semana Santa celebrations begin throughout Spain it might be imagined that the lateness of Easter this year practically guarantees fine weather for the holidays, but after the dry winter it seems that nothing can be taken for granted after a few days of extremely mixed conditions in the Costa Cálida!

Last Sunday saw the first significant rainfall the Region of Murcia for three months (coinciding, ironically, with the clocks going forward to summer time) with a constant light rain not letting up for around 12 hours in many parts of the Region. This was followed by a very sharp hailstorm which halted traffic on the Murcia-Granada motorway and caused yet another headache for crop farmers in Lorca and Puerto Lumbreras on Monday afternoon, before a couple of days of extremely pleasant weather, with temperatures up to 25 degrees on Wednesday.

By Thursday, though, a cold front had made its way to Spain from Greenland bringing a return of winter temperatures, and although Murcia is set to miss the worst of the weather as rain and snow sweep across the country the forecast is for afternoon showers on Friday and Saturday and top temperatures down in the teens over the weekend.

So, the beaches of the Mar Menor are being spruced up in preparation for the influx of visitors during Semana Santa, but the big question remains whether the weather will be kind enough for them to be used in a week’s time!

Airport and tourism: British visitors spearhead 30 per cent increase in international tourism in Murcia

The latest figures related to international tourism in Spain show that the number of visitors to the Region of Murcia from abroad reached a new record for February, with a total of 55,623 representing an increase of 27.9 per cent over the same month last year, while even more encouraging for the sector is the 29.6 per cent rise in the amount of money they are calculated to have spent while in the Costa Cálida, reaching 58.8 million euros.

In the first two months of 2019 the 37,000 British visitors represent 34.7 per cent of the overall total, and is 30 per cent higher than at the same point last year, indicating that Murcia appears to be increasing in popularity as a winter break destination among Brits.

Even stronger growth is reported in the number of visitors from Scandinavia, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy, but a swift glance at the flight schedules at the Region of Murcia International Airport in Corvera reveals that the dominance of the UK in international tourism in the Costa Cálida is not likely to come under any serious threat in the foreseeable future. Among the 12 routes in operation on Wednesday, for example, 9 were connections with the UK, the others being flights to and from Antwerp in Belgium, Oslo in Norway and Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.

The February results come in the context of a 3.8 per cent in foreign tourist numbers in the whole of Spain, just over 20 per cent of them coming from the UK.

Strikes called at Spanish airports over Easter: industrial action is threatened by handling staff and Air Nostrum pilots.

Fright for Corvera-Stansted passengers as flight makes landing at Alicante: a Ryanair plane last Friday evening is reported to have been damaged when hitting a bird on take-off.

Proposal for urban beach in Cartagena rejected by Port Authority: a proposal made by the naturalists’ association ANSE to create a large beach close to the city centre has been dismissed as “absurd” by the president of the Port Authority on the grounds that there is no way to transfer activity away from the Santa Lucía dock.

Agriculture and the environment: anger among farmers as unauthorized water treatment plants and boreholes are targeted in the Campo de Cartagena

As efforts continue to eliminate the run-off of water containing harmful substances into the Mar Menor, one of the biggest stories in the Murcia news this week has been an ongoing operation by the Guardia Civil which has resulted in the sealing off of 90 illegal water treatment plants and boreholes in the farmland of the Campo de Cartagena, an operation which has caused angry reactions in the agricultural sector as farmers feel they are being persecuted and unfairly blamed for the contamination of the lagoon.

The treatment plants are held to be largely responsible for the episode of eutrophication in the lagoon a couple of years ago, when the water became greenish and murky and the very future of the ecosystem in the Mar Menor was under threat, and although water quality has improved considerably since then the clampdown this week was ordered by the judicial investigators into allegations of failure to take action against unauthorized irrigation infrastructures. On the other hand, farmers’ unions claim that they have “done their homework” and that only one of the plants targeted was actually operational.

The arguments go on, underlining how hard it is to strike a balance between encouraging the prosperity of agriculture in the Campo de Cartagena and protecting the Mar Menor in order to protect it, and it appears that a long-term solution which keeps farmers happy while ensuring the health of the lagoon is proving very difficult to find.

Recent frosts cost Murcia fruit growers over 27 million euros: peach and apricot harvests were wiped out in Bullas and Mula and there is a risk of more damage over the coming weekend.

Illegal hay burning clouds the sky over Cieza as fruit growers combat frost: fears of more contamination as the latest cold front nears south-east Spain.

One-way road proposal to ease traffic in the mountains of Sierra Espuña: the Senda del Dinosaurio walk is proving too popular with visitors, according to a regional government report!

Murcia food markets aim to eliminate plastic bags: after Easter shoppers will be encouraged to use biodegradable and raffia bags at Plazas de Abastos in Murcia and stall holders are also looking to change the trays in which meat is packed for customers.

Other stories in the Murcia news this week

Four minor earthquakes in under 24 hours in Murcia and southern Alicante: tremors in Lorca, Cehegín, Albatera and the Mediterranean on Monday although nothing on the scale of the 4.5 quake in Catalunya during the week!

Murcia president criticizes lack of progress in widening the Mazarrón-Puerto de Mazarrón road: the delays in creating a dual carriageway are regrettable but the residents of Camposol would probably prefer some of the money to be used to rectify the “serious deficiencies” in infrastructures on the development!

Marabou stork chicks hatch at Terra Natura Murcia: three more undertaker birds at Terra Natura take the total up to seven.

Electricity bills in Spain down in March but likely to rise in April: the temporary suspension of an electricity generation tax is lifted as of 1^st April.

Van overboard in the port of Águilas! Nobody was inside the vehicle when it fell into the harbour on Saturday.

March unemployment figures down in Murcia and the whole of Spain: the start of the annual summer decrease as the tourism sector prepares for Easter and the summer, with hopes that the nationwide total could dip below 3 million for the first time in a decade.

Communist councillors and hardly any women on town councils in Murcia: that was the situation in the Region after the first post-Franco local elections in Spain, which were 40 years ago this week!

Guardia Civil warn of increase in Mexican and Egyptian 2-euro coin lookalikes: the Egyptian pound is similar to the 2-euro coin but is worth only 5 cents!

Cartagena Eroski could be incorporated into a large modern mall: just hours after the news broke that the Eroski supermarket on the western edge of the city of Cartagena is threatened with closure, speculation has begun that it could be saved and incorporated into a bigger project to create a large-scale mall in the area along the lines of La Zenia Boulevard in Alicante.

2019 Mar Menor sailing regattas form part of Magellan 500^th anniversary commemoration: the first round-the-world voyage began in Sevilla on 10^th August 1519.

Metro-style map in Águilas encourages people to walk rather than drive: the colours on the simplified map of Águilas represent walking times.

Region of Murcia set to exceed 2018 deficit target by 100 per cent: the system of distribution of funds to the regional government is only partly to blame, say CROEM, after the accumulated Murcia government debt increased by another 5 per cent last year.

Totana authorities ready to dismantle spring bee swarms: members of the public should leave swarming bees well alone, and if the swarm is airborne the advice is to lie on the ground until it has passed.

Two arrested after 500,000-euro jewellery theft in Totana, and the victim also faces charges! A jewellery rep falsely reported that he had been threatened by Kosovan robbers who broke into his car.

Murcia and Spanish property news: 1 in 13 of all property sales in Murcia last year were to British buyers

Of the 518,000 residential properties to change hands in this country last year 65,400 were bought by non-Spaniards, representing a proportion of 12.6 per cent, and once again by far the most active nationality within the sector was the British.

During the year UK nationals purchased some 10,160 homes in Spain, with the next most active buyers being those from Germany (4,890 purchases), France (4,830) and Belgium. Unsurprisingly, the greatest dependence of the market on non-Spanish buyers is reported in the Balearics (30.5 per cent of all sales), the Canaries (28.3 per cent) and the Comunidad Valenciana, which includes the Costa Blanca (26 per cent), while the Region of Murcia is fourth in this ranking with a proportion of 19.55 per cent (a figure which has been rising steadily since 2014).

In this context it is interesting to see that in Murcia 38.8 per cent of sales made to non-Spaniards last year involved British buyers, a higher proportion than in any other of Spain’s 17 regions, and it can be extrapolated that one in 13 of all buyers were UK nationals, equating to 1,270 of the 16,744 sales. In other words, Brexit or no Brexit, last year British buyers snapped up homes in the Costa Cálida at an average of three and a half per day!

Spanish news round-up: northern Spain in the grip of winter as euthanasia, assisted suicide, Brexit, Gibraltar and Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs make the front pages

The cold front which is affecting the Murcia weather on Monday has already brought temperatures of minus 9 and significant snow falls to the north of the country, causing optimism in ski resorts that they may be in for a bumper Easter, but with a general election just three weeks away it is inevitable that media attention has been focussed on the claims and counter-claims which pass for campaigning.

In this context it is difficult for any issue to force the political party leaders off the front pages, but the case of a man who spent the first night after his wife’s death behind bars when he freely admitted assisting her suicide has grabbed the country’s attention in the second half of the week.

Ángel Hernández and his wife María José Carrasco recorded video footage in which she requested that he help her find release from the painful and terminal multiple sclerosis she was suffering before he administered a fatal dose to her, “lending his hands” to his wife as her condition was too advanced for her to lift it to her mouth. The investigating magistrate eventually ordered his release without bail and without charges, despite this being an offence under Spanish law, and there has been widespread support and sympathy for the couple and for his actions from many quarters.

Commenting on the case, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez professed to being “overwhelmed” on seeing the video and learning of the details, as well as “indignant” at the obstacles put in the path of people in situations similar to that of María José Carrasco and her husband, even hinting that if it became necessary he would be willing to grant a full pardon to Ángel Hernández. Inevitably, in the current political context, he also pointed out that his party’s proposals to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in certain circumstances had failed to prosper in parliament on 19 occasions due to the opposition of the PP and Ciudadanos parties.

Elsewhere, the situation regarding Brexit has been impossible to ignore, and while the Spanish government has updated its Brexit advice for expats living in this country – click here for further details – much coverage has also been given to a decision in Brussels by which a footnote is added to the visa-free no-deal travel regulations after the UK departs from the EU in which Gibraltar is described as a “colony of the British Crown”.

The vote was a stormy one on Wednesday, with UKIP Euro-MP James Carver maintaining that proceedings had been “hijacked” by the Spanish government in the run-up to the general election later this month. The UK government had described the proposal as “unacceptable”, but without a voice in the EU, London is now powerless to do anything about it, and for the Spanish government this is a triumph in the war of words concerning sovereignty over the headland on the southern coast of the Iberian Peninsula which has been a British Overseas Territory since 1713.

Elsewhere in the news, the region of Catalunya was jolted this week by an earthquake measuring 4.5 on the mbLg scale, four Italians were arrested in Tenerife as police bust the most active ring of banknote forgers in Spain, on the 80^th anniversary of the end of the Civil War it was confirmed that the Guardia Civil are still being called out to de-activate over 1,000 shells and other explosive devices every year, and there was bad news for those who hanker for a pet Vietnamese pot-bellied pig: the ownership of members of the species as a pet is to be banned, along with the ball python and the Savannah monitor lizard, as of 2022!

For more on these and other stories scroll down below...

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