ARCHIVED - Murcia and Spanish news round-up week ending 8th March 2019
Springtime in Murcia as International Women’s Day and pre-electioneering dominate the news
In a week dominated by International Women’s Day, which falls on Friday 8th March, and the jostling for the moral high ground on gender equality which inevitably accompanies the event in the run-up to April’s general election in Spain, the Region of Murcia has continued to enjoy the onset of spring with mostly clear skies and temperatures up into the 20s.
With Easter falling late this year, the spectacular Carnival celebrations in Águilas and elsewhere in the Region have coincided with the peak of the Floración in Cieza, where swathes of the countryside turn into a riot of colour as the fruit orchards burst into blossom. To accompany these springtime highlights, in the city of Murcia the temperature rose to 27.8 degrees last Sunday afternoon and then climbed to 28.3 in Abanilla on Monday, when more than one person will have suffered mild sunburn during the first few days of March, before an episode of strong winds on Wednesday saw maximum speeds rise to over 80 km/h in Cartagena. The forecast for the weekend is for more fine and warm weather.
However, the continuing lack of rain is beginning to cause concern, following a month of February in which the average precipitation for the whole of the Region reached the almost unprecedentedly low figure of 0.1 millimetres. In many places there was not even a hint of drizzle during the entire month, and the average only registered above zero due to the light rain and snow which fell on higher ground during the first couple of days of the month!
For farmers, though, this continues to sound alarm bells, and non-irrigated crops such as the cereals grown in Jumilla and Yecla are in danger of being lost completely, according to agricultural unions, while allergy sufferers are putting up with an early start to their annual ordeal!
Tourism news
On the positive side, though, the fine winter weather may have contributed to some very positive news regarding international tourism in January, when it is reported that the amount spent by visitors to the Costa Cálida from abroad was as much as 50.1 per cent higher than in the same month last year.
A total of 61.9 million euros means that the figure for the Costa Cálida rose more sharply than in any other of Spain’s 17 regions, well ahead of the national average increase of 3.6 per cent and those reported in the country’s most important tourist destinations, and the spectacular increase in spending comes despite the fact that the number of visitors from outside Spain rose by only 5 per cent. Maybe they arrived for a short stay, saw the weather and decided to delay the return home!
Another interesting aspect of the figures is that the number of people staying in campsites was 9.5 per cent higher than last January, but this week the “wild campers” who prefer instead to park their motor homes on waste ground in La Azohía were back in the news. Under increased pressure from the Policía Local of Cartagena many have decided to move on, at least temporarily, but in truth neither the Town Hall nor the regional government appears willing or able to take responsibility for providing a long-term solution which is acceptable to both campers and residents…
Nationwide, meanwhile, the WTTC report that tourism now accounts for 14.6 per cent of Spain’s GDP and one in seven of the country’s jobs, and that the tourism economy was the ninth largest in the world last year.
Animals hit the headlines in Murcia!
Lorca mules praised by NATO for German army role: praise for Murciano mules used by the German Mountain Infantry Brigade in Kosovo and Afghanistan a decade after they were purchased from a surprised breeder in La Hoya!
Little bustard brings down major solar power plant in Lorca: the Town Hall insists the project is not dead despite a negative environmental impact ruling, but local residents celebrate victory in opposing the power plant after the rare bird proved to be a stumbling block.
Drones brought in to create giant fan mussel sanctuaries in the Mar Menor: efforts continue to preserve a species which has all but died out in the last three years after 5 million years in the Mediterranean.
Rabbit cull to continue in central Murcia until at least October 2020: 3,000 rabbits have been exterminated by hunters in Molina de Segura in the last 8 months as hunters are permitted to use ferrets, firearms, traps, falcons, bows and arrows and “podenco” (or Warren hound) hunting dogs.
Agriculture and the environment
Third marine reserve in Murcia planned around Cabo Cope in Águilas: the reserve is planned along the coast from Playa de La Galera to the outskirts of Águilas, and will be added to those of Cabo de Palos-Islas Hormigas and Cabo Tiñoso.
Moratalla wild fire affects a hectare of land near the Cenajo reservoir: firefighters brought the flames under control after two hours, and fortunately there was no alarm on the scale of the spate of 150 fires to which emergency services were called out over the weekend in northern Spain.
Bizarre sand particle collectors on the beach of La Llana in San Pedro del Pinatar: the eye-catching structures are part of the initiative to regenerate the dunes of the regional park!
Murcia university team attempts to push fuel efficiency to over 1500 km per litre: an electric car designed by a team at the UCAM competed at a major event in London this week.
Mar Menor bathing stations. or balnearios, receive green light from hydro-dynamics experts: the structures in Los Urrutias, Punta Brava, Estrella de Mar and El Carmolí will have “a minimal and practically unnoticeable” influence on the hydro-dynamics of the Mar Menor, causing no additional problems related to either sedimentation or erosion.
Murcia crop farmers devote more land to ecological farming than anywhere else in Europe: almost a quarter of crop land in the Region uses ecological techniques, the highest proportion in the continent.
Other Murcia news items this week
Lower toll charges boost traffic on the Cartagena-Vera ghost motorway: vehicle numbers on the AP-7 are up by 15 per cent since 15th January and similar improvements are reported on other toll roads which have reverted to the national government.
Slight increase in unemployment in Murcia and Spain during February: the Murcia total has dropped by 4.1 per cent in the last twelve months to 107,000.
Winter flu outbreak nears its end in Murcia: only 600 new cases reported last week although 5 more patients died from complications, bringing the winter death toll to 54.
Police recover archives relating the man whose name is to be added to that of Corvera airport: aviation pioneer Juan de la Cierva patented a forerunner of the helicopter in 1923, and related photos and documents had been missing since 1998 before being traced to Santiago de la Ribera.
New ITV vehicle testing centre announced in Alhama de Murcia: recent law changes mean shorter queues and less inconvenience for vehicle roadworthiness tests all over the Region of Murcia.
Burglars arrested in Mazarrón after squatting in one of the homes they robbed: the couple face charges related to five burglaries in the municipality.
Seafront pedestrian street completed in Lo Pagán: new access to Playa de la Puntica in San Pedro del Pinatar via a “window onto the Mar Menor”.
Murcia Día supermarkets almost unaffected by forced redundancy plan: only 8 jobs at risk as the chain looks to close down 600 stores across Spain, while rival chain Eroski is bailed out by a re-negotiated deal with creditor banks.
Los Nietos burglar arrested after 13 thefts at unoccupied holiday homes: the 21-year-old had an extensive previous record and was under suspicion from the moment the thefts were reported.
Lorca Chinese store owner arrested for setting fire to his own business: the owner went on to register a 5-million-euro insurance claim in an attempt to pay off large debts.
Semana Santa preliminary events under way on Ash Wednesday: parades and traditions mark the start of Lent in Murcia and Cartagena.
Murcia and Spanish property news
Property market analysts continue to provide conflicting conclusions regarding the current trends in the market price of housing in Spain, and the latest results presented on Friday by the government’s central statistics unit again offer a mixed bag of results to ponder.
In general terms, the overall trend observed is a positive one, with a nationwide increase of 6.6 per cent in the Spanish housing price index during 2018. However, this follows a rise of only 0.4 per cent during the final quarter of the year (the least significant increase for two years), meaning that the year-on-year rise is 0.6 points lower than at the end of the quarter before.
In addition, it has to be stressed that the national average figure is heavily distorted by the weighting given to the regions of Madrid and Catalunya, the only two of the 17 regions where the rise in property values was above the national average, and during the last three months of the year there were increases in property value in nine of the regions and but falls in the other eight.
As for the Region of Murcia, the data show a 0.2 per cent decrease in the last quarter of last year – for one reason or another decreases in the last quarter have been a constant in the Costa Cálida for the last four years - but a year-on-year rise of 4.5 per cent in comparison to the final quarter of 2017. This is the sharpest rise reported since prices began to bounce back in 2014 and means that the index is now 12 per cent higher than 5 years ago, but at the same time it is still 23.6 per cent lower than the peak which was reached in the first quarter of 2008!
Elsewhere there was confirmation on Friday of the increase in property sales in Murcia last year, although the figures from the Ministry of Development placed the level of growth at “only” 17.8 per cent, the third highest among the 17 regions. In the country as a whole sales activity grew by 9.3 per cent, and the Ministry observed decreases in both the Balearic Islands and the Canaries.
Earlier in the week leading Spanish property valuation firm Tinsa published its latest monthly data, reporting that in February the on-going recovery in prices appeared to slow a little. The year-on–year increase of 4.1 per cent was the lowest since April 2018, and the firm reports that the index actually dropped by 1 per cent during the month. As a result the year-on-year rise in Mediterranean coastal areas was just 2.9 per cent, and in the Balearic and Canary Islands an increase of 0.3 per cent is reported.
Finally, one of the decrees passed last week by the outgoing national government came into force on Wednesday, containing important modifications to existing property rental laws with the aim of protecting the interests and rights of tenants.
The main innovations contained in the decree are that all new rental contracts should be for a minimum period of five years rather than three (and seven years if the landlord is a company), and that rent increases during the contract must be limited to the inflation rate. In addition, the Decree proposes a “price benchmark system” which will be used to monitor the market and to decide whether asking prices reflect the real state of the market: these indices will identify average prices in all parts of the country, and the government has allowed eight months for the first ones to be produced.
These rules are designed to keep housing affordable, and come in the light of increasing concern over mushrooming rental prices in large cities and provincial capitals over the last couple of years, particularly in Madrid and Barcelona.
Spanish news summary: devastating wild fires in the north, paternity leave extension delayed and the first Spain-UK Gibraltar treaty for 306 years
As mentioned above, much of the news in Spain this week has concerned the pre-election activity as parties begin to finalize their lists of candidates for the forthcoming general election – a bad few days for far-right-wing group Vox in their campaign to take the moral high ground, one suspects, with the leader of the party in Lleida being arrested for alleged sex crimes - , but the week began with another wave of wild fires affecting the northern region of Cantabria, Asturias and the Basque Country.
Among the contributing factors were the warm dry weather and the southerly winds which fanned the flames, but once again the main cause has been identified as being the incomprehensible activities of arsonists, who deliberately start these destructive blazes. Over 150 fires were reported over the weekend, and on Monday morning 110 were still active with flames reaching heights of 30 metres, forcing the evacuation of various residents and the closure of the A-8 as the Military Emergencies Unit were again called in to help firefighters.
Meanwhile, the government continues to attempt to introduce sweeping social legislation before the election takes place, and two issues have been prominent in the news this week. One concerned the issue of the Ecological Transition Law, the importance of which in Spain is highlighted by the fact that only 0.32 per cent of cars on the roads at present are powered by electricity. This is largely due to the elevated cost of electric vehicles - electric cars start at 20,000 euros and family saloons cost from 35,000 euros upwards – and in order encourage buyers to consider this option one of the decrees approved recently by Cabinet concerns a 45-million-euro plan entitled “MOVES”, by which subsidies of 6,500 euros are provided to buyers.
But Spain remains very much on the starting grid in the race to move away from fossil fuels, and far more has been invested in such subsidies in other European countries: as a result the Real Automóvil Club de España reports that in Norway the percentage of electric vehicles is already at 40 per cent!
Also in the spotlight his week has been the move to raise paternity leave in Spain to 16 weeks, putting it on a par with maternity leave. It had been hoped for the leave to be raised from 5 to 8 weeks this month this week, but the government has now explained that a short delay will be needed while the Social Security System adapts to the new regulations and in order to allow companies to make the necessary arrangements to obey them. As a result, the new law will now come into force on 1st April.
On International Women’s Day it is worth underlining that this is seen as a step towards achieving true gender equality as it will eliminate the discrimination against women which without doubt exists in the job market on the grounds that in the past female employees have been the only ones liable to disappear from the workplace for three and a half months due to the onset of parenthood. As such it is regrettable that delays should be encountered at the first hurdle, but at the same time it should be remembered that as recently as 2016 paternity leave was just two weeks, and prior to 2007 the concept was not recognized by Spanish labour laws at all.
Also this week, Spain and the UK signed the first Gibraltar treaty for 306 years in an agreement designed to prevent tax evasion in the Rock, an under-age girl was caught speeding in Madrid at 220 km/h, and the Guardia Civil confiscated an elephant head in Navarra in a swoop on an illegal animal trading ring: scroll down the feed box below for more on these and other stories…
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