Date Published: 14/03/2014

ARCHIVED - Murcia Today Weekly News Round up 14th March 2014

A new regional president for Murcia, good air traffic figures, property prices at lowest since July 2003

ARCHIVED - Murcia Today Weekly News Round up 14th March 2014 This week the most important news for the region is the appointment of a new regional president to replace President Valcárcel, who officially steps down from office on the 6th April.

Alberto Garre López is the current first Vice-president of the Regional Assembly, which is the regional parliament and although he has no direct governmental experience, has spent a lifetime in politics, mainly as a PP spokesman first for the town hall of Torre Pacheco, then as a member of the regional parliament and was also spokesman for the PP in the national parliament for 7 years. Trained as a lawyer, he has already promised substantial changes for the direction in which the government has been pushing, although little is clear about who will remain in their current positions at the moment. The new premier inherits the tricky situation of Corvera airport, the ongoing issues caused by a substantial regional budgetary deficit, high unemployment and other issues such as the Med Corridor rail link, El Gorguel, and Marina de Cope, with just one year to resolve some of the outstanding problems before the next round of local elections. The PP currently dominates the region with a massive overall majority, but the last three years have been difficult for the region and the economic situation leaves much to be desired.

The issue of Corvera airport still looms large, with no noticeable progress this week, although San Javier ARCHIVED - Murcia Today Weekly News Round up 14th March 2014 managed to turn in a good set of results for February, with passenger figures up 14% from the same month last year. However, there’s no hiding from the fact that 27,000 passengers is another ball game altogether when compared to the construction boom years when over 100,000 passengers passed through the airport during the same month.

Although agents are reporting positive interest and are busy with enquiries, the property market in Murcia continues to wallow as it does nationwide. Final figures for 2013 are being released at the moment and show that prices fell by -13.8% in Murcia last year, which is nearly double the national average. Sales also fell last year against 2012 figures, falling in Murcia by -12.8%, but this is less of a drop than the national average, so shows that canny buyers have been negotiating hard and pushing the prices down, to pick up a bargain, giving Murcia more positive sales activity than in many other areas.

It’s interesting to note that one in 5 properties sold in Murcia last year were to foreign buyers, again, higher than the national average, although not as high as across the border in the Alicante province where almost a quarter of the entire national sales to foreigners in the whole of Spain were concentrated.

Agents working with Murcia Today are reporting increased enquiries, as news filters out into the UK media that property in Spain is once again cheap: Tinsa this week said Mediterranean coastal property in Spain was back to July 2003 levels, having fallen by 48.6% from peak levels. More Murcia property news ( and a few bargains to boot) in the dedicated Murcia property section.

An interesting side effect of the construction collapse has been that more land once destined for construction is now being returned to the agricultural sector, production of tomatoes increasing again for the first time since 2009 and in La Manga, land once destined for construction is being converted into a natural park.

Other news has been fairly thin on the ground: A huge fire destroyed a scrapyard in Lorca last night, the cold night temperatures in the north-west have threatened the precious peach crop, and the Guardia have been busy hoovering up thieves dismantling the abandoned mineworkings in the Sierra Minera, but summer is on it’s way and at least we’ve got George Benson to look forward to in the San Javier Jazz Festival this coming summer!

What’s on in Murcia
ARCHIVED - Murcia Today Weekly News Round up 14th March 2014 Which leads nicely into whats’ on this next week.
It’s Father’s day on the 19th, the day of san José, but as it falls midweek this year there are less dedicated events than in previous years. Mazarrón has fiestas dedicated to the saint, with free concerts, a Rociera event, which means sevillanas dancing and a procession, and next weekend Caravaca de la Cruz has a classic car event which will keep dads happy.( info still in pile to write up)

It’s also Saint Patrick’s day on the 17th, and Lorca is celebrating their connections with the irish by offering a free tour of locations linked with their Irish past ( which also includes a half pint in the only Irish pub in the city) and El Batel Auditorium in Cartagena has an Irish Celtic dance and music event, with 30 live musicians and dancers offering a show in the traditions of the Lord of the Dance spectacular, which took Irish dancing onto the worldwide stage. There is a special offer for Murcia Today readers, with 20% off ticket prices for up to 150 tickets, so book if you fancy a lively night out.

This weekend there is plenty of entertainment:
ARCHIVED - Murcia Today Weekly News Round up 14th March 2014 On Friday night master flamenco guitarist Vicente Amigo is in Murcia, and Caravaca de la Cruz has a free classical guitar festival, with free concerts in three locations around the city. There’s a magic festival in Murcia, with master illusionists and magicians, spectaculars for children and adults, there’s also a lunchtime classical music concert aimed at a family audience in Murcia city and Opera at El Batel with Turandot by Puccini. Opera lovers can enjoy double pleasure this week as Madame Butterfly is also on in Murcia City during the week, and there’s also a “Symphonic Abba” event in Murcia as well.

This weekend there are lots of artisan markets and chances to shop: Caravaca de la Cruz has its Pilgrim’s artisan market, San Pedro del Pinatar an artisan market on the seafront, Alhama de Murcia offers its monthly artisan market and free guided theatrical tour, Calasparra has an artisan fair in the sanctuary of La Esperanza down by the riverbank, and Cehegin offers its second hand boot fair and collectables market.

Tapas routes
ARCHIVED - Murcia Today Weekly News Round up 14th March 2014 Another way of enjoying the region is to take part in a tapas route, which is a fun way of flushing out undiscovered bars and restaurants and sampling tapas at the same time.
This weekend there are tapas routes running in Mula, Mazarrón and Totana, and La Manga and Cabo de Palos also has a fishy tapas route this weekend with caldero and fishy tapas on offer.

Active Murcia
This weekend is fairly dry, but next weekend there are lots of set walks and activities which can be booked up, ARCHIVED - Murcia Today Weekly News Round up 14th March 2014 see active Murcia section. However, if you fancy a walk this weekend, why not head for Cieza, which is immersed in la Floración, the annual flowering season when the peach orchards which surround the town are in full bloom. There are several routes which can be walked, cycled or driven and offer the perfect chance to enjoy this beautiful area.

National News
This week we’ve prepared a full property report on the Spanish property situation as a lot of different sets of figures have come out this week, which can be read on the dedicated Spanish News bulletin, along with a much more detailed news breakdown of the national news.

ARCHIVED - Murcia Today Weekly News Round up 14th March 2014 Terrorism has been an important topic in the news this week, as Spain commemorates the tenth anniversary of the 11-M Madrid train bombings in which 191 people were killed and nearly 2,000 injured. This attack helped to change the course of history, mishandling of the situation by the incumbent government just three days before the elections brought 11 million people out onto the streets in protest, as it was revealed that the attack had not been carried out by ETA as was first believed, but by Islamic militants. Ten years on, the media have been immersed in discussing their belief that Spain is more at threat now from Islamic terrorists now than ever before, as increased numbers of American troops take up postings in Spanish bases.

ETA itself has remained in the news, police swooping on a suspected collaborator in Bilbao, in the same week that old and infirm ETA prisoners officially request their transfer back to prisons in the North of Spain.

ARCHIVED - Murcia Today Weekly News Round up 14th March 2014 Another inmate seeking his liberty has been Luis Bárcenas, who has again written to ask for his liberty, having spent 8 months in jail without trial for his part in the “Bárcenas B-books” and Caso Gürtel “ cash for contracts investigations, although his case for freedom suffered a bit of a set-back when it was revealed that the bank account of his wife showed parallel payments to those shown in the B-books, a set of accounts which allegedly show illegal donations to the PP political party and their subsequent redistribution to high ranking party members.

Another political story readers may find interesting is a situation in Almeria, where politicians are slinging mud over the decision to declare the figure of the local “Virgin” as honorary Mayoress of the town, something which is not uncommon and is an interesting little snip into the changing face of Spain and modern day immigration.

Emigration, however, is causing a problem in Andalucia, affecting both small and larger population centres, so we have the situation in a major city like Seville, the capital of the region, where a falling level of population threatens the city with the loss of status of “large city” which means it loses not only councillors, but also state funding should its population drop below the magic 700,000 mark as it did once before. And then in the same region, a local council in Almeria is desperate to attract more families back into the municipality and is offering free housing to the “right type of families” in order to bring in enough children to keep its school open.

Andalucía has also been in the headlines this week after passing what is being viewed as fairly confrontational and controversial legislation giving it the power to expropriate properties on a temporary basis ARCHIVED - Murcia Today Weekly News Round up 14th March 2014 to enable it to exhume suspected Civil War burials, with or without the permission of property owners.

Protestors have been back on the streets again this week, as women across Spain continue to carry out protests about the proposed amendments to the abortion law, some protesting in marches and demonstrations, others registering their bodies as their own property with municipal registers across Spain, a topic which was picked up by the BBC in the UK, who featured the topic in a full length report on Women’s day on the main evening news.

Marchers from across Spain are walking to Madrid, as the Marchas de la Dignidad bring protestors on foot from different parts of the country to form together in one mass protest about a wide range of social issues.

There have also been violent protests in Galicia against allocations of the mackerel quotas for northern fishing fleets, although in the same week the tragic loss of a fishing vessel from the fleet has also cast a shadow over the fishing community. The “Santa Ana” turned over on Monday morning, with the immediate loss of 2 lives and rescue of the skipper, but 6 mariners are still missing. Bad weather and the fact that the nets are in the water around the stricken vessel has prevented divers from getting inside the semi-submerged hull, where the bodies of the remaining fishermen are expected to be found, although today, Friday, conditions have improved sufficiently to try and turn the hull over.

Assaults have also continued on the Melilla and Ceuta borders, and the Gibraltan government has also been complaining that the border queues on the Gibraltar-Spain border are once again starting to increase.

However, tourists continue to flock to Spain and air traffic figures for February promise another record tourist year, as festivals are unveiled and the coast starts to prepare for Easter, when everything kicks off once again. One little warning though, be careful where you buy tickets: the Tomatina festival in Buñol in Valencia is already warning those buying tickets through the internet should only buy from the official site if they don´t want to be disappointed.

And thoughts turn to the emergence of Spain from the current economic crisis as 0% inflation is presented as the February inflation figure: Ferrari have announced a 100 million euro agreement with Port Aventura in Cataluña to build a “Ferrariland” themed park alongside the existing Port Aventura installations, taking advantage of the 4 million tourists who already visit the park every year.
Lots more news, cultural events and info about Spain on the Spanish News Today site

www.valenciatoday.es

ARCHIVED - Murcia Today Weekly News Round up 14th March 2014 The bulletin for the Valencia region can be read separately by clicking Valencia Today weekly round-up.
Valencia is focused on its big event next week: The Fallas. Although several towns do burn fallas, Valencia City is the place to be next week when over 700 individual fallas go up in smoke on the night of san José. It’s a huge event, the whole city hosting one massive pyrotechnic party. Something not to be missed if you’re within easy driving distance.

Click to read the Valencia Today weekly bulletin, with details of the latest local and regional news, and what’s on across the border in the Valencia region and Alicante province.

ARCHIVED - Murcia Today Weekly News Round up 14th March 2014 Click for this weeks currency round up showing the exchange rate between Sterling and the Euro. If you would like a free quote to see how much can be saved on regular currency transfers such as a pension, or one-off lump sums such as the purchase of a property, call for a no obligation quote.

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