ARCHIVED - Murcian and Spanish news round-up, w/e 15th January 2016

Temperatures drop this weekend in the Costa Calida but property sales keep rising!

Midway through the month of January it appears that at last winter may have arrived in the Region of Murcia, with temperatures dropping sharply over the last few days and expected to fall further over the weekend. Murcia enjoyed the warmest December on record, shorts and temperatures over 20 degrees the norm during the festive season, and as recently as 7th January a top temperature of 25ºC was recorded in San Javier. This weekend however, all of Spain is lying beneath a cold front and there is even the possibility of a light dusting of snow on higher ground in the north and north-west of the Region.

Among those who won’t be feeling the cold are the giraffes of the Terra Natura wildlife park, where winter heating has been installed to ensure that animals whose natural habitat is warmer are safe from the colder weather, and at the same time there are plenty of others for whom a spell of cool, damp weather would be no bad thing. These include crop farmers, who have been faced with the problems of surplus production due to their products growing and maturing faster than would usually be the case due to the exceptionally warm weather of the last few weeks and have had to destroy tons of produce as they have been unable to sell it anywhere in Europe.

Too warm this winter!

The issue of nature’s rhythm being disturbed by the higher-than-average temperatures is one which can be seen easily in many parts of Murcia at the moment, as almond trees begin to burst into blossom approximately three weeks earlier than has generally been the case in the past. This might bring a little welcome colour into the countryside, but for those who grow almonds as a commercial crop it could mean bad news if the flowers are exposed to frost: this would be surprising in coastal areas, but is far from impossible further inland.Other fruit trees also appear to be heading for an early show of colour.

Ski resorts across Spain have been complaining that the warm winter has damaged the early season due to lack of snow, but finally the higher areas of the country are recording snowfalls and thoughts are turning to the ski season.This year the Murcian regional government has organized its first skiing trips for younger people to the Sierra Nevada and the Pyrenees, while at the same time the disappearance of the strong winds and choppy seas which hit Murcia on Monday will please the Cartagena fishermen who were forced to stay in port for the third time this year.

The same gales were responsible for uprooting a large decorative ficus tree in Totana, and as a result other trees in the town centre are now being cut back in order to avoid any possible repeat.

Flu season looms

On the other hand, the change in the weather seems to be heralding the beginning of the annual flu epidemic, and already staff at the main hospitals in Murcia and Cartagena are reported to be stretched to or beyond their limits. Critics are keen to point out that there is a flu epidemic every year and yet the regional health service never appears to be prepared, and these critical voices are especially loud in the municipality of Cartagena.  Here the Mayor is leading the calls for the old Rosell hospital in the city centre to be fully re-opened, but in the meantime; get vaccinated. If you are registered with the regional health service and are of pensionable age, the vaccines are free. If not, they can be purchased over the counter of local pharmacies for just a few euros.

Work is continuous to improve the regional health service and this week the Mayor of Cartagena and his team visited the former medical centre in Playa Honda with a view to re-opening it and are also preparing to build a new one in El Llano del Beal.

The warm and dry weather which marked the last couple of months of 2015 is also responsible for the probability that the processionary pine caterpillars which pose a threat to children and dogs in spring could emerge earlier than usual this year, and dog-walkers are already on the lookout in areas where pine trees abound. The regional government has made a concerted effort to halt the spread of this pest and the destructive pine shoot beetle over the last few months, but their efforts have been mainly in forests rather than in residential areas. In Cartagena this week the council have urged residents in areas within their municipality to contact them if they note a local problem.

Another ever-present pest is the Red Palm Weevil and in Alcantarilla the Town Hall has received a reprimand for failing to dispose properly of palm trees which were infested with red palm weevil, storing them instead in the old cattle market.

Concern over vegetation is also an issue along the banks of the River Segura, where invasive reeds have displaced native flora to the extent that the authorities have embarked on a long-term Life+ project to clear them from a total of 55-kilometres of riverbank: work on two sections of the river in Cieza has now begun, and the follow-up campaign will last in some places for as long as four years.

San Javier and Corvera airports

The topic of Murcia’s airports has once again been in the news over the last few days, partly in relation to the new but unopened facility in Corvera, where the regional government has won a court ruling that former management company Aeromur must pay 7 million euros in compensation for failing to fulfill the terms of their contract, and partly concerning the existing airport at San Javier, where the final passenger number figures for 2015 paint a disappointing picture. In 2015 only just over a million passengers passed through the terminal at San Javier, half as many as in 2007, and the December total of just 18,000 looks particularly poor when it is remembered that a decade ago the airport carried over 100,000 people in the last month of the year. Alicante, however, continues to make up the difference, offering a vast range of connections within an easy drive of Murcia.

Work continues to promote the region and its many attractions abroad, and tourism fair season has just begun in earnest.

This week the regional tourist board has been in Paris promoting dive tourism at the most important fair of its kind in France, and Fitur, the biggest event in Spain, is just a few days away.

Wine tourism is another facet of the Region’s attractions – a Yecla wine was recently named among the top three in the world in terms of value for money – as are the golf courses (Murcia will host two important national championships this year) and the numerous historical and cultural monuments. One of those being restored at the moment is the Convento de la Merced in Lorca, which is normally home to the city’s Visitors Centre but is currently undergoing restoration work on the façade, which was damaged by the 2011 earthquakes, and in Mula it appears that the campaign to save the castle is gaining support both from the general public and from the regional government. 

Another attraction of living and staying in the Murcia is of course the seemingly never-ending fiestas and festivities which take place throughout the Region. No sooner have the Three Kings come and gone – arriving by plane, boat, motor vehicle and even horse and carriage in the 45 municipalities of the Region – than preparations are under way for Carnival, particularly in Águilas, and Easter. Yes, Easter falls early this year, and in Lorca, where the biblical processions are deemed to be an event of international tourist interest, those whose role is to carry the enormous and spectacular decorative tableaux on platforms through the city streets are already practicing to ensure that they run smoothly (and tickets are on sale for the processins already).

Another nail in the coffin of the Paramount project

While progress towards opening the airport at Corvera is slow but at least discernible, the same cannot be said for the proposed Paramount theme park in Alhama de Murcia. During the latter half of last year the future of the project looked increasingly grim, and following the death in December of Jesús Samper, the man who was leading the unsuccessful search for investors, it looks even less promising. The regional government has requested clarification from Sr Samper’s family regarding their intentions over the Paramount project, but meanwhile another blow was dealt to hopes that it might go ahead this week by the regional courts, who have recognized the need to investigate whether or not some of the land on which the complex would be built infringes on the regional park of Carrascoy and El Valle.

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Good news on the Murcia property front

Better news, though, surrounds the residential property market in Murcia. For a few months it appeared that the Region may have been left behind in the general trend towards recovery throughout Spain, but in the latter part of 2015 it started to make up lost ground. Prices are reported by one property portal to have risen, albeit only slightly, in the second half of the year, and at the same time government statistics regarding the number of sales made show that between August and November the market became far more dynamic, with an increase in activity of between 20% and 50% in each of the four months compared to last year’s equivalents.

To see a wide range of properties from agents and private vendors across Murcia go to www.murciapropertypage.com

For the Region of Murcia go to: www.murciapropertypage.com

For the Alicante Province go to: www.alicantepropertypage.com

Exchange rate from Sterling to Euros still good for those buying Spanish properties

Anyone exchanging their pension from Pound Sterling to Euros or buying a property will be aware of just how much difference the rate can make to the amount they will have to spend and for major purchases, such as a property, transferring cash at the right moment can make a difference of several thousand Euros.

Spanish News Today, round-up w/e 15th January 2016

Catalunya forms a regional government while Spain struggles to concoct its own

The weather has dominated the news this week, the north of the country in particular suffering from rain, snow and strong winds.

The week began with ferocious gales and waves of up to 7 metres in Atlantic coastal areas, with a Finnish man losing his life after being swept into the ocean in Tenerife, a British bather also drowning in Tenerife, and the heavy rain causing the “rías” in Galicia and other areas of the north of Spain to become swollen. It was here that a dramatic rescue took place late last week, with those rescued being not only a woman who unwittingly backed her car into the Ría de Ferrol but also three others who attempted to save her.

As the week comes to an end, though, it’s not rain and wind but snow and cold which are making the news. Snowfalls are expected on higher ground in both northern and southern Spain, bringing relief to many ski resorts where there has been more green than white on the slopes so far this winter. All of this marks quite a change from November and December, when temperatures were substantially warmer than the historical average, causing fruit trees to blossom early and bringing boars down from the hills and onto the runways of the busiest airport in the country!

New Catalan president finally sworn in

After weeks of tense negotiations, Catalunya finally has a new president.

With just hours to spare before new elections were to be called, outgoing regional president Artur Mas finally stepped aside at the last possible moment to allow a government to be formed under a different leader, Carles Puigdemont.

Puigdemont is a former journalist, and although his election permitted the formation of a pro-independence regional government, Sr Puigdemont has been rather less committed to the 18-month timescale for an independent republic to be created during his first days in office than had been anticipated and is adopting a slightly more cautious approach. In the first interviews given he has said that his initial inclination is to draft a Constitution for Catalunya but wait until such time as there is more support before putting it to the population in a referendum, without offering much indication of when that might be.

This is somewhat of a surprise to those who had expected him to enter office and immediately initiate a separatist campaign.

Within hours former president Artur Mas had announced his resignation from the regional parliament in order to focus on rebuilding his own party support and his departure from government seemed to be mourned by nobody; the traditional announcement of the new president in the state bulletin lacking the thanks normally expressed to his predecessor.

Other separatist news

Basque separatism is yet another constant issue in Spain, and over four years since the ETA terrorist group laid down its arms there is a feeling in many quarters that the attitude towards convicted members ought to be softened. Last weekend a mass demonstration in Bilbao called for prisoners to be relocated to jails in the Basque Country, but their cause is unlikely to be helped by the activities of “Twiterrorists” like the one who was found guilty this week of extolling terrorism with “witty” (not very) comments on social network sites and sentenced to one year in jail as a result.

Spain remains leaderless

Negotiations between opposing political parties continued this week following the failure of any one party to obtain a clear majority in the general elections of 22nd December.

 Acting President Mariano Rajoy is hopeful that by the end of this month it will be possible for a new government to be sworn in, but for the time being negotiations continue to prove difficult among the PP, PSOE, Podemos and Ciudadanos parties. Hopes that an alliance among them will be possible were boosted this week by the announcement that the new speaker in Congress will be the PSOE’s Patxi López: this is constitutionally the third most important position in Spain (after the King and the President of the national government), and it seems to indicate the PP’s willingness to reach an agreement with the party which has been their main opponent for the last three decades.

However, there are many sticking points and at the moment there is no clear indication of who will form the government and when. Read the special report: Spanish politics at a crossroads.

The Spanish parliament has reconvened this week, and should no leader be chosen then new elections must be held, possibly in May or June.

Inflation at 0%

Although a prolonged period without a political leader is a subject of concern amongst the business community, the economy of Spain is on track for a gradual recovery, with the latest inflation figures showing a rate of precisely 0%. This comes at the end of the year when negative inflation affected the country for ten out twelve months, dipping to -1% at one point, but now despite the lowest petrol prices enjoyed by motorists for some time it appears that 2016 could see the rate drift back slowly into positive territory.

Positive air traffic and tourism stats this week

More good news for the economy is the burgeoning tourist sector, with statistics published over the last few days showing that there were more almost 6% more passengers at Spain’s airports in 2015 than in 2014, most of them on international flights, and that tourist spending in this country is also on the increase. The largest single contribution to tourist expenditure in Spain comes from the British, who by the end of November last year had spent an estimated 13.4 billion euros in this country – that’s an average of 40 million euros per day!

Apart from the obvious attractions of Spain as a holiday destination, in recent months the figures have been given extra boosts by the strength of the pound against the euro and the uncertain political situation in other potential destinations such as Turkey and northern Africa. In all likelihood this will continue well into 2016, making it probable that the contribution of tourism to the Spanish economy will be an even more important one, particularly in areas such as the Balearics where the end of the year has been especially positive.

Tourism provides important revenue for Spain although in some areas there is a feeling tourism could be worth more: this week the Balearics government announced a tourist tax will be levied on all visitors aged over 15 and in Madrid fines are now being levied on owners of unregulated “tourist apartments”, the council initiating the first procedures against the owners of fifty properties.

Corruption remains in the headlines

Recurring themes tend to dominate the news in this country as elsewhere, and unfortunately in Spain one of them is corruption. This week saw the start of one of the highest profile trials in Spanish history, with the King’s sister, Princess Cristina, facing accusations that she was a knowing accomplice to the alleged misappropriation of public funds by her husband Iñaki Urdangarín. Preliminary hearings took place this week, as the lawyers of the princess put forward their case to try and keep their client out of the dock at the end of February when the court case begins in earnest. It is normal for innocence to be presumed until guilt has been established, but in Torrevieja Town Hall, ( Alicante Province, Valencia Region) it seems that a guilty verdict is being taken for granted and the Princess’ name has been removed from the municipal sports complex this week.

In other areas of the country references to the Princess and her husband have been removed from several public buildings and street names changed.

On the theme of corruption, it has been confirmed this week that the public prosecutor’s office will seek a jail sentence for Rodrigo Rato, a former vice-president of the Spanish government and president of the IMF, and at the same time Catalan fire chiefs were among those arrested on suspicion of having been involved in irregular proceedings while contracting the services of airborne firefighting companies.

Gibraltar concrete block in the news

Other constant themes in the Spanish news include Gibraltar, where there is a danger that old wounds may be re-opened by the Gibraltarian authorities’ decision to prosecute a former leader of the Fishermen’s Guild in La Línea de la Concepción for stealing a block of concrete. This wasn’t just any old block of concrete, though, but one of 70 which caused a severe deterioration in Gibraltar-Spain relations two years ago when the government of the Rock dumped them into the sea in what was apparently an attempt to create an artificial reef.

Other court and crime news

As usual, there has been a fair sprinkling of high-profile and unusual crimes to report during the week, including two art thefts. One of them was discovered last week in Marbella, where the centerpiece of a 1st-century Roman mosaic went missing from the Villa de Río Verde, while in Burgos the theft of 200 items of religious art from country churches was solved after five months and three people were arrested. Elsewhere, the proprietress of an ice-cream parlour in Sevilla turned herself in to the police after murdering a man who made sexual advances towards her and hiding his body in the freezer, a man who threw stones onto the motorway in Mallorca was sentenced to six years in jail, and a major helicopter hashish smuggling ring was busted in Andalucía.

Meanwhile thieves in Barcelona shut an employee in the cold store so they could escape with 20,000 euros.

The wrongdoers who have not yet been tried will no doubt be dealt with justly, but in the Costa del Sol town of Benahavís the authorities still seem unable to deal properly with a case in which a disabled woman was fined 500 euros for taking her motorized wheelchair the wrong way down a one-way street. Having re-considered the original decision, they have now reduced the fine to 200 euros on the grounds that she was not in what can officially be described as a “vehicle” but is still guilty of offences as a pedestrian.

Spanish property news round-up

As the new year gets under way there is reported to be a certain amount of nervousness among institutional investors regarding the real estate market in Spain on account of the uncertain political situation, but at present the feeling among professionals in the sector is that this is not reflected among private buyers and the residential property market is looking forward to consolidating its recovery over the coming twelve months.

This consolidation is reflected by the latest sales figures to be published by the government’s central statistics unit during the week, and which show that during last November 28,733 residential property sales were registered. This represents a healthy but not excessive 13.7% increase on the equivalent month in 2014, the fifteenth such rise in succession, and means that during the first eleven months of 2015 the number of transactions was 11.5% higher than the year before.

Equally encouraging is that in November the amount of activity fell in only two of Spain’s seventeen regions (Navarra and Galicia), while among the increases the most spectacular were those of La Rioja (52%), Cantabria (43%) and Murcia (22.6%).

New price statistics have not yet been issued by the government, but according to one leading web portal specializing in second-hand property the average fall in asking prices across Spain during 2015 was only 1.51%. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the market value of residential property is still falling, though: the same report indicates that during the second half of the year prices rose by 1.57%, and that in the last quarter alone there was an increase of over 2%. If these figures are accurate they indicate a clear turning of the corner, and bode extremely well for 2016!

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