New practical online travel guide to Spain

This new section is for people planning a visit to Spain or for residents here who want to find out the best places to visit, what to do and see and where to stay and eat in the area where they live or further afield.

The guide is divided into provinces. Each province contains a detailed description of the capital city (history, local gastronomy, sights, hotels, restaurants) and information about other places of interest in the province (towns, villages, natural parks, beaches, hotels, restaurants, photos...). The guides are intended to be a practical introduction to the different areas within Spain. So far visitors guides to the following provinces are available:

Alicante, Almeria, Avila, Balearic Islands, Barcelona, Badajoz, Caceres, Castellon, Cuenca, Formentera, Girona, Guipuzcoa, Ibiza, Jaen, Lerida, Madrid, Malaga, Mallorca, Menorca, Murcia, Salamanca, Tarragona, Teruel, Toledo, Valencia, Zamora.

The guides are based on the personal experience of ourselves and our collaborators, and anyone who would like to expand on the information or recommend a restaurant or hotel is invited to do so by sending us an email to euroresi@euroresidentes.com.

New land laws for Spain

On Friday the Spanish cabinet approved the draft of a new land law which the government hopes Hill counteract the real estate speculation which is considered to be one of the main causes of the high price of property in Spain.

The Vice-president, Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, announced that the new law will help to secure more land available for building “vivienda de protección oficial”, i.e. low-cost housing subsidised by public funds and made available to first-time buyers with low salaries. As real estate speculation has escalated in recent years, the availability of this kind of subsidised housing has fallen dramatically.

Fernandez de la Vega said “The new law Hill reinformes public intervention, redefine citizens’ rights and duties, guarentee greater respect for the environment, establish greater funds for vivienda protegida and improve the regulation of public ownership of land”. She said that the law reflected the need to protect citizens from excessive speculation.

The new law will also oblige building promotors to take into account aspects such as energy saving and accessibility.

Related:
Buying property in Spain
Property in Spain

Negotations between Spanish Government and Eta

This weekend President José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced that in June he intends to inform Parliament of the beginning of talks with Basque terrorist group ETA.

Speaking in a Socialist party rally in the Basque country, Zapatero reminded those present that when ETA announced the ceasefire in Spain a few weeks ago, he said then that the government needed to verify the ceasefire before they could properly initate any peace process. Since then the reports commissioned by the government as well as messages sent out from Basque separatists seem to have persuaded the Spanish President that the ceasefire is real and it is time to start talks with ETA. He will seek the approval of Congress to start negotiating in June.

The announcement was received positively by all Spanish political parties yesterday except for the Popular Party whose vice-president, Angel Acebes, criticised the government for sitting down to negotiate with ETA before the group had been completely disarmed and dissolved. The Association of Victims of Terrorism also criticised the news and announced a protest march in Madrid in June. However representatives of all the other political parties expressed their satisfaction at what they hoped was the first step on the way to a lasting peace in the Basque country.

Presumably in an attempt to appease the more critical factions of the Association of Victims of Terrorism, after announcing the start of talks yesterday, Zapatero said he planned to propose a the insertion of a clause honouring the memory of the victims of terrorism in the the introduction of the Spanish Constitution.

Zapatero also underlined his will to include all political parties in the talks. "Peace and tolerance have to be the fruit of a joint effort. Nobody should try to get ahead of anyone else" .

Related:
ETA ceasefire
Government and ETA negotiate possible ceasefire
Majority in Spain support negotiations with ETA
Eta terrorism

Immigration in Spain

The Spanish government has launched a diplomatic offensive to try and find a solution to the ever-increasing number of immigrants arriving to the Canary Islands in boats from Africa. Yesterday Spanish Minister Foreign Affairs referred to the initiative as Plan Africa, and ministers are expected to approve the plan in their weekly cabinet meeting this morning.

Plan Africa involves sending Spanish diplomats to targetted African countries in an attempt to stop the numbers of immigrants arriving in Spain on small precarious boats. Numbers have risen at an alarming rate during the past few weeks and the Government hopes that opening Spanish embassies in countries from which the immigrants are arriving will make it easier to collaborate with governments in those countries and find joint strategies to tackle the growing problem.

Yesterday in just one day nearly 600 Africans were intercepted in various boats on the coasts of the Canary Islands and 33 in boats near the coast of Almería. Countless boats containing thousands of immigrants seeking a better life in Europe have been intercepted by Spanish police over the past few weeks, and the President of the Canary Islands has been critical of Central Government's response to a problem which has streched the resources of the Islands beyond capacity. According to the latest figures, 2,300 immigrants are waiting to be either sent back to their country of residence (the majority) or transferred elsewhere in Spain, depending on their individual circumstances.

Miguel Angel Moratinos has appointed Spain's former ambassador in South Africa to coordinate Plan Africa. From his new headquarters to be set up in Senegal, Miguel Ángel Fernández Maza-Rambroz will direct the work of the new embassies and consulates which the Government intends to open in several sub-saharian countries in Africa including Mali, Gambia, Green Cape, Bissau Guinea, Conakry Guinea and Niger.

During its two years in power, the Socialist Government has increased aid to these countries by 40% each year, but has been unable to influence their policies regarding illegal emigration of their people or to relieve the dreadful conditions many of the immigrants arriving to Spain are fleeing from. The Government hopes that by strengthening cooperation with a physical presence in strategic areas in Africa, it will be easier to address the growing problem with more positive results.

Related:

• Legalisation of illegal immigrants in Spain
• Amnesty period for illegal immigrants in Spain ends
• Inmigrantes en España - useful information for immigrants in Spain (in Spanish).

Mijas pioneers wireless Internet connection in Spain

The town of Mijas in Malaga has just launched a project which is the first of its kind in Spain: free, wireless WIMAX Internet connection for anyone living in the town and surrounding rural areas, as well as a new system of e-government with the launch of a web that will offer inhabitants of Mijas the possibility of carrying out all sorts of official transactions online.

Mijas Digital was launched a year ago with the following core objectives: To make new technologies available to all citizens of Mijas; to create a municipal telecommunications network to give support to new services offered; to facilitate the extension and incorporation of new technologies into all social and economic sectors of the town; and to reduce the digital divide that currently exists at different levels of society.

It is an admirable effort in a country which still occupies one of the bottom places in rankings of Internet use among EU member states despite attempts (generally rather feeble and lacking in terms of vision and practical policies it has to be said) of the present and former Spanish governments to encourage domestic and commercial use of new technologies and e-commerce in Spain.

Yesterday the Mayor of Mijas used a video conference with an neighbours' association in Valtocado and the Deputy Mayor of nearby Las Lagunas to officially launch the new wireless WIMAX network which already links up 70 percent of the area of Mijas, including three rural areas ( Osunillas, Valtocado and Entrerríos with a capacity for 60 connections in each case) and 20 different municipal spots. The project integrages WIMAX, WIFI and PLC technologies and the authorities have been carrying out tests with 70 local volunteers to test the speed and conexion of the new network.

According to a press release sent out by Mijas Town Hall today, the service represents a revolution for the rural areas of Mijas, and the extension and capacity of the new wireless network will be steadily increased over the coming months.

Related:

• Domestic use of new technologies in Spain
• E-commerce in Spain
• Spanish Telefonica's Internet services

Protests over the price of housing in Spain

Thousands of young people took to the streets yesterday in 60 towns and cities to protest at the price of housing in Spain and to ask the Spanish government to do something to protect the right of young people to buy a decent house.

The protests were organised spontaneously via e-mail messages, websites and sms and were not coordinated by any youth organisation, trade union or any other protest group. The biggest protests were held in Madrid and Barcelona where more than one thousand protesters gathered at the Puerta del Sol and Plaza de Catalunya respectively, and in Valencia (900 protesters). In other towns like Sevilla, Granada, Cordoba, Bilbao and San Sebastian, the concentrations were smaller with 200 to 150 participants.

During the protests, the participants sat down and chanted slogans criticising national and local government for failing to guarantee the right to a house by allowing property prices to rise above what many people can afford. They also criticised real estate speculation with chants like "Hands up, this is a hold up" or "Protect our right to a roof. Housing isn't a business. It's a right".

Investment fraud discovered in Spain

Police in Spain made several arrests, closed offices and confiscated material yesterday in connection with a massive fraud operation which may have cost over 350,000 private investors their life savings in Spain. The operation took place yesterday as the offices of two companies, Afinsa Bienes Tangibles and Forum Filatélico were searched by armed police in Madrid, Barcelona, Vigo and Valladolid. Documents and computers were taken away from the buildings, 10 million euros was found in a raid on a house in the suburbs of Madrid and nine people were arrested. The judge leading the operation has ruled that the investigations remain secret until accusations have been formalised, maybe later today.

Police told reporters yesterday that the two companies were suspected of fraudulent business attracting mass savings in many Spanish towns, offering high returns and using collections of stamps of proven value and other physical goods as guarantees. The companies are accused of operating a pyramid-style fraud opeartion, using the money from new investors to pay the returns on previous investments. Many of the investors are pensioners for whom investing their savings in rare stamp collections appeared a more attractive option than placing it in a lower-return bank savings account. Yesterday as news of the raids leaked, many pensioners went to the offices of Ainsa and Forum to recover their money, but police did not allow anyone to enter the buildings.

After Sotheby's and Christie's, Afinsa is the world's third biggest collectibles company and through its controlling stake in Escala Group operates in other European cities (including London), the USA and Asia. The company has published a note on its website (www.afinsa.com) today reassuring its clients and employees that it is cooperating with authorities in order to prove its innocence.

Afinsa is not a registered financial institution which means that its advises its customers on how to invest their money. Customers of Afinsa and Forum who found that they were unable to recover their money as the scandal unfolded yesterday have already formed an association.

As the scale of the operation became clear yesterday, the Director General of Consumers said that although the Government does not have any funds to compensate victims of a fraud of this kind, she has called a meeting tomorrow with representatives from the autonomous governments to discuss how to channel applications for compensation of what for some people is the loss of a whole life's savings. She has also said that the Government will study how to modify the law in order to give private investors greater protection in the future.

Euthanasia in Spain

The whole debate about Euthanasia and the right of terminal patients to end their own life has been opened up once again by the death of a a pentaplegic man, Jorge Leon, this weekend.

Eight years ago Spain was gripped by the story of Ramon Sampedro, who became a quadriplegic after a diving accident when he was 25 and spent the rest of his life (29 years) on a bed unable to move. He took his case to court and appealed to be granted the right to end his own life with the help of others, but his requests to do so were repeatedly denied by the Spanish government. Alejando Almenabar's film about Sampedro's fight, The Sea Inside, won the oscar for the best foreign film in 2004.

The Spanish Catholic Church claims euthanasia is immoral and antisocial, and according to Spanish law anyone who helps people like Ramon Sampedro and Jorge Leon to end their own life can be tried and found guilty of manslaughter.

Jorge Leon became a pentaplegic after an accident 6 years ago, and his family say he did not want to spend years suffering, unable to breath without assistance and unable to move anything from his neck down. He shared his wish to die and his experience of being locked inside a useless body in a blog where he published regular articles describing his feelings and asking for the right to have a dignified death. He criticised the fact that because euthanasia is illegal in Spain, people wanting to end their life had to do so without the medical expertise which could minimise any potential suffering. In his blog he expressed his desire to find "a hand to hold the glass, a clever hand that can make up for my useless one, a hand to act according to my will, which is still free". He published his last article on 2nd May.

His body was found last week in his flat with a glass next to his chair and his artificial breathing machine turned off. His family have released a statement in which they have asked police not to start a search to find the person who helped Jorge to carry out his final wish.

Real IRA suspects arrested in Spain

Spanish police in Malaga have arrested two Irish men suspected of belonging to the illegal Real IRA dissident paramilitary group. The men were arrested yesterday and taken to Madrid where they are being questioned by specialised police.

Police told reporters yesterday that the two men were arrested shortly after a big shipment of cigarettes had arrived at a nearby port. Police searched a warehouse where they found a large quantity of documents and seized two lorries.

The Interior Ministry said that the arrests were the result of an investigation into bands smuggling cigarettes into Spain. The Ministry confirmed that the two men arrested are suspected of sending to Ulster money obtained from cigarette smuggling operations.

True love in Spain

"I love Laura but I'll wait until we're married"

Spanish newspaper El Pais today has an article about a video which has just been released in Spain by a group called "Los Happiness" and seems to be a parody of traditional Catholic values. If it is a parody, it is brilliantly done and very very funny. If it isn't a parody of true love in Spain (and the author of the El Pais article is not quite sure), it threatens to endanger the traditional image of macho Spanish Don Juans.

The video is called "Amo a Laura pero esperaré el matrimonio" and contains lines such as "Quisiera besarte pero sin ensuciarte, quisiera abrazarte pero sin dejar de respetarte, Amar es saber esperar...... No voy a arrancar esa flor, quien la destruya no seré yo" (which translated is: "I'd like to kiss you without staining you, I'd like to hug you but without losing respect. To love is to know how to wait.... I won't pick this flower, I won't be the one to destroy it"!!!!!!)

Los Happiness is a group sponsored by the Asociación Nuevo Renacer por una Juventud sin Mácula (Association New Rebirth in favour of Unstained Youth). To see the video just click on the play sign below, wait a few seconds and get ready to squirm.