Driving in Spain during Easter holidays

15 million car journeys expected during Easter week

The national organisation in charge of traffic in Spain (La Dirección General de Tráfico - DGT) will put into place a their special operation for Easter week today. They predict that up to 15 million car journeys will be made during this busy period. The objectives of the operation which will last until 9th April are to ensure that safety on the roads and the flow of traffic is maintained.

Pere Navarro also indicated that it was the first time that Easter week had occurred with the new driving license points system in place together with 317 speed control radars throughout the country. It is hoped that both these factors will help reduce the number of people killed on the roads – during the same period last year 110 people died as a result of car accidents.

According to information from DGT, the Easter week operation will be divided into two phases. The first phase starts today and ends this Sunday 1st April. The second phase will start at midday next Wednesday and ends at midnight on Monday 9th April. Traffic have warned drivers that the busiest times on the road will be Wednesday 4th April and Thursday 5th April.

DGT have launched a campaign with advertisements using the slogan ‘There are many reasons not to kill yourself during Easter week - choose your own’. The advertisement ends with the sentence ‘Don’t kill yourself at Easter’. The idea behind it is for each individual driver to react and to encourage them to respect traffic regulations. In addition, the campaign this year is aimed at children to encourage them to form good habits while travelling.

Drivers will be able to see overhead panels with the following message – ‘In a hurry? 110 deaths during Easter week last year. Don’t lose points during Easter week. Returning is the most important thing.’

Extra lanes will be in place on the A-3 between Madrid and Saelices, Villasviejas and Villares del Saz and between La Almarcha and Atalaya del Cañavate. There will also be extra lanes on the A-4 between Ocaña and Tembleque; Almuradiel and Santa Elena; Bailén and La Carolina. Other roads with extra lanes are the A-5 between Madrid and Talavera de la Reina; the A-42 between Madrid and Yuncos; the A-1 between Alcobendas and La Cabrera; and the A-6 between Las Rozas and Villalba. There will also be restrictions on lorries carrying dangerous loads on some routes during set periods.

There is a free telephone number (900 123 505) or a webpage http://www.dgt.es for up to date information on traffic jams, itineraries and for any other enquiries regarding the state of the roads during Easter week.

Related links:
Roads in Spain
Driving in Spain
New driving laws in Spain
Penalty points driving licence system in Spain

This year tax payers in Spain can declare taxes via txt messages

Tax-payers in Spain will be able to make the annual tax declaration by text message or TDT interactive digital television

Tax declarations can be submitted as from the 2nd April for those people who accept their calculations sent by the Tax office. Confirmation of tax calculations can only be made when they are negative or result in zero.

For the first time tax declarations will be available using TDT interactive digital television using a decodifier and a telephone connection to be able to send information to the Tax Office using the TDT remote control. For example to apply for your tax calculation you would need to press in your national identity document number (DNI) together with the information from the box marked 681 from your last tax declaration – the same method as via the internet. Information will be sent in coded language directly between the person making the tax declaration and the Tax Office.

Tax declarations can also be made by sending a text message to 5025 with the message RENTA space the number of the form space Company Number (NIF). If making a joint declaration then you will need to leave a space between the first and the second NIF.

The reference number and the form number are those which appear in the tax calculation. Using this information together with your NIF is all you need to process your declaration.

As usual you can make your tax declaration via the internet with a reference number or by telephone by calling 901 121 224 (automatic - 24 hours) or 901 200 345 (with assistance), using electronic or telephone banking or by going to the Tax Office in person. As well as confirmation of tax calculations you can also obtain information on tax and property values.

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Spanish Cinema goes online

Egeda, the Association for Spanish Producers has set up an internet company Filmotech.com, through which Spanish films will be available for rent or on sale legally from as little as 1 euro.

For at least the first two months the new webpage dedicated to Spanish cinema will make films available for just 1 euro. As many as 250 films, cartoons and documentaries will be for rent or for sale.

This ground breaking initiative is one of the most ambitious projects that Spanish cinema has ever undertaken. This step towards the future is down to Egeda Digital, a branch of a the company that manages the rights of Spanish Producers. According to Egeda’s president, Enrique Cerezo it is essential for Spanish cinema to embrace new technology and look towards the future.

The webpage will have a catalogue of around 250 films, however for the timebeing the most recent films will not be available so as not to compete directly with videoclubs and cinemas. It hopes to incorporate European films into the online catalogue soon which will increase the number of films to 400 – 500 available online in the near future.

Egeda is hoping to offer its users quality productions at a competitive price while at the same time respecting the rights of film makers and actors. At the moment the only films available online are illegal downloads which are often very bad quality.
There will be different options available to see a film through downloading it from Filmotech.com. Prices will range between 1 and 2 euros through which you will be able to watch the film by connecting a computer to a television. The first option is for users to have the right to see a film as many times as possible within the space of a week, this is the cheapest option. The second option is to download a film which can be seen 3 times within the space of 3 months counting down from the first time the film is seen.

The last option is TPS which stands for tuyo para siempre - ‘yours for ever. This option would limit the film to three reproduction systems. Prices for TPS will range from 3.80 euros to 5.80 euros.

DRM by Microsoft has been chosen by the Association for Spanish Producers as the programme by which users can download and see films. However, one of the drawbacks of downloading films is the time it takes. According to Filmotech.com using a standard broadband connection of 1Mbps, the time it takes to download a film will be 3 or 4 times the length of the film. If the connection is faster than 1 Mbps it will take less time to download a film.

Spain's PRISA group boycotted by the PP

Popular Party vetoes Spain’s largest media group

Last weekend during a rally, Spain’s main opposition party called on all its members to boycott PRISA, Spain’s largest media group in response to comments made by Prisa’s chairman during a shareholders meeting, in which Jesús de Polanco, referred to the PP as a radically rightwing party who supported Francoist demonstrations, expressed his private desire for a strong, conservative, non-extremist opposition and claimed it was difficult for the media group he chairs to remain neutral faced with the present opposition.

Mariano Rajoy and PP leaders have ordered PP members not to attend interviews, talks or debate programmes organized by any media owned by PRISA, including newspaper El País, radio station Cadena Ser and television channel Cuatro. Although Rajoy has insisted that he does not want to enter into controversies he repeated his call for a boycott while on a visit to Berlin where he met with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel earlier this week.

Gabriel Elorriaga, the Press Officer for the PP reminded party members that they should follow the orders of their leader and is reported to have said that appropriate decisions would be taken if anyone breaks the boycott.

Over the past few days some PP members, including the Mayor of Madrid, Alberto, Gallardon, have broken the embargo and made declarations to Cadena Ser, but all Popular Party members who are regular guests on the political news and debate programms which are very popular on Spanish television and radio have withdrawn their participation this week, although some have expressed their regret and have indicated that they have done so in order to comply with party policy (rather than through any conviction of their own). PP candidates in the forthcoming local and regional elections have cancelled all advertising campaigns they had signed with PRISA.

All other political parties in Spain have criticised the Popular Party for this radical decision and critics claim it shows how the PP prefers censorship to the right of free speech.

International Conference on Spanish Language

Over a thousand academics and writers are participating in the 4th International Conference on the Spanish language which was opened yesterday by the Spanish King and Queen and the President of Columbia, Álvaro Uribe. The 4-day conference is being held in Cartagena de Indias, Columbia, and will look at the present and future of the Spanish language.

Special homage is being paid to the writer Gabriel García Márquez, Nobel prize winner for Literature in 1982 and who is 80 years old (his 80th birthday was on march 6th this year). The ex US president, Bill Clinton, the ex Spanish president, Felipe González and the Mexican writer, Carlos Fuentes, are all attending special events paying homage to the writer.

Writers, academics, scientists, teachers, linguists, historians, businessmen and women, editors, journalists, politicians and sociologists will all come together to analyse issues such as the presence of Spanish in diverse fields ranging from technology, computing, and science to culture and literature.

The relation between the Spanish language and other Hispanic languages spoken in Latin America will also be considered. This conference is taking place just 2 days after the 8th Conference of Academies for the Spanish Language took place in which the ‘New Spanish Grammar’ was approved, the first time since 1931.

Castellano or Spanish is spoken by more than 400 million people worldwide and is the 4th most spoken language in the world. The first three are Chinese, English and Hindi. Furthermore, Spanish has become the second language for international communication. Nine out of ten native Spanish speakers live in America (North America and Latin America).

Inrternational conferences on the Spanish Language began in 1992 following the Expo in Sevilla, since then they have taken place in Zacatecas (Mexico -1997), Valladolid (Spain - 2001) and Rosario (Argentina - 2004). This year’s conference is due to close on Friday with a number of cultural events from photography exhibitions, poetry recitals to folk concerts.

Experts agree on panhispanic version of Spanish Grammer

Panhispanic Grammer

The Real Academia Español (RAE) and the Associaton of Academies for Spanish Language have called for Spain to cease being the first reference when it comes to ‘the new grammar for the Spanish language’ during a special public session in Medellín, Columbia this weekend attended by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain and the President of Columbia.

Ignacio Bosque, professor of the Autonomous University of Madrid and author of Nueva gramática de la lengua española told El Pais that the ‘New Spanish Grammar’ is grammar which has been put together by 22 different academies representing Spanish-speaking countries.

This Panhispanic vision of Spanish grammar has roots dating back to 1931 when the grammatical differences that existed between each country were specified. Ignacio Bosque led the very complex process of gathering together 8 grammar experts from Latin American and Spain and producing a draft text that was then analysed by the RAE and then sent on to all the academies concerned. The text was then sent to the Interacademic Commission from which a provisional text was produced and sent back to the academies to be finally approved in a joint meeting.

Ignacio Bosque points out in the El Pais article that until now Spanish speaking countries had never discussed what they had in common and one of the surprising outcomes was that following the lengthy process described above it became clear that Spanish speakers from all over the world had more in common than previously thought. It is hoped that this ‘New Spanish Grammar’ will be reinforced in the 4th International Congress on the Spanish Language which starts tomorrow in Cartagena de Indias.

According to experts this is one of the most important advances for the Spanish language in all its history. Once final approval has been achieved efforts will be made to edit the text. The RAE hopes that the ‘New Spanish Grammar’ will be published by Spring next year. It will be divided into 4 sections: General Questions, Phonetics and Phonology, Morphology and Syntax with 55 chapters. There will also be a DVD on differences in pronunciation between countries to accompany the book.

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Financial services for immigrants in Spain

BBVA Bank to open special branches just for immigrants

The BBVA bank has decided to take maximum advantage of its branches by splitting the activities that are carried out in them. It has plans to open 30 ‘duo’ branches. Each of these offices will operate like a normal bank in the mornings and in the afternoon they will be prepared for use by immigrants, similar to the Dinero Express offices.

At 3 pm a screen will be used to divide the area normally used by the public in the mornings and a separate area with facilities like individual telephone booths, DHL cardboard boxes prepared for sending parcels abroad, and lists of properties on sale will be available. Applying for credit or a bank card and making a deposit will also be possible.

This part of the bank will be open until 10 pm and is intended to meet the special needs of immigrants. These branches will also open on Saturdays and Sundays.

According to Miguel Angel Muñoz, the BBVA Director of Banking for Immigrants, the branches will have staff made up solely of immigrants whose working conditions will be established according to the standard office workers agreement rather than the standard agreement for bank employees. The BBVA forecasts attracting 180,000 more immigrants to use the bank in 2007, a figure which would surpass a total of 700,000 immigrant clients.

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Political wing of ETA almost condemns violence

Otegi - "armed struggle an error"

In an interview with a Catalan radio station Arnaldo Otegi, the spokesperson for the illegal Basque political party Batasuna, said that it would be an error to build an independent Basque state using armed struggle because it would be socially and politically impossible to sustain.

However, Otegi avoided direct criticism of ETA, the Basque terrorist organisation, although he repeated that an independent state would not be possible unless it was achieved through democratic means.

Otegi also said that he was sure that ETA was not trying to impose an independent state through its armed struggle but that it used violence because democratic means to achieve independence did not exist.

Otegi affirmed that the objective now was to create a process in which a definitive solution to the conflict could be achieved. He criticised those sectors that insisted that Batasuna condemn ETA’s armed struggle when the opportunity to find a solution to the conflict is there for the taking.

He is reported to have said that ‘at present there are sufficient conditions for creating a situation through honest and sincere dialogue in which a definitive end to the Basque conflict could be achieved’.

The Batasuna spokesperson stated that his organization was going in this direction, although he also warned that such a situation could not be achieved unilaterally by the nationalist left (la izquierda abertzale).

Otegi suggested Batasuna should be legalized immediately because 20 accusations that linked it to ETA and were the reason for it being declared illegal have been discredited. He said that all cases that have reached court have been acquitted.
The director of the nationalist left also denounced powerful interests that try to prevent Batasuna participating in local elections because, according to Otegi, they would achieve very good results. He also said that if Batasuna was not allowed to field candidates in the local elections due to be held on 27th May 2007, that the Basque Country would be the only area in Western Europe where institutions did not represent the votes of its citizens.

Radioactivity in Huelva, Spain

Radioactivity found to be 25 times above permitted levels in Huelva

According to news reports today, the environmental pressure group Greenpeace will ask the European Parliament to force Spain to officially recognise that two rubbish dumps in Huelva (Fertiberia and Foret) are radioactive areas.

Members of Greenpeace and David Hammerstein, a member of the European Parliament have carried out tests on both sites which demonstrated that levels of radioactivity are more than 25 times above the maximum permitted levels by law.

Julio Barea, a spokesperson for Greenpeace, confirmed that radioactivity levels in Huelva are not comparable to anywhere else in Spain or the rest of Europe. According to Greenpeace prolonged exposure to radiation provokes cancer - Huelva has the highest number of cases of cancer in Spain.

This is bad news for Huelva, as tourism plays a key role in the province's economy and if the local authorities do not act swiftly to correct the situation, the radioactivity could prove to be very detrimental not only to the health of local people, but also to the health of the local economy. Furthermore the Doñana natural reserve is located in Huelva, and is one of the richest natural reserves in the whole of Europe. It is not clear whether or not the radioactivity extends to Doñana.

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Ageing population in Spain

10,000 Centenarians in Spain

According to a recent survey carried out by the Spanish National Institute for Statistics there are around 10,000 centenarians in Spain today. Many claim to be in better health than their children, now in their eighties.

There are some hundred-year-olds in very good health who are biologically strong, who have survived some very difficult times over the last century. However, the loss of autonomy and dependence on others in order to maintain a minimum quality of life is quite high according to Rodríguez Mañas, a geriatric doctor and member of the Spanish Society for Geriatric Medicine (SEMEG).

There are now over 7 million people in Spain over 65 years old. Life expectancy for women is 83.8 years, the highest in Europe, while for men it is 77.2 years. This figure keeps on rising which means that in the future Spain will have one of the oldest populations in the world and according to Rodríguez Mañas one out of every four elderly people could develop dependency a figure which could rise to 50% for 80 year olds.

Rodríguez Mañas says that the main problem of old age is functional deterioration and the loss of autonomy – 80% of loss of physical capability is down to fragility and loss of muscle mass which is why prevention is extremely important. Doing some type of physical activity everyday such as walking for 45 minutes, lifting small weights and a healthy diet all contribute to remaining healthy in old age. Rodríguez Mañas, also called for the creation of more state-funded old peoples’ homes in order to cope with an ageing population and the needs of the elderly.

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Equality of sexes in Spain

Spanish Congress passes new equality laws

The Spanish parliament passed the Law on Equality between men and women yesterday. This new law gives fathers the right to 15 days paternity leave and equality between men and women on electoral lists which according to Zapatero, the Spanish president will radically transform society for ever.

The president took it upon himself to present the law on equality in the Spanish Congress today with the support of 192 members of parliament but with the notable abstention of the 119 PP members of parliament. When the law was passed there was a standing ovation by members of parliament and representatives of women’s groups that had been following the debate in the Congress.

The Law on Equality also forces companies with more than 250 employees to negotiate plans on equality within the workplace and for larger companies to incorporate 40% of women in their Board of Directors within 8 years.

It also gives parents the rights to reduce their working day from an eighth to half in order to look after children under eight years old. In the case of premature births, maternity leave starts when the baby leaves the hospital. Paternity leave will be extended from 15 days to one month within a timescale of 6 years.

One of the most controversial changes that the new law will bring about is to electoral lists. In districts of 5000 or more inhabitants political parties must have at least 40% of women for every 5 posts. From 2011 this measure will be applied to districts of 3000 or more inhabitants.

Susana Camarero, a member of PP, accused Zapatero of being an armchair feminist who does not listen to women (even though he is the only president in Spanish history to have an equal number of men and women ministers in his government). She said that this was a law for elites and that it did not address the needs of real people. She also said it was not very ambitious and that it would not be very effective.

Zapatero highlighted that the most important objective was to do justice to women. He dedicated the 15th March 2007 to Clara Campoamor, the member of parliament who defended women’s rights 75 years ago. According to Jesús Caldera, the Minister for Work and Social affairs this new law could come into effect next Monday.

Spanish woman wins the right to die

Euthanasia in Spain

Inmaculada Echevarría, a 51 year old woman who suffered from the degenerative disease, muscular distrophy, finally won her battle to be allowed to die yesteray. She died last night at 9pm in the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Andalucia. According to the Andalucian Health Service, the medical team that attended her made sure that she was in no pain when she died.

Inmaculada Echevarría had been transferred the same day from the San Rafael hospital in Granada, run by a religious order to the San Juan de Dios hospital run by the Andalucian Health Service in order to fulfil her final wish, to die with dignity.
Although the religious order that ran the hospital where she had been for the last 10 years accepted Inmaculada Echevarría’s desire to die as reasonable her transfer to another hospital was requested due to conflicting opinions in some religious sectors.

Echevarría had received the authorization to be allowed to die from the Andalucian Ethics Commitee. The Andalucian Government assured that following the ruling supporting the patient’s wishes, that Echevarria had received medical from the same medical team that had treated her in San Rafael Hospital until her final moments of life. In accordance with the Ethic Committee’s ruling Echevarria had been sedated in order to avoid any suffering on the patient’s part.

Before she was disconnected from her artificial respiratory machine doctors and psychologists informed the patient of the process and confirmed once again the patient’s desire to die.

During her last days alive Echevarria was visited by her biological son, who she had given up for adoption when he was just a few months old following the death of her partner in a traffic accident. She also said goodbye to her close friends. However, she refused to speak to the media who had been following her case since it had become public.

Inmaculada had been suffering a degenerative disease since she was a child. She first noted the effects when she was just 11 years old. She had out lived both her parents and had survived her sister who had died from a broken neck in an accident. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper, El Pais, Inmaculada said that she had wanted to die for 27 years, since she had given up her son for adoption.
Inmaculada will be cremated on Friday. Her closest friend will attend the crematorium and has asked for respect and privacy.

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Women executives in Spain

Women occupy 1 in 5 high level posts in Spanish companies

A study by Axesor Grupo Infotel has found that there are 925,944 women in high level jobs in Spanish companies. This figure means that women occupy only 1 in 5 high level posts.

According to information in the Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil (BORME) there are more than 4.6 million high level posts in Spanish companies out of which 19% are carried out by women.

Out of the 925,000 women who carry out high level jobs in Spain around 622,401 women occupy the post of company administrator, 167,353 are directors or managers, 84,780 are company advisors and 6,718 are vice-presidents. These figures make up around 20 – 19% of the actual number of such posts that exist in Spain.

However this figure drops to just 14% when looking at the number of women who occupy the post of president of the company (32, 118).

Santiago Martín, the general director of Axesor, concludes that despite advances in recent years a lot still needs to be done in order to bridge the gap between men and women’s employment opportunities.

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Women in Spain

Al Qaeda threatens Spain

The terrorist organisation Al Qaeda has used a video on the internet to threaten Spain. Spain has been threatened because of its military involvement in Afghanistan.
In the video entitled ‘Messages for the governments of Germany and Austria’ a hooded man reads a communication from a page in which threats are made to Spain, Germany and Austria. The authenticity of the video which appeared on a web page created by Al Qaeda in September 2005 has not been verified yet.

In the video some sentences by Al Qaeda’s 2nd in command, the Egyptian Ayman al Zawahiri can be heard. He is reported to have said "If we are secure then you will be secure too, if we are hit and killed you will also be hit and killed". With respect to Austria, he said "although their soldiers are not a threat to the muyahidín in Afghanistan the presence of Austrian soldiers support Bush and his group".

Spain withdrew all its troops from Iraq when PSOE gained power in March 2004. However, Spain sent 600 troops to Afghanistan last year as part of an international effort to support the UK and US maintain order there.

Monument to victims of M11 in Madrid

Yesterday the king and queen of Spain, accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Asturias, attended the ceremony to commemorate the 11th March 2004 bombings in Madrid. They honoured the dead by placing a wreath made of laurel at the foot of a monument dedicated to the victims, located in front of the Atocha station in Madrid.

Both the president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and the PP leader of the opposition party, Mariano Rajoy, both attended the ceremony. According to reports there was a very cold atmosphere between the two. The ceremony took place just one day following a large demonstration in Madrid organised by Rajoy in protest against the government’s decision to allow the ETA prisoner De Juana Chaos to be placed under house arrest. Other officials who attended were the Vice-President, Pedro Solbes, along with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the President of the Comunidad de Madrid and the mayor of Madrid Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón.

The ceremony commemorated the third anniversary of the bombings in which 191 people were killed. There were no speeches but there was a moving performance of 'El Canto de los Pájaros', by Pau Casals played on the cello.

Around 1500 victims injured in the attacks and family members of victims who were killed filed past the monument following the official acts. The atmosphere was very sombre apart from a slight commotion when family members of victims who were killed in the attack unveiled a banner demanding that the former home secretary Ángel Acebes and the president of the government led by the PP when the attacks took place, José María Aznar be criminally charged.

The monument which is said to be the largest glass sculpture in the world is 11 metres high. It was designed by the architect Esaú Acosta. Weighing 160 tonnes, the glass which has been used for the monument is totally transparent. Inside it is sound proofed so that silence and light are the main elements.

A weekend of protests in Spain begins today

Demonstrations organised by PP to take place all over Spain today

Spain’s main opposition party, the PP, has organized demonstrations to take place all over Spain today in order to show solidarity with the victims of terrorism. The PP has called on all citizens to participate. These smaller demonstrations planned for today will serve as a warm up for tomorrow’s demonstration in Madrid which they hope will attract thousands of demonstrators. The demonstrations are protesting against the government, following the ETA prisoner De Juana Chaos being released from prison and being placed under house arrest.

This decision effectively saved De Juana’s life as it meant that he gave up his hunger strike which had lasted over 100 days. His health was deteriorating rapidly and his vital organs could have stopped working at any moment. He is now recovering in hospital in San Sebastian before returning home where will remain under house arrest for the remaining part of his sentence for threats (he has already served 18 years in prison for his part in over 20 political assassinations).

Some believe the government’s decision has also saved the delicate ‘peace process’ that has been taking place between the government and ETA. If De Juana de Chaos had died the consequence would have been very serious and it is almost certain that street violence ‘calle borroka’ as it is called in the Basque Country would have escalated. The Government has repeatedly called on the PP to stop using terrorism and the victims of terrorist violence as an electoral weapon (local and regional elections are due to be held next month), and has pointed out that several terrorists were given shorter sentences under the PP governments.

However the PP will inevitably try to capitalise on the unpopularity of the Government's decision (according to a survey carried out this week by Cadena Ser, 60 percent of voters disagree with it) and their leaders talk of little else. They have hired 500 buses to transport people to Saturday's protest march in Madrid, Aznar and the current PP leader, Mariano Rajoy, have both taken flowers to a memorial set up to remember the 25 people killed by De Juana, and yesterday the leaders started driving around Madrid in a bus in a bid to publicise their view that the government has given in to blackmail by De Juana Chaos, and to get support for the marches.

The demonstrations today under the banner ‘Freedom in Spain’, will take place today in the three main cities in the Basque Country - Bilbao, San Sebastián and Vitoria - as well as all major towns in Andalucia, Aragon, Asturias, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castilla la Mancha and Castilla y Leon, Catalunya, the Comunidad Valenciana, Extremadura, Galicia, the Baleares, the Rioja and Murcia. In all 65 protests have been organised.

Corruption case in Granada

Town Councillor accused of corruption freed on bail

Manuel Fernández, a PP town councillor for Alhendín in Granada in charge of town planning, was freed on bail following 8 hours interrogation. He is accused of bribery, neglect of duty, extortion and price fixing.

Amongst other charges he is accused of irregularities in the planning and construction of an industrial estate (Marchalhendín) and a residential estate (Novosur) according to his lawyer who spoke to journalists following the councillor’s court appearance.

He has been given 8 days to pay his bail set at 18,000 euros. He pleaded innocent on all charges and defended the legality of his actions. Details of the interrogation have yet to be made public.

The case came to light when PSOE councillors reported several irregularities in his department. PSOE have accused the town hall of ‘losing’ 16 million euros by selling off land for the industrial estate which was valued at 24.25 million euros for just 9 million euros. In addition Manuel Fernández is accused of removing public rights of way valued at 750,000 euros on roads that pass through the estate and handing them over free of charge to the developer.

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Wealthiest areas of Spain

Navarra has the highest income per family

According to an article in El Pais, Madrid once again topped the 2006 table in the annual Fundación de las Cajas de Ahorros (Funcas) study which looks at economic growth within all the Spanish regions. According to their most recent survey Spanish GDP grew by 4.2% (3 tenths above that predicted by the National Institute for Statistics). The Comunidad de Madrid’s economy grew the most by 4.5%. However, Navarra came top of the table for disposable income per household (14,967 euros) compared to Madrid (14,852 euros) and the Basque Country (14,538 euros).

Madrid, the Pais Vasco and Navarra, are also the regoins with the highest GDP. Cataluña comes fourth in the table while Andalucía and Extremadura remain at the bottom of the list in terms of disposable income and GDP.

The study was carried out by Julio Alcaide, a leading economist. He indicated that the construction industry in Spain was the most dynamic making up 5.4% of the country’s economy. He also says that the economy in 7 regions saw above average growth in 2006. These regions were Murcia (4.4%), Andalucía (4.4%), Extremadura (4.3%), Castilla-La Mancha (4.3%), País Vasco (4,3%) and the Comunidad Valenciana (4.2%) as well as Madrid whose economy also experienced above average growth.

The Funcas study also looked at the evolution of regional economies throughout Spain over the last 7 years and according to the results Murcia saw the highest growth in GDP per inhabitant at 4.14%. With the average growth in GDP per inhabitant at 3.2% in Spain other regions which experienced above average growth were Andalucía (3.6% ), Madrid (3.5%), Cantabria (3.5%) and the Comunidad Valenciana (3.3%).

The Spanish economy performed well in comparison with the rest of Europe. Average Spanish income reached 94% of the average GDP per inhabitant in the Euro zone and 100% of the average for the European Union’s 27 members.

Funcas also pointed out that GDP per inhabitant in the region with the weakest economy, Extremadura, grew from 48% of Madrid’s average in 2000 to 53% in 2006.

Map of Barcelona

Bird’s Eye View of Barcelona over the last 50 years

Barcelona Town Hall has improved its virtual journey which gives internet users a bird’s eye view of Barcelona in 3D, similar to Google Earth. Internet users who download a special programme can take a virtual journey over Barcelona and see how the city has developed since the middle of the last century. The virtual journey has ‘stops’ in 1947, 1958, 1970, 1994 and 2005. New developments mean that users will soon be able to get a 4D bird’s eye view of the city during different periods over the last 50 years.

This virtual journey is available by going to Barcelona Town Hall’s web page
http://www.bcn.es/volvirtual/english/welcome.htm . The virtual journey over the city was created in 2003. Since then it has undergone several improvements, the most recent development means that users will soon get a 4th dimension which is a historical view of the city and the changes it has undergone since the middle of the last century.

Users will be able to see how the city changed when new neighbourhoods were built (for example the Eixample), how the city’s coastline has developed, and how the city changed in preparation for the 1995 Olympics. Once the service is fully available users will also be able to see how the city looked shortly following the Civil war, the effects of the 1953 Urban plan and the expansion of the city towards the suburbs and the changes the city underwent following the transition to democracy.

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Cheap hotels in Barcelona

De Juana gives up hunger strike

The Basque prisoner, Iñaki de Juana Chaos, who had been on hunger strike for 114 days was transferred from Madrid to a hospital in San Sebastian yesterday afternoon. The ambulance in which he was travelling arrived in San Sebastian at around 4 pm. On arrival at the hospital in San Sebastian the ambulance was greeted by crowd of Basque nationalists waving flags and holding banners in support of the prisoner. According to official sources De Juana entered the hospital on foot because there were too many people for him to be carried in on a stretcher. Armed police surrounded the hospital

Rubalcaba, a minister for the PSOE government, took the decision to transfer De Juana from Madrid to San Sebastian and reduce his prison to second grade following medical reports that his condition was critical and that his vital organs were on the verge of collapsing. He also stated that when De Juana had recovered sufficiently he would be able to return home where he would remain under house arrest for the rest of his prison sentence. Rubalcaba, also pointed out that De Juana had served 18 years of his original sentence and that he was now serving time for the 2 threatening newspaper articles which were published in ‘Gara’.

He defended this decision saying that the difference between the state and the terrorists is that the state valued human life very highly. He also said that he had considered what the consequences of De Juana’s death would have been and he taken had the decision very carefully. He said the state had to be firm but also intelligent. Rubalcaba said that it was a question of humanity because the ETA prisoner would almost certainly have died had this course of action not been taken.

All political parties except for the PP have supported Rubalcaba’s decision. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain’s president and leader of PSOE, who was in Barcelona on official business yesterday, has not yet spoken publicly regarding this matter.

Picasso paintings stolen

Two Picasso paintings worth over 50 million euros stolen

Two Picasso paintings were stolen on Monday night from the Parisian home of one of the painters granddaughters according to official sources. The two works are estimated to be worth more than 50 million euros. They are two portraits. One of his daughter Maya and the other of Jacqueline the painter’s last wife.

The portrait of Maya was painted in 1938 and measures 60 cms by 74 cms in the picture Maya is wearing a blue dress and is sitting cradling a doll in her arms.
The robbers apparently entered the house in an exclusive district of Paris without forcing open the windows or door. The Parisian police are now taking charge of the investigation.

The robbery took place a day after the Picasso Museum in Malaga received 2 works by the painter which had belonged to his last wife Jacqueline and her daughter. These two paintings were acquired by the Ministry of Culture for 3 million euros.

In 1989 4 Picasso canvases were stolen from his grand daughter, Marina, in Cannes in France as well as a painting by Henri Matisse and another by Auguste-René Rodin. Fortunately the pictures were recovered 4 days later.