Spanish secret agent accused of treason

Spanish Public Prosecutor Accuses Ex Spy of Treason

Yesterday the Spanish Department of Public Prosecutions has accused a Spanish ex spy, 42 year old Roberto Flórez García, of selling sensitive information from the Spanish secret service to a foreign country, believed to be Russia. The accused faces a prison sentence of between six and twelve years according to Spanish law. According to judicial sources the Spanish secret service (CNI) informed the public prosecutors office two weeks ago of their belief that Flórez had been acting illegally.

Alberto Saiz, the director of the Spanish secret service talked to the press yesterday about the first case of the CNI being infiltrated from within the heart of the organization. Yesterday Flórez was arrested by police on suspicion of being a double agent and selling information to a foreign source. Two houses belonging to Flórez in Tenerife were searched and as a result a large number of documents were seized.

The accused is suspected of selling information to Russia about other agents working for the secret service as well as details about its structure between 2001 and 2004 although these accusations have been refuted by the Russian embassy in Madrid.
According to the investigation now underway Flórez, who had worked for the CNI for 12 consecutive years offered to sell classified information including information on agents, the internal structure of the CNI and counter intelligence activities to a foreign source in exchange for large payments. Saiz mentioned seven agents belonging to the CNI who died in Iraq in November 2003 although he didn’t say whether information sold by Flórez could have led to the ambush in which the agents were killed.

Despite the seriousness of the allegations Sáiz said that the security of Spain, its institutions, the EU or NATO had not been compromised at any time. He also said that information involving the fight against terrorism had not been given away by Flórez because he had never been close to the Department for International Terrorism which had been set up just a few months before the 11th March terrorist attacks in Madrid.
Saiz also said that an internal investigation into the activities of Flórez had been taking place since 2005 but that information had only been handed over to the Public Prosecutors office three weeks ago.

Although Saiz didn’t want to reveal the foreign source that Flórez had been selling information it is believed to be Russia. Nevertheless an official spokesperson from the Russian embassy in Madrid has strenuously denied that Russia had any dealings with Flórez.

The director of the CNI also admitted that changes to procedures and modifications to structures within the Spanish secret service in addition to new security measures have been in place since the allegations came to light. Although Saiz also added that the organization undergoes constant changes and information sold by Flórez is now meaningless. Saiz said that that it had been a failure of the CNI not to recognize the possibility of somebody working as a mole from within the organization.

Cold meats with Omega-3 pioneered by Spanish company

Grupo Frial, a Spanish company based in Madrid, is rapidly becoming one of the World's pioneers in incorporating vital components such as omega-3 and anti-oxidants in popular foods like cold meats, sausages and patés.

Despite its relatively small size - and despite the fact that private investment in research in Spain is nowhere near as common as in many other developed countries, Frial has invested millions of euros in R+D projects with the Autonomous University of Madrid. Since becoming the owner of the first ever international patent in functional meat products in 2005, investment in research has continued to grow, and Frial spent 10 percent of its income on research.

The company's main driving force is its chairwoman, Paloma Frial. One of Spain's most dynamic business women, Frial started working at the company when its founder (her father), Ramon Frial died. She took over the control of the company when she was eighteen, determined to instill in the company the values which her father had always defended - "responsability, quality and teamwork", and to concentrate her efforts on ensuring that her father's name would become a reference for quality and research in the food industry.

In 2003 Frial and a team of scientists from the Food Sciences Research Group at the Autonomous University started investigating means of incorporating components known to be beneficial to health into some of the cold meats produced by Frial. The result was Vidalim, a formula combining Omega-3 and natural antioxidants which is included in the production process so that the resulting FrialVida (which means FrialLife) products have the added value of containing substances which are known to fight radicals and help to prevent certain diseases.

In declarations to the Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias, Paloma Frial explains further: "All FrialVida products (turkey breast, ham, sausages, beef and roast pork loin) retain all their flavour, quality and nutritional value, but thanks to the incorporation of our patent, they are even more healthy because they balance the content of polysaturated fats and help the prevention of chronic illnesses, aswell as other signs of deterioration related to age".

Frial was named Best Spanish Foods Company in 2005, an award given by the Spanish Food, Agriculture and Fishing Ministery, and this year has been awarded the Madridfusion prize. Since launching the new FrialVida range last year, the company has started exporting to Greece, Portugal and France, and has received enquiries about the patent from the USA and Japan. Companies and research teams wishing to contact the company can do so by emailing Frial at pfrial@grupofrial.com

Related: Grupo Frial

British residents living in Mallorca or Ibiza

TV show looking for ex-pats living in the Balearic Islands.

The TV company Talkback Thames TV have contacted Euroresidentes about a series they are preparing called 'Do You Still Wish You Were Here' (working title) for ITV1.

This 25 x 30 minute series will focus on one single destination per programme and in mix of the old and the new, will select items from the archive of the original UK TV travel series 'Wish You Were Here' and contrast them with reports of each destination as it is in 2007. The aim is to produce an exciting and entertaining new show for ITV daytime. The series will be presented by Mark Durden-Smith, known to many as the face of ITV's I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and ITV's face of the Rugby World Cup 2007. Mark is the son of well-known Judith Chalmers who presented the original series.

As part of the programmes, one on Mallorca and one on Ibiza, the show's producers are looking for British people who have a huge passion for either island and have been living and/or holidaying there since 1970s/1980s. They would be able to talk about how the place has changed and why they love it so much. Ideally they would have bought property in the area. Filming is scheduled to take place in Mallorca on 13th August and in Ibiza on 16th August.

Anyone is interested in taking part in the programme should contact Catherine Allum by phone (00 44 20 7 861 8245 - she promises to ring straight back to save phone bills!) or email (catherine.allum@talkbackthames.tvthen).

Related: Guide to Mallorca, Guide to Ibiza

New payment for mothers of newly born children

As from this week parents in Spain can apply for 2500 euros per child born since 3rd July

Applications opened yesterday for the new payment of 2,500 euros to be paid by the Spanish state to mothers for each child born since 3rd July. Applications can be made in local tax offices or by internet by going to the website for the Ministry of Work, Finance and Economics. A free telephone information service will also soon be available.

Last Friday the Spanish cabinet approved a bill for the new law which gives 2,500 euros to mothers for each child born. The bill was passed to parliament for processing. It is expected to become law as from next December.

The new law allows for a one off payment of 2.500 euros to be made to mothers for children born since 0.00 hours on 3rd July 2007, the date on which the Spanish president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, announced the new measure. The payment will be made to mothers who have legal residence in Spain and in the case of foreign residentes, those who have been living legally in Spain for at least 2 years.

It is expected that the bill will become law in November and the government hopes that the first payments will be made the following month in December.

Related: Child maintenance in Spain

Oil spill reaches Ibiza

10 tonnes of fuel extract from sunken ship near Ibiza – 3 beaches have already been affected

On Wednesday afternoon the merchant ship called Don Pedro left the port in Ibiza on its way to Valencia. However, it didn’t get very far and 10 minutes later it struck a small island called ‘Isla de Daus’ just one nautical mile from the port in Ibiza. Don Pedro was carrying 150 tonnes of fuel and 50 tonnes of diesel oil. The ship took just 30 minutes to sink and fuel started leaking from its hull in several places.

The situation was considered to be so serious that the Minister for Transport, Magdalena Alvarez, returned urgently to Spain from an official visit to Uruguay in order to put into action a rescue and salvage plan.

Nevertheless, 3 beaches on Ibiza have been closed to the public due to contamination by the oil slick and although divers involved in the salvage operation have sealed off the three places where the oil was leaking from they have discovered a broken fuel pipe which is also leaking oil.

The oil slick covers an area 3 miles long and half a mile wide according to Alvarez. The transport minister has announced today that 3,500 metres of anti-contamination barriers have been sent to protect the Ibizan coastline in order to try and prevent further beach closures at the start of the summer holidays.

In a press statement the Transport Minister has explained that this is a very different situation to that of the Prestige oil spillage in which 70,000 tonnes of fuel contaminated much of the Galician, Asturian and Cantabrian coastline.
Unfavourable wind conditions have meant that the oil has not taken long to reach the coast and a clean up operation is now underway on the first contaminated beach. Tomorrow the number of people cleaning the beach will rise from 20 to 50 but so far no volunteers have been called for. Samples for analysis have already been taken from the affected beaches although it is not clear when the results of the will be known.

The president of the Ibizan regional government, Chicu Tarrés, has called for calm and has highlighted the fact that only 500 metres out of a total of 18 kilometres of coastline have been affected.

An investigation by the public prosecutor on the Balearic islands has already been opened in order to find out who is responsible for the accident. The Spanish Civil Guard have been asked to investigate the oil spillage from Don Pedro which belongs to a company called Iscomar given that it could have disastrous consequences for the environment as well as having a serious effect on people’s health.

Related: Guide to Ibiza

Plymouth-Santander Ferry on list of possible ETA targets

The ETA terrorist arrested in Santander was waiting for a car bomb and had information on the ferry to plymouth and the law courts

Aritz Arginzoniz Zubiaurre, a suspected ETA terrorist, was arrested on Tuesday in Santander. Information on 3 possible targets – the Santander to Plymouth ferry, the Law Courts and a popular pedestrianised square in the centre of Santander – was found amongst his belongings along with a Smith&Wesson pistol and a timer, the kind often used by ETA.

The Spanish National Police believe that Aritz Arginzoniz Zubiaurre could have been waiting for a car bomb in order to start taking action, although another type of attack has still not been ruled out of the investigation. All 3 of the possible targets are in the centre of Santander with easy access to the main ring road which provides an quick way of leaving the city.

It is thought that Arginzoniz was part of an ETA cell which has recently been created Cantabria together with his girlfriend, Saioa Sánchez Iturregi. Both of them had been in the ETA cell in Vizcaya which was disbanded by the Basque police, the Ertzaintza, at the end of December last year, but they escaped capture and went into hiding when the Ertzaintza discovered 230 kilos of explosives in Amorebieta and Atxondo and subsequently an ETA hideout shortly following this. Police are still looking for Saioa Sánchez Iturregi and believe that the couple have been in Cantabria since 1st July.

The arrest of Arginzoniz on Tuesday took place at Santander bus station. According to police sources it was his nervous attitude that raised suspicion and, according to reports, when questioned Arginzoniz claimed to be a member of ETA and did not at any moment try to escape. He was taken to the police station where it was discovered that as well as false documentation his rucksack also contained a timer, information on possible targets and a handgun. Immediately following this discovery at police evacuated the bus station.

Related: Guide to Santander ## Ferries from Spain to England

Car thefts in Spain

In Spain a car is stolen every 3 minutes

According to ‘Detector’, a company specializing in locating stolen vehicles, for the past two years a car has been stolen every 3 minutes in Spain. In total 175,200 vehicles per year were stolen in 2005 and 2006 of which over 50,000 have never been found.

Madrid comes top of the list for places where the highest number of vehicles are stolen with around 35,000 car robberies per year. Andalucia comes next with 30,200 followed by the Comunidad Valenciana (Costas Blanca and Azahar) with 24,000, Catalonia (Costa Brava) with 19,100, the Canary Islands with 8,120, the Balearic Islands with 6,020, Murcia (Costa Calida) with 4,300, Galicia with 3,829, Castilla La Mancha with 3,090 and Aragón with 2.280 stolen vehicles.

According to figures released yesterday by Detector the regions where your car is safest are the Rioja with 340, Navarra with 440, Cantabria with 730, Extremadura with 1,428, Asturias with 1,490 and the País Vasco with 2,000 vehicles stolen per year.

37% of all car robberies take place during the Summer when drivers are advised to be especially careful about locking their car properly, and to never get out and leave the key in the ignition, even if it is just for a few minutes and there are other occupants inside. According to information provided by the government in a reply to a parliamentary question last year the number of stolen vehicles dropped by almost a quarter (23.1%) between 2000 and 2005.

Related: Driving in Spain, Roads in Spain

Price of mobile calls from Spain to Europe

Last month the European Parliament passed new laws on the cost of using mobiles abroad which will in theory make using your mobile abroad around 70% cheaper than before this law was passed. Under the new law calling an EU country from any country with the EU should not cost more than 49 cents per minute (this includes the charge for establishing the call) and receiving calls from within the EU should cost no more than 24 cents per minute.

The new charges were supposed to come into effect on 30th June 2007. However, the EU gave mobile phone operators 2 months grace to adapt to the new charges and (surprise surprise) all of them with no exceptions have decided to take this time in full before applying the new tariffs. Clients of Movistar, Vodafone and Orange will all have to wait until the 1st September before they can begin to enjoy cheaper mobile calls while elsewhere in the EU.

Sending text messages while abroad is a good option when you are on holiday abroad, although you also need to be aware that they cost more to send, receiving texts costs you nothing. For example the standard charge for sending a text message in Spain is 17 cents but this can rise to 52 cents if you are sending a text message to someone in Spain from another EU member state.

So it is still best to be cautious when using your mobile while on holiday abroad, at least until September when the phone operators will be forced to drop their prices dramatically in accordance with the new Eurotariff terms.

Related: Mobile phone operators in Spain ## Mobile phone operators in Spain

Telefonica fined by the EU

Brussels fines Telefónica 151.8 million euros for blocking free competition in Internet Broadband Connections in Spain

The European Commission has decided to impose exemplary sanctions on various European Telecommunications companies with the Spanish company Telefónica at the top of its list. Telefónica, has been fined 151.875 million euros which is the highest sanction ever given to a telecommunications company by the EU. The sanction was given because of ‘the serious abuse of its dominant position’ in the Spanish telecommunications market and for impeding free competition in fast speed internet broadband connection.

To date Brussels has sanctioned the French company Wanadoo with a fine of 10.35 million euros and the German company Deutsche Telekom with a fine of 12.6 million euros for monopolizing access to the internet.

However, on this occasion the European Commission considered Telefónica’s abuse of power deserved a more serious sanction. It found that Spanish consumers paid 20% more than the European average for internet broadband connection and that there were 20% less consumers connected and that this sector of the telecommunications market was growing by up to 30% less than in the rest of the EU.

The European Commission indicated that Telefónica deliberately prevented its competitors by making it almost impossible for them to maintain their position in the market and impeding their growth. It also forced them into a situation in which they incurred losses if they wanted to compete on the same level as Telefónica.
Neelie Kroes, the EU Commissioner for Competition said that ‘when consumers and businesses in an important market were damaged then it affected the whole of that country’s economy and that she wouldn’t allow dominant companies to fix prices and ruin the possibility of liberalizing the telecommunications industry’.

This conflict of interest began back in 2001 when Wanadoo denounced Telefónica for taking advantage of its strong position in the market to get rid of its competitors.
The Spanish regulatory organization the ‘Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones’ (CMT) allowed Telefónica to offer special prices which damaged competition. However, Kroes pointed out that the sanction was against Telefónica and not the CMT. This has led to complaints by Telefónica that the European Commission is using a European law which conflicts with national legislation is different.

Brussels formally accused Telefónica of practices against free competition in February 2006 and gave it the right to defend itself. The company claims to have acted in good faith and within market regulations and says that it will appeal against the fine before the EU court in Luxembourg although it only has 2 months and 10 days left to do so.

The fine given to Telefónica is the highest ever given by the European Commission in this sector. Only Microsoft has received a higher fine of 467.2 million euros.

ETA suspects with explosives arrested in France

Three Members of ETA with more than 150 kilos of Explosives Arrested in the South of France

French police, using information given by the Spanish Civil Guard, have arrested three suspected members of ETA who were travelling in a van with more than 150 kilos of explosives. They were arrested near Saint Jean Pied de Port, in the French part of the Basque Country according to information from the Civil Guard.

One of those arrested is José Antonio Aranibar Almandoz who according to anti- terrorist police occupies an important position in ETA’s military structure and has played a part in planning some of its most significant attacks. The second person who was detained is Ekaitz Aguirre Goñi who fled at the end of March this year when the Civil Guard disbanded the ETA cell ‘Comando Donosti’.

Two of the three arrested are youths but the other is believed to be a veteran ETA member according to French police. The three were travelling towards the Spanish border near Navarra when they were intercepted.

The vehicle which they had been travelling in was a Citroen Berlingo with false French number plates. It was found to be loaded with 150 kilos of explosive material consisting of 140 kilos of potassium chlorate, 16 kilos of sulphur, two detonators, a roll of detonating cord, G-3 assault rifles, two gas cylinders and three pistols.

Cars with highest CO2 emissions to be taxed in Spain

Before the end of the year car tax in Spain will be increased for the most contaminating cars. The government, the IU-ICV and ERC reached an agreement last week to introduce an amendment to the Law on Air Quality.

The new measure is aimed at making vehicles such as 4 X 4s and USVs (urban sports vehicles) more expensive and making cars with the lowest CO2 emissions cheaper.

However, critics of this measure have pointed out that increasing the price of a vehicle that costs 40,000 euros by 1,200 is probably not going to make much difference in the number of those vehicles used or sold.

In Spain there are very few hybrid cars (those which have a motor that uses both electricity and petrol). Cars which pollute least are the smallest models such as Smart, Peugeot 107 and the Citroen C1 amongst others.

The latest car tax measure is intended to influence young people who are buying their first car. The increase in car tax for first-time car owners who can afford to buy a middle of the range 4X4 would be 1100 euros more.

However the President of the Association for European Car Drivers (AEA), Mario Arnaldo, has asked the government to abolish car tax in order to encourage drivers to buy new cars given that older cars contaminate much more. In his opinion this would be a better way of improving the quality of the air and reducing CO2 emissions given that ‘cars manufactured today contaminate 10 times less than those made 10 years ago’.