Fires in Canary Islands out of control

The wild fires that have been burning on La Gomera (one of the islands that make up the Canary Islands) since last Saturday is still out of control due to adverse weather conditions. At the moment the Garajonay national park remains unaffected. However, there are fears that the fire could spread towards this area.

The Defence Ministry has sent 50 military personnel to help put out the fires that are currently burning on La Gomera. Very few areas where the fire is burning have been brought under control and there is still a lot of work left to be done.
The President of the Canary Islands’ government said yesterday that as the wind was still strong and temperatures high ‘it was necessary to carry on working and hope that weather conditions would improve overnight’.

At present the fires have burnt between 700 and 800 hectares. The most intense part of the fire is in the upper part of the Hermigua district, in the area near La Palmita and Los Aceviños.

During yesterday afternoon three hydroplanes, sent by the Environment Ministry with a capacity for 5000 litres of water, joined forces with the four helicopters that have been working to damp down vegetation in an attempt to prevent the fire advancing towards the Garajonay national park. It is expected that two more helicopters will join fire fighting teams today.

Rivero said that the island’s terrain was hindering efforts to get the fire under control and that fire fighters were having to work day and night.

The Canary Islands’ government has confirmed that schools will be open today in La Gomera except for the CEO Mario Lhermet, in Hermigua, given that the fire is now approaching this area.

The areas where the hydroplanes and helicopters are working are Ancón de Liria, Pista del Cura, Moledores and Aceviños, all in the Hermigua district in La Palmita, on the border with Agulo, as well as in the Barranco del Clavo, in the Vallehermoso district, which became a new centre of the fire yesterday afternoon.

All those who had been evacuated have been allowed to return home except for the inhabitants of Aceviños and La Palmita.

The town hall of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has prepared a team of 6 personnel and a lorry carrying 7000 litres of water to help fight the fires burning on La Gomera.
Electricity supplies have been restored in all areas except for Los Aceviños and La Palmita which are still affected. Fixed telephone lines have also been re-established, although mobile connections are still experiencing problems in certain areas.

Unemployment figures confirm economic crisis

Unemployment goes up by 246,600 in first 3 months of 2008

The unemployment rate in Spain is now 9.63%, which is its highest level in the last 3 years. According to official statistics there are now 246,600 more unemployed than at the start of 2008. Even the Minister for the Economy, Pedro Solbes, described these figures as negative and went even further to say that the unemployment rate could continue to rise in the near future. The total number of unemployed now sits at 2,174,200. In the first quarter of 2008 it is estimated that 74,000 jobs were lost.

Last Tuesday, Solbes admitted that unemployment figures had not, in his opinion, reached their peak and said that unemployment could continue to rise. However, he also reminded people of worse times in the past when the unemployment rate in Spain reached 20% and said that 8%, 9.5% or even 10% would be the highest it would reach this time.

The Minister for the Economy also tried to find something positive to say in a rather negative panorama by pointing out that the number of people with temporary contracts had gone down by 148,100. while people with permanent jobs had increased by 88,900.

Solbes also explained that the rise in unemployment had been predicted by the government and was partly due to seasonal unemployment. He also pointed out that the number of people in the labour market had increased by 172,000 in the first three months of 2008 and by 651,100 in 2007. This increase in those seeking employment was partly explained by the increasing numbers of women joining the workforce.

Nevertheless, figures give a more pessimistic outlook and compared to the previous quarter unemployment rose by 96,300 in the service sector, by 71,100 in the construction industry and by 27,800 in the industrial sector. On the other hand it went down by 2,300 in the agricultural sector. The number of people who had been made redundant more than a year ago went up by 41,400 and unemployment among those seeking their first employment rose by 12,200.

Unemployment has gone up in 15 different regions, the highest rise was in Navarra (44,74%) followed by Cantabria (39.42%) and the Canary Islands (34.44%). In absolute terms, unemployment has risen by 39,000 in Catalonia, 38,700 in the Canary Islands and 37,500 in Andalucia while it has gone down in Extremadura by 1,900 and the Basque Country by 1,500.

The most popular Spanish slang words

The 10 most used words in Spanish slang
In Spain words used in slang can either become outdated and old fashioned as fads come and go or they can be made official by having to the honour of being included in the official Spanish Language dictionary compiled by the Real Academia. There are several ways of finding out what’s happening to language in a society that is becoming more and more dependant on the mobile telephone, the internet and substitutes.

SpinVox is a software that allows conversations to be translated into text messages. The practical application of this programme is simple, anybody who finds themselves without a signal or have their phones turned off could have their voicemail converted into text messages. However, there are pitfalls, slang used can bring up commonly known words or those banished from the dictionary.

So SpinVox uses a system that learns new words and incorporates them into its internal dictionary, in the space of two years around 50 million messages in 4 languages have been converted into text messages, blogs or posts in distinct social settings. Yesterday Spanish media published one of the rankings released by the company: the 10 most used words in Spanish slang.

1. Fistro: This word is used to describe someone in a derogatory way and was introduced by a Spanish comedian some years ago.

2. Piltrafilla: A popular television advertisement for tuna catapulted this word into popular language and ever since then it has been used to refer to an unkempt or disorganised person. It is also used to express that tiredness has had an excessive effect on someone.

3. Mal quedas: This is used for people who do not live up to their promises and do not deliver what they have promised.

4. Canijo: This word comes from canícula which means small dog in Latin American. It is used to refer to people that are weak, not very tall or small in stature.

5. Quillo: This word comes from a common Andalucian exression ‘chiquillo’ and is used to address friends (quilla if the friend is a girl)

6. Picha: This is another popular Andalucian expressions which means mate or comrade.

7. Kinki: This word has been admitted by the Real Academia, the correct way of spelling it is quinqui. It refers to those people that belong to social groups that are marginalized for their way of life.

8. Friqui: This refers to an extravagant person, or a strange person and for others it just means somebody who is different from the rest because of their peculiar habits.

9. Petardo: This refers to someone who often puts their foot in it and says the wrong thing at the wrong moment and therefore a person who is unpopular (it literally means firecracker).

10. Pasmarote: Someone who acts like they are on a different planet or a person who is too wrapped up in themselves.

Pirates take Spanish boat and crew near Somalia

Crew of Spanish fishing boat kidnapped by pirates in the Horn of Africa

‘We can’t speak now, please do not call us, we are being controlled’ – these are the words of one of the 26 fishermen aboard the Basque fishing boat, Playa de Bakio, following the attack by pirates in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia which has resulted in the kidnap of all its crew. The man who spoke to Spanish radios station Cadena Ser by telephone from the boat pleaded four times in a 12 second conversation that nobody try to make contact with the kidnappers. He also said that none of the hostages were injured, something which contradicts information released by the kidnappers which said that there were several injured crew members aboard the boat.

The crew of the Basque Fishing boat, from a small fishing town called Bermeo in Vizcaya, is made up of 8 Galicians, 5 Basques and 3 Africans. The first person to raise the alarm this morning was the ships owner who spoke to Spanish National Radio at 3.45 am today saying that ‘everybody was fine and that there were no problems at that moment’.

According to a source connected to the kidnappers the boat is currently heading towards the small town of Gaan around 50 kilometres to the south of Obbia. Spanish military sources have confirmed that a frigate that was in the Red Sea is now on its way to the area. There have been several attacks by pirates in the Indian Ocean over recent years. There was an attack on a cruise ship on 4th April this year in which all the crew were taken hostage. The 30 crew members were released after a week following payment of a ransom fee. Action taken by the French special forces led to the detention of 6 of the pirates.

The latest attack on the Basque fishing vessel appears to be another in the long list of incidents in this particular area in which 31 attacks were registered last year by the International Maritime Bureau.

ETA Bombs Socialist Headquarters in Bilbao

Today the Basque terrorist organization carried out its threat against socialist party members by bombing a socialist headquarters in the Peña neighbourhood of Bilbao.

The explosion injured seven Ertzainas (the Basque police), and widespread material damage to the surrounding buildings where the bomb was went off. The bomb also led to the water supply to the area being cut off.

At around 5 am a police patrol discovered a briefcase hanging off the door handle to the Basque Socialist Party headquarters with ‘danger bomb’ written on it. Following this discovery the police took the precautionary steps of evacuating the area. Half an hour later the ‘Association for Road Assistance’ received a call from ETA warning that a bomb would explode at 6 am near to the Basque Socialist Party Headquarters.

According to the Home Office seven Ertzainas were injured in the explosion although non of the injuries are considered to be serious. The bomb blast also caused serious damage to the ‘Casa del Pueblo’ where it was placed and damage to neighbouring buildings as well as damage to several vehicles parked nearby. In addition, the explosion affected a pipe carrying water which led to water supplies to the area being cut off. Urgent repair work to restore supplies is still being carried out.

This is the fifth bombing that ETA has carried out against the socialists and the third against a socialist party headquarters in Vizcaya since the end of the ceasefire. It is the first bombing since the assassination of the ex councillor for Arrasate, Isaías Carrasco.

In its last communication published in the newspaper Gara on 2nd April ETA threatened socialist party members and warned the president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, that there would be neither ‘stability or peace’ while the right of the Basque people to self-determination is not recognised’.

New Minister in favour of Immigrants right to vote in Spain

New Minister for Work in favour of giving immigrants the right to vote

Celestino Corbacho, the new Minister for Work and Immigration is in favour of giving immigrants the right to vote saying that ‘if these people can’t vote then they won’t be interested in what happens in the city where they are living’.

Acording to El Mundo when Corbacho was the mayor of L’ Hospitalet de Llobregat and president of the regional government of Barcelona he argued that ‘the integration of immigrants is not complete because they can’t vote which is why this social group’s interest in local politics is very low’.

In fact in August 2006 PSOE put forward a proposal which would have given foreign legal residents in Spain the right to vote in local elections. The proposal had the approval of the president of the government, Zapatero. However, he did not include this controversial proposal in his government’s legislative programme and it was left up to Jesús Caldera, then the Minister for Work and Immigration to suggest that immigrants could be given the right to vote in local elections. Nevertheless, the vice president, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, put a stop to the debate affirming that ‘this issue was not in the government’s sights’.

Now with Celestino Corbacho in charge of the department for work and immigration it will be interesting to see whether the debate over giving votes to legal foreign residents in Spain is placed on the political agenda.

L’ Hospitalet, where he was mayor, has one of the largest immigrant population in Catalonia. It is estimated that there is an immigrant population of around 53,806 compared to an indigenous population of 198,042. The percentage of the immigrant population has risen from 4% to 23% in recent years. In some neighbourhoods in this Catalan locality foreign residents make up 40% of the population and in some schools 80% of the pupils are foreign.

Spain's first female Defence Minister

Troops line up for the first female Minister for Defence in Spain

For the first time a woman has been given the role of Defence Minister, not only that, a woman who is 7 months pregnant. Although this has raised eyebrows in some quarters Carme Chacón has received the full backing of many of her colleagues in Zapatero’s new government including that of her predecessor José Antonio Alonso.

Chacón has described her position with Zapatero’s government as ‘proof of integration and identification between the armed forces and society’. Today the troops lined up for her inspection, an act seen by many as a milestone in Spanish history and many of her cabinet colleagues such as Rubalcaba, Moratinos, Blanco, Alonso and De la Vega were present to witness the first female in charge of Spain’s armed forces carry out her first official duty.

Chacón started her speech by paying homage to the Spanish military who ‘defend peace and to those who have given up their lives for a greater cause’. She said that she felt ‘proud and moved by the love for Spain that she had always had since being a child’. She also added that she would continue the magnificent work done by Alonso and that ‘work, discretion and efficiency’ would form the foundations of her ministry.

Chacón also spoke of her objectives as Defence Minister which were firstly to reinforce the presence of women in the armed forces, perfect procedures and improve motivation with the development of the law on a professional armed forces.

The modernization of the armed forces and its adaptation to new times also appeared to be one of Chacón’s main concerns and during her first speech she highlighted the profound and positive change that Spain’s military had experienced over recent times. She said that ‘the army had never been as prepared to guarantee the sovereignty and independence of Spain’.

Chacón’s appointment has been the most surprising out of the whole of Zapatero’s cabinet. However, the decision to appoint a woman as Defence Minister was described by Alonso as ‘absolutely normal’. He also reminded critics of this appointment that there were also women in charge of the armed forces in countries such as Norway and the Czech Republic. Alonso described Chacón as an ‘intelligent person with good sense and political experience’ which would make her an ‘excellent minister’.

See Carmé Chacon's first inspection of the troops on this youtube video:

Ministers in the Spanish Government

This weekend José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero named his Cabinet and there were a few surprises. This is the first government in Spanish history to have more women ministers than men. Another first is that a woman has been appointed to head the Defence Ministery. Seven-months pregnant Carme Chacon was Minister of Housing during the last legislature and she told reporters it was an honour to have been made Minister of Defence in this one. She defines herself as a pacifist and her appointment is bound to have raised a few eyebrows among the Spanish military.

Zapatero said the new cabinet reflected the nature and objectives of his government and he also announced the creation of an Equality Ministry aimed at furthering women's rights in Spain and fighting domestic violence. This is a break down of the new Spanish Government

María Teresa Fernández de la Vega – First Vice-president and Presidency
First Vice-president and Minister of the Presidency. Spokesperson for the government during the last legislature. She has occupied various positions within the Justice Ministry; Secretary of State for Justice (1994); Magistrate (1989). She has also been a member of parliament in various legislatures.

Pedro Solbes – Second Vice-president and Economy and Treasury
The Second Vice-president and Minister for the Economy during the last legislature. Delegate for Economic and Monetary Affairs for the European Commission (1999-2004). Minister for the Economy (1993-1996); Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1991-1993). Member of parliament in various legislatures

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba – Home office Minister
During the last legislature he took over as Minster for the Home Office in April 2006. Before occupying this post he was both the Spokesperson for and President of the Socialist group in parliament. During Felipe González’s last government (1993-1996) he was Minister of the Presidency. Previously he occupied several other distinct positions within the government: Secretary of State for Universities, Secretary of State for Communication and Minister for Education and Science (1992). Professor of Organic Chemistry in the Complutense University of Madrid.

Elena Salgado – Public Administration Minister
During the last legislature she was the Minister for Health (until April 2006). Later on she went on to occupy the portfolio of Public Administration. She occupied various positions within the governments of Felipe Gonzalez: General Secretary for Communication for the Ministry of Public Works (1991-1996). From 1996 to 2004 she worked in several companies within the private sector.

Carme Chacón - Defence Minister
During the last legislature she took over from Trujillo as Minister for Housing in April 2006. In 1999 she was chosen as a councillor for the town hall of Esplugues de Llobregat and became the deputy mayor. She was a member of parliament in 2000 and 2004. She is a Professor of Constitutional Law in the University of Gerona.

Celestino Corbacho – Work and Immigration Minister
Involved in local politics since 1983 in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat and mayor of this locality since 1994. Regional councillor for Barcelona and president for the regional government of this area since 2004.

Mariano Fernández Bermejo - Justice Minister
He substituted López Aguilar in the Ministry of Justice in 2007. A lot of experience working in public prosecution. When PSOE took power in 2004 Bermejo was named the top Public Prosecutor in the High Court, the highest post within public prosecution. Previously he was in charge of public prosecution in Madrid from 1992 to 2003, a post which he left following his confrontations with the then Minister of Justice, Michavila. He was public prosecutor for the Supreme Court between 1989 and 1992. He also worked as an assessor in antiterrorist activities for the Ministry of Justice between 1986 and 1989. He has also worked as a public prosecutor in various courts.

Bernat Soria - Health Minister
Named as Minister for Health in April 2006. Until then he was the Director of the Andalucian Centre on Regenerative and Molecular Biology. He has spent a long time researching stem cells. Professor of Physiology in the Miguel Hernández University in Elche. He became the first president of the European Network for Stem Cell Research, created in 2004.

Miguel Ángel Moratinos – Foreign Affairs Minister
Minister for Cooperation and Foreign Affairs during the last legislature. European Union special ambassador for the peace process in the Middle East from 1996 to 2003. During the last 6 months of 1996 he was the Spanish Ambassador for Israel. Previously he was the General Director of Foreign Policy towards Africa and the Middle East, General Director for Cooperation in the Arab world as well as occupying various other posts within the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Miguel Sebastián - Minister of Industry, Tourism and Commerce
Director of the Economics Office in Zapatero’s last government until October 2006 when he was designated as a candidate for mayor of Madrid. Following being defeated he gave up his post as councillor and returned to lecturing in the Complutense University in Madrid. He also worked as an advisor to Zapatero when PSOE was in opposition. Director of Study Services for the BBVA since 1999.

Mercedes Cabrera - Minister of Education, Social Affairs and the Family
Member of Parliament in the 8th and 9th legislature. Minister for Education from 2006 to 2008. She only entered the world of politics two years ago when PSOE placed her number in second place on the electoral lists for Madrid for the March 2004 elections. She has worked as Co-Director of the magazine History and Politics. Member of the governing board of the Pablo Iglesias Foundation. Cabrera collaborated with PSOE in 1998 in the commission responsible for the Socialist’s electoral programme for the 2000 general election. Following PSOE’s victory in the 2005 elections Cabrera was named as the President of the Commission on Education and Science in the Spanish parliament for which she had the support of all parliamentary groups except for the PP.

César Antonio Molina - Minister of Culture
Member of Parliament for Coruña for the 9th legislature. Minister for Culture between July 2007 and March 2008. Between May 2004 and July 2007 he was the director of the Cervantes Institute. Between 1996 and 2004 he was the director of the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid and between 1985 and 1996 he was in charge of the Cuture sections for the Cambio 16 and Diario 16 newspapers. Before this he was a professor in the Complutense University in Madrid. He has also worked in the faculty of Journalism and Humanities in the Carlos III University in Madrid. He has published more than 30 books including plays, prose and poetry many of which have been translated into different languages. His lastest book, El rumor del tiempo was published in 2006.

Elena Espinosa - Minister of Agriculture and the Environment
Member of Parliament for Orense in the 9th legislature. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food between June 2004 and March 2008. From May 2002 until June 2004 assistant to the presidency of the Rodman group. Before joining the company she worked in the Galician Institute for Technical Medicine for two years. Between 1988 and 1996 she was the president of the Port authority in Vigo and between 1985 and 1988 she was responsible for the Urgent Reindustrialisation Zone of Vigo.

Cristina Garmendia – Research and Development Minister
President of the Spanish Association of Biocompanies (Asebio). In 2000 she founded Genetrix, a private company in the biotechnology sector. She is also president of the Inbiomed Foundation.

Magdalena Álvarez – Transport and Construction Minister
Member of parliament for Málaga in the 9th legislature. In the last government she was also the Minster for Transport and Construction (2004-2008). Member of parliament in the 8th legislature. Member of the Federal Committee of PSOE. Between 1994 and 2004 she was the advisor on the Economy and Treasury for the Regional Andalucian government. Previously she was a councillor for Malaga in the Andalucian parliament. She has been a professor of Economics in various educational institutions from 1977 to 1989. In 1979 she became a Financial Inspector for the State where she has occupied diverse posts in the Treasury Ministry and later on in the State Agency for Tax Administration. She was in charge of the Treasury in the local government of Malaga from 1987 to 1989, General Director of Regional Economic Incentives (1989 -1993) and Director of the Department of Tax and Financial Inspection for the State Agency on Tax Administration.

Bibiana Aido - Minister of Equality
The youngest minister in the Spanish government, 31-year old Aido was chosen as member of parliament for Cádiz in the 2008 elections. Secretary for Equality in the Executive Provincial Commission for PSOE in Cádiz. Until now she has been the Director of the Andalucian Agency for the Development of Flamenco. Between 2003 and 2006 she was the regional delegate for the Andalucian Advisory Board on Culture. Previously she has worked for the University of Cádiz, Unicaza, Iturri S.A. and Caja San Fernando.

Beatriz Corredor – Housing Minister
Until now she has been PSOE’s municipal spokesperson for Housing in the town hall of Madrid. She has been a property registrar since 1993 and before this she was the Director of the Property Register Studies Service for Castilla La Mancha between 2002 and 2006.

Study in Spain underlines therapeutic use of cannabis

Recent study carried out by the Catalan Department of Health and Spanish Health Ministery endorses the efficiency of cannabis in combatting the effects of chemotherapy

A pioneering study carried out by the Catalan Department of Health has demonstrated the efficiency of a medicine which contains cannabis in treating sickness and vomiting in patients undergoing chemotherapy. At present cannabis is available in a medicine form throughout the Spanish health service for patients being treated with chemotherapy if other drugs fail to be effective.

Yesterday, Marina Geli, the head of the Catalan health service said that a pilot programme using cannabis to treat those with multiple sclerosis, cancer and other illnesses had shown that sickness in 67% of the patients in the study had decreased. There were 207 patients in the study suffering from various illnesses such as multiple sclerosis, neuralgic pain and other serious conditions associated with chronic pain.

The study which cost 500,000 euros and was carried out in collaboration with the Spanish Ministry of Health is the first to respond to public opinion which supports the therapeutic use of cannabis.

In the case of patients suffering from anorexia-caquexia associated with Aids up to 53% of these regained their appetites. The number of patients in the study suffering from multiple sclerosis who went from having unbearable pain to suffering tolerable pain went down from 66% to 35% and the number of patients who suffered almost no pain at all increased from 11.40% to 27.70%.

The drug containing cannabis called Sativex comes in the form of a spray. Each container has 50 sprays which covers one course of chemotherapy. In the case of patients suffering chronic illness being treated with Sativex costs around 300 euros per year. Sativex is owned by GW Pharmaceuticals, and will be commercialised in the rest of Europe by Almirall laboratories.

Zapatero fails to win overall majority in opening session

The opening sessions held in the Spanish Parliament today and yesterday designed to elect the new President of Spain were, to the relief of many, a much more civilised affair than the same sessions held four years ago. The Popular Party, leadership has recognised the need to distance itself from its hardline image in order to attract votes from center voters and this was reflected in the more measured tone adopted by its leader yesterday. While both party leaders did not miss the chance to criticise eachother and get the occasional dig in yesterday, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy underlined their intention to cooperate on the major challenges facing Spain. However the leader of the Popular Party also confirmed his party's intention to vote against Zapatero's presidency proposal, and Zapatero did not get the absolute majority of parliamentary votes required in the first vote held this morning. He will be voted in the second round on Friday, when a simple majority is sufficient in order to be able to form Government.

In yesterday’s investiture debate Rajoy said that cooperation was an essential condition given that together both parties represent 92% of the Spanish population.
The leader of the PP said that he believed in agreements and pacts which was why he was willing to work with Zapatero. He also said that both parties should aim for ‘consensual, stable decisions’.

In reply to these words José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero emphasised that the biggest pact of state is the constitutional pact. Zapatero also said that one of the successes of the last 30 years of democracy in Spain was that it was ‘inclusive of all identities in our country’. He said that he had the special responsibility of ‘trying to be as inclusive as possible’.

The acting president reminded Rajoy that in 1996 the PP only made a pact with CiU when they needed to reach a majority. He said the difference between PSOE and the PP was that since 1977 up to the present his party had always favoured consensus.
Zapatero expressed his hopes of being able to reach agreements with the PP over important issues such as regional finance, justice and foreign policy.

However, Mariano Rajoy clearly stated that he would not be supporting Zapatero in the investiture because he said that he did not have his confidence or that of many millions of Spaniards. Rajoy said that Zapatero had a past and that he has seen him govern over four years. Zapatero replied to this by saying that ‘his credentials were those of democracy and of the support of the Spanish population for his policies’.

Zapatero also said that Rajoy had only spoken about the past without giving a single proposal for the future. To this Rajoy said he was sorry that he could not set out his legislative programme and that he would like to do so because it would mean that he had won but that this wasn’t the case’.

Rajoy said that Spain’s economy was in a very vulnerable position with high inflation, less competitiveness and loss of jobs. He said that the key to a good economy was confidence but that Zapatero’s proposals lacked this and that he was more interested in hiding problems than recognising them.

On the issue of the economy Zapatero reminded Rajoy of his challenges over the economy at the beginning of the last legislature and said that he hadn’t dared to give him more challenges because all the previous ones had been met successfully.
Zapatero, while acknowledging the adverse conditions in the world economy, also said that Spain’s economy was strong enough to get over the present situation and that the economic slowdown was affecting all the members of the EU.

Rajoy demonstrated that he would be prepared to reach agreements with PSOE with regards to anti-terrorist policy. Although he also said that this depended on there being no negotiations with ETA. Zapatero said that he wanted all Spaniards to be aware that his party was willing to forget the past and work with the PP over this issue because his party was more interested in putting an end to ETA than gaining political points.

Deaths from mad cow disease in Spain

Two deaths from Mad Cow disease in Castilla y León

Two people aged 26 and 50 years old have died from Mad Cow disease in Castilla y Leon making these the first deaths from Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s disease since 2005.

According to the Regional Health Authority for Castilla y León the most recent death happened at the beginning of 2008 and the other in December 2007 although there has been no confirmation of this by the Spanish government.

According to the regional government the two deaths do not signify an epidemic and the protocol established for deaths from Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s disease which is to notify central government and the appropriate European authority has been followed.
The information regarding the two deaths was released today. However, the exact location where the deaths took place has not been given.

The most recent victim was a young woman aged 26 years old while the other victim who passed away in December last year was aged 50. It is believed that in both cases the disease had been caught years ago and specialists have stressed that these two deaths are no cause for alarm.

Rumania asks emigrants in Spain to return

The Rumanian government is planning to organize a ‘jobs fair’ in Castellón de la Plana on 12th and 13th April in order to try and attract Rumanian immigrants living in Spain to return. This measure is aimed at trying to solve the shortage of skilled workers in Rumania where there are around half a million job vacancies. It is estimated that approximately half a million Rumanians live and work legally in Spain. It is also believed that one and a half million Rumanians have emigrated to other European countries.

The Rumanian Ministry for Work and Social Affairs is planning to send its own experts to Spain together with other government officials and employers from various sectors of the economy. Rumanians living in Spain will receive information about job vacancies in Rumania, the job market in general, opportunities for starting up a business, European grants available and professional training opportunities.

Paul Pacuraru, the Rumanian Minister for Work explained the government’s strategy saying that ‘if we have a deficit of workers it is preferable that we get Rumanians to return home rather than trying to fill those vacancies with workers from Asia, Africa or other countries’. He also said that according to the Rumanian consulate in Castellón many Rumanians are interested in jobs on offer in Rumania.

According to Pacuraru, there are currently around half a million job vacancies in Rumania. As well as organizing the ‘jobs fair’ the Rumanian authorities are also working with the Spanish government on a campaign to dissuade Rumanian immigrants in Spain from taking on illegal jobs.

A ‘jobs fair’ similar to the one planned for Castellón also took place in Italy on 23rd February. It was focussed above all on jobs in the construction industry in Rumania where a skilled labourer can earn up to 1000 euros a month.

Knowledge of English among Spaniards

Only 30 percent of Spaniards speak English

According to figures published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) today only 5% of adults aged between 25 and 74 years old have an advanced level of English, that is, a little more than a million people; 16% have an average knowledge of English and 8% admit to only having a basic knowledge of the language.

The survey carried out in 2007 which looked at the participation of the Spanish adult population in educative activities showed that 29.24% of the adult population had a knowledge of English and 14.7% a knowledge of French.

The sector of the population with the highest knowledge of English was found to be those aged between 25 and 34 years old, in fact 50.24% of them. On the other hand, only 7.65% of older people had a high knowledge of the language.

Figures published today also show that slightly more women (52.6%) than men (48%) aged between 25 and 34 years old possess a knowledge of English.

Knowledge of and the use of English is more common amongst higher educated people and those with university educations (62.09%) compared to secondary school educated people (39.5%).
The INE also discovered that 33.6% of all adults included in the survey say that they are able to use a language other than their mother tongue;12.6% said that they had knowledge of two other languages while just 4% had knowledge of three or more languages.

The survey also found that 41.5% of the adult population (47.4% of men and 35.7% of women) and 16% of university students had not read a book for pleasure during the 12 months preceding the survey.