Obama to visit Spain in May 2010

The US president, Barack Obama, will visit Spain next year in May in order to attend a summit meeting between the EU and US. The meeting will take place on 24th and 25th May in Madrid during the Spanish presidency of the EU.

The EU-US summit meeting will be one of the most important dates on Zapatero’s agenda as EU president together with the summit meeting between the EU, the Caribbean and Latin America which is also due to take place in Madrid in May - a week before the EU-US meeting.

Another important event for Zapatero’s as EU president will be the 2nd summit meeting of the Mediterranean Union which will take place over two days in June in Barcelona.

Spain is due to take over the EU presidency at the start of 2010.

Failure of Spanish parliament motion to condemn Pope's declaration

Catholic Church in Spain condemns parliament for criticising the Pope

The Executive Committee of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) criticised the Spanish parliament yesterday for voting on a motion condemning the Pope and said that this action placed religious freedom in danger.

Yesterday the Parliamentary Commission for International Cooperation rejected a motion proposed by the IU-ICV to condemn Pope Benedict XVI for his declarations on the use of condoms in Cameroon.

The motion asked the government to officially protest through diplomatic channels on declarations made by the Pope in Cameroon. However, it was rejected by all parliamentary groups except for PSOE which abstained from voting on the issue. A spokesperson for the party said that parliament did not have the jurisdiction to make such a condemnation.

IU-ICV proposed that the Spanish parliament should express its rejection of the declarations made by the Pope during his trip to Cameroon in which he said that condoms would not help to overcome the problem of aids adding to the contrary that they would in fact increase the problem.

After hearing the result of the vote in parliament the CEE issued a communication to its members entitled ‘The failed condemnation of the pope by a parliamentary commission’ saying that the church deeply regretted that this motion criticising the actions and words of Pope Benedict XVI was allowed to be voted on in parliament. It also said that parliament as a ‘fundamental institute of the state deserved the maximum respect from everybody but added that the actions by parliament yesterday placed the principle of religious freedom in danger’.

During the debate in parliament yesterday the spokesperson for the IU-ICV, Joan Herrera, criticised the message that the Pope had given saying that it placed the life of millions of people in danger and regretted that parliament had not backed their motion in the face of such serious declarations.

The CEE added that the ‘distinction between the state and society and more specifically between the state and the church and between the moral and political order demanded that the institutions of the state abstained from intervening in the free development of religious institutions, in this case the Catholic church and for the church political condemnation of the moral guidance given by the Pope seriously contradicts the principle of non intervention’.

Spanish tourist industry Summer 2009

Recession in EU crisis increases dependency on domestic tourism in Spain

The Costa Blanca is more dependent on Spanish tourism than ever before and according to statistics published by the Spanish National Institute for Statistics (INE) 7 out of 10 tourists who stayed in hotels this year in the Costa Blanca were Spanish. Just ten years ago this would have been unthinkable given that in the past foreign tourists were the largest group who visited the Costa Blanca.

Nevertheless it appears that while foreigners decided to stay at home Spanish tourists also cut back on holidays abroad. In August hotels along the Costa Blanca received 430,559 tourists, out of which 305,276 were from Spain and 125,283 were foreigners. Benidorm, one of the most popular destinations for foreigners in the Costa Blanca also noted the recession and out of the 208,534 tourists staying in its hotels only 63,036 were foreigners, most of them British.

During August 31% of the total of tourists staying in hotels along the Costa Blanca were from Madrid followed by tourists from the Comunidad Valenciana (26%); Castilla-La Mancha (10%); Andalucía (6.8%); Cataluña (5.8%); Castilla-León (4.7%); Murcia (3.7%); País Vasco (3%); Aragón (1.5%) and Asturia (1.2%).

This move away from foreign tourism to national tourism is slightly worrying for hoteliers along the Costa Blanca because they need foreign tourists to keep the sector afloat during low season when the majority of their income is from either the retired or foreign tourists.

Business groups representing the hotel sector such as Imerso or Hosbec have rejected the government’s plans to increase VAT costs for the sector reminding it that this sector accounts for 12% of the total of Spain’s GDP and is essential to Spain’s economy.

A spokesperson for Hospec also said that that any increase in VAT imposed on the hotel sector would affect hoteliers more than its clients because in times of crisis it would be impossible to pass on any additional costs to its clients. The clearest example of this is the seasonal programme for holidays for the retired in Spain – hoteliers have asked who will pay for the increase in VAT from January onwards.

Zapatero urges alliance with moderate Islamists

During an interview with the US news channel CNN the Spanish president, Jose Luis Zapatero, said that there was need for a greater Alliance with moderate Islamists in order to isolate radical, violent followers of Islam. He also defended NATO’s role in Afghanistan talking about ‘global political action’ but at the same time admitted that more troops were needed.

Zapatero, who is currently in New York to attend a high level meeting on Climate Change and the opening of the 64th session of the UN General Assembly, recognized that Spain would need to send more reinforcements to help peace keeping efforts in Afghanistan and said that only this week the Spanish congress had approved the sending of 220 more soldiers to the area. However, he also insisted on the need for political action and said that this would be the message that he would be giving to the US president, Barack Obama, when he meets him at the White House on 13th October.

In the interview the Spanish president also clarified the differenced between the mission in Afghanistan which has the full backing of the UN and the military intervention in Iraq which did not – Spain abandoned its military contribution to Iraq when PSOE gained power in 2004. Zapatero said that it was essential that military action was accompanied by international cooperation and political efforts towards widening the ‘international order’. He said that if the peace process advanced in the East then this would be a significant step towards a more stable, secure, democratic Afghanistan. He also insisted that president Obama knew that Spain was committed to the international mission in Afghanistan and would remain so.

When asked about the size of Spain’s military contingent in Afghanistan compared to the British one which is ten times bigger despite that fact that the two countries have almost the same the number of armed forces Zapatero said that he considered the Spanish presence in Afghanistan to be at a ‘reasonable level’. He also highlighted Spain’s financial contribution and cooperation efforts to the international mission in Afghanistan and said that there was ‘no security without development and logically development needed security’.

When asked whether Spain was safe from extreme Islamist terrorism after the 2004 March 11th terrorist attacks Zapatero said that ‘nobody was safe from this madness’ which is why he insisted on the need for promoting a culture of understanding between civilizations in order to isolate those who advocated violence.

Summer 2009 in Spain

2009 Third hottest summer in Spain since 1970

This summer has been the third hottest on record since 1970 when the State Meteorological Agency began compiling data on temperatures. According to a spokesperson for the agency, Ángel Rivera, this year’s summer temperatures were 1.8 degrees higher than average compared to the average temperature recorded between 1970 and 2000 - in 2003 the temperature was 2.6 degrees higher than average and in 2005 the temperature was 1.9 degrees higher than average.

Rivera said that this summer had been exceptionally hot especially during the last two weeks of August. He said that only Galicia had escaped hotter temperatures than normal. Furthermore Rivera said that it appears that the cycle of hot summers is continuing which coincides with models of climate change prediction.

The hottest day this summer was 23rd July when temperatures of 45 degrees were recorded in Murcia y Alcantarilla and Madrid experienced the hottest August since at least 1970.

With regards to rainfall (measured from September to September) this year a deficit of 15% has been recorded compared to the average. However the heavy rainfall experienced in many areas of Spain last week and this may have helped to readdress this deficit considerably.

Spanish president in USA

The Spanish president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, is due to arrive in New York later on today for a visit to the US. During his visit he will participate in the 64th session of the UN General Assembly in the UN headquarters in New York and he will also attend the G-20 summit which will be held in Pittsburgh (Pensylvania).

On Tuesday Zapatero will attend a high level meeting on climate change which has been called by the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki Moon, with the objective of preparing the way for a conference on climate change which is due to be held in Copenhagen in December aimed at achieving an international agreement on significantly reducing CO2 emissions.

Zapatero, who will take part in one of the round table discussions at the meeting is expected to emphasize the need to reach an agreement at the Copenhagen conference and will ask for gestures from both developed and developing economies in order to move towards a model of development which is more sustainable and respectful of the environment. According to government sources Zapatero will also urge the private sector to get involved in the fight against climate change.

On Wednesday Zapatero will attend the opening of the General Assembly debates in the UN headquarters and will give a press conference afterwards. In the afternoon he will attend the reception organized by Obama in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the heads of states who have attended the UN debates.

On Thursday Zapatero will attend the first meeting of the ‘Group of Friends’ created in 2008 for a democratic Pakistan and in which Spain became involved in February this year. Following this Zapatero will take part in a debate in the UN General Assembly entitled: Strengthening Multilateralism and Dialogue between Civilizations.

According to government sources Zapatero will include subjects such as the fight against climate change, non proliferation and nuclear disarmament and the future Spanish presidency of the EU in his speech. Following this the Spanish president will travel to Pittsburgh, where the third meeting of the G-20 addressing the reform of the international financial system is due to begin.

Spain is expected to defend its commitment to imposing sanctions on banks which pay excessive bonuses to their directors and to making sure that banks follow anti-crisis measures together with fiscal plans aimed at stimulating the economy.

Zapatero will also take advantage of his US trip to hold bilateral meetings with other heads of state including meetings planned with the presidents of Mexico, Felipe Calderón; Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner; Corea, Lee Myung-bak, Canada, Stephen Harper and the recently elected prime minister of Japan, Yukio Hatoyama.

Zapatero’s intense international agenda will continue later on this month with his first tour of the Middle East during which he will visit Israel, Syria and the Palestinian Territories.

Zapatero is also due to attend a meeting with Obama in the White House on 13th October.

Effects of Income tax reform in Spain

Proposed withdrawal of tax rebate will affect medium income households the most

Despite declarations by Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero denying that medium income households would suffer the most from the government’s proposed increases in income tax the opposite appears to be the case with those on small or medium sized incomes most at risk of losing out. In a simulation carried out by the Spanish daily newspaper, El Pais, based on the government’s proposal to withdraw the 400 tax rebate introduced last year the results showed that over half the money the treasury wants to "claw back" would come from those earning one or two thousand euros a month.

The reasons behind this is that most of the income tax rises would be a result of the withdrawal of the 400 euro tax rebate which mostly benefited those earning medium sized salaries and pensioners. Nevertheless, it is also possible that the government will maintain this tax deduction for those on low incomes and will use it as a bargaining tool in order to negotiate with other parliamentary groups in order to get support for next year’s proposals for public accounts.

The 400 euro tax deduction was introduced last year in order to help households on medium sized incomes at a time when the treasury’s accounts were in a much better state than now. In general it benefited those earning at least 12,000 euros a year and it will be this group who will be most affected if the measure is withdrawn completely. Based on figures taken from 2007 those earning between 12,000 and 21,000 euros a year will be those who will end up paying more according to the Treasury.

The government has defended its proposals to withdraw the 400 euros tax rebate saying that this measure was adopted to help families pay their mortgages at a time when both the Euríbor and inflation were ‘very high’ and was therefore only intended to be a temporary decision.

However, if the 400 euro tax rebate is withdrawn those earning 1000 euros a month could see their monthly income tax rise by 24% and those on two thousand euros a month could see their monthly income tax rise by 11%. Moreover, no announcement on VAT rises has yet been made and any increase in this indirect tax would affect low and medium income households the most.

Source: El Pais

San Sebastian Film Festival Award to go to Ian McKellen

Ian McKellen will receive this year’s Donostia award at the 57th San Sebastian International Film Festival

It has been announced that Sir Ian McKellen (Burnley, England,1939), one of the most important British film, television and theatre actors of his generation will receive the Donostia award at this year’s San Sebastian film festival (18th – 26th September).

McKellen will receive the prize at a ceremony on Wednesday 23rd at 22.00 prior to the screening of Yo Tambien. A spokesperson on behalf of the festival said that he was chosen to receive this year’s Donostia award due to his ‘enormous versatility which has led him to play diverse roles in classics by Shakespeare to the most commercial contemporary superheros’.

McKellen’s prestige as an actor is based on his work in roles such as the extraordinary Richard III (1995) which he made for Richard Loncraine; the role of film director James Whale in Gods and Monsters (1998), Bill Condon, for which he was awarded the Silver shell award for Best Actor at the San Sebastian Film Festival and a Nazi in Apt Pupil (1999), by Bryan Singer. He was also awarded the Special Jury’s Prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 1985 for his role in the film Zina by Kenneth McMullen.

More recently McKellen gained further popularity among younger cinema goers with roles as Magneto in X-Men (2000)and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. His attendance at the San Sebastian Film Festival will be one of the high points in this year's programme.

Berlusconi in Spain

Berlusconi raised a few eyebrows during a press conference held during the Italian-Spanish summit yesterday. Apart from assuring the press that he was the best President Italy had ever had, he also categorically denied all allegations against him which accuse him of paying a prostitute for sex. He made the extraordinary statements during a press conference which marked the end of the 16th bilateral summit meeting between Spain and Italy on the Italian island of Maddalena at which the Spanish president, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, was present, and probably squirming, as the press conference turned into debate about the Italian premier's lifestyle and habits as Berlusconi spoke at length about the scandals surrounding him.

When asked about his relationship with prostitutes, Berslusconi spoke yesterday at leisure about the parties he held in which young women were invited, claiming that as far as he was concerned the women were friends of one of his guests. He even suggested that his critics were probably just jealous.

Berlusconi also spoke emphatically about the allegations that he paid women for sex. He told reporters (and the world) that for him the best part of being with a woman was the "conquest" and so there would be no pleasure for him if he was reduced to paying for sex because there would be no conquest involved.

Berlusconi said that he regretted that the media had published declarations made by himself which he says he never made, and said that reality was very different from that described in the newspapers.

Berlusconi also dismissed the reports of a conflict between him and the Italian church and rejected the suggestion that his image was not really suitable for the post of president of a nation. He said as far as he was concerned he was the best president the Italian Republic had ever had and that Italy's image was intact and that visitors continued to flock to his country.

Illegality of Basque tax cuts confirmed in Brussels

Between 1995 and 2000 all three Basque provinces (Alava, Vizcaya and Guipuzcoa) offered tax exemptions to small and medium sized companies who fulfilled certain prerequisites. Up to 300 companies benefited from the policy. However, yesterday the European Court of Justice ruled that these tax cuts are illegal and hamper free competition.

The tax exemption was available to companies during their first ten years of business and included tax credits for investment in new material and reductions in tax payable on these for the first five years.

However, the cuts were challenged by the regional government of neighboring La Rioja that claimed that companies were leaving other Spanish regions to set up business in the Basque country in order to benefit from the more favorable fiscal conditions offered there. In 2001 the EU established that the Basque fiscal policy was incompatible with the common market conditions and ordered the Basque government to suspend them and to recover lost funds.

Yesterday's ruling said that these tax breaks could not be justified and while the ECJ recognised the rights of the regional governments to design fiscal policy, it ruled that they had to do so in a way that was compatible with European fiscal policies. The verdict is final and ends 15 years of legal contention.

Spanish design industry embraces Web 2.0

The Signes Foundation launches Designpedia, an online Spanish design encyclopaedia, wiki-style

The Signes Foundation has created a platform similar to that of the concept of a free online encyclopaedia established by Wikipedia. Designpedia consists of a website specializing in Spanish industrial and graphic design. In the same way as Wikipedia the contents of the website can be created and edited by its users instantly using a very simple interface. At the momento there is only a Spanish version of the site although presumably users will be able to submit translated material.

The wiki-design platform has been set up so that it can grow "in the hands of its users", and currently has around 450 entries. However in an attempt to avoid some of the problems that Wikipedia has experienced in the past, Designpedia.net hasa group of experts who will "supervise" and "validate" the user-published content.

The site content is covered by the ‘Creative Commons’ license. Texts and images are the property of its authors but contents of the website can be reproduced and distributed by non-profit-making sites and organisations.

Telefonica and China Unicom form alliance

Telefónica signs agreement with China Unicom and capture10% of world market

Telefónica has taken a decisive step towards its future strategy – to infiltrate the Chinese market. In an unprecedented strategy the Chairman of Telefónica, César Alierta, has signed an agreement with China Unicom – the second largest telecommunications operator with access to almost 55 million clients - 10% of the global market. The Alliance between the two telecommunications giants will place them at the top of the list telecommunications operators in terms of numbers of clients in the world.

Telefónica will increase its participation in China Unicom from 5.4% to 8% while the Chinese group will take on almost 1% of Telefónica in a groundbreaking move which marks relations between Western and Chinese operators. Both moves will involve transactions worth around 1,000 million dollars (700 million euros) for each company.

This move into the Chinese market is a result of efforts made by Alierta whose interest in internationalizing Telefónica, the largest Spanish company, was also behind the purchase of O2 the British telecommunications operator. Finding a foothold in the Asian market has been one of Alierta’s long term objectives. Alierta travelled to Beijing to sign the Alliance together with his Chinese counterpart, Chang Xiaobing.

China is one of the largest markets for telecommunications in the world in terms of numbers of clients especially when it comes to the potential for growth – currently every six months it grows at the rate of the total population of Spain. At present only three companies operate in China: China Mobile (mobile telephones) China Telecom (fixed land lines and mobiles) and China Unicom (covers all types of telephone services).

Following the signing of the agreement Alierta said that he was ‘very happy with the alliance’ and confirmed that Telefónica’s commitment was ‘total’. He added that his company would take advantage of all the synergies of this expansion to benefit both its clients and shareholders.

His Chinese counterpart, Chang Xiaobing, also declared that he was ‘very satisfied with the strengthening of relations between China Unicom and Telefónica’. He said that the increase in collaboration between the two companies would benefit both companies and contribute to improving their telecommunications services.

China Unicom will take on almost 1% of Telefónica while Telefónica will increase its participation in the Chinese company to 8%. What is clear is that this alliance will act as a significant impulse to other joint projects already agreed between the two operators. The alliance will help many aspects of the business from extending client bases, the development mobile services, the exchange of best practices and research and development and joint cooperation in developing networks.

The participation of Telefónica in China Unicom is a result of a strategy which began four years ago when it acquired 2.99% of the capital of China Netcom. Little by little it increased its participation to 9.9% which gave it a voice in the administration of the Chinese group. However, China Netcom was absorbed by China Unicom, which lowered its Telefónica’s participation to 5%. With this new alliance Telefónica and China Unicom have said that they will not sell their new shares for at least one year.

Information taken from El País

Report on inactivity among young Spaniards

14% of young Spaniards neither study nor work

According to a recent report published by the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development (OCDE) Spain is one of the countries with the highest number of young people who neither work nor study. The study looked at the situation of 16 – 24 year olds in 19 EU states and the US. Out of all the countries included in the study Spain came 4th in the list with 14% of its young people inactive (neither studying nor working).

The report said that Spain is one of the EU countries included in the study where the problem of inactivity amongst the young is most acute. It also said that 5% of young people who leave school at an early age get trapped into inactivity, another 20% get trapped in unemployment and that young people usually spend as long as 5 years after leaving education in inactivity.

The figure might even be higher now bearing in mind that the statistics were compiled in 2006 during a period of economic prosperity, that since then Spain has reached one of the highest levels in Europe of unemployment amongst the young (25% in 2008) and has one of the highest incidences of teenagers leaving education at an early age (30% which is almost double the average for the EU).

Extension of extra unemployment benefit in Spain

Government to extend 420 euros hand out to unemployed

The Spanish government has finally given in to pressure from leftwing parties in parliament. The financial aid of 420 euros to be paid to all those unemployed whose unemployment benefit has run out will be extended to include those whose benefit ran out from 1st January this year instead of 1st August as established in the law passed on 13th August this year.

This modification to the law will extend the financial help to another 700,000 people and will increase the cost of the measure by 100 million euros a month which is around 700 million more euros than originally forecast. However, a government spokesperson, José Antonio Alonso, said that these calculations are still hypothetical because it is not yet known how many people will apply for the aid although forecasts are based on calculating the total number of people eligible for the aid.

Alonso said that the measure was fair because one of the government’s priorities was to make the state’s resources available to those that most needed help. When asked if the change to the current law was due to lack of support in parliament Alonso explained that the government had consulted all parliamentary groups before passing the law. He also added that the amendment would be passed as quickly as possible so that it would come into effect at the beginning of November.

Yesterday it was announced that so far in 2009 that the government has spent 24.5% more than in the same period for 2008 and that by July the deficit had increased by fivefold and now represented 4.69% of GD

Swine flu vaccinations in Spain

The Spanish Department of Health increases vaccine reserves against swine flu to cover 60% of the population

Following a meeting with regional health authorities the Minister for Health, Trinidad Jiménez, has announced that the Department of Health will increase its reserves of the vaccine against the H1N1 virus (swine flu) to cover 60% of the population - previously it was forecast that the government would only stock enough vaccine to cover 40% of the population.

Groups considered to be at high risk have been widened to include pregnant women, the chronically ill, people working for the National Health Service and personnel who work in essential services such as the police, civil guards and firemen. This accounts for around 15-20% of the population but the department of health has decided to create an additional reserve of the vaccine which would cover up to 60% of the population.

Trinidad Jiménez said that the government had all the vaccines it needed and said that the vaccine would be available from pharmacies by the end of December. In addition she also announced that the start of the school term would not be delayed because there were no clinical reasons to do so. Amongst some of the agreements reached by the Minister with regional health authorities is that to exclude children at risk because scientific evidence indicates that there is a higher incidence of swine flu in young adults rather than children.

Therefore children under 14 years old will not receive the vaccine against swine flu in the autumn except for children over 6 months old who suffer from some previous health condition in addition to the chronically ill, health workers and pregnant women.

The Ministry of Health has also announced that it will make the vaccine against seasonal flu available from 15th September onwards. A list of chronic diseases will also be drawn up by experts commissioned by the Public Health system to coincide with the recommendations by the EU. Nevertheless, vaccination will not take place until the European Medicine Agency (EMEA) announces that the vaccine is ready for use which means that there is still time to make amendments to the strategy for vaccination.

Jiménez said that the rate of incidence of the H1N1 virus last week was 41 cases per 100,000 inhabitants which means that the spread of the virus remains ‘stable’. She also added that from now on that the Ministry for Health would give weekly bulletins to announce the incidence of swine flu and any deaths caused by the disease. She also said that pharmacies would be able to hand out Tamiflu when a higher incidence of the spread of the virus occurred – possibly in October or November.

Jiménez has called for calm and reminded people that the WHO recommends that people carry out their daily routines as usual.