Storms in Spain

Storm predicted to hit Spain this weekend

According to the State meteorological Agenct (Aemet) a storm which is currently crossing the Atlantic will hit Spain this weekend. It is expected that Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria will bear the brunt of the storm with winds of up to 120 kilometres per hour. The strength and devastating effects of the storm are expected to be ‘explosive’.

Ángel Rivera, a spokeswoman for Aemet, said that the storm was expected to hit the Canary Islands during the early hours of Saturday and the Spanish Peninsula from midday onwards. According to the latest forecasts the storm will then move over Cantabria and on to France on Sunday. He added that this was going to be an extremely big storm which would affect a large part of the Spanish Peninsula.

Flooding in Andalucia which has experienced the rainiest winter since 1963 has sparked a political row between the regional government of Andalucia and the PP. Water levels for the Guadalquivir river keep on rising. In fact since 15th December 610 litres of rainfall per square metre have been recorded by the Andalucian Water Agency.

The PP has accused the regional government of not fulfilling The Flood Prevention Plan for Andalucia. According to the PP it has only completed 10% of the work so far although Juan Paniagua, the director of the Andalucian Water Agency has strenuously denied this and accused the PP of ‘lies’.

Flooding in Andalucia has resulted in 600 homes having to be evacuated a large number of which were illegally built on flood plains. Flooding has affected 7 out of the 49 municipalities through which the Guadalquivir runs with a total population of one and a half million people – so far only 0.1% of the population of this area has been affected by flooding.

Emergency plans remain in place in three provinces - Jaén, Córdoba and Sevilla.

EU Defence Ministers meet in Majorca

EU defence ministers are meeting this week in Majorca to discuss the new EU policy on defence and security as established in the Lisbon treaty. The conference which was officially inaugurated yesterday by the Spanish defence minister, Carmen Chacón, will also be attended by defence ministers from Morocco, Algeria, Mauritius, Libya and Tunisia because one of the objectives of the meeting is to improve cooperation in the European-Mediterranean area.

The conference will focus on institutional matters in order to be able to introduce a Common Policy on Defence and Security which would have the necessary civil and military means to make it workable. It will also discuss the development of relations between strategic partners with objective of strengthening the capacity of the EU to efficiently manage conflicts.

In order to achieve this Spain, which currently holds the EU presidency, wants to strengthen the EU’s capacity to for its armed forces to respond immediately so that it will be able to manage and control all types of crises including natural disasters. It also wants the EU to promote more European programmes on the coordination of its military and civil forces so that it has the capacity to respond efficiently in the face of new risks to its security.

During its EU presidency Spain also wants to strengthen research, technological development and innovation with the aim of creating a ‘strong, sustainable and competitive’ European defence industry both within and outsider its borders.

Today’s meeting will include several sessions on operation Althea in Bosnia-Herzegovina during which preparations for a new EU mission on training and advising the armed forces and ministry of defence for Bosnia-Herzegovina will be discussed.

Other security issues such as improving measures against piracy off the Somali coastline are also on the agenda as well as the preparations for training a Somali security force headed by Spain. In addition, the progress of the EUCO-Haiti humanitarian mission will be subject to scrutiny. Finally there will be a session attended by NATO’S general secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen given that European security issues and any advancement in a European defence force are closely linked to the interests of the Atlantic Alliance.

Traffic limits in Spanish cities

Home Office Minister says that limits must be put on volume of traffic in Spanish cities

The Spanish Home office Minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, said yesterday that mayors have changed their outlook on the subject of road safety because ‘we are all aware that the volume of traffic in cities cannot continue to rise’ and that ‘the current situation cannot go on’. He made these statements during a speech at this year’s parliamentary conference on road safety and the prevention of accidents, attended by 16 mayors and experts on road safety.

Rubalcaba also spoke about the ‘fundamental question of mobility within cities’ where 75% of Spanish citizens live. He said that now the issue of mobility within cities was focussed more on pedestrians and public transport than cars. He also said that the already high volume of traffic could not be allowed to continue to rise the consequences of which were further pollution, the destruction of urban areas and the deterioration of the landscape.

Referring to the already high volume of traffic he said that measures needed to be taken ‘to put a stop to this situation’ and that local authorities had been forced to make radical planning decisions when thinking about mobility within their municipalities.

Rubalcaba was keen to point out the number of traffic accidents had gone down in cities although not as noticeably as on Spain’s motorways. From 2003 to 2008 the number of road accident victims went down by 45% while the number of road accidents victims in cities only went down by 31%. During this period there were 49,000 road accidents in cities which is equivalent to 53% of the total number of road accidents.

Rubalcaba stressed that urban road safety would depend on the coexistence of pedestrians, bicycles and cars. He also pointed out that if car drivers respected speed limits of between 30 and 50 kilometres an hour and wore their seat belts then the possibilities of a mortal accident were ‘extremely limited’.

See: Driving in Spain and Road travel in Spain

Spanish Tourism industry showing signs of recovery

Tourism in Spain grew by 1.1% in January

According to a survey carried out by Frontur for the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce on the movement of foreign tourists 2.54 million tourists visited Spain in January this year which is an increase of 1.1% compared to the same period last year.

This small increase comes after eighteen consecutive months of negative figures and breaks the tendency for decreasing numbers of tourists visiting Spain. In fact, by the end of 2009 foreign tourism was down by 8.7%.

The highest number of foreign tourists visiting Spain are still from the United Kingdom despite the fall of 8.1% in the number of British tourists coming to Spain last year (528,306 tourists), the second largest group of foreign tourists were German although 6.3% fewer German tourists visited Spain last year (417,000 tourists).

The third largest group of foreign tourists to visit Spain was from France and in contrast to the negative figures for British and German tourists this group grew by 5.5% (336,000 tourists). Italian tourists occupy the fifth place with an increase of 19.1% (169.241 tourists).

As far as other countries are concerned the negative tendency continued except for tourists coming from Switzerland and Belgium whose numbers were up by 16.5% and 5.9% respectively. However the number of tourists visiting Spain from Portugal, Ireland, the Low Countries and Nordic Countries fell by 21.7%, 25.6%, 18.1% and 1.1% respectively.

In January this year 795,815 tourists visited the Canary Islands which accounts for 31.3% of the total and is 1.6% more than for the same period last year. These figures break the negative tendency in the number of foreign tourists visiting the Canary Islands which had been continuing since the end of 2008.

There were also positive figures for foreign tourists visiting Catalonia with an increase of 0.9% (571,143 tourists), Andalucia +9.9% (345,612 tourists) and the Madrid region +7.1% (282,719 tourists).

In contrast the Valencian region received 3% fewer visits from foreign tourists (213,842 tourists) while foreign tourism to the Balearic Islands was down by 32.7% in January accounting for 4% of all foreign tourists visiting Spain. According to the Ministry for Industry, Tourism and Commerce these negative figures were influenced by the fact that it was the low season and adverse climatological conditions.

Approximately two million foreign tourists who visited Spain in January this year travelled by plane which is 81.5% of the total number. This represents an increase of 2% and is the first increase since July 2008. Around 372,672 tourists visited Spain travelling by road which is a decrease of 4.7% compared to the same period last year.

The number of foreign tourists coming to Spain independently in January accounted for 67.7% of the total (1.72 million tourists) while the number of foreign tourists coming to Spain on package holidays was down by 1.3% compared to the same period last year.

The number of foreign tourists staying in hotels was down by 1.9% in January this year although 61.2% of the total number still opted for this type of accommodation. Foreign tourists staying in other types of accommodation such as their own properties was up by 7.3% compared to the same period last year.

Spanish royals and Internet 2.0

King of Spain to publish his daily agenda via Internet

Don Juan Carlos, the King of Spain, has decided to publish his daily agenda of official meetings held in the Zarzuela palace. From now on the public and the press will have details of who he is meeting and what he is talking about - something completely unthinkable up to now given that information on most of the King’s meetings was kept secret. Juan Carlos wants the details to be posted on the Monarch's website and to be published on social media sites.

While the royal family will not publish details on all of its activities due to security issues it will however make public details on most of its activities including those of not only the King but the Queen, the Prince of Asturias and his two sisters. These are just some of the changes that the new press officer for the King, Ramón Iribarren, has decided to introduce under the orders of don Juan Carlos.

Iribarren explained that ‘Don Juan Carlos wants Spanish citizens to know what he does’. The aim of this new policy of openness is to improve the image of the Spanish royal family.

For example this month the King has held meetings with the second vice president Elena Salgado in which measures introduced by the government to combat the recession were discussed, the new chairman of Caja Madrid, Rodrigo Rato and most interestingly the general secretaries of two of Spain’s largest trade unions, Cándido Méndez for the UGT and Ignacio Fernández Toxo for Comisiones Obreras (CCOO).

This new openness by the King is significant because up until now no information was given on the activities of any members of the Spanish royal family. The press was only told about public appearances at which official photo opportunities were offered. Nevertheless it was no secret that the King met with politicians, businessmen and women, scientists and representatives of Spanish society.

Now it appears that the Spanish royal family has entered into a new era of openness. The previous press officer for the King, Juan González Cebrián, resigned ‘for personal reasons’ and now a new publicity team has taken over headed by Iribarren who has worked as head of communications and public relations for the Spanish embassies in Morocco and Argentina as well as the media advisor for Felipe Gonzalez when he was president of Spain.

The King and the rest of the royal family hope that these changes will help improve their image amongst ordinary Spaniards especially after public relations disasters such as the Kings famous faux pas of ‘why don’t you just shut up’ to the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, a book on the queen by Pilar Urbano, the divorce between princess Elena and Jaime de Marichalar as well as information on the royal family published on a daily basis in the sensationalist press.

In addition to publishing his daily agenda of meetings don Juan Carlos has also asked for the royal family’s web page to be updated and to have a presence in 2.0 social networks (eg Facebook, Twitter....).

Immigrants arriving in Spain in 2009

Number of immigrants grew by 7.1% in Spain in 2009

The number of immigrants living in Spain grew by 300,000 last year. This is equivalent to 7.1% and is the lowest figure since 1992 according to information provided this week by Consuelo Rumí, the Secretary of State for Immigration and Emigration.

Rumí said that the number of immigrants coming to Spain had gone down by 17% since 2000 - in 2001 the number of immigrants in Spain grew by 23.8% whereas the figure for 2009 is just 7.1%.

The Secretary of State for Immigration and Emigration also said that the number of new contracts for immigrant workers had gone down considerably too. Last year there were just 20,000 new work contracts for immigrants compared to 180,000 in 2008 and 250,000 in 2007.

As far as illegal immigration is concerned this also went down by more than 50%. Rumi said that there were more than 50% fewer immigrants arriving illegally by boat compared to 2000.

Rumí said that these figures showed that Spain had completed its first migratory cycle and was now in transition towards a second cycle characterized by the reduction in the number of immigrants arriving and the specialization of new workers which would require determined policies of integration.

Nevertheless, Rumí said that immigrants were still needed in Spain because in her opinion ‘a society which since the seventies decided not to have children or to have a reduced number of children was also deciding that in the future it would need to incorporate a large number of immigrants if it wanted its economy to grow’.
Rumí said that between 2001 and 2005 immigrants occupied 52% of all the jobs created and in 2006 nearly 60% of the 767,000 new jobs would have been left unoccupied without the 450,000 immigrants who came to live and work in Spain that year.

With regards to the current economic crisis the Secretary of State for Immigration and Emigration said that unemployment for immigrants is far higher than the national average. She also went on to say that the labour market for immigrant workers could now be at an end.

Consumers report Spain

Spanish consumers gaining confidence as consumption in Spanish households increases for the first time in two years

According to the latest figures published by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) Spanish households have started to consume more. Consumption by Spanish households had been decreasing continuously since the beginning of the financial crisis at the end of 2007. However, in the last quarter of 2009 consumption went up by 0.3%. Nevertheless Spain did not come out of recession in the last quarter of 2009. The economy shrank by 0.1% in the last quarter of 2009 and by 3.1% compared to the same period for 2008.

The INE also confirmed that figures for the economy last year were the worst for four decades with a fall of 3.6%. Employment also fell by 6.7% - the equivalent to the loss of 1,271,000 full time jobs.

However, figures published by INE show that although the Spanish economy has not started to pick up yet the components that make up GDP have started to improve. The Secretary of State for the Economy, José Manuel Campa, forecast that the in first quarter of 2010 the Spanish economy would experience ‘slight sustained improvements’ and that private consumption, investment and exports would ‘progressively consolidate’. Campa also said that ‘the government did not expect a relapse in the economy despite the withdrawal of economic stimulus because private activity would take over from public spending’.

However, the Bank of Spain's last report advised caution, claiming it was necessary to wait and see what effect the withdrawal of certain economic stimulus would have on figures for the economy, especially the ending of the scheme that gave discounts to people buying news cars.

The figures published by INE for the whole of 2009 year clearly demonstrate that it was one of the worst years for the Spanish economy in many decades – GDP fell by 3.6% and consumption and investment in the economy both fell by 6.4 points. Overall household spending went down by 5% in 2009 and investment fell by 15.3%. Investment in the construction industry fell by 11.2% which is less than the fall in investment in capital goods fell which by 23.1% last year.

Pensioners protest in Spain

Pensioner groups ask for more limits on early retirement in Spain

Various associations representing pensioners in Spain have called on the Spanish parliament to reject the government’s proposals to raise the legal age of retirement to 67. They also rejected the government’s plans to raise the number of years for calculating pensions because they believe this will lead to a reduction in the amount paid out to pensioners. In addition, they also asked that the overhaul of the social security system in Spain take into account early retirement and asked for this to be paid for exclusively by companies.

In their first meeting of the year the Commission for the ‘Toledo Pact’, set up to reach consensus on the reform of Spain's pension system, held discussions with the chairman of the Spanish Confederation of Organizations for the Elderly (CEOMA), José Luis Méler, and the chairman of the Spanish Democratic Union for Pensioners and the Retired (UDP), Luis Martín Pindado, both of whom showed their disapproval for the proposals set out by the government on retirement laws last month.

Méler advocated getting rid a legal age of retirement all together and making it entirely ‘flexible and voluntary’ given that he believes that to set an age of retirement contravenes the principle of non-discrimination both in the Spanish constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He also spoke about the need to get rid of early retirement paid for by the state although he said that in some cases it was acceptable. For example if it was going to save jobs for younger employees in the same company.

Méler also criticised the situation of pensioners in Spain and pointed out that 28% are at risk of living in poverty (the European average is 19%) and asked for the minimum pension to be raised. He said that many pensioners could hardly get by on just 400 euros a month. He also asked for special tax breaks for pensioners.

Martín Pindado, recognized that the rising numbers of pensioners would put a strain on the state but at the same time highlighted the current strength of the social security system. He was less forthcoming in expressing his views on the age of retirement but rejected forcing people to work until the age of 67.

On the other hand he spoke about increasing youth employment between the ages of 18 and 23 years old, something which in his opinion would help boost social security revenue more than raising the age of retirement

Guatanamo prisoners in Spain

Spain willing to accept five Guantanamo inmates

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, has announced that Spain is prepared to accept five inmates from the Guantánamo prison in Cuba, as long as legal and security conditions are carefully respected during their transfer.

During a breakfast meeting organized by the ‘New Economic Forum’ Moratinos said that despite declaring last month that Spain was willing to accept two Guantanamo inmates (one from Palestine and the other from the Yemen) this number had now risen to five. He also confirmed that this figure was not definite and did not specify the nationality of the prisoners.

In June last year the United States asked Spain to accept at least four prisoners from Guantanamo in order to assist in the closure of the prison. Moratinos announced last month that the transfer of two inmates from Guantanamo was under discussion but that this was not a ‘definite figure’. He underlined that Spain wanted to help Obama in his objective of closing Guantanamo and thereby putting an end to an ‘unacceptable situation’.

Moratinos insists that the transfer of inmates from Guantánamo will be carried out in compliance with all the necessary legal conditions and under strict observation in order not to compromise security.

Meeting between King of Spain and Obama

Obama and Spanish King Juan Carlos to meet this week

The White House confirmed during a press conference last week that the president of the United States, Barack Obama, and the King of Spain are to meet for the first time on 17th February while the King, Juan Carlos, is on a two-day official visit to Washington this week.

The Spanish government confirmed last month that Juan Carlos would be travelling to the United States this month following an invitation from Barack Obama and that a meeting between the two, which was initially planned to take place before Christmas, had been scheduled.

The last time that the King of Spain visited the United States on an official visit was more than five years ago when he was invited by Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, to visit his ranch in a Crawford, in the state of Texas. On this visit he was accompanied by his wife Queen Sofia.

The meeting between Barack Obama and the King of Spain comes very soon after the participation of the Spanish president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in this year’s National Prayer Breakfast which took place in Washington on 4th February.

Zapatero criticised by The Economist

The Economist calls for more leadership from Zapatero inorder to overcome ‘inertia’ and ‘paranoia’

The Economist has published three articles criticising the Spanish government for its handling of the recession. Although it points out that Spain is not facing the same problems as Greece, The Economist says that Spain is the best example of the crisis and criticises the reaction of Zapatero’s government.

This is not the first time that The Economist has criticised Spain having already named it as the ‘sick man of Europe’ and doubting the abilities of Zapatero in his role as the president of the EU. Now it accuses the Spanish government of not foreseeing the recession and of reacting afterwards with ‘inertia’ and ‘paranoia’.

The first article entitled ‘The Zapping of Zapatero’ acknowledges that the Spanish economy is four times that of Greece, its debts are less than those of the US and it has not had to use public money to rescue its banking service. However, it also points out that unemployment in Spain is 19.5%, which is the highest in the Eurozone, and that the budget deficit has shot up to 11.4% as well as the fact that the Spanish economy is still in recession. The Economist accuses Zapatero’s government of making things worse by not foreseeing the economic disaster and when it arrived by reacting with fear, confusion and by launching an austerity plan very abruptly and a ‘empty’ plan of action to reform the labour market only to withdraw it at the first signs of protest.

The second article called ‘Muddle obscures Message’ explains the weak position the government finds itself in and Zapatero’s fear that he might have to face a general strike. The first recommendation by the economist is that ‘you can’t keep the markets and the unions happy at the same time’.

In the third article entitled ‘So hard to bend’ analysts for The Economist believe that Spain is suffering from all the problems of one continent in one country: its consumers have very high debts, mostly in the form of mortgages, like the Irish, its workforce has low productivity like the Portuguese or the Greeks and lack training and education like the Italians. Furthermore it says that the lack of flexibility in the labour market is more exaggerated in Spain and it is here that The Economist places the blame for the high rate of unemployment.

The first article concludes by asking Zapatero for stronger leadership. It calls on the Spanish president not to put off structural decisions any longer and warns Spain that ‘delaying pain only increases it in the end’.

Spanish government asked to reduce costs

For the fourth time in ten months the government has been asked by Parliament to reduce the money it spends on highly paid posts by 25%. The call to reduce costs has come from the PP, backed by the PNV.

The PP has accused Zapatero of increasing highly paid posts paid for by the government by 20% something which, according to Rafael Merino who is leading the call for more austerity, makes it the most expensive democracy in Spanish history. Merino has also called for a ‘profound restructuring of government ministries’.

Since April 2009 three initiatives asking for more austerity and a reduction in the number of ministries have been approved by parliament – the most recent was proposed by the PNV and asked for there to be fourteen ministries instead of the current seventeen and two vice presidents instead of three.

The PP has accepted two amendments which ask the government to fulfil these rulings in favour of it modernizing, rationalizing and reducing costs by reducing the number of people it employs, the money its spends on advertising and avoiding duplicity in public services. On the other hand it has rejected amendments put forward by PSOE.

Merino has justified the initiative proposed by his parliamentary group - supported by the CiU, PNV, ERC, BNG, CC and UPyD - saying that highly paid posts have increased from 374 in 2004 to 461 under the current government while at the same time unemployment has continued to rise and Spanish citizens are forced to make sacrifices. Merino defended his initiative saying that ‘the more ministries and highly paid posts there are in the government the worse things get in Spain and the more incompetence and lack of coordination there is’.

In the government’s defence the Socialist Member of Parliament, Meritxell Batet, attacked the opportunism of the PP and said that the crisis would not be overcome by ‘simplistic measures’. Batet also pointed out that 77% of highly paid consultancy posts were held by civil servants and asked whether the PP wanted to make 25% of these unemployed. She also said that since PSOE took power it had reduced the number of consultants in each ministry and reduced the amount it spends on institutional publicity.

According to Batet the PP does not appear to be worried by the budget deficit but only in getting into power and criticised it for trying to create an institutional crisis in the middle of a recession. She also accused Mariano Rajoy’s party of ‘parliamentary pantomimes’.

Spanish Minister of Economy meets Financial Times directors

Spanish government promises to reduce budget deficit to 3%

Yesterday, the Minister for the Economy, Elena Salgado, set out the government’s plans to reduce its budget deficit during a visit to London in an attempt to calm fears about the state of the Spanish economy. Salgado met with the directors of the Financial Times who recently warned that Spain’s economy risked facing worse problems than Greece given its levels of debt and its budget deficit. The newspaper also accused the Spanish government of not taking the necessary steps to overcome the recession.

According to sources speaking on behalf of the Ministry for the Economy the visit to London was planned a while ago and the meeting with the directors of the Financial Times was a ‘mere coincidence’. However, Salgado left it to her Secretary of State, José Manuel Campa, to set out the government’s plans for consolidating the economy and structural reform in a presentation organized by Barclays, City Bank and Santander bank.

In his presentation Campa recognized that Spain faced challenges such as the reduction in the rate of unemployment (currently nearly 20%) and the reduction in its budget deficit, which it wants to reduce from 11.4% to 3% in three years. The reforms to the economy will be based on restructuring the banking system, changes to the pension laws and the raising of the age of retirement and reforms to the labour market. Campa also promised to make new cuts to public spending if the economy did not improve.

Campa said that the Spanish economy would grow slightly in 2010 and forecast that GDP would increase by about 1.6% in 2011. He also said that the strategy for consolidating the economy would be based on spending cuts throughout Spain’s public administrations and considerable cuts in investment and subsidies to regional governments equivalent to 0.5% of GDP.

Campa said that the government would gradually increase the age of retirement to 67 and on labour market reforms he said that there would be new incentives for young people and women to join the workforce and measures to control seasonal unemployment.

Last night Spain’s major trade unions CCOO and UGT made the first steps towards agreeing on the subject of salary increases for 2010 to 2012 which would be between 1 and 2.5% - 1% for 2010, between 1 and 2% for 20100 and between 1.5 and 2.5% for 2012 (in each year there would be clauses allowing for the revision of these figures so that workers would not lose bargaining power if inflation goes off track).

Yesterday, the Vice president of the government, Manuel Chaves, announced the government’s plans to generate more than 274,000 new jobs in 2010.

Spain’s stock market recovered slightly yesterday after last week’s disastrous results with a rise of 1.02%.

Support for Spanish Government falling

Latest polls indicate that PSOE is losing popularity amongst voters

Two new opinion polls published yesterday by two of Spain’s largest daily newspapers show that PSOE is losing popularity amongst voters. According to the poll carried out by Metroscopia for EL País PSOE’s electoral base has plummeted due to the lack of confidence in the government’s ability to deal with the recession.

According to this poll, the PP is now leading PSOE by 6 points which is much more than the 2.5 lead it enjoyed in January this year. It also found that 76% of those questioned for the poll were not confident in the abilities of the Spanish president, Jose Luis Zapatero, and nearly 80% believed that he took decisions ‘on the go’. Furthermore the first poll since the government’s announcement that it was going to reform retirement laws saw its support fall to 37.5% which is 6 points less than in the general elections last year. It also discovered that voters were pessimistic about Spain’s political and economic future.

These results are worrying for the government because the PP’s lead in the polls is six times more than it was in 1996 when José María Aznar won the elections and the PP took power for the first time. The opinion poll for the El País shows that the PP’s estimated vote is now 43.4%.

Spain’s European presidency has not turned out to be the tonic that PSOE was hoping for and Zapatero now needs to look for other ways of boosting his party’s popularity before the elections in Catalonia this autumn and the local and regional elections in 2011. However, the outlook for the government is not good with 64% of those questioned disapproving of the government’s plicies which is 12% more in the space of just one month. In addition 39% of PSOE voters are critical of the government.

The other opinion poll by Sigma Dos for El Mundo carried out following the government’s announcement that it was planning to raise the age of retirement to 67 showed that if a general election was held today the PP would win the election with a 5.8% lead over the socialists.

According to this survey, the leader of the PP, Mariano Rajoy, is now more popular than Zapatero. According to this poll Rajoy was given 4.21 out of 10 while Zapatero only got 4.1 out of 10. However, the most popular leader amongst those questioned was Rosa Díez who was given 4.38 out of 10.

The poll also showed that 51.1% of voters were in favour of a general election now. This opinion was held mainly by 86.7% of PP supporters while just 19.3% of PSOE supporters wanted a general election straight away. As far as changes in the Government are concerned, a high 65.8% said they were in favour of Zapatero doing a cabinet reshuffle.

Zapatero in USA

Spanish president attends the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington

At yesterday’s meeting of the Fellowship Foundation, also known as ‘The Family’, the Spanish president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, spoke at about the government’s commitment to helping the unemployed. During his speech, which lasted for 15 minutes, he also spoke about his government’s commitment to the ‘Alliance of Civilizations’ and quoted a passage from the bible. In addition he called for solidarity with the victims of the earthquake in Haiti and championed freedom and tolerance.

The Foundation consists mostly of representatives of America’s political class. This year the US president, Barack Obama, invited Zapatero to speak at the ‘National Prayer Breakfast’ at which around 3,500 people were present.

Zapatero was unable to speak to Obama before the meeting due to the US president’s delayed arrival but Obama did greet the Spanish president warmly and sat just two seats away from him. During Obama’s speech to the foundation he referred to Zapatero as his ‘dear friend’ and recognised Spain’s contribution to helping US forces in various missions around the world. At the end of the meeting Obama exchanged a few words with Zapatero. According to a spokesperson for the White House he expressed his desire to carry on developing good relations between Spain and the US.

Zapatero began his speech to the foundation by thanking those present for allowing him to speak in Spanish. He also highlighted the ‘admirable conquests’ on the subject of advances in freedom and plurality in the US. He said that ‘both our countries owe much to those who come from other countries without whom we would not be who we are’. He also called for solidarity with those who were unable to come as well as the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

The Spanish president also insisted that the most pressing issue for governments was ‘creating employment’. But he also said that these jobs should guarantee the rights of workers. To illustrate his point he read chapter 24 from the book of Deuteronomy. "Do not exploit the poor needy labourer as he is one of your fellow men or a foreigner that lives in one of the cities in your country. Pay the labourer before the sun sets because he is needed and your life depends on his day’s work"
Zapatero also spoke of the Rights of each person to ‘moral autonomy’ and ‘to live with a person they loved’ which he also linked to the issue of freedom and tolerance. He said that ‘it is freedom which makes us people and citizens and which allows us to look to the future and know the truth’. He also said that hate bred ignorance and intolerance.

Tropical storms in the Canary Islands

The extreme weather conditions on the Canary Islands damaged hundreds of buildings and also resulted in many people being left without electricity or running water for hours yesterday. Tenerife is the worst affected island with the metropolitan areas La Laguna and Santa Cruz suffering the worst damage.

In Anaga, up to 270 litres of rainfall per square metre were registered in some areas and around 200 people were cut off due to the weather conditions.

On the island of Tenerife, 41 people had to be evacuated from their homes for their own safety in the areas of Tabaiba, El Rosario, the Valle Brosque (Tahodio) and in Camino La Ermita, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Yesterday the town hall of La Laguna declared a state of emergency for the whole municipality. The worst affected areas were La Cuesta, Valle Jiménez, Valle Tabares and San Luis Gonzaga.

Thousands of homes and businesses were affected by the power cut and according to Endesa yesterday morning there were 11,000 people without electricity. Although this figure was down to just 3,887 by yesterday afternoon, most of whom were in Tenerife. By 9.30pm yesterday just 600 people remained without electricity in Anaga.

In addition to power cuts there was extensive damage to infrastructure in Puerto de la Restinga (El Hierro) and some people in La Bombilla and El Remo, located in the municipality of Los Llanos de Aridane (La Palma) had to be evacuated.

Mobile telephone connections were also affected with 48% of people in La Gomera unable to use their mobiles, 7% in Tenerife, 7% in La Palma and 22% on the island of El Hierro.

Most roads were operating normally without news of any major incidents except for eight roads in Tenerife, five in La Palma, six in El Hierro and two in Gran Canaria.

Schools which had closed due to the bad weather are due to open today except for eight in Anaga on the island of Tenerife.

As from today residents or groups of neighbours whose homes have been damaged or who have lost belongings as a result of the extreme weather will be able to apply for aid, as established by the Home Office, from their local town halls or local government offices.

In addition to this aid the President of the Canary Islands, Paulino Rivero, said that the regional government would also take special measures to help those affected by the weather with aid covering up to 50% of the cost of repairs. In a press conference yesterday he also said that things were getting back to normal throughout the Canary Islands.

Unemployment in Spain rises above 4 million

According to figures published by the Ministry of Work and Immigration unemployment in Spain rose by 124,890 in January which is a rise of 3.1% compared to figures for December 2009. At the end of last month the official figure for the number of unemployed in Spain was 4,048,493 which is the highest figure since records began in 1996.

Although the rise in unemployment last month was less than in January 2008 when unemployment rose by 198,838, the biggest rise on record, it is the sixth consecutive rise in unemployment. Over the last twelve months unemployment has risen by 720,692 which is an overall rise of 21.6%. Out of this figure 23.1% 386,972 are men (23.1%) and 333,720 are women (20.2%).

The Secretary for Employment, Maravillas Rojo, said that January is always a ‘bad month’ for employment given that unemployment always goes up ‘even in times of economic growth’. Rojo admitted that the new figures were ‘very negative’ but that the rise in unemployment was slowing down compared to a year ago. Nevertheless, Rojo also recognised that the number of unemployed had not reached its peak yet.

Out of the total rise in the unemployed in January 77,219 were men (+4%) and 47,671 were women (+2.3%).

Unemployment rose by 102,130 in the service sector (+4,5%) which accounts for almost 82% of the total. The second highest rise in unemployment was in the industrial sector with a rise of 8,873 (+1.7%). Unemployment in the construction sector rose by 7,036 (+0.9%). There were 6,285 more unemployed with no previous employment history (+2.2%) and 566 more unemployed in the agricultural sector (+0.5%).

A total of 1,050,233 new contracts were signed in January which is 6.7% less than January 2009. Out of this total 9% were permanent contracts (94,595)

The Secretary for Employment said that she was conscious of the fact that the current situation demanded new measures and that the government would be publishing its proposals for reforming the labour market on Friday this week.

Spanish tourism industry figures 2009

The results of a survey on tourist spending carried out by Egatur show a severe fall in the number of foreign tourists visiting Spain last year, and a fall in the amount of money they spent here. The fall in revenue from foreign tourism is partly down to British tourists who spent 17.7 percent less last year compared to 2008. In total British tourists spent almost 11,000 million euros followed by German tourists who spent almost 9000 million euros in Spain last year which is 6% less than in 2008. The number of visitors from France, Nordic countries and Italy also went down according to the survey by Egatur. Figures from the survey showed that foreign tourists spent 12.3% less on hotels last year whilst spending on other types of accommodation went up by 4.3%. The survey also confirms what many people in the tourist sector feared - that problems in the global economy have led to a dramatic fall in foreign tourism.

Costa Blanca one of the worst hit areas

Foreign tourists who visited the Valencian region, one of Spain's most important tourist areas, in 2009 spent around 679 million euros less during their holidays compared to the previous year. The total amount that foreign tourists spent in this part of Spain last year was just over 4000 million euros.

This significant fall of almost 15% in the total amount spent by foreign tourists in the Valencian region places this region at the top of the list of places which suffered the biggest decreases in the number of foreign visitors in 2009.

The Canary Islands is not far behind with a fall of 13.4% with revenue from foreign tourism 1,405 million euros less than the previous year which translates as a massive 40% fall in the total national loss of revenue from foreign tourism (-3,500 million euros).

The Balearic Islands saw a fall of 7.2% in foreign tourism compared to 2008, which translates into a loss of revenue of 682 million euros - a similar figure to the Valencian region. Both of these regions are popular with foreign tourists for their sunny climates and sandy beaches as well as their nightlife. The Balearic Islands is followed by Andalucia (-6.7% and 527 million euros less in revenue compared to 2008) and Catalonia (-6% and 615 million euros less).

The only place not to suffer from the decrease in numbers of foreign tourists was Madrid which was the only Spanish region to earn more from tourism in 2009 than the previous year. Foreign tourism in Madrid increased by 9.6% compared to 2008 and revenue by around 500 million euros.