Corruption in Mallorca

Corruption scandal surrounding PP in the Balearic Islands

The corruption scandal surrounding the funding of the PP in the Balearic Islands has deepened over the last few days. The anti-corruption judges, Pedro Horrach and Juan Carrau investigating the case allege that public funds were used to pay Nimbus, the advertising agency that ran PP’s publicity campaign in the last general elections. And the former President of the Balear Regional Government, Jaume Matas, is accused of covering up the use of public funds through false invoices to pay for the work carried out by Nimbus.

Pedro Horrach and Juan Carrau believe that they have enough witness statements and documentation to prove that the PP made payments to Nimbus using public money. It is also alleged that Nimbus received payments which were never officially billed.

The case has evolved after it was revealed that the construction of the Palma Arena velodrome cost 111 million euros which is three times the estimated amount that it should have cost. Documents also show that duplicate bills for services such as cleaning and repairs were used to cover up the syphoning off of money for the funding of the PP’s publicity campaign in the 2007 general elections - the biggest electoral campaign ever launched the Balearic Islands.

Documents show that Nimbus received payment of 2.4 million euros over 3 years for its advertising campaigns on behalf of the regional government of the Balearic Islands under the PP and the presidency of Jaume Matas who now faces nine charges of corruption and up to a maximum prison sentence of 24 years and bail conditions of 3 million euros.

It is alleged that Nimbus received payment of 71,038 euros in illegal payments made by Fernando Areal, the head of the PP in the Balearic Islands and brother in law of the ex president of the Islands. Jaume Matas and Fernando Areal could both face up to 3 years imprisonment for hiding electoral costs. They both deny these charges although Miguel Romero, the owner of Nimbus, who is also accused of receiving public funds illegally, has recognised in a court of law that such payments were made.

Other allegations against the PP include 12,000 euros paid to the head of the velodrome Jorge Moisés, a former press officer for the PP, for a study that was never carried out.

Jaume Matas who was the Minister for the Environment for the government of the PP from 2001 to 2003 and President of the Balearic Islands from 1996 to 1999 and 2003 to 2007 has been given the cold shoulder by the majority of his former PP colleagues and the only prominent member and ex minister for the PP to publically show his support has been Eduardo Zaplana, former Mayor of Benidorm, President of the Valencian Regional Government and former minister in Aznar's second term.

Pensions in Spain

Average pension in Spain to rise below the rate of inflation

In Spain the average pension is 775.30 euros. This figure represents a rise of 3.4% according to official statistics released today.

Pensions in seven autonomous regions plus Ceuta were above the national average. The highest average monthly pensions correspond to the Basque Country (961.38 euros), followed by Asturias (926.29 euros) and Madrid (917.04 euros).

The regions where pensioners are paid the lowest average monthly pension are Murcia (683.54 euros), Extramadura (662.22 euros) and, lowest of all, Galicia (648.37 euros).

The two main types of pension paid in Spain are for retirement and for "permanent incapacity" given to victims of a chronic ailment or injury. The average in Spain for this second kind of pension is 846.98 euros 878.64 euros for retirement.

Merger of Iberia and British Airways

It is expected that the boards of directors of both Iberia and British Airways will approve the final plans for a merger between the two companies. If the merger goes ahead as expected it will create the third largest European airline.

Sources from both companies have indicated that once the merger plans have been ratified there is no going back. So far merger plans are on schedule following over a year and a half of negotiations between Iberia and British Airways. It is expected that the new company will come into operation on 1st January 2011.

According to the merger plans currently on the table 45% of the new company will be held by Iberia and the other 55% by British Airways. The cost of the merger will be around 350 million euros.

Antonio Vázquez will be the chairman of the merged company while Willie Walsh will act as its managing director. The current chairman of British Airways will hold the post of deputy chairman. It is expected that the operation will generate approximately 400 million euros in addition to the money obtained from the joint operation of routes between Spain and the United Kingdom.

Although the merger plans do no hold any surprises sources close to Iberia’s board of directors have indicated that some of the final details still need to be agreed. One of these could be what to do with the massive deficit in British Airways pension fund currently believed to be 3,700 million pounds (4,100 million euros).

Both companies agreed last November to a fixed penalty of 20 million euros to be included in the final merger plans if either party breaks the agreement.

The shareholders of the new company will be the current shareholders of Iberia and British Airways and the headquarters are expected to be located in Madrid with its operative and financial centre in London although once the merger is completed it is expected that finance will be dealt with in the Spanish headquarters. The board of directors will consist of 14 - 7 from each company.

The final merger plans will need to be approved by the shareholders of each company as well as the aeronautical authorities in the United Kingdom and Spain in addition to competition organizations which need to give the green light to the admission of shares in the FTSE index.

The provisional name of the new company will be TopCo although other names such as International Airlines Group are being considered. The merged company will have a turnover of around 15,000 million euros, with a fleet of 419 planes flying to 205 destinations all over the world.

Clients of British Airways will have 54 new destinations to choose from 13 of which will be in Latin America while Iberia clients will have access to 98 new destinations.

The new company will try to optimize its ‘hubs’ in order to improve its strategic position and capacity to compete with other large Airlines thanks to the presence of British Airways in North America, Asia, the Pacífic and AfrIca and Iberia’s leadership in Latin America.

Protection of wine prices in Spain

Ministry of Agriculture to withdraw wine from market in attempt to push up prices

Over the next few weeks the Ministry for the Environment and Agriculture will put into action a plan to withdraw two million hectolitres of wine before distillation at a price of around 1.85 euros per hectograde. This measure, supported by agricultural organizations and cooperatives, is designed to reduce the supply of wine and increase its market price.

The operation is open to all wine producers and applies to all wine producing areas even if they do not meet other requirements. The Ministry of Agriculture has a budget of 14 million euros in order to carry out this operation.

Under the current campaign the Ministry of Agriculture has increased to five million hectolitres the amount of wine that can be handed over before distillation. However this quantity has not been enough to increase prices which at present oscillate between 1.90 and 2 euros per hectograde. The wine before distillation was bought by the Ministry at a price of 1.10 euros per hectograde.

As a result the wine producing industry in Spain has asked for a crisis distillation for more than two million hectolitres at a price of 1.91 euros per hectograde. However, the Ministry of Agriculture has refused to introduce a crisis distillation and instead has opted for a complimentary distillation of two million hectolitres at a price of 1.85 euros per hectograde.

Wine producers will receive grants of 300 euros per hectre except for those producers whose areas of land used for the production of wine already receive a fixed price for their wine. The campaign to withdraw wine from the market is aimed at increasing the market price of wine, a measure which would benefit the wine producing sector as a whole.

The last campaign for the production of wine was initially 36 million hectolitres. However, the final figure was closer to 39 million hectolitres which was nevertheless lower than in previous campaigns. The problems faced by Spain’s wine producing industry are not only down to the volume of production but also in the fall of 10% in demand for wine. Domestic consumption of wine is just 11 million hectolitres and exports have fallen from 17 to 15 million hectolitres.

Dignified Death Law in Spain

Andalucian regional government approves law in favour of right to ‘dignified death’

The Andalucian parliament has approved a law in favour of the right to a dignified death. However, it was not unanimously supported within the parliament and some members of the PP voted against the proposed law.

The articles which the PP voted against concerned the duties of health professionals attending patients who opt for a dignified death because they do not include the option for conscientious objection by health professionals.

The law in favour of a dignified death is the first of its kind in Spain and gives patients rights under the current law to refuse determined medical treatment in any hospital whether it be public or private or even religious.

Under the new law situations such as the one which arose in 2007 with the patient Inmaculada Echeverría could be avoided, Echeverría had to be transferred from the religious hospital la Orden Hospitalaria San Juan Dios to the hospital San Rafael de Granada, once the disconnection of her life support machine had been authorised.

The regional government of Andalucia believes that the large majority of Andalucians support the right to a dignified death and the rights of a patient above the considerations of health professionals to make their own decisions. It also establishes the rights of patients to reject or stop any treatment or intervention although this could place their life in danger.
Nevertheless active euthanasia is not covered by this law because the regional government does not have legal jurisdiction in this area of the law.

The new law in Andalucia does however give prevalence to the rights of a patient who expresses their desire to limit measures to life support in certain situations.

The text of the law also forces health professionals attending patients in a terminal condition to respect the patients’ decisions and clearly states that the hospital where they are being treated cannot impose its professional, moral or religious opinions.

The text regulates the rights of patients to receive treatment for pain including palliative sedation when necessary and guarantees the rights of citizens to palliative care in their own homes if the patient so wishes as long as this is deemed possible.

Links between Venezuela government and ETA denied

Chávez denies any links between his government and ETA and FARC

The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, has once again denied a decree issued by a Spanish judge linking his government to ETA and FARC (the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Columbia).

When asked by the press about links between his government and ETA he said he would not answer the question because it was ‘so stupid’ and that ‘even those who accused him did not believe it’. He said that members of ETA who had gone to live in Venezuela in 1989 had not taken part in any terrorist activity.

Chávez said that the case opened by the Spanish judge, Eloy Velasco, in which there were signs of cooperation between the Venezuelan government and ETA and FARC is ‘madness’ because ‘there is not one single shred of evidence to sustain the accusation’.

Chávez also said that Velasco should question the president of Spain at that time, Felipe González on why he made the agreement with Carlos Andrés Pérez, the president of Venezuela during that period in which Venezuela accepted a group of people belonging to ETA and who were now Venezuelan citizens married with children and in some cases grandchildren.

In reference to the eleven members of ETA who arrived in Venezuela in 1989 he said that he was ‘sure that they are not participating in any terrorist activity’. However, Chávez added that ‘if the contrary was shown to be true with irrefutable evidence then the situation would change’.

On 1st March this year Velasco opened a case on various presumed members of ETA and FARC accusing them of collaborating in assassination attempts on high ranking Columbian officials living in Spain.

According to Spanish judicial sources Velasco has issued international warrants for the arrests of amongst others Arturo Cubillas Fontan, one of the presumed members of ETA who arrived in Venezuela in 1989.

Since the decree issued by Velasco has been made public Chávez and other members of his government have denounced on more than one occasion what they believe to be a campaign by the Spanish rightwing against them.

The president of Venezuela said that he did not want to damage relations between his country and Spain but stressed that he did not understand how the president of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, could jeopardise Spain’s relationship with Venezuela by defending the ex president of Spain, José María Aznar. He said that this was ‘automatic solidarity which was a bad thing’.

He also repeated what he had said last week that if relations between the two countries suffered then ‘Spain would have a lot more to lose’. Chávez also accused Aznar of knowing about the coup against his government in 2002 and said that he was a ‘gangster’.

Nevertheless, Chávez said that relations with Madrid would not suffer too badly because however much he is attacked by the press or the Spanish rightwing it would be very different if this disrespect came from Zapatero’s government because this could seriously damage investments that Venezuelan companies had in Spain especially those related to petrol and gas.

Finally, Chávez revealed that he had met Raúl Reyes the now deceased director of FARC in 2000 as requested by the president of Columbia at that time but that this meeting was held in secret and kept private.

Spanish author Miguel Delibes dies

Miguel Delibes dies at the age of 89

It has been announced that the writer and academic Miguel Delibes died at home in Valladolid at 7am today surrounded by close family members.

The health of Delibes, who was 89 years old, had worsened drastically over the last few hours and he had been unconscious since yesterday. Last night the king called the home of Delibes to find out how he was.

One of his children Juan who was in Panama when he found out the news about his fathers state of health is now on his way back to Valladolid.

Since yesterday it was known that the writers worsening state of health was irreversible. He suffered from colon cancer in 1989 shortly after publishing his last novel ‘El Heraje’. The town hall of Valladolid has contacted the Delibes family to offer its condolences and assistance.

It is possible that the body of Miguel Delibes will be taken to the town hall of his home town where he developed his intellectual life and career as a writer and academic. He was professor of mercantile law, a journalist and novelist.

Delibes was awarded the most prestigious awards in the world of Hispanic writing and was one of the most popular Spanish authors whose work was adapted for film and theatre. He was also one of the first people to highlight the dangerous consequences of human agression against nature.

Release of Spanish hostage in Mauritania expected

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs expects imminent release of Alicia Gámez

According to the Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs Alicia Gámez a volunteer worker for a NGO from Catalonia kidnapped on 29th November last year in Mauritania together with Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta is expected to be released immediately.

Another woman, Philomene Kabourée, who was also kidnapped by terrorists and held captive in the north of Mali, is also expected to be released although her Italian husband will continue to be held hostage along with Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta.

It is not known yet whether the two hostages will be taken to Bamako, the capital of Mali in the next few hours or will be fly to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso where negotiations have taken place for their release.

Pollen count in Spain expected to rise this Spring

Very high pollen counts predicted for Spring in Spain

Experts are predicting an intense spring for people allergic to pollen given that airborne pollen will be double the amount recorded in 2009 due to abundant rainfall earlier this year.

Javier Subiza, a leading expert in the area of immunology, said that the concentration of pollen in the air in April, May, June and July would be 5,100 grains per cubic metre compared to 2,800 in 2009.

Subiza said that the amount of rainfall in September, October and November was much less than that recorded in previous years but that the rainfall in January and February this year had doubled the predictions for the amount of pollen in the air compared to last year.

Doctor Tomás Chivato, the head of the allergy service for a Madrid hospital (Hospital Central de la Defensa) said that the people who would be most affected were those residing in the driest part of Spain such as Madrid, Castilla La Mancha, Extremadura and northern Andalucia.

He recommended that people with pollen allergies take preventative measures such as visiting their GPs before suffering symptoms. Chivato also advised that people affected by high pollen counts should not stay long in parks, gardens or areas with abundant vegetation, especially grass.

He explained that pollen was a problem during the daytime and that the pollen count would go down during the night. The worst period would be between 5am and 10am. He said the best thing for pollen suffers to do would be to close windows and keep rooms in semi-darkness for most of the day and lastly be aware that hot, dry days have higher pollen counts especially if they come after rainfall.

Social network usage in Spain

7 out of every 10 Spaniards use online social networks

According to the results of a survey published last week by the Association for Research into the Means of Communication (AIMC) around 71.3% of the Spanish population are registered with an online social network, an increase of 20.5% compared to last year.

Facebook is the most popular social network in Spain - 61.7% of Spaniards registered with a social network are registered with Facebook - followed by Tuenti with 20.8%.

Almost half of those interviewed (43.5%) use social networks on the internet on a daily basis with another 50% connecting at least once a week. The motive for most online social network users is friendship (80%) followed by hobbies (27%).

Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger is the clear leader for those who want to connect and send instant messages (53.3%) followed by Skype with 7.8% - a rise of 2.5% in one year.
However the use of the programme Internet Explorer by Microsoft has fallen for the second consecutive year - 51.4% of internet users use this programme according to the survey. This is a fall of 20% in two years while Firefox by Mozilla accounts for 37.6% of users. Chrome by Google accounts for 7% of users.

After computers and laptops mobile telephones are the third most popular gadget used by Spaniards to connect to the internet (32.7%). For those people who use their mobiles to connect to the internet surfing the Internet and emailing are the most popular activities. Around 12% use their mobile telephones to watch videos like those on YouTube, 6% put photos on the internet and 1.5% upload videos onto the internet.

Excess advertising on the Internet is not longer regarded as the biggest obstacle for internet users. The survey found that the speed of internet connection is now the most important issue for Internet users followed by the cost of connection.

The survey by AIMC was carried out between October and November last year and 36,000 valid replies were used to compile the results. More information on the results of the survey can be seen here.