Queen of Spain speaks and causes controversy throughout Spain

Mixed political reaction to Queen of Spain's declarations on several sensitive social and political themes

The PP and PSOE have decided to remain silent over statements made by Doña Sofía the queen of Spain in a book written by Spanish journalist and author, Pilar Urbano called La Reina muy de cerca (The Queen close up) and presented to the media yesterday. In the book Doña Sofia the queen of Spain speaks about several controversial issues such as euthanasia, abortion, gay marriages and religious education and tells the author what her opinion is of several leading Spanish politicians, and their wives. Some of her opinions on gay marriage (e.g. "if homosexuals want to dress up and express their union let them, but they can't call it a marriage.... I don't understand why they're always going on demos anyway - if heterosexuals did that, we would collapse the city..", "a King should never abdicate - the only thing that can make a king retire is death")

Spain’s two major political parties have largely remained silent, although this morning their spokesman said that the Queen should keep her personal opinions to herself. Yesterday in a text message, the governing PSOE party told its members that they should not comment on the opinions of the members of the royal family.

Two members of parliament for Izquierda Socialista Juan Antonio Barrio de Penagos and Manuel de la Rocha did comment on the queen’s words saying that she had broken the principle of neutrality and placed her professionalism in doubt.

The left wing IU, ICV, ERC and Basque nationalist PNV parties.made a collective statement saying that she had dug herself into a hole. The leader of Izquierda Unida, Gaspar Llamazares, said that she had damaged the image of the royal family and challenged the power of the state. He said that thankfully in Spain the king only reigned but did not govern. He added that it was parliament that decided what constitutes a marriage and that parliament had decided that marriage between people of the same sex was as valid as any other marriage between heterosexuals.

On marriage between homosexuals the queen said that this was not a real marriage – an opinion which directly contradicts the law that allows marriage between same sex couples in Spain. On Euthanasia she clearly demonstrated her opposition to the idea although she did say she supported a dignified death. Salvador Pániker, the chairman of the ‘Association for the Right to Die’ told the press she should have kept her views private. He also added that somebody should have explained to her that euthanasia and a dignified death were the same thing.

In the book in reference to domestic violence she said that there had been a snowball effect. The president for the Commission into investigation into abuse against women, Consuelo Abril, said that her opinion showed a deep ignorance of the subject.

On religious education she said that it was important to maintain R.E. in order to teach children the origins of the world they live in (the Spanish government stopped R.E. from being a compulsory subject in schools earlier this year). Pedro Rascón, the chairman of the Spanish Confederation for the Association of Parents (CEAPA), criticised the queen’s comment on religious education saying ‘religious education was not a necessary subject’.

New English mayor of village in Spain can't speak Spanish

Englishman who speaks no Spanish becomes mayor of San Fulgencio by default

The town hall of San Fulgencio now has a new mayor, an Englishman called Mark Lewis, previously councillor for the Agrupación Independiente del Mediterráneo party (AIM) following the arrest of the mayoress and 4 other councillors who were on the governing body of the council. Lewis, who does not speak any Spanish, is the only coalition member not to have been arrested during the operation and so by default becomes mayor. There is just one problem - according to press reports today, Mr Lewis is unable to speak Spanish.

Those arrested in the latest corruption case to affect the southern and inland area of the Costa Blanca yesterday were the mayoress, Trinidad Martínez, and her deputies - Manuel Barrera, Mariano Martí and Juan Antonio Gamuz.

Following these arrests the town hall council is now left with a ruling minority. The opposition consists of three PP councillors and two from the Progress and Order party (PYO). This means that the town council is unable to make any decisions and the only solution available would be to dissolve the council, as happened in Marbella where a new transitory council had to be created.

According to declarations made to the press, María Asunción Prieto a member of the council for the PP no information on what happens next has been provided and nobody really knows who is in charge. Everything will depend on the decision of the courts and the situation of those arrested who are expected to appear in court today before the judge, Felipe Briones.

Ferran Adria defends the price of top restaurants in the economic crisis

Ferran Adrià proposes more creativity in order to overcome the crisis

Ferran Adrià, one of the most famous chefs in the world of high cuisine today and well known for his use of revolutionary techniques has spoken about how he believes that top Spanish restaurants should confront the global financial crisis.

When asked in an interview with the leading Spanish daily newspaper, El Mundo, whether he agreed with the idea of reducing prices or creating more economic set menus he said that restaurants were free to do what they liked. However, in reply to the question about whether this may lead consumers to think that profit margins must have been previously too high he said that in fact the opposite was the case and that some restaurant ran into deficit which is why many top chefs ran parallel businesses.

He also said that high cuisine should try to rid itself of pretentiousness and that there was certain snobbery associated with eating in top Spanish restaurants. He said that he was in favour of creating a more informal image of eating in such establishments.

He said that while he and other top class chefs were trying to create a careful image of high cuisine in Spain some restaurants had got it wrong. He said that while not many people would be prepared to pay 300 euros to eat in a top restaurant they would pay that price for a ticket to see their favourite team play football. He said that it was a price many people could afford, even if it was only a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Ferran Adrià, said that there were hundreds of different kinds and marvellous produce and ingredients waiting to be rediscovered around the world and that he was looking into products from the Amazon and would shortly be participating in a conference on Spanish cuisine in Brazil with Brazilian top chef, Alex Atala and Spanish chef Arzak. He said that he has wanted to travel to the Amazon region for many years to discover new things and products.

When asked whether he was more of a scientist than an artist he replied that he was a chef. He said that high cuisine in Spain was like haute couture something that very few people would wear or own but which constituted the motor of this sector. He also added that there were many things that were used at home today that had their roots in high cuisine.

In reply to the question over his business interests Ferran Adrià said that he was intending to return to being a chef first and foremost. When asked about the controversy surrounding the chef Santi Santamaria he refused to comment.
Finally Ferran Adrià said that eating well nourished the soul. His restaurant has been classified as the best in the world for the third year in a row.

ETA cell disbanded in Navarra

Spain's Interior Minister said the cell was ready to act

In a coordinated police operation which began at 3 am this morning in various places between Pamplona and Valencia the Spanish national police have arrested four people in connection with being members of an ETA cell based in Navarra.

According to a statement made in a press conference this morning by the Home Office Minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the operation is still ‘underway’. He said that police had uncovered weapons, explosives and information. He also thanked the police for their preventative work and said that the ETA cell had been disbanded before it could carry out any operations and that thanks to the detention of the four suspected members ‘a lot of pain had been avoided’.

According to sources close to the investigation three of the people arrested had no previous police records but the fourth person, Aurken Sola Campillo, had been found guilty by the High Court in 2005 and given a prison sentence for one year and three months for collaborating with ETA.

It is believed that the police uncovered two revolvers, 100 kilos of explosives and detonating cord during the operation this morning. Some of the explosives were the same as those used to fabricate the explosives used in the most recent ETA bombings against the law courts in Tolosa (Guipuzcoa) and in the car bomb placed under a police car in Bilbao which was successfully defused.

Apart from Aurken Sola Campillo who has a previous record of activities linked to ETA the other three people arrested were, Araitz Amatriain, arrested in Valencia, Xabier Rey, arrested in Pamplona and Sergio Boado, arrested in Añorbe. However, despite the arrest in Valencia Rubalcaba stressed that there was no evidence to suggest that ETA had set up a terrorist cell in this part of Spain.

Aurken Sola Campillo had previously been a member of the Urbasa ETA cell which was disbanded at the end of 2002. This cell was given the task of obtaining information on different people believed to be ETA targets among them, the mayoress of Pamplona, the president of the parliament of Navarra, members and ex councillors for UPN, the daily newspaper of Navarra as well as various journalists and people working for the police.

The arrests this morning come just days after the latest incidents of unrest known as ‘kale borroka’ (street battle) when two local train stations were attacked in Berriz and Amorbieta to coincide with the anniversary of the signing of the statute of Gernika and also the date planned by Ibarretxe, the lehendakari (leader of the Basque government) for a referendum on Basque independence which was banned from taking place by the constitutional court.

It is believed that the detention of Aurken Sola Campillo confirms the thesis that ETA is having serious difficulties recruiting activists with no previous connections to the terrorist organization.

Spanish scientists claim marine reserves vital to protect fish numbers

Marine reserves best way to safeguard future fishing stocks

An international study led by scientists belonging to the Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO), on the functioning and effect of marine reserves on live resources has shown that the benefits for fish species that receive protection in marine reserves depend mainly on three factors: the continuity of habitats through the limits of the whole reserve, the mobility of the species and the types of fishing methods used.

The report on the effectiveness of the protected marine areas in the Mediterranean has been published by the prestigious scientific journal 'Marine Ecology Progress Series'. The results of the study says that the use of marine reserves – under certain conditions of design and control – is an efficient instrument for the rational exploitation of live resources such as the potential protection of species in danger and the conservation of the ecosystem. The species studied are of high economic value and subjected to high exploitation.

These factors were observed in the Banyuls and Carry Le Rouet marine reserves in France and also a number of marine reserves in Spain: Tabarca, Cabo de Palos, Islas Medas and the national maritime park of Cabrera.

The research forms part of the multidisciplinary European Project BIOMEX,(BIOMasse Export from Marine Protected Areas and its impact on fisheries in the Western Mediterranean Sea). According to Raquel Goñi, one of the leading researchers for the Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares del Instituto Español de Oceanografía, this is the first study that argues the benefits of marine reserves (also known as protected marine areas) in the Mediterranean in relation to the fishing that takes place in these areas.

The study describes the diversity, conditions and characteristics of existing marine reserves in a common hydrographical region and also documents the characteristics of certain types of fishing as well as the challenges associated with their study.

The report also determines if evidence exists of the benefits of protecting the most exploited species of marine life. The creation of marine reserves in Spain, which is the second fishing power in the world, is one of the most important issues that need to be addressed in the near future.

Experts in marine conservation consider that the Spanish initiative to create more marine reserves will be crucial for other countries that want to follow its example and prevent over fishing of limited fish stocks and the danger of extinction that threatens most commercial species of fish.

Latest unemployment figures in Spain

Unemployment rises to 11.3%

Unemployment went up by 217,200 people in the third quarter of 2008 according to the survey into the active population by the Spanish National Institute for Statistics (INE). The current rate of unemployment is now 11.33% which is a rise of 9 tenths and the highest level since the first quarter of 2004.

The economic crisis and the crash in the housing market are both demonstrated in unemployment figures. In fact, unemployment is now the biggest worry for most Spaniards.

The total number of unemployed in Spain is now 2,598,800 people which is the highest level since the first quarter of 2000. Over the last 12 months, the number of unemployment has gone up by 806,900 people – 45%.

A spokesperson for the Ministry for the Economy explained the recent rises in unemployment saying that the creation of employment in the service sector has not been able to compensate for the loss of jobs in the other sectors of the economy.
The international global financial crisis does not bode well for future economic growth in the short term which means that unemployment is likely to rise even further. Between July and September 57,600 construction workers became unemployed due to the problems in the construction industry. The service sector is also experiencing problems with 47,700 workers from this sector becoming unemployed during the same period.

Another worrying piece of information published in the survey by INE is that for the first time in 14 years jobs are being destroyed on inter-annual terms. The number of people with jobs was 78,000 less in the second quarter of the year which means that the number of people with jobs has gone down by 164,300 people over the last 12 months – this is the first drop since 1994.

Over the last 12 months jobs in the service sector rose by 133,400 while there were 134,800 less jobs in the construction industry.

Queen rock in Barcelona

Queen perform in Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi stadium

The legendary British rock band, Queen presented their new album, the Cosmos Rocks, in Barcelona last night. Paul Rodgers, the ex vocalist for Bad Company, took the place of Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991.

Rodgers and two members of Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor first got together in 2004 when they toured under the name of Queen + Paul Rodgers. Now they are touring the world again presenting Queen’s latest album the Cosmos Rocks.

Last night’s concert started off with a ‘cosmic storm’ of sound and image. Queen performed songs from the new album but also old favourites like Hammer to fall, Tie your mother down, Another one bites the dust and I want to break free. One of the most memorable moments of the concert was when Brian May took up his 12 stringed acoustic guitar and performed a beautiful version of Love of my life.

Later in a tribute to Freddie Mercury the large screen at the back of the stage showed pictures of Mercury while May played Bijou and Last horizon.

Radio Gaga, Crazy little thing called love and The show must go on, together with other new songs from Cosmos rocks and All right now by Free contributed to making last nights concert a memorable evening which ended with the undisputable classics Bohemian Rhapsody and We are the champions.

Queen are scheduled to perform two more concerts in Spain one in Murcia 24th on October and the other in Madrid on 25th October.

Spanish judiciary strike to protest against government intervention

Judges and judicial administrators paralyze Spanish justice system in protest against political intervention

Judges and judicial administrators paralyzed the Spanish justice system yesterday during their strike against political intervention from the government. The protest surrounds the action of the government in the case of Mari Luz, the little girl who was killed by a man who should have been in prison when he committed the crime. The case caused outrage in Spain earlier this year. The judge who had failed to enforce the sentence was fined 1500 euros during an internal disciplinary hearing and the judicial secretary who should have alerted the judge has been suspended with no salary for two years.

When the disciplinary action against the judge and his secretary was announced, Mariano Fernandez Bermejo (Minister for Justice) said that he considered it to be insufficient and the vice president. Fernández de la Vega, suggested in an interview with a leading national newspaper that the action should be reconsidered and that the judge should be suspended for 3 years. The main opposition party the PP has also commented on the case in parliament saying that it understood why ordinary citizens would consider the sanctions against the judge to be very little.

However, the Justice Minister, Mariano Fernández Bermejo, said that the action by judges was inexplicable and warned that they were not untouchable. He said that if there had been a serious breach of their duties as in the case of Mari Luz, then sanctions should be imposed.

Yesterday’s action was supported by 73.2% of judges and judicial secretaries and in the case of secretaries alone 90% of them stopped working yesterday for several hours to protest against what they see as excessive government intervention. The strike was supported by both the Supreme and High Courts. The spokesperson for the Consejo General del Poder Judicial, Gabriela Bravo, repeated that this organization is completely independent and would not be influenced by anybody whether it was concerning the case of Mari Luz or any other.

Yesterday’s action brought most of Spain's law courts to a virtual standstill for several hours, although exact figures on the number of cases cancelled are not available. Further action is planned for next month.

Spain left out of Sarkozy's international economic crisis summit

Sarkozy plans to leave out Spain at next international summit meeting on world financial crisis

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said today that the members of the G8 together with the G5 which includes the principal emerging economies (Mexico, Brazil, China, India, and South Africa) should meet at the next international summit meeting to discuss the international financial crisis. However, this announcement leaves out Spain which is not included in the list of invited countries.

After the decision of the French President became public a spokesperson for the Spanish government said that diplomatic discussions were in process in order to guarantee Spain a place at the planned summit. The Spanish government believes that it should be present at the meeting because Spain is the 8th world power and it is the biggest investor abroad after the US and France as well as the fact that two of Spain’s Banks are amongst the 16 largest in the world Furthermore, Spain is an important EU member state and is very influential in Latin America.

When questioned by reporters, the Spanish president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, said that he would look into the French President’s decision although Pedro Solbes, the Minister for the Economy did not think that it was of any importance because Spain does not usually participate in G8 meetings.

In an appearance in the European Parliament Sarkozy said that he was in favour of holding a preparatory meeting with EU member states and said that the easiest option would be to link the summit to that of the G8 that brings together Russia and the 7 most industrialized economies in the world.

The French President repeated that following the emergency measures to deal with the international financial crisis which today received the backing of the International Monetary Fund the moment had arrived to outline the ‘true answers’ in order to avoid similar problems in the future. In addition, Sarkozy took advantage of his appearance in the European parliament to defend the creation of a clearly identifiable economic government in the Euro zone. This proposal encompasses the idea that EU member states create their own sovereign funds and coordinate them together to avoid EU companies from falling into foreign hands.

Sarkozy added that EU countries should reflect on the opportunity to create their own funds so that these national funds could be coordinated to help bring a solution to the current crisis.

On this point Sarkozy referred to the low interest loan of 25,000 million dollars (just under 19,000 million euros) that the US administration intended to give to the US car industry to prevent it from going into bankruptcy. He said that the European car industry could find itself in a seriously distorted situation with regards to its competitiveness compared to its American rivals.

Sarkozy said that this did not question the single market or the policy of competition or the limits on public help. He said that it meant that Europe should look for a united answer which should take into account competition from other regions in the world. He said that it was the duty of EU governments to ensure that Europe continued to produce planes, ships, trains and cars because Europe needed a strong industrial base.

The French President insisted that the economic crisis was already here and said that Europe should face up to it with a united answer similar to that which it had been achieved in the face of the international financial crisis, although he admitted that disagreements amongst member states did exist. He said that unity did not mean that the answer was the same for everybody. He repeated his idea that there was a need for an economic policy which meant that EU members should discuss matters and most importantly in some situations coordinate their actions.

Update
This evening Zapatero held a news conference in which he said that he and the French President had spoken by phone this afternoon and that during the conversation Sarkozy had assured him that the presence of Spain in the international summit was "convenient". Gordon Brown gave his backing to Zapatero last week when he said that the presence of Spain was desirable given the fact that the Spanish government had made some "interesting suggestions" about possible policies aimed at tackling the economic crisis

Prices of broadband Internet connection in Spain

Despite the fact that Telefonica is one of the most expensive operators in Europe the most used broadband package in Spain is 10.9% cheaper than in the rest of Europe. The phoneline and broadband internet connection package at an average speed of between 2 and 10 Megas, the most used broadband package in Spain, is 10.9% cheaper than the average price of similar offers in other EU states. More specifically, this package can be contracted in Spain for 30.3 euros (according to adjusted power of acquisition – PPP) while the average price of similar offers in other EU states costs 34 euros according to figures published by the Comisión del Mercado de Telecomunicaciones (CMT) and with reference to the first quarter of 2008.

Moreover, CMT highlights the fact in Spain that there has been a fall in price of phone line and broadband connection packages with respect to the previous quarter although it says that these falls are more pronounced in other EU states. As far as high speed connections are concerned (more than 10 Megas) despite the fact that the best offer in Spain has dropped in price by 13% compared to the previous quarter this package is still 2% more expensive compared to the best offers in the rest of the EU (35.6 euros compared to 34.9 euros).

On the other hand, although the price of offers for lower speed broadband internet connection have gone down by 11% in Spain they are still 8.7% more expensive than the European average (32.4 euros compared to 29.9 euros).

Furthermore, as far as Telefónica is concerned CMT says that its offers are more expensive than the average for other European telecommunications monopolies (Deutsche Telekom, France Télécom, Telecom Italia, BT or KPN), despite the fact that it has reduced its price for broadband connection of 1 mega (for both phone line and broadband connection or just broadband internet connection).

Finally CMT discovered that phone line and broadband internet connection between 2 and 10 megas is 36.9% more expensive in Spain (51.9 euros compared to the European average of 37.9 euros); the offer for low speed connection is 25.3% higher (36.7 euros compared to 29.3 euros); while the package for high speed connection shows the biggest difference with respect to the rest of the EU (63.7 euros in Spain compared to 41.2 euros in the UE), which works out 54.6% more expensive.

The objective of the report by CMT, which takes into account not only the price of services but also the power of acquisition in different countries, is to compare the cost of access to broadband internet connection for Spanish and European consumers

Judge orders exhumation of Spanish civil war mass graves

Baltasar Garzón orders 19 mass graves from civil war to be exhumed

The High Court Judge, Baltasar Garzón, has declared that the investigations into disappearances during the Spanish Civil War should continue. In a 68 page document published today he refers to illegal permanent detentions being within the context of crimes against humanity.

As part of the investigations the judge has ordered that 19 mass graves should be exhumed, including the one believed to contain the remains of Federico García, following requests made by the relatives of other victims shot dead together with the poet.

Garzón has ordered that a group of seven experts be created to organize the search and localization of the bodies of people who disappeared during the civil war. This group is also in charge of analyzing the number of bodies, the place and identification of the victims and must present a report with the total number of bodies found.

Garzon will also look for those responsible for war crimes and has therefore asked to see the death certificates of Franco and another 34 high ranking officials from his regime such as the ‘General’ or ‘Serrano Suñer’.

Garzon said that unexplained disappearances still continue to be a crime today. He believes that it is within the competence of the High Court to investigate cases because the root causes began with the national uprising which comes under the context of crimes against state organizations.

The accusations were presented in June 2007 by 22 associations for Historic Memory and ten individuals that asked for investigations into disappearances, assassinations, torture and forced exile to be opened dating back to 1936. They also asked for the state to make reparations for the violation of international human Rights.

On September 1st this year Garzón asked institutions such as the Valle de los Caídos, the Conferencia Episcopal Española (CEE), the Centro Documental de Memoria Histórica and the town halls of Madrid, Sevilla, Granada and Córdoba to draw up lists of victims and to provide information on disappearances during the Civil War.

Garzón has defended his decision saying that the action ordered is similar to that of other cases of unexplained disappearances such as 'Nany' or Publio Cordón.
However, the public prosecutors office will appeal against Garzon’s decision because it considers that the crimes committed during the Civil War and the dictatorship to come under the protection of the 1977 Amnesty Law. The Ministerio Publico has also challenged Garzon’s decision because this government body believes that the crimes under investigation do not come under the jurisdiction of the Spanish High Court and should be investigated in the places where they occurred.

Judge to accuse Spanair employees of manslaughter

Judge in charge of Madrid airport Spanair crash investigation accuses two mechanics and head of maintenance of manslaughter and causing injury

Juan Javier Pérez , the Judge in charge of the investigation into the Spanair crash at Barajas airport on 20th August in which 154 people were killed has accused two mechanics and the head of maintenance of manslaughter and causing injury.

Juan Javier Pérez has indicated in his preliminary report that the cause of the accident in which the MD 82 aircraft crashed could have been the malfunctioning of the flaps and slats on the wings which were not in their correct positions on take off. His report also highlights the fact that the alarm to show this fault was not activated because the plane was in ‘flight mode’ and was therefore not correctly configured – something which was not detected by the mechanics which checked the plane.

In the preliminary report the judge points out that the MD 82 aircraft which crashed had abandoned its first attempt at take off due to a problem with the temperature gauge which does not rule out the possibility that this problem was a consequence or sign of a multifunctional fault in the aircraft given that the flaps and slats had also failed to spread correctly on 9th and 18th August.

However, Juan Javier Pérez concluded that arguments against this decision would be considered given that these accusations are base on the preliminary report by the Commission of Investigation.

Juan Javier Pérez also ordered that a parallel Commission of Investigation be set up in order to determine the causes of the accident on 20th August at Barajas airport. He ordered that the new commission should consist of two pilots, two engineers and two mechanics. He ordered that the College of Pilots and the College of Aeronautical Engineers should each put forward a list of 30 professionals with more than 15 years experience and from these 60 names the judge would choose four. In the case of mechanics he ordered that the Ministry for Transport should put forward a list of 30 mechanics who are all experts in the MD 82 aircraft from which two would be chosen.

Angry reaction in Spain to UEFA sanction

There is outrage in Spain following the 150,000 euro fine and 3 match stadium ban for Atlético de Madrid following the match against Olympique de Marsella on October 1st. Atleticos coach Javier Aguirre has also recieved a 2 match ban for insulting the Marseille midfielder Mathieu Valbuena.

The sanctions were imposed on the Spanish club for alleged racist abuse during the match. However, the sanction has now jeopardised the travel plans of up to 6000 Liverpool fans who were planning to travel to Madrid for next week’s Champion’s League match. The UEFA sanction states that the match cannot take place within 300 kilometres of Atletico’s Vicente Calderón stadium.

The Spanish Home Office Minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, said that the sanctions were unusual and he has given his backing to the actions of the police during the recent Champion’s League football match between Atlético de Madrid and the French club Olympique de Marsella. He confirmed that he was working with Atlético de Madrid to try and get the sanction imposed by UEFA lifted. However, William Gaillard, director of Communications for UEFA said that the incidents registered in the match were provoked by the actions of Spanish police.

The Home Office has promised to give all police records and information regarding what happened to Atlético de Madrid. Rubalcala also said that he would send videos of the incidents to UEFA so that it could see what really happened. He said that UEFA official’s would see Olympique fans throwing seats at the police. He said that the police intervened to remove a banner inciting violence and that is when the trouble started. He also reminded reporters that one member of the police had to be hospitalised and needed 7 stitches after being injured by the actions of French fans.

Police Unions have rejected the statement made by UEFA’s director of Communications following the incidents in the Vicente Calderon Studium on October 1st. The General Secretary for the Sindicato Unificado de la Policía (SUP), Sánchez Fornet, said that UEFA should rectify its accusations that the action of the Spanish police caused the outbreak of violence in the Stadium. Fornet said that French fans had attacked the police when they had attempted to remove a racist banner carried by the French fans.

The Spanish Police Federation (CEP) said that Gaillard’s words were unfortunate and said that the police had acted correctly given the situation in the stadium using the necessary level of force against the French fans. The Spanish Federal Union of Police went as far as asking UEFA to apologise for its comments.

Average wage in Spain

Average salaries in Spain 34% lower than the rest of the EU

The average salary in Spain is 34% lower than in the rest of the EU according to a study published today by Adecco and IESE with reference to figures taken from 2006.
The report shows that the average gross salary in the EU was 32,414 euros while in Spain it was 21,402 euros. Furthermore, it shows that in countries like Denmark, the UK or Germany that the average salary was over 40,000 euros a year compared to the average salary in Eastern European countries where it didn’t reach 10,000 euros.

Furthermore, the study underlined the fact that the difference between Spain and the rest of the EU has been increasing over recent years. Between 2002 and 2006 the average salary in the EU increased in real terms by 3.9% while in Spain it only went up by 1.3%.

However, Spain did come out better with respect to the difference in salaries between men and women. On average in the EU men earn 15% more than women while in Spain this difference is just 13%.

By sectors the highest average salaries are found in the banking, insurance and finance sectors at around 50,186 euros a year (gross) compared to the hotel and restaurant sector where the average salary was found to be 21,461 euros. Spain shows the same tendency with average salaries in the finance sector at 40,012 euros and average salaries in the hotel sector at 15,164 euros.

The study also shows that while Spain created 90% of the employment generated in the EU in 2003 this figure now stands at just 3% which in real terms means that the rate of creating new jobs on a year to year basis stands at 0.3%. This not enough to cover the increase in the active population (3.1%) which has resulted in unemployment going up by 35.3% - the biggest increase out of all the countries analyzed in the study.

Moreover, the study forecasts that Spain will continue to have the highest inter-annual increases in its unemployment rate. It predicts that in December unemployment will have gone up by 34.2% compared to the same time last year and there will be a total of 2,586,000 unemployed.

The unemployment rate in Spain is also the highest out the rest of the EU and the study predicts that the unemployment rate in Spain will be around 11.2% by the end of the year.

The slowdown in the creation of new jobs is mostly in male dominated jobs. In fact men have seen their access to employment go down by a third compared to this time last year (from 1.9% to 0.6% in the second quarter of 2008). On the other hand, female job occupation has gone up at a similar rate compared to last year (from 2% to 2.1%).

Acquisition of Sovereign Bancorp by Santander Bank

According to the The Wall Street Journal Santander bank could close a deal to buy the US banking group Sovereign Bancorp today. Santander bank has confirmed that it is currently negotiating a deal to acquire Sovereign.

In the middle of the global financial crisis it appears that Emilio Botín, the chairman of Santander bank, is eager to go ahead in order to secure his position in a bank which has recently made heavy losses. Sovereign Bancorp is estimated to be worth around 2,530 million dollars (almost 1,900 million euros) and its shares 3.81 dollars (2.8 euros). The Sovereign banking group has 750 branches in the northeast of the US and has around 12,000 employees.

Santander bank already owns about 25% of Sovereign. In October 2005 it bought 20% of this banking group for 2,400 million dollars (about 1,800 euros) in an operation which gave it a foothold in the US market with its gaze clearly fixed on the Hispanic market.

Santander accumulated losses of 2000 million euros due to its previous investment in Sovereign. It has also suffered losses with its investments in Fortis. In June 2007 Santander closed a deal to buy 2.1% of the Belgian bank with an investment of 892 million euros.

Sovereign has been badly affected by the international credit crisis over the last few months especially following its entrance into the loans market for the purchasing of cars which is very competitive. The bank lost its dividend last January following the announcement of annual losses of 1,300 million dollars (841 million euros), after losing 1,602 million dollars (1,036 million euros).

Federal government intervention into two of the largest mortgage lenders in the US, Freddie Mae and Fannie Mac, also damaged Sovereign. At the end of August the bank of Pennsylvania told the US Stock Market Commission that at the end of June 2008 it was in possession of 622.6 million shares in these two entities.

Psychiatrists in Spain

There are far fewer psychiatrists in Spain per inhabitant than in many other European countries

A recent study carried out by the European Commission and the regional office for the World Health Organization (WHO) into mental health provision in 42 countries: the EU, seven non EU southern European states (Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia y Turkey), Israel, Norway and Switzerland and five ex Soviet Republic states (Azerbaiyán, Georgia, Moldavia, Rusia y Uzbequistan) found that mental health provision in Spain is below the average for all these states. Spain only has 6 psychiatrists per 100,000 inhabitants compared to 30 for the same number of inhabitants in Switzerland for example and the average for all the states included in the study was found to be 9 psychiatrists per 100,000 inhabitants.

The study looked at the number of beds available in mental health institutions, mental health funding and the number of prescriptions for anti-depressant drugs as well as the number of professionals working in mental health and their training.

In general, the report recognised that most countries have made progress with regards to mental health issues. However, it criticised the fact that the type and quality of treatment for mental health problems still depended on where a person lives. It also concluded that the type and quality of treatment did not only depend on the prosperity of a country but on politics, attitude to mental health issues and health systems.

Marc Dabzon, the director of the office for the WHO pointed out that while the quality of mental health provision could vary depending on money available for a country’s health system in general it was unacceptable that it varied due to the lack of commitment or understanding or good practice in the area of mental health.

One example of this diversity can be seen in the number of beds available in mental health institutions. The report on the study clearly identified countries where there wasn’t enough provision in this area (Albania and Turkey). It also looked at countries that opted for a system of social care where the mentally ill could remain living in society such as in Italy, some provinces of Spain and the UK.

In the case of Spain there are big differences in mental health provision between regions. For example in Extremadura, there are nearly 80 beds for psychiatric patients per 100,000 inhabitants compared to Galicia which occupies the last place on the list with only 20 beds. Murcia, occupies fourth place on the list for the number of visits to psychiatrists with 20,000 visits per 100,000 inhabitants (this number is only higher in Norway, Finland and Slovakia).

Belgium, France, Germany and Holland all have a high number of beds available in psychiatric institutions as well as good social care provision. However, which model to follow continues to be the subject of intense debate in many countries and there appears to be a move towards deinstitutionalization and care in the community for mental health patients. In the case of children and adolescents 31 out of the 42 countries had social institutions available for their treatment while only 4 had provision for special activities for the elderly (including Spain).

Matt Muijen, from the WHO highlighted the fact that one of the biggest difficulties in carrying out this study was the lack of information available in many of the countries included in the study. He stressed that this lack of information was a barrier to improving mental health care.

Related: Healthcare in Spain

Spanish Government crisis plan to support banks

Spanish Government's Rescue Plan designed to boost consumer confidence

Yesterday the Spanish president, José Luis Zapatero, announced the creation of a fund of 30,000 million euros, which could rise to 50,000 million euros, to be used to support Spanish banks. Following a meeting with six representatives of Spain’s largest banks at the weekend the Spanish president announced measures designed to bolster the confidence of Spaniards in their financial institutions.

Over recent months Zapatero’s government has come in for heavy criticism for not taking action to offset the looming global financial crisis, The Minister for the Economy, Pedro Solbes, has been especially criticised and the government has been accused of being too passive. However, this is no longer the case and a meeting with the main opposition PP party’s leader, Mariano Rajoy, was announced last week in order to look for solutions to the crisis.

Although Zapatero was not invited to a meeting last weekend consisting of four of the G8 (Italy, Britain, Germany and France) he remained calm and said that he preferred to wait for solutions from Ecofin (the monthly meeting of the Finance Ministers of the 27 EU member states). However, following the announcement by Angela Merkel the German president last Sunday that the German government would guarantee all bank deposits just days after criticising the Irish government for doing the same Zapatero decided to take action to help the Spanish banks.

Therefore following ‘black Monday’ in stock markets throughout the World – Spain’s stock market closed with loses of more than 6% - Zapatero decided that unilateral action was necessary. The worsening global financial crisis forced the EU yesterday to raise the minimum guaranteed for bank deposits from 20,000 euros to 50,000 euros in the case of a bank collapsing. Just hours after this the Spanish government announced the state would guarantee bank deposits of up to 100,000 euros.

The measures announced by the Spanish government appear to have satisfied most people. Rajoy announced his unconditional support for the creation of a fund to support Spanish banks and the guarantee of up to 100,000 euro banks deposits, although he said that the plan needed to be monitored carefully as essentially it would be spending Spanish tax-payers money.

This Friday Zapatero will be meeting with his French counterpart, Sarkozy, to discuss further possible solutions to the global financial crisis which is now affecting the European banking system. They will probably also discuss Gordon Brown's surprise announcement this morning that the British government plans to partly nationalise UK banks as part of its own rescue effort.

Government measures in Spain to tackle economic crisis

Spanish government committed to guaranteeing bank deposits

Yesterday the Spanish president met with representatives from six of Spain’s largest banks Santander (Alfredo Sáenz), BBVA (Francisco González), Popular (Ángel Ron), La Caixa (Isidre Fainé), Caja Madrid (Miguel Blesa) and Unicaja (Braulio Medel).

Following the meeting Zapatero repeated the government’s commitment to guaranteeing the solvency of Spanish Banks despite widespread panic in the European banking system and sharp falls in world stock markets. Confronted with the risk of being left behind decisions made by other EU states he announced measures that would protect both the liquidity of Spanish Banks and their customers. He also said that if agreement among EU states wasn’t reached he would act unilaterally to protect Spain’s interests.
The options discussed included guaranteeing bank deposits with immediate effect and to make a commitment to injecting liquidity into the Spanish banking system before any of them are seriously affected and therefore avoid repercussions in the Spanish economy.

Zapatero faces a difficult week and will be meeting with the leader of the PP main opposition party, Mariano Rajoy, business leaders and also union representatives. He will also be meeting with the French president who excluded Zapatero from a meeting with Germany, British and Italian leaders last week which aimed to look for solutions to the present global financial crisis with little apparent success.

The agreement reached yesterday between the banks and the government is not as straightforward as it may seem at first sight. Firstly a figure, currently 20,000 euros, guaranteed by both the banks and the government needs to be agreed although another figure which could be above 40,000 euros previously proposed by Brussels could be agreed. Furthermore, Spanish banks are worried about unilateral decisions which could provoke large scale transfers of money from one country to another.

As far as liquidity is concerned the proposed solutions are even more complicated. The government will put forward a proposal for the European Central Bank (ECB) to inject funds over two or three years into the European banking system. The ECB has been injecting money since the beginning of the crisis with thousands of millions of euros but over a very short term. It has conceded loans that banks must return over the matter of weeks or six months at the most. However, given the seriousness of the crisis these measures do not appear to be sufficient.

However, if the European Central bank, under Jean-Claude Trichet does not take on board the proposal mentioned above the Spanish government has looked at other emergency measures such as the Treasury buying up mortgages, the issuing of Bonds, bank guarantees or other formulas to avoid the banking system collapsing all together. In fact, Alfredo Sáenz proposed a similar solution to the UK which has used public funds to prop up some of the largest mortgage lenders in the country.

Yesterday’s meeting surprised some people not least for the obvious absences the most obvious being Pedro Solbes, Minister for the Economy who was attending a summit meeting in Luxembourg. The governor of the Bank of Spain, Miguel Ángel Fernández, was also absent as well as the president of Santander bank Emilio Botín who was also away on business.

Some sources in the banking sector have criticised the government for holding yesterday’s meeting fearing that other countries might interpret it as meaning that the Spanish banking system is on the point of collapse like in many other EU countries.

Male fertility in Spain

If you wondering why there are alot of worried-looking young Spanish males pacing the streets today, it may be because of this morning's headline news story on all radio and television news channels concerning the "quality of sperm" of young Spaniards.

A recent study has found that more than 50% of men between the age of 18 to 30 years old (57.8%) have inferior quality semen to the standard considered to be normal by the World Health Organization (WHO). This indicator is believed to be directly connected to industrialization and consequently pollution. According to a recent study led by the Institut Marqués this is why males in Catalonia, Valencia and the Basque Country all have inferior quality sperm. However, this does not mean that young men in these areas are infertile just that they are likely to have problems getting their partners pregnant. The Institut Marqués, looked at 60 reproductive centres throughout Spain and the study was endorsed by the Spanish Association of Male Fertility and the National Association of Assisted Reproduction.

The study found that the environment is the major cause of fertility problems amongst males more than lifestyle factors such as tobacco, alcohol, drugs or stress levels. The list of substances that can affect male fertility is quite long and includes pesticides, solvents and disinfectants and other products used in the manufacture of tins, carpets and armchairs amongst other things.

Manel Elbaile, the author of the study believes that it is no coincidence that the quality of semen in the regions of Spain mentioned above are those where most fertility problems were found given that they are also three of the most industrialized areas of the country where pollution levels have increased a lot over the last 50 years.

The study looked at 1,239 men from 17 autonomous communities. The men were all asked where their mothers had spent their pregnancies given that Elbaile also believes that male fertility is affected during the embryonic stage.

In order to arrive at this conclusion Elbaile looked at the concentration of spermatozoids. The WHO considers 20 million per millilitre to be normal. However, in Spain the study found that 17% of males came below this figure - 22% of males included in the study came below this figure in Valencia, 22.7% in Catalonia and 18.7% in the Basque Country.

Above the average were males in Madrid (14%), Andalucía, (13.7%) and Galicia (8,5%). Elbaile explains that fertility levels in Madrid are better amongst males despite its high pollution levels because its industry produces less contaminating substances that affect endocrines and the quality of the water is also better.

The study which appears in the latest edition of the magazine Andrología concludes that more than 50% of men in Spain have fertility problems after summarizing all those that experience alterations in the concentration, mobility and morphology of their sperm cells – the three parameters that were used to measure fertility levels.

Previous studies on male fertility have also pointed to the loss of the quality of sperm cells since the beginning of the industrialization process. In 1992 the British Medical Journal published a study by the University of Copenhagen that demonstrated that the quality of semen in Europe had gone down by 40% between 1930 and 1992. In fact it found that the rate of spermatozoids per millilitre had gone down from 113 million in 1938 to 66 million.

Another study into male fertility led by Nicolás Olea, from the Medical Research Laboratory for the hospital Clínico de Granada, and Cristóbal Avivar in the area of Integrated Biotechnology for the hospital de Poniente de Almería, looked at the quality of semen amongst 300 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 20 years old and found that 14.5% of the participants did not meet the minimum criteria of concentration of spermatozoids and 32.8% did not exceed mobility criteria.

Marieta Fernández, a researcher involved in this study points out that despite different methodologies ‘something is happening’ to male fertility in Spain and that it is getting more and more difficult to find sperm donors who meet the strict requirements necessary. Fernández also believes that the environment is more important than lifestyle habits.

Expectations for Spanish banks in the Economic Crisis

An article in El Pais today analyses how Spain's banks are faring as the international economic crisis gets worse. Even though the Spanish government has not yet had to intervene to save a bank, many people in Spain will be asking themselves whether their savings are safe or not and whether any Spanish banks or building societies are likely to face similar problems to American, British, French or Belgian financial institutions.

According to the Spanish president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and the Minister for the Economy, Pedro Solbes, all money held by Spanish Banks and building societies is safe. However, nobody can be 100% sure how long the current international financial crisis will last. The length of the crisis is crucial to how long many banks can remain financially viable. The fact that banks depend on the money from their clients and international stock markets to stay in business is an important factor in deciding how long they will be able to resist the crisis. If the current situation goes on for many months their funds are likely to run out according to some financial experts.

However, experts say there is no need to panic in Spain given that the reason that some financial institutions in America, Britain, France and Belgium have fallen is that some of their investments were worthless (subprime mortgages etc).
The advantages of the Spanish banking system is that it is not based on worthless mortgages, they have more capital at their disposal, the rate of defaulting on loans is relatively low compared to other European countries and they are based on a model of commercial banking.

The first thing that clients should be aware of is that the first 20,000 euros held in any European bank account is safe. Furthermore, the strength of the Spanish banking system is partly due to strict supervision imposed after the Banesto banking crisis of 1993. The bank of Spain then decided that all banks should have a contingency fund to be available in times of crisis. According to the bank of Spain last July this fund was estimated to be worth at least 30,000 million euros.

Another strength of Spanish banks is that their level of capital is higher than their foreign rivals (8% compared to 6%). In fact in an article published in the Financial Times, yesterday – an unlikely source of praise for the Spanish banking system – this newspaper said that readers should take note of the Spanish banking system for its rigorous supervision of what goes on inside its financial institutions. It also affirmed that Spain would be able to ‘ride out the storm’ and that it was likely to remain undamaged by the current international financial crisis.

Spanish banks are also strong because of the levels of deposits they receive. Between August 2007 and August 2008 Spanish banks received more than 90,000 million and accumulated 388,000 million euros. While many banks have fallen into ruin due to investments which depend on larger clients and the state of the stock markets Spanish banks have many investments with smaller clients. Therefore any losses are likely to be much smaller.

Apart from international loans which must be repaid (20,000 million remains to be paid back this year and 80,000 million euros next year) another weakness of the Spanish banking system is the amount of credit it has invested in the construction industry. Around 315,000 million euros of credit has been conceded to property promoters and another 155,000 million euros to construction companies. The problems with this are that a crash in the housing market could still happen. Lastly, non payment of loans, although low in Spain is increasing. Rising levels of unemployment could affect this figure significantly.

The strength of the Spanish banking system has been reflected in the stock market The biggest banks Santander and BBVA have fallen less than their competitors although smaller banks have been severely affected. However, Spanish building societies are likely to find themselves in a more difficult position due to the slump in the housing market. Nevertheless they have the option of merging if the going gets really tough.

Lastly, for those who still want to invest the best option appears to be Letras del Tesoro (treasury bonds). These investments do not carry any risk and they are more profitable than many other investments.