Bush authorised the US military to shoot down an Iberia plane during the 11-S crisis

Most Spanish news sources today publish the story that in the confused first hours of the 11-S terrorist attacks against the US , George Bush ordered the US military to shoot down a plane belonging to Iberia Airlines. According to NBC, one of the facts to come out of Bush and Cheney's appearance before the comission investigating the 11-S attacks is that the first hours were ones of much confusion and in the midst of that confusion the authorities were scared that more attacks would occur. One of the possible feared sources of such an attack was the Iberia Airlines plane. President Bush gave permision for the plane to be shot down after he arrived at Strategic Command in Omaha (Nebraska), but fortunately by that time the plane had turned round and was on its way back to Madrid.

Spain officially welcomes the European Union's ten new member states

In a ceremony this morning in Madrid, Spain's foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, presided over a short ceremony in the European Union building in Madrid in which the flags of the ten new EU member states were raised to join the other flags already displayed there. The ambassadors of all ten countries attented the ceremony, as did the ambassadors of the other fifteen EU member states.

Meanwhile Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will make his official debut at a European Union meeting of heads of government in the welcome ceremony te be held today in Dublin. This week has been quite a European-intensive one for the Spanish president, with visits to Germany on Wednesday and France on Thursday. Both visits were considered by political commentators to form an important part of Spain's "return" to European circles. While the previous Spanish government tended to adopt policies which distanced them from official European policy and favoured a close relationship with the United States and the United Kingdom, Spain's new government has stressed its commitment to forging closer relations with its European partners. Both the French and the German heads of state have welcomed Spain's new pro-European policy, and visits to both countries this week were carried out in an atmosphere of optimism and cordiality.

Spain's leading radio station, Cadena Ser, calls for residents of the new EU members to get in touch

Today Cadena Ser publishes in its website a call for residents of any one of the 10 countries which from 1st May onwards will be new members of the European Union. If you live in one of the new member states, all you have to do is leave your name and telephone number in this forum. You should also state your reason for living there (because you were born there, work there....), and a representative from Cadena Ser will get in touch with you.

Most major Spanish newspapers and news radio channels are devoting quite alot of space and time to finding out more than basic statistics about these 10 states, especially the smaller, lesser known countries. This call for direct contact by Cadena Ser is probably an attempt to offer first-hand information to their listeners. We encourage any residents in the new member states to get in touch - the more information Euroresidents can share with eachother directly, the better.

Joaquin Almunia, new member of the European Commission for Economic and Monetary Affairs

Joaquin Almunia has taken over from Pedro Solbes as the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs. Joaquin Almunia was the first Socialist to succeed Felipe Gonzalez as the leader of the PSOE party, and resigned when the Socialists lost the 2000 elections to the Popular Party. His resignation led to party elections in which Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was voted as the new leader of the Socialist Party. Almunia has already accepted his new post in the European Commission and has said that he will continue the policies already adopted by Solbes to take disclipinary measures against the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Italy for not respecting the deficit limits established for 2003.

Spanish president's visit to Germany

Jose Luis Zapatero, Spain's new president, travelled to Germany today to hold talks with the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. After their meeting, both leaders gave a press conference in which they said they would work, together with France, towards a new United Nations resolution which would give sovereignty as soon as possible to Iraq. Zapatero stressed that the fact the Spanish troops were withdrawing from Iraq, did not mean that Spain would withdraw from the international effort to find solutions to the situation in the reconstruction of Iraq.

67% Spaniards support decision to withdraw troops from Iraq

According to a survey published today by El Mundo, 67% Spaniards support Zapatero's decision to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq, while 23% disagree with the withdrawal. The survey was carried out last week, when international criticism of the Spanish government's decision was at its height, so it is quite interesting that such a big majority does support Zapatero.

According to the results of this first major survey carried out by El Mundo (a newspaper which is traditionally pro-Popular Party and whose owner and Director is a close friend of Jose Maria Aznar), the PSOE party will win 45.1% of the votes in eht European elections to be held next month (a big improvement on the socialists' performance in the last European elections four years ago when they won 35,3% of the votes). 39.2% of the people consulted in the survey said they would vote for The Popular Party in the European elections.

Meanwhile the ABC publishes today an article written by Aznar in which the former president of Spain fiercely attacks the decision of Zapatero to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq, claiming it is an act of irresponsibility and will be interpreted by the terrorists as a victory. Aznar knows only too well that withdrawal was one of the Socialist's objectives from the moment Spanish troops were sent to Iraq to help find the weapons of mass destruction and defeat Saddam Husein. Nevertheless, the argument he puts forward in the article published today is expected to be the PP's main line of attack in the run up to the European elections.

Spanish language and culture becoming more and more popular

According to today's edition of El Pais, Spanish language and culture are becoming more and more popular in the ten countries about to join the European Union.

A couple of weeks ago, a news item appeared in the Spanish press claiming that in the USA, four times more students choose Spanish (rather than French) as their first foreign language. Today El Pais claims that the growing popularity of Spanish language and culture has spread to Eastern European countries. There are plans for a Cervantes Institute (the Spanish version of the British Council) to be set up in Prague, Budapest and Bratislava, and the director of the Cervantes Institute in Poland has reported 766% increase over the past 8 years in the number of students matriculated on one of the Spanish courses offered by the Institute. More and more books by Spanish-speaking authors are being translated into the languages of all ten countries, and Spanish films are increasingly popular.

Related links:
List of free online Spanish language courses (mostly for beginners)
Spanish language and culture courses in Spain.