Video of the Royal Wedding in Spain

El Pais online newspaper is offering live coverage of the royal wedding via Internet. Non-subscribers can access the video of the wedding between Prince Felipe and Letizia here.....

Later on in the evening, the ceremony and celebrations are over and although the weather dampened celebrations in Madrid, the overall feeling among comentators seems to be that the wedding, the dress, the protocol, and the organization have been a success. Cadena Ser offers this link to a video of the best moments of the royal wedding in Spain.

The Royal Wedding ceremony has begun - Prince Felipe and Letizia are in the Cathedral

The royal wedding is under way under torrential rain in Madrid. Here is a picture of Letizia's dress.





And here is a picture of Prince Felipe and Letizia at the altar (they haven't said "I do" yet)

The last Spanish troops complete their withdrawal from Iraq today

According to reports on the radio and on newspaper websites this morning, the last 600 Spanish soldiers have left the military base in the southern Iraqi town of Diwaniya today. In a few hours time they are expected to cross the border into Kuwait and from there will start the journey home.

Most of the troops left the base on April 28th after withdrawing from the main Spanish base at Najaf, but 600 stayed to dismantle materials and supplies and to coordinate the hand-over of responsibilities to the US forces. Operations were formally transferred last Sunday.

The US Government has still not found any country prepared to offer troops to replace the Spanish contingent and will probably find it difficult to do so given the way they are handling the crisis. There is a general feeling of relief here amongst the majority of Spaniards not to be linked anymore to US management of this conflict.

Yesterday Spain's foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos visited the UK and had a meeting with Jack Straw. Usually whenever the Spanish and British foreign ministers meet, headlines in Spain inevitably refer to Gibraltar. This time they refer to the European Union too. Apparently both ministers admitted that they had minor differences of opinion about the votes system in the eventual European Constitution, but that they hoped to be able to solve them. They also said that no date has been fixed to start conversations centering around the issue of Gibraltar.

Royal wedding in Spain

As media excitement reaches fever-pitch here in Spain, and more and more space and time is dedicated to the imminent royal wedding, it gets more and more difficult to find an alternative news story, that is a story relevant to current affairs and life in Spain. All headlines this morning in Spain are dominated by international events, namely yesterday's two major horrors in the Middle East - Israel's apalling missile attack on a peaceful demostration in Gaza, and the massacre of about 40 civils attending a wedding in Iraq by US military forces. The royal wedding is, rightly, put into perspective when flanked by tragic events such as these on the international scene. Nevertheless the wedding ceremony of Prince Felipe and Letizia is increasingly the big domestic news story at the moment here in Spain.

We arrived in Madrid yesterday and the whole city is busy preparing for Saturday's wedding. All the trees in the centre have been pruned, flowers line the clean streets, lights are everywhere... Madrid always looks pretty in May, but this Spring it has entered into wedding-mode with typical Spanish enthusiasm, and it is obvious that the authorities have spent alot of money on making the city look its best. On some streets you can find descrete notices addressed to the Madrilenyos (residents of Madrid) from the municipal authorities, inviting everyone to enjoy the celebrations and to help to show Madrid's best side to the rest of the World.

At night time in the centre the streets fill up with people eager to see the special "wedding lights" and laser displays which have been installed around Cibeles and Alcala. Yesterday at midnight the streets were as crowded with cars and people as they usually are at midday on a typical weekday - at half past eleven p.m. the traffic on the wide Paseo de la Castellana avenue was at a complete standstill. The extra security measures which have been taken are also evident. Police seem to be everywhere, and the US embassy in particular is like a military bunker, surrounded by barriers, tanks and military police. Today police are going to remove all rubbish bins lining the streets near the wedding area, as an extra security measure. As from tomorrow more streets will be cordoned off, and on Saturday all metro stations near the Almudena Cathedral will be closed all day.

Most Spaniards are proud of their royal family, if anything even more so since the 11-M Madrid train bombings when all members of the family openly joined victims families in their grief, not only during the state mass held for them, but also in hospitals where victims recovered in the days and weeks after the attack.

El Mundo publishes a list of guests due to arrive today and tomorrow (together with airport and time of arrival). The list includes: Nelson Mandela and his wife (!!), Prince Naruhito de Japon, The Sha and Shahbanou of Iran, the Presidents of El Salvador, of Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, Germany, Portugal and Ireland. Vaclav Havel ex-President of the Czech Republic, the Queen of Jordan, the wives of various presidents and prime ministers, the president of the World Bank, the kings, queens, princes and princesses of Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark and numerous other princes and princesses from small European and Arab countries. Apparantly the British authorities have still not confirmed the time of Prince Charles' arrival.

Spanish Government will raise the minimum salary

Yesterday the Spanish government announced that in July it will raise the minimum salary by 6.6% to 490 Euros per month, 14 months per year (workers' yearly salaries in Spain are divided over a period of 14 months rather than 12, because they earn a double wage at Christmas and in June). This will be the first of successive rises over the next four years. By the end of this legislature, the Socialist Government wants the minimum wage to stand at 600 Euros (x 14).

Meanwhile, the executive board of the International Olympic Committee voted on a shortlist of candidates to host the 2012 Olympic Games and ranked Madrid second in the list, behind Paris. Madrid scored well in all categories, and yesterday evening the Mayor of Madrid said he was confident that between now and July next year when the final vote will be cast in Singapore, Madrid would be able to improve the areas in which it scored less than the French capital. He said that the fact that Paris has already staged the Olympic Games and Madrid not would act in favor of the Spanish capital's candidature. The list of shortlisted cities in order of ranking is Paris, Madrid, London, New York and Moscow.

Aznar is back in Spain after his controversial trip to the USA. It has emerged that President Bush was not the only friend present in the meeting the two had yesterday. According to Cadena Ser, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Dick Cheney also attended this private meeting. When it concluded, neither Aznar nor Bush made any declarations to the media. Aznar left via one of the side exits of the White House. Back in Spain, according to El Mundo, when President Zapatero was asked by reporters on Monday to give an opinion on the declarations made by Aznar criticising the election results and the new Spanish government's policy on Iraq, Zapatero said Aznar's criticism had not made him feel "uncomfortable" at all, and that "each person has his own style of doing things". The Spanish foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, gave a similar opinion when asked by reporters. He said he was not concerned about Aznar's declarations which lacked "importance" and "influence".

Today President Zapatero receives the Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei having yesterday held a meeting with the foreign minister of Israel, Silvan Shalom. Zapatero and Ahmed Qorei will give a press conference after their meeting and will then have lunch together with Javier Solana (EU Foreign Policy and Security Representative), Miguel Angel Moratinos and Marc Otte (the EU special envoy to the Middle East). Zapatero is convinced that there will be no viable solution to Islamic extremist terrorism until the conflict between Israel and Palestine is solved, and he wants Spanish foreign policy to concentrate on trying to put an end to the violence perpetrated by the Israeli government and Palestine extremists in this area.

Former president Aznar has secret meeting with Donald Rumsfeld in Washington

According to Cadena Ser this morning, Jose Maria Aznar held a secret meeting with Donald Rumsfeld in Washington yesterday, prior to his meeting with Bush today.

Aznar, who has gave an interview to the Los Angeles Times and spoken in several events since he arrived in the US last week has underlined each time his opposition to the Spanish withdrawal from Iraq. He has said that the withdrawal is a bad decision, which portrays Spain as a weak nation giving in to terrorism because of the 11-M bombings. He has not obviously mentioned the fact that withdrawel was official Socialist policy from the moment Aznar decided to send troops to participate in the invasion of Iraq in contrary to the wishes of over 90% of the Spanish population. Throughout his visit to the US, Aznar has preferred not to meet with Spanish reporters, saying that his visit is a private one and he does not intend to give a press conference. The Spanish Ambassador in the US, who was appointed by Aznar's PP government, has also declined to talk to the Spanish media about this private visit, although he has provided the former Spanish president with official cars and other logistical infrastructure.

According to the Cadena Ser, Aznar had a secret lunch meeting yesterday in Washington with Donald Rumsfeld and possibly with some members of the US Congress which lasted for one hour. Aznar was accompanied to the Pentagon by a member of the Spanish Embassy. Like people all over the World, Spanish people have been absolutely horrified by the photos of US soldiers torturing and humiliating Iraqui prisoners, and Donald Rumsfeld has been strongly criticised by many political commentators for not resigning as a result.

Jose Maria Aznar's meetings with Donald Rumsfeld and President George Bush (he is scheduled to meet Bush today), and his continuous referrals to his personal opinion about the Socialist Government's decision to withdraw from Iraq have been received with alarm in some PP circles. Even the pro-PP newspaper, ABC, publishes an editorial today criticising Aznar's declarations during his visit to the USA. The ABC maintains that Aznar's constant references to Spain's role in Iraq are damaging the Popular Party's chances of winning the European Elections next month. "....It would be more prudent for Aznar to refrain from underlining his opinion about Iraq now that the new Government, the Spanish Congress and his own party have made irreversible decisions..."

Madrid is one of the candidates to host the 2012 Olympic Games

Madrid is one of the cities bidding to host the Olympic Games in 2012. Spain's capital city will be competing against other major cities (such as New York, London, Paris...) and representatives are hoping that the city will be one of the favourites. Madrid has included the following reasons for hosting the Games in its application:

- It is a city "open to the rest of the World", where thousands of people from other areas of Spain and the international community live together
- Madrid embraces culture and sport. It is home to one of the world's most famous football clubs, and is proud of its cultural and historical heritage
- As a modern European capital city, it has the infrastructure necessary to host an event such as the Olympic Games
- Madrid is the only great European capital city which has not yet hosted the Olympic Games


Photos of Madrid.

Alarm caused by OECD report on the Spanish housing market

Our Euroresidentes mailbox has been flooded this week with messages from Europeans who own a house in Spain and are worried by reports that the OECD expects housing prices to fall sharply during the next year.

In its latest EconomicOutlook Report released last week, the OECD says that in the medium term (in 2 or 3 years time) housing prices could fall suddenly and sharply in Spain.

The real estate market has been an issue in Spain for the past four or five years, and housing prices have risen annually here by a massive 17%. Last year in a special report on Spain, the OECD warned against offering futher incentives for future house buyers and suggested the Spanish government should introduce alternative policies such as rent subsidies for low-income families.

Pedro Solbes, Spain's Finance Minister said however that he did not expect there to be a sudden fall in housing prices in Spain and many experts consulted over the past week have tended to agree with him. The general feeling among economists here is that housing prices will start coming down in new urban areas which have sprung up around large towns and cities in Spain during the building boom over the past few years. But housing prices in coastal areas and consolidated urban areas are unlikely to fall.