Editorial:

What happened was, about eighteen months ago, the Ministry of Industry announced a plan to charge those private individuals who used solar power or wind-driven generators. The absurd idea has still not been passed by the Government but understandably, people are concerned. Shell out thousands of euros to make one's home self-sufficient, and maybe return a little spare energy to the 'net' suddenly became a high-risk idea. The fatuous project will probably never be signed into law, and certainly not during an election year. The damage nevertheless has been done. Companies that specialise in solar are having to lay-off staff, and the energy bill in Spain remains as the same time both dirty and hugely expensive.  The 'Big Five' energy companies here have immense power, in the other meaning of the word, with any number of ex-politicians on their board of directors (43 of them according to El Mundo as of last February), and they can help slow down further improvements in clean energy, like the new domestic batteries being developed by Tesla in the USA, as well as add fresh bureaucratic rules (and costs) through their friends in the Government and even lobby for surprise inspections of homes that produce solar energy.  Meanwhile, the leader of one party, Equo, says that a fully renewable energy system for Spain would not be impossible to achieve. The current rules on the manufacture of domestic energy, here. In short, which country should be more prepared to go fully 'green' than a large, hot place, limping out of a severe crisis, and with zero national oil-production? Just don't ask a retired politician.

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Housing:

'Spain was counting on rich Russians to help revive its stricken property market by buying homes on its sunny coasts -- until the rouble collapsed on falling oil prices and the Ukraine crisis. The sharp fall of the Russian currency, driven by slumping oil prices and sanctions over Moscow's backing for separatists in Ukraine, knocked some Spanish estate agents back down just as they were staggering to their feet...'. Found at Business Insider.

The Platform for Those Affected by Mortgage Problems (easier in Spanish: the PAH) are threatening the American vulture fund Blackstone which has bought up discounted apartment blocks from Spanish banks and is now addressing the issue of the late-paying renters and debtors. A video in English begins 'Blackstone, today's largest speculative investment firm, evicts thousands of families in Spain and throughout the World'.

'Travelling for business to and from Spain is expected to rise significantly in 2015 – and property promoters have reported a growing interest in regular 'movers and shakers' buying second homes abroad as a base instead of checking into hotels. According to the GBTA Foundation, business travel in Spain, the UK, France, Italy and Germany is predicted to increase by up to 6.6% this year, with spending going up to nearly €157 billion...'. Item from  Think Spain.

The Government's Visa Express, where wealthy home-buyers from far away places are given a free EU residence permit when they spend over 500,000€ here, has not been an unparalleled success (probably due to tax threats from Hacienda). So far, in the fifteen months of operation, only 490 homes have been bought, mainly by Russian or Chinese home-makers. In the same period, 830,000 dwellings were sold nationally. 

'200,000 homes for sale from 3,000 real estate agents' (found at Kyero)

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Tourism:

Rural tourism, a tiny part of Spain's tourist offer, need to be more professionally operated, says an expert here. Who would have guessed?

Podemos says that, if it wins the elections, it will examine the relationship between the powerful hotel lobby and the Government. Story at Preferente. Will Podemos also interest itself in 'Residential Tourism' (as the authorities like to call the foreigners who live here)?

Thirty four resort towns in the Valencian Community, mainly in Alicante, have received the distinction of being considered 'zones of high tourist interest', which allows them to free up their opening hours over Easter and during the summer season, thanks to their high proportion of either hotel beds or holiday apartments ('second homes'). The story and map at El Mundo, here.

Spain's image abroad, at El Cano Royal Institute, based on interviews in ten foreign countries. Story and a number of graphics here.

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Finance:

Public debt continues to rise in Spain, reaching by the end of last year the astronomic figure of 1,033,958 million euros, up by 7% over 2013. More at El País.  

So much for the fiscal amnesty of 2012, where you could 'own up' to money stashed abroad and just pay 10%. Hacienda is now investigating over 700 of those who took the opportunity, for money laundering. Around 31,000 individuals had taken advantage of the amnistía fiscal. More at El País.  

The Minister of Finance, Cristóbal Montoro, says that Hacienda received information in 2014 from a further 32,125 people of their holdings abroad. The value of 'these new confessions' is 20,615 million euros. The famous Modelo 720 allows Spaniards and Residents to tell Hacienda about all their property and investments worth over 50,000€. Interestingly, the article makes special note of the British Residents in Spain who may need to fill out the declaration. It is also suggested in some circles that the sudden drop in the number of foreigners on the padrón may have a connection with this exercise.

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Politics:

Mariano Rajoy is optimistic about both the future for Spain and for his party. 'The wind in now in the sails', says the President, 'as citizens feel the beginning of the recuperation of the economy'. Found at El Huff Post. There will be a million new jobs in the next two years, says Rajoy (found at the ABC).

The fourth party, Ciudadanos, seems to be growing quickly in popularity. Here is a graph showing 'intention of vote' putting support for C's up from 5 to 13% in just one month.

'Informe Semanal' is the 'Panorama' of Spanish national TV. Oddly, though, in a week where Rato was bailed with Bankia for 800 million euros, and news of the late Botín's massive investments abroad, the preferred story last Saturday night was (suddenly) about Podemos, or more strictly speaking, about Juan Carlos Monadero and his, ah, nefarious activities. Video here. The 'propaganda' of the PP has reached new depths, says Monadero here. More on this at El Huff Post here. 

According to Alerta Digital (which we may safely assume to be a far right-wing site), the President of Venezuela Nicolás Madero is threatening to expropriate Spanish companies in his country if the Spanish media doesn't stop its attacks on Podemos. Yep. The companies at risk are Telefónica, Repsol, BBVA, Mapfre, Iberia, Air Europa and  Meliá Hotels. The ABC takes up the story, reporting that Spain's Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo says that 'The freedom of the Spanish press is irrevocable', although, at the ABC, the Media attacks are against Venezuela itself rather than any Spanish left-wing political party...  

'...Pablo Iglesias arrived in New York in search of inspiration for an ‘economic program’ to put an end to austerity politics in Spain. Several of his stop-offs on his tour of the city were symbolic, including a visit to Columbia University to meet with Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, a powerful critic of restrictive politics in Europe. “I’ll borrow an idea from Professor Stiglitz,” said the pony-tailed politician, speaking in English. “Austerity is going to topple the global economy, and inequality is bad for the economy because it increases instability.”...'. From The Olive Press.

How much is spent on elections by the different parties, and how much do they receive in Government subsidies? ABC has the graphics here. National and local elections will cost the government 101 million euros in party subsidies (in size, according to their previous election results, thus Podemos, for example, will receive nothing). Autonomous elections are subsidised by the regional governments concerned.

An essay on Spain's small far-right parties: 'Having failed to capitalise on rising anti-immigrant sentiment a decade ago, might discontent with the governing Popular party provide Spain’s populist radical right with a new opportunity?...'. From Policy Network.  Asking why the far-right parties are so small, the writers note '...Nationalism (with xenophobic tones) and authoritarianism are well-entrenched ideological tenets in the PP’s identity, as demonstrated by the party's electoral hegemony among extreme right voters; in the 2011 general election, between 80 and 83 per cent of the right and extreme-right voters voted for the PP...'.

The Debate of the Nation, to be held on February 24th and 25th, will feature the triumphs of the Government in the past three years, including 'the largest and most comprehensive anti-corruption measures ever', says the Partido Popular. More at El País.

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Corruption:

Judicial taxes created by the previous Minister for Justice back in 2012, around 500 million euros collected, seem to have disappeared, says Europa Press.

The National Audience says it has no immediate plans to ask for imprisonment for the ex-President of Bankia, Rodrigo Rato.

'Bankers never go to jail. This is one of the unwritten new laws to which most of us have grown wearily accustomed in this new post-crisis reality. Also begrudgingly taken for granted is the fact that a banker’s fortune will never be seized or confiscated by the authorities; in today’s new Gilded Age a banker’s gains, whether ill-gotten or not, are his or hers until death do them part...'. Seems like Judge Andreu doesn't know about this pleasant understanding, as he investigates the story behind Bankia's IPO. More at Wolf Street. 

El País in English tells how the CCOO union spent some 14 million euros on trips and a further 3.7m of 'bonuses' between 2008 and 2012, the 'crisis' years. The union says the spending 'was justified'.

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Andalucian elections:

A survey for the Andalucía elections puts Susana Díaz's PSOE in first place, with the PP in second and Podemos in third. No one group would have a majority, however, and pacts are inevitable.

The candidate for the PP in Andalucía, Juan Manuel Moreno, was an obscure politician at the time the famous Bárcenas list of those paid with black money came out a couple of years ago. No longer. In 2006, Moreno received 94,000€ in cash from the PP slush fund, according to an El Mundo article from August 2013 reproduced and commented in Diario Electoral here.

The IU is suffering fresh losses, as the eccentric mayor of Marinaleda, Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, leaves the umbrella of the IULV/CA with his splinter party the CUT (La Candidatura Unitaria de Trabajadores) to run as an independent. Here, by the way, is a positive slant for Marinaleda, from a tourist site called 'Live, Travel, Enjoy': 'With virtually no police, crime or unemployment, meet the Spanish town described as a democratic, socialist utopia. Unemployment is non-existent in Marinaleda, an Andalusian village in southern Spain that is prosperous thanks to its farming cooperative...'. Heh!

A site called Espía en el Congreso, which brings some striking and imaginative news about the skulduggery inside our Government in a similar way to the British Guido Fawkes, was attacked on Monday by hackers and was 'unavailable' until late Tuesday. Their last story had showed how the PP and PSOE had agreed to a truce while attempting to torpedo the Podemos candidate for the Andalucía elections, Teresa Rodríguez, by showing nude photos of her. Podemos quickly riposted by saying 'she has nothing to hide'.

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Courts

Judge Fernando Andreu places a bail of 800 million euros (wow!) on the disgraced Bankia, its erstwhile president Rodrigo Rato and several of the ex-board members. They have a month to pay the bail, or face embargoes. The investigation refers to the fusion and privitisation of Bankia in 2011. Item on RTVE: video and report here. 

'The European Court of Justice ruled in September last year that Spain have been acting illegally by charging non-resident beneficiaries more inheritance tax (IHT) on their estate than a Spanish Resident would have been charged. It was ruled that their behaviour was contrary to the EU’s non-discrimination treaty provisions...'. Law in Spain tells you how you can claim back overpayments in tax.  

The Andalucían elections will be held under the shadow of the two previous presidents, Cháves and Griñán, both having to testify in front of the Supreme Court regarding the ERE Scandal. The two will appear after the elections have been celebrated (March 22nd) on April 9th and 14th. El País in English tells the story. The nine senior Andaluz politicians involved in the ERE Case, here.

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Various:

An article in The Guardian, slightly overtaken by events, from Pablo Iglesias. '...Nobody can deny that austerity has not solved this problem, but rather has exacerbated the crisis. Let’s spell it out: the diktats of those who still appear to be running things in Europe have failed, and the victims of this inefficiency and irresponsibility are Europe’s citizens. It is for this precise reason that trust in the old political elites has collapsed; it is why Syriza won in Greece and why Podemos – the party I lead – can win in Spain...'.

The universally disliked SGAE, the association that controls music copyright in Spain, says that it will not abide by European copyright laws. 'they are worried because they see their fiefdom under threat', according to activists consulted by Público. The head office of the SGAE, incidentally, is the only Gaudi-designed building in Madrid, the Palacio Longoria.

Poverty in Spain, four graphics at Europa Press. The article begins: 'More than 12.8 million people, that's 27.3% of the population, are either poor or marginalised. Since 2009, over 1,3 million people have been added to this situation of vulnerability, an increase of 2.6%...'.

A beautiful and expensive new multi-use pavilion for Pamplona, costing 60 million euros, and completed two years ago. It's now considered too expensive to run. So, what to do with it? Story and video at El País.

The best kind of protest is in song. Here are four bulerias against avaricia and the banks.

The Telegraph explains the closure of the 'Instituto Cervantes' in Gibraltar. '...José Manuel García-Margallo ... who has made a point of ramping up the rhetoric against Gibraltar’s status as a British Overseas Territory since the Popular Party (PP) came to power in late 2011, said the decision to “set up a Cervantes Institute in what is considered Spanish territory” was clearly absurd...'.

A Spanish-designed trojan spy called Careto, operated by Spanish Intelligence, has been discovered inside telephones in Gibraltar, Morocco and other countries. Whoops.

A PP mayor from a municipality in Badajoz tells his flock on Facebook that the work inspectors were in town. Apparently, he shouldn't've! 

Soon, all traffic radars – including mobile ones – will carry warnings. More here.

'Spanish is the happiest language; Chinese, not so much'. Amusing article at AAAS here.

 

Streets have a strange habit in Spain of changing their names for various social or political reasons. Take the Gran Vía in Madrid, which since it was built in 1910 (at the cost of 300 houses demolished, 32 new blocks and changes to the physiognomy of 48 streets) was variously called (divided into three parts) 'Avenida del Conde de Peñalver', 'Avenida de Pi y Margall' and 'Avenida de Eduardo Dato'. Later, during the Civil War, it became two parts, with the first two thirds becoming 'Avenida de la CNT'', then later 'Avenida de Rusia' followed quickly by the more appropriate 'Avenida de la Unión Soviética'. The other piece (Eduardo Dato) becoming, between 1937 and 1939 'Avenida de México'. The street, by now unified into one, became the 'Avenida de José Antonio' with the victory of the Nationalists, with the new name 'Gran Vía' appearing only in 1981. More on this with nice pictures, here. 

Some good cookin' here at My Kitchen in Spain.

The Arab influence on Spanish gardens... interesting historical perspective here.

The Beatles, fifty years ago in Spain (Franco didn't like them much). Video.

Seth's Gold. A ten minute cowboy film, shot in Tabernas, Almería. Video in English here.

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Letters

Hi Lenox, Well done on a hundred interesting BoTs. Keep 'em coming.  George.

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Finally:

Nice chanson from Cándida called 'El Charlatán'.

LENOX NAPIER