The Bank Robbers

The ongoing feud between Esperanza Aguirre and Alberto Ruiz Gallardón reminds me occasionally of one of those bar brawls in a Western. All of a sudden it escapes the confines of the bar and spills out onto the street. At the moment the fighting is not taking place directly inside the Partido Popular, nor is it even one of those frequent disagreements between the Gallardón controlled Ayuntamiento and Aguirre's regional Comunidad. Aguirre is determined to add Caja Madrid, the regional savings bank, to the list of institutions which she can use for the purposes of political influence and patronage. Gallardón seeks to block her and the battle is taking place over the presidency of the bank.

The current president of Caja Madrid, Miguel Blesa, got the job in the first place because he was a friend of José Maria Aznar. Sorry, let me rephrase that; he got the job because of his extensive financial experience and impressive curriculum. However, the presidents of the cajas are not permanent appointees and Aguirre is now seeking to bring Blesa's reign to an end. You would have thought that any friend of Aznar's would also be a friend of Espe's but it seems that Blesa has offended the Condesa by refusing to allow the bank to be used as a comfortable refuge for the likes of Angel Acebes and the other under employed PP hardliners who have been cast out of the party leadership. Gallardón has given his full support to Blesa who for the moment is holding onto his post. Perhaps Aguirre also wants the bank because she is experiencing financial difficulties again, are we back to the pauper president already?

Meanwhile, one of Gallardón's latest moves has been to use Madrid's money to sponsor the basketball team of Georgetown University. Is that in Madrid? Not really, it's not even close. There is however an Aznar connection here as well because this university was his destination during his brief career as a visting lecturer following his exit from government. In honour of the moustachioed crusader's recognised fluency in English, the university is now almost always referred to in the Spanish blogosphere as "Yorchtaun". Prior to leaving government Aznar managed to ensure that some government cash headed in Yorchtaun's direction and now Gallardón is following suit. Any suggestion that this is because Mrs Aznar is his deputy must be firmly rejected. Neighbourhood sports facilities in Madrid are being denied investment because of the city's drastic financial crisis whilst cash is easily found for sponsoring sports teams in far off lands of which we know almost too much. Maybe he borrowed it from Caja Madrid?

Izquierda Unida - Missing In Action

At times like this, with the established certainties on the economy crumbling in the face of the current crisis, you would hope that those who have a different political vision might step forward to make their case. Sadly, Izquierda Unida (IU) - the third national party in terms of votes in Spain - doesn't seem to be ready to meet the challenge. Following a disastrous general election result which saw their parliamentary presence reduced to just 2 members, IU has been facing a very difficult situation. Their conference held this weekend doesn't seem to have resolved those difficulties.

The problem is largely historical, IU was forged out of an attempt by the Spanish Communist Party (PCE) to form an alliance with other sectors of the left outside of the social democratic PSOE. The PCE always envisaged this alliance as being one that they would control, a vision that has led to a steady leakage over the years of those who find that their voices will never be heard. The federation is currently split between three broad groupings, those loyal to the PCE leadership, supporters of the positions of outgoing national coordinator Gaspar Llamazares, and those who represent a third way independent of the two other groupings. The voting at the weekend reflected the stalemate between these factions, with the PCE drawing the largest vote but without achieving a majority.

Llamazares himself came from within the PCE, but took the federation in a direction that his party's national leadership rejected. He appeared to understand the need to reach out to other social movements and attempted to make the concept of a coalition mean more than just a series of mini planets orbiting around a PCE sun. The PCE leadership holds this strategy responsible for the decline in votes, but in reality it's unlikely that any other strategy would have made a significant difference. Apart from the longer term decline in support for a left alternative to the PSOE, the latter party grabbed many votes this year that they would not normally get because of the fear that a possible return to power of the PP provoked amongst the voters of the left.

Whether it's the reality or not, the impression that many people will get from the weekend is that of a seriously divided party. None of the attempts to reach consensus over the leadership issue were successful, although the fact that serious attempts took place to find agreement suggests that all may not be lost. A declining PCE has always regarded IU as being its property and still cannot come to terms with the idea of a genuine coalition where it does not decide the political direction to impose via a preliminary caucus. It is at the same time the single largest provider of members, and the single largest problem that IU has. Particularly on the economy, but also on other issues, there is clear political space to the left of the PSOE. IU's problem is going to be getting its act together in time to present that alternative.

The Summit Industry Is Booming

While our noble and wise leaders were "reinventing" capitalism I decided to escape to the Black Forest for the weekend. On returning I find a world that looks very much the same. The main conclusion of the summit on the economic crisis seems to be....to hold another summit in a few months time. The culprits for a slow recovery have also been identified, if those poor countries who refused to accept the monstrously unfair Doha trade agreement continue to reject it they can be accused of holding back recovery. Meanwhile I don't see anything to suggest that we won't be back after the recession for yet another round of (publicly subsidised) hedge fund fuelled casino madness.

Meanwhile Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero got his picture taken at the White House shaking the hand of the caretaker. Having made it to this gathering, the Spanish government's main concern seems to be to ensure that they get invited to the next one as well. Zapatero confidently declared that this was not a problem because he trusted the word of Nicolas Sarkozy. If that's not a risky strategy I don't know what is. I would post some Black Forest photos but I'm hampered by a slight technical problem; the camera with the photos is here with me in Germany but the cable that connects it to my laptop failed to leave Madrid.

Hunting De Juana

The former ETA prisoner, Iñaki de Juana Chaos, who was released from prison in August is still facing the prospect of having to return to jail. De Juana Chaos is supposed to appear before a Spanish judge today to declare on a possible charge of praising terrorism. The case notionally concerns a letter that was read out at a homage to him following his release from prison. I use the word "notionally", because in reality the judicial persecution owes far more to the circus organised by right wing media and pressure groups in their attempts to convert De Juana Chaos into a symbol of their real battle; the one against Zapatero's government and the Basque peace process.

The letter in question contains no serious indications of a crime having been committed, the case depends very heavily on contestable interpretations of words. Worse than that, the police don't even have any evidence that De Juana Chaos actually wrote it, and he did not attend the event where it was read. Details schmetails, if a judge wants to send him to prison for it then that is where he will go. However, first they have to find him and despite reports placing him in the Irish Republic or in Belfast, the former prisoner has made no public appearances since leaving Spain. The likely consequence of his failure to declare is that a detention order will be issued via Interpol and no doubt huge resources will then be completely wasted to try and locate him and force his return to Spain. He may attract little sympathy, but this pointless persecution is trampling key principles. The idea that someone can be maintained indefinitely in prison just because a few over powerful pressure groups demand it, and judges have the power to do it, is a serious problem; and not just for cases involving terrorism.

Pisando Nieve

I found time during my brief return to Madrid this weekend to check out the results of the recent cold spell in central Spain. It's unusual for so much snow to fall on the mountains of Guadarrama before winter even begins, and despite the bright sunny weather on Saturday there was still plenty left. Up above the clouds on either side of the sierra the views were perfect.



We took the train up to Cotos and then the route of the lagoons lying beneath Peñalara. This takes you around the peak until you get to the Laguna de los Pajaros, still mostly frozen even on a relatively warm day like this.



I chickened out of the ascent above the lagoon that takes you up the tougher side of Peñalara, plenty of people seemed to be doing it but the more sensible ones wore crampons on their boots. We got high enough to take this picture before turning back.

Zapatero's Afghan Dilemma

The deaths of two Spanish soldiers yesterday in Afghanistan have brought that country back into the headlines in the Spanish press. Although the almost 800 Spanish soldiers stationed in the country are not close to the main battlegrounds, there has been a steady succession of attacks against them and yesterday's deaths are not the first fatalities the Spanish have suffered. Domestically the Spanish presence in Afghanistan has not caused the government any significant problems, helped by the lack of direct involvement in the fighting. The government presents the Spanish contribution as a humanitarian mission, although it is clear that foreign troops in that country are embroiled in a war with no visible end in sight.

Despite having hailed the election of Barack Obama as US president, Spain's prime minister will not be looking forward to discussing the Afghan situation with him. Obama is said to want to increase the number of occupying troops in Afghanistan and will undoubtedly be looking to other countries to increase their presence. This is something which Spain has already resisted before. Obama seems to believe that a troop surge is going to deal with the situation, whilst many of those with actual involvement in the country now see the war as unwinnable; hence the quiet negotiations that are taking place in the background with the Taliban and other parties. Meanwhile, the death rate amongst civilians seems to count for as little as it did in Iraq; Afghanistan is the original disaster of the "war on terror".

Navarra's New Party

Following their dispute over the vote on the national budget last month, it does look as if the split between the Partido Popular and their Navarran partners of the UPN is really taking place. Let nobody accuse the PP of being behind the times in anything except their politics, they have now unveiled a true Web 2.0 virtual headquarters in Navarra; it exists only on Internet. You would have thought that a party with such close connections to the construction industry would have managed a slightly more solid base than this, but perhaps UPN still has more influence on the bricks and mortar distribution in the region. A handful of senior UPN figures have already deserted to the Populares de Navarra and the point of no return is probably not far off. UPN leader Miguel Sanz has described the deserters as being from the extreme right and Opus Dei, which may possibly be true but he never objected to their presence whilst he had their support!

The newly formed division of the PP has more serious problems than the question of their headquarters or their still meagre support. They have already got themselves into a political mess over a constitutional clause which theoretically permits Navarra to be incorporated into the Basque Country. You would have thought that the PP would simply have opposed the existence of such a clause, but anything which smacks of a change to the Spanish constitution is now anathema to the party which originally opposed the entire document. So instead they have proclaimed their support for self-determination, by stating that the Navarran people can decide their future freely in a referendum. Sounds perfectly reasonable, but it hardly fits with the general position of the PP on such issues does it? Think Basque Country, and think Ibarretxe referendum. For the Basques to vote on their political future is illegal and anti-constitutional, for the Navarrans to do so is a legitimate expression of free will. The PP has attempted to excuse the evident contradictions of their position by claiming that Navarra could vote to be part of any other comunidad, presumably they could vote to link up with their very distant cousins in Sevilla. You are now entering the Comunidad Autonoma de Navarralucia.

Dial R For Recession

Spain is not yet officially in recession, that only comes when you have had two consecutive quarters of negative growth. However, the expectation is now that the recession will be officially declared in the new year as the last quarter has already given us a negative growth figure, and there is no reason to think that the one that began in October will be any better. Gloomy predictions have been made about unemployment reaching 15% next year as the crisis really starts to bite.

Politically, the economic downturn isn’t yet producing the kind of anti-government backlash that Mariano Rajoy and the Partido Popular are desperately hoping for. The latest opinion polls published this week showed the two major parties exactly level, which is an improvement for the PP on the election result but which is worse than a previous poll which showed them starting to edge ahead of the government. The PP’s level of support in the polls is a bit lower than that which they achieved in the general election, meaning that the voters who have deserted the government are not turning to Rajoy as the alternative. The government may benefit from it becoming clear just how international the crisis has become, and has at least given the impression of being a bit more active in recent weeks.

One beneficiary, if the poll in Público is accurate, is the UPD - Spain's newest nationalist anti-nationalist party. Stop me if this gets confusing. Público's data showed UPD ahead of Izquierda Unida although when you are dealing with figures of around 4% support then the margin of error could be significant. Based on the only electoral evidence we have so far, UPD's programme of rolling back regional autonomy in Spain is most popular in the Villa de Madrid. Meanwhile the employers association has criticised measures designed to alleviate the problems of the unemployed, claiming that it's the companies that should be paid to get rid of their workers. They seem to be unaware that all of our money is already tied up propping up the banks.

George, We've Found Him!

Oh no, sorry, it's only his son. Never mind. It appears that Omar Osama Bin Laden is claiming political asylum in Spain.

If Flags Could Talk

Significantly more interesting than the Queen of Spain's opinions on all sorts of topics has been the political reaction from the major parties here. A pact of silence has been imposed both by the governing PSOE and the opposition Partido Popular. I don't know how many republicans there are in the PSOE's parliamentary party, but all their representatives received a text message after the controversy hit the headlines telling them that the party would not comment on declarations by members of the royal family.

On the PP's side the pact was broken by Esteban González Pons who suggested that the monarchy was like the flag, and that flags don't make declarations! Personally, I believe that if flags could talk most of them would be every bit as reactionary as the royal family seems to be. In any case, we now know that what the royal palace described in their statement as a private conversation was in fact a series of no fewer than 15 separate meetings between the Queen and the author of the book - preceded by a questionnaire containing over 600 questions! Pre-publication copies of the book were sent to the royal palace and the title was even changed on the palace's suggestion. No objections were made to the content of the book itself, and a delighted publisher wasted no time in getting it issued.

As an interesting aside I read yesterday in the press that Sofía was questioned about whether any members of her family were freemasons, an important issue when the writer of the book is a supporter of the extremist Catholic sect Opus Dei. Apparently, Sofía denied that any of her immediate relatives were masons, but acknowledged that there was one in the family. I think this is a reference to Prince Philip, who is known to have a bit of a taste for rolling up his trouser leg and inventing funny handshakes. We were also treated to some of the Queen's earlier declarations about Franco's dictatorship, which she apparently described as a "dictablanda" rather than a dictadura. Hardly a surprise if you happen to be the wife of Franco's chosen successor, I imagine they rarely felt the full force of the dictatorship. Those who are still being dug out of roadside graves around Spain would probably not have shared her opinion.

I Say You Chaps, Let's Rock!

A curious video resulting from the latest initiative by the youth wing of the Partido Popular in the Basque Country. The political message seems to be “never mind the politics, enjoy the music”, but this performance by the band Pignoise serves more as a handy “spot the pijo” guide. The obligatory, but completely uncoordinated, clapping that the PP’s yoof section maintain throughout suggests that their true musical tastes perhaps lie elsewhere. Apart from the contrast between the appearance of the band and their audience, it’s amusing to see how the clapping suddenly picks up again each time the camera pans around.




Via escolar.net

Spain Stunned By "Queen Not A Leftie" Claim

Spain is trying to recover from the revelation this week that Queen Sofia is not left wing. One observer, struggling to hold back tears, remarked that the Queen had always seemed so nice as she comforted accident victims by saying “I hope you get better soon dear”. Now, all of a sudden, it appears that she is behaving like a hereditary monarch. Rumours that her relatives fought with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War are also being rapidly reassessed.

The Queen, who comes from the same family as Britain’s famously open minded Prince Philip, is said to be bemused by the impact of her remarks. She is quite happy for homosexuals to do what they want as long as they do it somewhere else, women who have abortions will burn in hell and a failure to teach religion in schools may even lead to some misguided pupils accepting the theory of evolution. So what’s the fuss about?

The Royal Family has issued a statement claiming that her remarks were made in private and that their subsequent publication in a widely publicised book coinciding with her 70th birthday was down to a misunderstanding. The incident follows last year’s equally shocking news that the King, having given full consideration to the other alternatives, had reached the conclusion that the monarchy is a good thing.

Salud y Republica. A brilliant front page from yesterday’s Público.

The View From The Street

The cars with cameras attached to the roof were spotted several months ago cruising the streets of major Spanish cities. Now Google’s Street View application has emerged in Spain, at least for Madrid, Barcelona, and a couple of the other larger Spanish cities. Naturally, the first thing I did was try and look for my house. I wasn’t really expecting my insignificant little street to be included, so I was a bit surprised when I saw that it was highlighted as having Street View available. Clicking on it produced another surprise, it wasn’t my street at all – instead they have attached photos of the bigger road running parallel to it. Despite these small teething problems the application is great, you can move along a street and rotate your view to whatever you want. The cars with the cameras did raise some privacy issues here in Spain and I believe that Google had to give an undertaking to blur faces and car registration plates. You can even include it in your web page, as evidenced by this (Aguirre headquarters free) view of the Puerta del Sol. Just click on the arrows to start taking a walk around central Madrid.

View larger map

Franco On Trial

Judge Baltasar Garzón has decided that his case concerning over 100,000 victims of Franco’s repression can proceed and that he is competent to take it forward. His decision has provoked a hysterical reaction from the right wing media and the Partido Popular, and more seriously is being opposed by the state prosecution service. The judge’s decision opens the way for some of the many mass graves still left in Spain to be opened, including that where it is believed the remains lie of the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca.

Garzón is arguing that crimes were committed which are not affected either by a statute of limitations or the amnesty law which was passed in the late 1970’s to protect representatives of the dictatorship following the transition to democracy. The state prosecutors intend to challenge him on a number of legal technicalities. Apart from the amnesty law they will challenge the classification of crimes committed by Franco’s regime as crimes against humanity and are said to be even intending to argue that the military uprising that provoked the civil war means that those involved should be subject to military, rather than civil, justice. It’s a headlong clash between the two sides that is set to come up before a court of Garzón´s fellow judges for decision.

The reaction from the political inheritors of Francoism has largely been based around an attempt to ridicule Garzón’s case. The legal formality which requires the certification of the death of Franco and other leading figures of the dictatorship attracted their attention, with Esperanza Aguirre suggesting that Napoleon should also be charged for what his army did in Spain 200 years ago. On the media front El Mundo led the charge against Garzón, who was firmly scratched off their Christmas card list when he got close to destroying the paper’s attempts to promote the “boric acid” case. The same paper published a story the other day featuring some of the few who are still alive who they claimed could potentially be taken to trial. El Mundo portrayed the daily routine of these poor elderly “abuelos” who wanted nothing more than to be left in peace with their daily chupito and a game of dominos down at the local bar. Of course, once you apply the same logic to the Klaus Barbies of this world and the other elderly Nazi war criminals who were painstakingly tracked down, you might start to think more of those who never got near to the chance of enjoying such a peaceful retirement.

How much of the impetus behind the case is down to judge Garzón’s sizeable ego and his attraction to headline making cases? There’s undoubtedly an influence there, but that doesn’t mean that the arguments behind the case presented are necessarily faulty. A situation where human rights abuses could be pursued by Spanish judges if they happened in any country other than Spain is not sustainable. I suspect the case will be eventually thrown out by what is an overwhelmingly conservative judiciary, with legal technicalities masking the political reasoning that ultimately defines the position of most involved. The law of amnesty should in theory at least be vulnerable, it was passed before the Spanish Constitution was approved and in that political atmosphere of the transition where many things were accepted under the ever present threat of renewed intervention by the military. It’s sad to see that many of those who participated in that process end up making a virtue out of the necessity of the moment. The unfinished business of the transition is at least now on public display.

By The Skin Of Their Teeth

Spain's minority government survived its big autumn test last week by getting the budget for 2009 approved. In the end the suspense on whether they would get sufficient support went all the way up to the wire, although they only needed 7 extra votes to get a majority. To the rescue came the Galician nationalists of the BNG, and the Basque nationalists of the PNV. All the other parties opposed the budget, with the peculiar exception of Navarra’s ruling UPN. When it came to the crunch the government got the support they needed by the reasonably simple method of offering pots of money to their allies in the vote. The great thing from the point of view of the recipients is being able to accept the pot of money and at the same time proclaim to anyone who will listen that you have been acting "responsibly” by voting in favour.

In other years when the economic situation was better it might not have mattered so much if the budget had been rejected, you can always prolong the previous one. This year, however, special provision has to be made for falling tax receipts combined with an increase in social spending to deal with the significant rise in unemployment, something which can reasonably be expected to get worse next year. Also, I found out yesterday, if the government loses a key vote in the first year of a parliament they are not able to call fresh elections until the year is up, not that it would do them much good at the moment to have that option available. The government continues to live from day to day, with upcoming elections in the Basque Country and the unresolved financing scheme for the regions still making any longer term understanding with the parties that could guarantee their majority virtually impossible.

The regional factor didn’t just affect the PNV and the BNG. One of the more surprising consequences of the otherwise tedious budget negotiations has been that it has virtually provoked a rupture between the opposition PP and their allied party in Navarra, the UPN. The latter party depends on support from the PSOE to stay in power in Navarra, and consequently decided that it was in their interests for their two members in the national parliament to abstain on the budget vote. When faced with a choice between staying in power or respecting the wishes of the PP’s national leadership they didn’t hesitate – despite intense pressures and at least two “power” lunches between UPN leader Miguel Sanz and Mariano Rajoy. The PP has now declared their alliance with the UPN to be “suspended”, which doesn’t mean yet that they are about to restart the PP in the region but the implicit threat is being made. Meanwhile the UPN leadership has retaliated with sanctions against their members closest to the PP line. It’s not so long since the PP was organising demonstrations in support of the UPN in Navarra and against the alleged evil plans of Zapatero to hand over the territory to ETA and its allies. How times have changed.

Why Can't Spain Be More Like Norway?

The Spanish government seems absolutely determined to be present in the summit to be held next month on the economic crisis. A persistent lobbying operation is in place and members of the government, including Zapatero himself, have expressed public confidence that they will be invited. Even if Spain is not on the initial guest list. It’s all a bit puzzling, the government is setting itself up for a potentially humiliating rebuff; especially given the influence of the Bush administration over who might be invited. Nevertheless, they insist that Spain should be there as recognition of its economic weight – pre 2009 diet.

I don’t have any reason to suppose that the forthcoming summit is going to be anything other than a gigantic backslapping photo opportunity. We are not in a “Bretton Woods” moment where our international financial system is about to be reinvented, and not because things aren´t in a serious enough mess. It’s more to do with the people who are going to be taking the decisions; they’re not up to the job. Can anyone imagine George Bush delivering a slap in the direction of his cherished free market warriors just before he leaves office? I suspect we will get fine sounding words, be told not to worry because the economic system is fundamentally sound and then they will tinker with the system a bit so that worthless assets can only be resold for a maximum of 97000 times their initial value. Maybe that’s all that Zapatero wants, to be in the photo and to be seen as one of the big players.

I have the feeling that the model will be those summits where they still gather to talk of the millennium goals which have been so systematically ignored since they were first set way back in another millennium. All that boring stuff about health, basic education and not dying of starvation. At the last G8 summit they issued a statement about the awful difficulties facing the millions whose food prices had risen so sharply before sitting down to one of the most lavish banquets these summits have ever seen. Be Scandinavian about it. Then you can actually deliver on development commitments instead of just getting together every five years or so to say that of course you maintain your goals and help will probably be forthcoming when circumstances permit and if we didn´t spend all of our money on wars or tax breaks for our crappy financial system and would you mind but we have to go for lunch now. I’m not saying that the Scandinavian model is perfect but you have nations who don’t aspire to be big hitters yet who actually achieve things in a quiet way and without the need to carpet the globe with cluster bombs (so much more efficient than those outmoded anti-personnel mines).

Spain tried to be one of the big boys club under Aznar, and look where that led us! Aznar himself never made any bones about the fact that his interest in the Iraqi invasion was purely so that he could leave office strutting the international stage. His party still tries to suggest that Spain’s international influence has declined since the country withdrew its troops from Iraq. Bombing wedding parties in Afghanistan or guaranteeing the highest opium harvest ever seen may open the door to the international clubs, but Spain would probably do more good internationally and be able to act in a more autonomous way if it behaved more like a Mediterranean Norway.

The Week Of The Great Thinkers

It’s been quite a week for the intellectual powerhouses of the Spanish right. First up we got José Maria Aznar treating us to his “thoughts” on climate change. It doesn’t matter how many well funded (by the state) foundations you put behind Aznar, his ideas on any subject of any complexity are limited to simplistic notions which leave no evidence of smoking neurons behind them. His true mediocrity on the subject of climate change was best represented by his assertion that the problem would have to be dealt with future generations – so it doesn’t really matter anyway.

Later in the week we got Mrs Aguirre giving us her incisive analysis of the crisis. It should hardly surprise anyone to learn that Esperanza doesn’t regard the problem as being caused by problems of the market itself. Impossible. Instead she passed the blame onto excessive intervention by the state! I must have missed that, when did it happen? Perhaps it has been governments who have been covertly repackaging dodgy loans and selling them on as high quality restructured investment packages. Espe then went on to contradict herself – hardly an unusual occurrence – by claiming that the problems were also caused by a failure of regulation, which I’ve always assumed implies at least a degree of state intervention. Like the true believer she is, she has to maintain the faith even when the Alan Greenspan’s of this world are timidly starting to admit they may have got things wrong. In the process she leaves Zapatero looking almost like a Nobel Prize winner on economic issues.

For Services Rendered

Competing in the cynicism stakes with Esperanza Aguirre was never going to be easy but I take my hat off to Francisco Camps, president of the Valencian regional government. He inaugurated a new award, the Orden de Jaime 1 el Conquistador, by presenting it to none other than Carlos Fabra! Presumably, this is to console Carlitos for Hacienda’s unreasonable policy of not awarding freshly minted medals for successful tax evasion. As if this wasn’t enough, Don Carlos also gets a change in the local party statutes of the Partido Popular, which will mean that nobody can be expelled from the party for their misdemeanours until there is a firm judicial sentence condemning them. Given that in Spain such a sentence may not come before the beginning of the next ice age, this is effectively a policy of internal political amnesty for all corrupt PP representatives. Given also that the Valencian domain covers a good stretch of the Mediterranean coast, we can expect the number of those seeking refuge in the new rules to be quite high. Perhaps, given Fabra’s overwhelming power in Castellón province, the gesture by Camps contributed to the latter receiving the very Bulgarian figure of 98% support in his re-election as leader of the regional PP. Aguirre only got a meagre 96% in Madrid....¡toma!

The Street Cleaner

Faced with the apparently insatiable demands of the Corporate Time Monster in the next few days, I’m going to have to do some blogging while I have the chance. Those of you unfortunate enough to live outside of Madrid may have missed the latest initiative by the city’s Mayor on how he proposes to make the streets of the capital a better place. Alberto Ruiz Gallardón proposes to ban the “hombre anuncio”, those people whose job consists of carrying an advertising hoarding around the streets. Most of those I see in Madrid are bearing sandwich boards offering to buy gold. Gallardón also wants to ban the handing out of leaflets at the entrances to Metro stations. The claim made by Gallardón is that the job is degrading, although many see the real motive as being a Chinese style measure to improve the appearance of the capital for when we get a visit from the International Olympic Committee. You can’t pretend to have a bustling, modern, economically thriving city if at the same time you have people whose only income comes from being mobile advertising hoardings. The alternative being offered by the city administration to those who face losing their jobs is, er, to be unemployed. In the midst of an economic crisis.

Spain At A Glance....Salaries Versus Stocks

A revealing comparison made last week by Amparo Estrada in Público. An alien landing in the midst of the current crisis and looking at these figures might reasonably assume that the way out would involve the investors helping out the wage earners. Instead, one of those charming little quirks of modern capitalism means that the transfer goes the other way.

His Majesty's Loyal Opposition

They can't have been very happy in the headquarters of the Partido Popular as the Spanish government participated in the European Union's "help out our poor bankers" plan. The last thing on earth that the PP wants in this parliament is to be bound into any kind of pact with the government over the economy, after all this has been the sole focus of their opposition since the election campaign in March. Before the scale of the current crisis was fully evident the PP was already doing its bit to talk up Spain’s economic troubles, and this included several attempts to suggest that Spanish banks are not as secure as many assume them to be. This, of course, fitted nicely into the plan to try and pretend that the crisis was just a consequence of mismanagement by Zapatero's government, but even by the PP’s legendary standards they would still be hard pushed to try and claim that Zapatero is the cause of the global problems we have witnessed in the last few weeks.

More recently they have been faced with the same difficulty afflicting right wing parties in many countries. The evident failures of the liberalised market and the heavy price we all have to pay to dig the wealthy few out of their own hole don’t fit well with economic programmes based around more of the same. So the PP has instead opted for a brand of easy populism, even going as far as describing Zapatero as the banker’s friend whilst they pretend to represent the interests of the rest. At one point a couple of weeks ago they even suggested that any support for the government on the economy would depend on the proposed budget for next year being withdrawn. This was a throwback to the last parliament, making their support conditional on a set of demands which they know will never be accepted; the tactic was tried frequently with terrorism and now it is being tested with the economy. All of which throws into question the reality of the PP’s declared change of strategy, consensus has not been on show very much recently.

Now if Zapatero succeeds in leaving the PP weakened on the economy the question of how they adapt their opposition strategy is going to be a tough one. A refusal to support the government at all on this issue will leave them looking very exposed now that Spain is effectively doing what the rest of Europe is doing. Above all, they are keen to avoid the social issues like abortion which might leave them looking like the political wing of the church, and threaten their already unconvincing attempts to present a more open and modern image. Looks like they might have to invent another negotiation with ETA.

A Martyr Is Born

El Mundo has treated us to yet another awful, soul-destroying tale of linguistic tyranny in Cataluña. It appears that one of the leading activists in the campaign to make Spanish the language of education in the the region is facing a divorce demand from his wife. The case has been presented against Carmelo González, who once went on hunger strike to demand that his children be educated in Spanish. According to the person who will presumably soon be his ex-wife, Carmelo refuses to allow his children to mix with anyone who speaks Catalan or to listen to media broadcasting in the language, refused to have cava or other products labelled in Catalan inside his house, and was furious when his wife organised a birthday celebration in a school that advertises itself in Catalan. Clearly the very model of tolerance himself, Carmelo has a small problem....he lives in Sitges. That's Sitges in Cataluña.

No English Friendly For Madrid

It didn't take long for this item to make it into the Spanish press. It's hardly a surprising decision, the Spanish football authorities preferred to look the other way and pretend that no racism was involved rather than acknowledge what had happened the last time England played at the Bernabeu stadium, so there is little reason to believe that the same thing won't happen again. I anticipate multiple comments along the lines of "oh it's so unfair, here go the anglos again calling us racists when they're more racist than we are" in the Spanish media where this gets reported.

Mariano El Pacifista

Maybe you have some doubts about whether Mariano Rajoy has really switched over to the far left, but the evidence is mounting. Not only is he opposed to plans helping out the bankers, now he's even turned on the military! Caught out yesterday by a live microphone, he was recorded telling Javier Arenas "Mañana tengo el coñazo del desfile", hardly the most patriotic thing to say about the annual military parade held in celebration of the Día de la Hispanidad. Last year, for the same occasion, a man claiming to be Mariano Rajoy issued a regal style video address to the nation where he called on all patriotic Spaniards to attend the parade with pride (and if they found time to shout anti-Zapatero slogans even better). Who said the PP hasn't changed?

Mariano El Rojo

The Partido Popular has rejected the Spanish government’s plans to create a fund to support banks that might have financial problems. They oppose it on the grounds that it is helping bankers rather than ordinary people. South of Watford has obtained exclusive access to the PP's internal bulletin on the subject and this is a rough translation of what party leader Mariano Rajoy had to say on the subject:

“The thing is comrades, we’ve been saying for decades that crisis is an in-built part of the capitalist system. Zapatero and the bankers are going to be determined to make the working class pay for the crisis, and it’s up to us to provide the alternative. Whatever they do is just placing a patch on a bankrupt system so that they can come back in a few years and do the same again. Let me remind you of the prophetic words of Rosa Luxemburg, it’s a clear choice between socialism or barbarism. The next time I play golf with my friend the President of Caja Madrid he’s going to be getting a piece of my mind, you can be sure of that.”

Witch Hunts Are Bad For Our Health

The battle between the Comunidad de Madrid and those who oppose their ever more rapid progress on privatising health care in the region took a new turn this week. The Comunidad has been getting increasingly shrill in its campaign against the demonstrations that almost always accompany visits to health facilities by senior politicians from the regional government. This has been the case more or less since Esperanza Aguirre arrogantly swaggered her way through a hospital visit a few months ago; the video capturing her confrontation with opponents of her policies has since been seen by almost the entire universe; with the exception of Telemadrid viewers.

These days the visits are mostly done by the man in charge of health provision for Madrid, Juan José Güemes. You know your health care is in safe hands when it’s being run by someone who is the son-in-law of Carlos “I’m just very lucky with the lottery” Fabra. After the latest demonstrations the Comunidad was trying hard to get the police to crack down on the protests. As that strategy failed to take off they have fallen back on an old claim that their opponents are just full time trade union delegates, suggesting that no ordinary health worker would have any problem with their policies. They topped this off a couple of days ago by releasing a special video of a protest with some of the trade unionists involved being publicly identified. Shocking isn’t it, when people whose job it is to represent the interests of health service workers take part in protests about policies that affect their members. Shouldn’t be allowed. The way things are going in Madrid it may not be for much longer.

The 2008 Spanish Judiciary Guide To Acceptable Insults

A couple of recent court cases in Spain have helped to clarify the boundaries of who we can insult and just how we can do it.

Case 1 – Describing someone as a “fascist” has been declared to be acceptable. I would go further, in many situations it’s clearly fair comment and there are other circumstances, usually involving consumption of a few beers, where it doesn’t really matter whether it’s fair or not. The court case involved a certain Agustín Diaz de Mera who was labelled a fascist by a member of the opposition back in the days when he was Mayor of Avila. Now Diaz de Mera subsequently went on to what should have been greater things, as his political mentor was one Angel Acebes – anyone remember him? So Diaz de Mera became head of the police when Acebes was Interior Minister, and was therefore occupying this post at the time of the Madrid bombings. In the trial of those accused of the bombings, he got himself into a potentially tricky situation by thinking that he could use the courtroom as a platform for airing conspiracy theory garbage about the alleged existence of a report linking ETA to the bombings. This almost led to him facing charges, probably the fact that he is now a member of the European Parliament was what helped to save him from such an undignified situation. All of which leads to the inevitable conclusion that “fascist” is perhaps not the only thing he could be accused of being.

Case 2 – Describing the Prime Minister as an accomplice of terrorists has also been declared to be within the bounds of legality. This case was brought against the former president of the Asociación de Victimas del Terrorismo, Francisco José Alcaraz, who had accused Zapatero of effectively conniving with ETA. Alcaraz, who politically could easily be described as a bit of a Diaz de Mera, got off the charge of "injurias" against the government on the curious grounds that he had insulted the Prime Minister rather than the government itself. This protection of the government's honour has to be a bit of a left over from less democratic times, so much as I detest Alcaraz and his attempts to use terrorism as a shield for far right politics I still wonder what would be left of our lives on this planet if we couldn't insult the government?

Alternative Investment Plans

If the Spanish government's decision today to guarantee bank deposits up to €100,000 doesn't satisfy you, then allow me to recommend BINBAGS - the Balearic Investment Banking and Gardening System. It's quite simple to join, especially if you are the proud owner of many of those elusive €500 notes that the Spanish government would like to see circulating a bit more legally. All you need to get started is, er, a high level position or contact with the previous PP run administration in the Balearic Islands regional government, a wooden box, a bin bag (of course!), a garden, and preferably a spade to guarantee your deposit. Also, there's no commission - because you've already received it!

Liberalising The Labour Market

Here's one for fans of labour market "flexibility", often sold to us as the only thing standing between Spain and an economic miracle. Well a woman in Barcelona has just been sacked by the company she works for because of repeated unjustified absences from work and for not being punctual. Naturally, the interpretation you choose to make of the word "unjustified" is a very personal one, and some might argue that the fact the person concerned has been in a coma since suffering a serious traffic accident in September would be a mitigating factor. Not apparently enough to prevent the dismissal, so a big round of applause for El Punt del Peix - company of the week.

How Safe Are The Spanish Banks?

There has been a lot of talk in recent days about the Spanish banking system being more stable than that of many of its European neighbours. There does seem to be some foundation for this in that Spanish banks have been obliged to provision heavily against possible defaults and have slightly more operational restrictions on their activities. Also, the fund which guarantees deposits is looking reasonably healthy, and in the case of a single collapse it’s quite likely that the Spanish state will step in to guarantee that nobody loses all of their life savings. We are told, although it’s difficult to be sure about such things, that the main Spanish banks have not been heavily involved in the trading of dodgy sub-prime mortgages and the like. Spain has one of the lowest guarantees of deposits in Europe, only €20,000 is absolutely secure and the government here is very reluctant to raise this, despite the fact that other countries are doing just that as the crisis spreads.

The other side of the balance sheet is not necessarily so comforting. The German government has just had to step in with hefty assistance for a mortgage bank that has got into trouble. I’m not completely clear about what has happened, but this is in a country which I assumed to be free of the sort of speculative bubble market in property that Spain or the UK has experienced. Also, check out the size of the reported bail-out and it dwarfs the money which is set aside in Spain for such events. That’s for a single bank, and this is a key point. If it’s just one or two that get into trouble then the problems can be absorbed even at a hefty expense. However, the key issue in all of this is confidence, and that is why nobody ever admits that there is a problem with a bank until after the shit has hit the fan. In Spain there could be significant problems for banks caused by two factors, their exposure in terms of loans to the construction sector and the increasing problems of indebtedness arising from people being unable to keep up with high mortgage payments. A lot of properties in Spain seem to have been overvalued by the companies responsible for assessing this, meaning that many people effectively have 100% mortgages when the official percentage awarded was substantially less than this. Mix this with falling property prices and growing unemployment and the stage is set for a sharp rise in payment defaults.

Palin llama a Obama "amigo de los terroristas"

I suppose that's another reference to the Spanish government, led as it is by that notorious gang of Zapateristas.

Blue Sky Thinking

Yesterday was a holiday in Germany, to celebrate German Unity Day. It was quite nice to restart my working life with a four day week, but any thoughts I had of enjoying a long weekend in Madrid soon faded. Instead of it being German Unity Day, the holiday could easily be renamed All Of Germany Goes To Spain Day, as it was impossible to get a flight to Madrid either on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.

I got home at about 22:30 last night after having a fine reminder of just what an unpleasant experience flying can be these days. After a 90 minute delay in departure I got onto one of those planes where someone of my height starts thinking seriously about whether cutting my legs off just above the knee might be the only way to avoid being permanently jammed into the space that I’ve been assigned. Cheap flights you might think, but it wasn’t cheap. The little boy sitting next to me celebrated the flying experience by vomiting profusely about ten minutes into the flight – these things can’t be helped.

Still, I got home and this morning helped to improve my humour. As I walked out into the centre of Madrid this morning I forgot all about the battering I’ve received from high winds and pouring rain in the last few days. The sky had that luminous blue colour that you normally get here in spring or autumn when pollution levels in the city fall temporarily below their now almost standard toxic average. The sun was out and you could walk in it without frying, suddenly life felt better.

El País published on their web site a couple of days ago a beautiful satellite image showing the Pyrenees, the Massif Central and the western part of the Alps completely clear of clouds. As I looked at it I thought what a clever bit of clipping they must have done because not so far further north things were very different. Maybe it will have improved by the time I get there again for Germans Go Back To Work Day.

Cinema....Los Girasoles Ciegos

Sticking with a cultural theme it’s been a long, long time since I wrote anything about cinema. This is only partly because I haven’t seen that much to make me want to write about it this year. Spanish cinema seems to save almost all of its main releases for the autumn festivals and prize ceremonies, so the interesting releases before the summer tend to be few and far between. I almost wrote about Todos Estamos Invitados, a film about those inhabitants of the Basque Country who have to live with escorts because they are under threat from ETA. Other things got in the way of that. Then there was Casual Day, with it’s look at the internal politics of a company; but this kind of thing was done much better in my opinion by Smoking Room.

Well things have improved since summer ended and first up is this year’s Spanish candidate for the foreign language Oscar; Los Girasoles Ciegos (The Blind Sunflowers). The cinema is one area where the Spanish Civil War has not been forgotten, this film is set in the aftermath of the war and focuses on the grim realities of life for those who supported the losing side. Based on a book by Alberto Méndez, although in reality the film seems to be an adaptation of only one of the four stories from the book. Directed by Jose Luis Cuerda, it is also the last script written by Rafael Azcona, who sadly died earlier this year before the film was released. Méndez himself died not long after the publication of the book.

One of the principal characters, Elena, is played by Maribel Verdú, who seems to be busier in the last 2-3 years than at any other time in her career. Elena’s husband, Ricardo (played by Javier Cámara), is a republican forced to live in a hidden chamber at the back of the family's house, whilst his wife and young son Lorenzo have to live with the pretence that he died in the war or that he escaped afterwards; depending on who they are dealing with. The couple’s pregnant daughter attempts to escape to Portugal with her fugitive boyfriend. Cámara plays a character with a miserable life, alive but forced to live as a prisoner in his own home with the curtains carefully drawn every time he emerges from his hiding place. It’s better than being dead but could hardly be described as a full life.

Salvador, the predatory priest who becomes obsessed with Elena is played by Raúl Arévalo. He’s still not yet a full priest and is sent by his seminary to teach at the school which Lorenzo attends. When back at the seminary he confesses how tortured he is by his feelings for her, but no sooner is he back in town than he is chasing Maribel all over the place. He uses the pretext of helping her son as an excuse to be with her, and his persistent attention puts the whole façade constructed by the “widow” Elena under intense pressure. In any case our priest is a man with a past, having been a combatant on the fascist side in the Civil War and having led anything but a pure life of spiritual reflection. Not that such things worried the Church very much in those days, and back at school the morning always begins with the priests raising their arms in the fascist salute as they oblige their charges to sing the Falangist anthem Cara al Sol.

For me this was a more effective, natural and personal drama than last year’s Spanish Oscar candidate, Las Trece Rosas. However, some critics have claimed that it fails to capture the full subtlety and atmosphere of the original story, but then you have to find and read the book to make that judgement.

Theatre....Boris Godunov

I’m going to raise the cultural level of the blog a bit, but only temporarily so don't get alarmed. Last week I went to the theatre in Madrid to see the version of Boris Gudonov performed by the Catalan group La Fura dels Baus. This was not your standard play, the performance was interrupted after a few minutes by loud bangs and the sudden emergence of a heavily armed group into the theatre. It all formed part of the performance as this version of Boris Gudonov is based loosely around the tragic Moscow theatre siege that took place in 2002.

Obviously the reaction of the audience to events is very different when you know that it is all part of the act, but even so it is still a bit unnerving to have masked actors patrolling the theatre with their (fake) machine guns. The rest of the evening consists of a mixture of snippets from Boris Gudonov itself interspersed with the drama of the audience being the hostages as the group responsible seeks to get concessions from the government. We even see filmed sequences of the crisis committee presided over by the president of the fictional nation at the heart of the tale. Some of the actors also play the part of hostages which is what at least prevents any random members of the real audience being dragged onto the stage for mock execution.

The occasional presence of a “neutral” mediator permits exploration of the issues of the extent to which oppression of a nation by another might permit violent reprisals against the citizens of the oppressor nation. Meanwhile, the members of the government´s crisis committee discuss the maximum number of dead hostages which might be politically acceptable. All of this is done without reference to a particular country or conflict. It’s an effective piece of theatre which I believe has already been performed in some other places in Spain. In Madrid it is due to end shortly after the middle of October, so book quickly if you want to see it. Malaga and La Coruña will get the chance to see it in January 2009.

The Crisis Explained

Everything you need to know about what´s gone wrong with the world economy. It´s subtitled in Spanish too.


The Last Laugh - George Parr - Subprime - subtitulos
by erioluk

via Guerra Eterna

The Indestructible Mr Fabra

It’s time for a little bit of new vocabulary again. Today’s word is cacique, and we’re not referring to the Venezuelan rum either; South of Watford doesn´t do advertising. Instead, I want to focus on the political usage of the term, and the example that comes quickly to hand is called Carlos Fabra. Mr Fabra is the man in charge of the Diputación de Castellon, which is a body whose purpose I don’t understand very well but which is more or less equivalent to a provincial administration. In addition to this, Fabra is the Mr Big for the Partido Popular in Castellon and this is what makes him a cacique as a result of the tight control he exercises as the local party boss. It’s a family business, Castellon, and Fabra is occupying a position held by his father and grandfather before him. This political dynasty seems set to continue as he has already arranged a place in the national Senate for his daughter.

Now everyone likes to have a hobby, whilst some people collect stamps or matchbox labels Fabra collects bank accounts and the collection is coming along very nicely; he’s almost reached 100 either as sole or joint signatory. On the evidence of the the sums of money contained in these accounts it’s quite a profitable pastime too, and Mr Fabra seems to have been so busy with his financial movements that he didn’t quite find time to keep the Spanish tax authorities fully informed about many of the substantial sums of money which have been deposited in these accounts. Just in case anyone imagines that we are talking about the meagre savings of a professional politician, let me help to put the record straight. Fabra is said to have millions of euros distributed amongst his fine collection of bank accounts, yet his annual tax declarations seem to be so low that he often gets money returned to him. All of this has finally led to him facing very serious fraud charges as Hacienda seek to discover the origin of his riches.

The judge responsible for the local court dealing with the case has subsequently been changed no fewer than 8 times since the initial accusation was made, all of which suggests that Fabra could be moving towards that happy state of affairs where the time limits for the crimes concerned expire. In which case he will be able to declare himself innocent on all charges regardless of whether this is the case or not. However, last week there was sudden movement in the case as investigators visited personally many of the banks where Fabra is a customer. Fabra also recently gave a demonstration of just what a class act he is. In a session of the Diputación he was questioned about his legal difficulties by a member of the opposition. Refusing to answer any of the questions put, he was then caught by a stray microphone describing the questioner as an “hijo de puta”. Fabra later claimed in his defence that this is simply a commonly used expression in the area, and I’m sure it is. It’s used quite regularly in Madrid too.

Now in some other cases the PP has moved swiftly to remove representatives accused of serious corruption, but in Fabra’s case it appears that he is an untouchable; and the PP leadership has always defended him. Mariano Rajoy even described him as a model politician and citizen, which gives us some useful insight into his particular ethical baseline. In fact he’s the very model of a modern day cacique who appears to believe that he can do what he likes and who doesn´t need to be accountable to anyone. The question of why he can´t just be dumped by his party is almost as interesting as the origin of all the millions which pass through his bank accounts.

Madrid Feels The Pinch

Just in case anyone gets the impression that I´ve thrown in the towel and gone into permanent exile, let me pick up on something that I didn´t find time to post on before I left Madrid. The chill winds of economic crisis are blowing hard across the meseta of central Spain and have now made it as far as the gates of the capital. The occupants of that fine palace overlooking Cibeles have done their calculations and realised that something has to give. What will it be? Maybe they´ll have to reduce the capacity of that glorious Olympic stadium for those games which have yet to be awarded to the city? No don´t worry, Madrid has an administration which knows where it priorities lie, so the axe has fallen instead on residences for the elderly, sports facilities for the barrios and nursery education. There are those who like to present Alberto Ruiz Gallardón as a social democrat who just somehow took a wrong turning when it came to choosing his political party. How wrong they are.

A Change Of Scenery

Productivity on this blog has been fairly high this year, a state of affairs which is mainly due to the fact that I've been a bit, er, underemployed. In addition to blogging I've had more time to enjoy Madrid, and to travel, and - of course - to waste time at home. I'm particularly good at the latter and I've enjoyed the opportunity to dedicate so much time to it. All of this is about to end, the inexplicable refusal of the Spanish state to pay me in return for withdrawing from the labour market means that I'm forced to take extreme measures and start working again. What's more, I'm going to be doing this in Germany, where freelancers like myself are a bit more common than here in Spain. I fly out this afternoon and its likely that for the next few weeks, and probably months, I will be spending most of my time there. I still intend to blog, there has to be some novelty value in an Englishman blogging about Spain from Germany! I'm less sure about the frequency of posts, depending as it does on how much free time and Internet access I have. We'll see.

Garzón To Church....Try Again

The Catholic Church in Spain has been given another opportunity to collaborate with the investigation into the whereabouts of the victims of Franco's repression. This follows their initial refusal to help after they received the first request from judge Baltasar Garzón. It gives the organisation an opportunity to demonstrate that all this talk about ethics isn't just for show. Of particular interest is the situation of the Valle de los Caidos, the massive mausoleum and eyesore built into the Sierra de Guadarrama near Madrid. The remains that were brought there following instructions from the dictatorship came from the Republican side too, and Garzón is now seeking access to the documentation held there. Accounts of those with some inside knowledge of this still secretive institution suggest that the human remains brought there were mixed together and are probably difficult to retrieve.

Meanwhile Garzón has now received a list of of over 143,000 names of victims of the repression both during and after the Civil War in Spain. This is not a definitive list, in many provinces the associations who have investigated the issue are still compiling information. The judge has now widened his request to include information on some of those killed by the Republican side. Whether this has been done to try and get the Church to help is unclear, in general the information on these victims is much easier to obtain as they were given full honours by Franco's regime rather than just being left to rot in mass graves. The key moment is still to come, when Garzón has to make a decision on whether there is a case to pursue.

Educashun To The Valencian Style

I wrote recently about how the Valencian regional government hoped to undermine the new Citizenship module for Spanish schools by ordering it to be taught in English. The new term has already seen some farcical scenes in Valencian schools as those teachers who are qualified to give classes on the new subject then have their words translated into English by another teacher. All of this so that they can play political games with the national government, the rulers of Valencia probably regard this expensive anti-educational chaos as a good result. After all, if they can't even translate correctly the name of the course then there is little chance of them getting the rest of it right.

The Trickle Down Effect

Leaving aside the music chosen for the Partido Popular conference in Madrid at the weekend, the policy declarations for the event were also a little bit outdated. As merchant banks and insurance companies crashed so expensively in the US, Madrid's PP decided to take us all back to the 1980's when complete economic liberalisation could be argued for on the grounds that people had forgotten why it fails. Current events were not allowed to intrude as we were treated to declarations against the public “monopolies” in education and health. As if anyone could seriously argue in Spain that education is a monopoly when so much of the public funding for it goes on propping up private schools. No matter, reality was kept safely at bay.

The jewel in the crown of the new proposals from “Espp's” ever more extreme Madrid party was a proposal to privatise 49% of the local water company – the Canal Isabel 2. Now of course the case for privatisation is unanswerable, after all it's intolerable that a company which delivers some of the best quality drinking water in Spain and which made a profit of almost 80 million euros last year without charging rip-off prices should be allowed to continue in this way. Especially when it has 670 million euros worth of assets, including some very nice city centre sites that used to be used for boring activities such as storage of drinking water.

So the stage is set for an exercise in “popular capitalism”. It works this way, first the water company uses its profits on an expensive share issue campaign to entice the small investor who then in turn sells on the shares to larger investors. Meanwhile, the newly private company is obliged to pay its directors (probably the same ones as before) much higher salaries on the grounds that the market dictates this. At the same time as it will no doubt dictate that the other employees of the company need to be put on less secure, worse paid contracts. The final bill is of course picked up by the lucky consumer, probably still unaware of the numerous benefits resulting from this process.

Then came the catch. It turns out that the responsibility for delivering water to the residents of the Madrid region doesn't belong to the Canal Isabel 2 at all. Instead, it forms part of the responsibilities of the individual municipalities who have in turn ceded this to the water company under the misunderstanding that it was a public utility company. Madrid's mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardón was very quick off the mark on this point, suggesting that he might need to put the water services for the capital up for auction if the Canal was going to be privatised. He's looking for alternative sources of funding, and if he can combine that with the possibility of poking Mrs Aguirre in the eye then that makes it all the more attractive. The PSOE run municipalities in the region have also made it clear that they will seek renegotiation of the agreements they have to supply and treat water. None of this means that the privatisation process will be stopped, after all us consumers will still need to drink. Gallardon's move does raise the intriguing possibility that Madrid's water could end up being delivered by Aguas de Barcelona. Don't tell Espe, she doesn't like “foreign” companies.

Madrid Airport Accident....Messing Up The Investigation

The investigation into what caused the horrific plane crash at Madrid's Barajas airport has now become a controversial issue in its own right. Last week saw resignations from the commission of investigation as some of its members claimed that they were becoming increasingly fed up with leaks of information about the crash. A first draft of initial conclusions was leaked to the press even though it had apparently not even reached the stage of being approved by the commission itself, and the number of possible causes of the crash has now multiplied as the press pick up on each possibility.

As if the leaking of the partial investigation didn't provoke enough confusion, the video of the final moments of the plane's failed attempt to take off was then released to the newspaper El País. This in turn provoked the wrath of the judge who is also investigating the crash; the same judge who had to demand to be given a copy of this video in the days following the accident. The judge banned El País from continuing to distribute the video, a bit of a pointless measure given that anyone who wanted to watch it had already had the chance. In any case, the short video only confirms what we more or less already knew, that the plane took off very briefly before coming back down again and careering off the runway towards the stream where it finally exploded.

The judge was probably upset that a video which he had to struggle to obtain then ends up so easily in the hands of the press. Fingers are being pointed at the government over both the leaks and the release of the video, El País is a favoured recipient of information in this manner. It's a pitiful way to conduct investigations and can't be doing anything to help the families of the victims who have already been left with the impression that those who died were in a plane that maybe shouldn't have been allowed to take off.

The Dancing Queen

I don't know whether it's fair to judge a political party by the music they choose for their conferences, but in the case of the Partido Popular I've always tried to avoid letting issues of fairness cloud my judgement. The PP had their regional conference in Madrid this weekend and “Mamma Mia” was the theme chosen for the acclamation of the newly elected president. This personality, identified on the badges worn by delegates as “Espp”, was re-elected to her post with the slender support of slightly over 96% of those attending. I like to think that the other 4% are already serving their sentence tilling the land on one of the Condesa's many country estates. Oddly enough, given their reaction to Mariano Rajoy being the only candidate as national leader, there were no protests in the Madrid PP about delegates having just a single candidate to vote for.
Madrid's mayor was introduced to the theme of “The Winner Takes It All”, a choice which has been widely interpreted as a reference to the fact that none of Gallardón's supporters are represented in the ruling bodies of the Madrid party. It's one thing to have a show of unity, quite another to start putting it into practice. By the time the PP in Madrid gather together again it should already be clear whether their leader's attempt to move onto greater things has succeeded or not. If I was them I would take the precaution of recording a copy of “You Can't Always Get What You Want”. Just in case.

An Ordinary Week, Only Two Political Parties Banned

This week saw a long awaited, but more or less predictable, decision by the Supreme Court to ban two Basque political parties. Acción Nacionalista Vasca (ANV) and the Partido Comunista de las Tierras Vascas (PCTV-EHAK) were both illegalised under the Ley de Partidos. This is the law introduced under Aznar's administration with the particular aim of prohibiting ETA's political wing, Batasuna. Both ANV and the PCTV have been banned on the grounds that they are regarded as successor parties to Batasuna, both parties having effectively lent themselves to the task of representing Batasuna's voters in regional and municipal elections in the Basque Country.

The decision is particularly paradoxical in the case of ANV because this party was created some 50-60 years before Batasuna was even thought of, so the idea that it is a successor to the latter is odd to say the least. ANV currently control around 40 municipalities split between the Basque Country and Navarra, and although the party may be illegal their councillors in these municipalities will continue to hold their position unless a legal pretext is found to remove them from office; something that can't be ruled out. It could be argued that there is more consistency now than the previous situation where half of ANV's municipal candidates were ruled to be illegal and the other half not. The PCTV only stood in the last regional elections in the Basque Country although their elected members do hold the balance of power in the Basque parliament. However, with the Basque elections due in a few months time their seats will not be occupied for much longer.

Whatever the feelings may be towards the parties concerned, the law is still a bad one. Despite the judicial show that is put on, once a process is set in motion to ban a party under this law it only ever has one result. Also, it's application seems to depend entirely on which way the political wind is blowing. The criteria permitting a party to be banned become ever broader, as the cat and mouse game to try and enforce it becomes more complicated. In the meantime, the distinction between the terrorist who places the bomb and those who sympathise with ETA has almost completely disappeared allowing for all sorts of people to be classified as "terrorists" in an arbitrary way. Still to look forward to are the ridiculous attempts to prosecute nationalist and socialist leaders in the Basque Country for having talked to Batasuna representatives in an attempt to bring an end to terrorism in the region. In the end the strongest argument for ETA abandoning violence is that they can pursue the objectives of Basque independence by legal and peaceful means. Laws like this make that argument harder to sustain.

A Competition You May Not Want To Win

The Partido Popular, in their long running search for someone who knows something about economics, have decided to cast the net a bit wider. They have organised a video competition on the economic crisis. Because we are dealing with people who have a short attention span, the videos submitted should not exceed a maximum length of one minute. Now comes the catch, there's always one, the unlucky winner is expected to have lunch with Mariano Rajoy in his office at PP headquarters. You would have thought that they could have come up with a better way of rewarding the effort involved in all that video editing, the thought of watching Mariano slurping his way through the Caldo Gallego for a couple of hours isn't everyone's idea of a big day out. It's not clear whether the winner is expected to pay for the lunch, although these politicians often don't carry money so I would be ready for anything! Anyway, for those who are interested the email to submit the videos is comeconrajoy@gmail.com. Remember, keep it simple. The second prize is two lunches with Mariano Rajoy....I think I'd better leave it there.

The Law Shall Be Obeyed, Unless You're A Judge

The outgoing members of the Consejo General del Poder Judicial (CGPJ) were already severely criticised for the leniency they showed in dealing with judges who haven't done their job properly. As they are about to leave office, the distinguished members of the CGPJ couldn't leave without taking one last kick at judicial credibility. This time they decided that judges who refuse to apply the law should also go unpunished. The judge Laura Alabau refused to preside over marriages involving gay couples, and did her best to prevent them from happening; despite the fact that such unions are now completely legal in Spain. Her case reached the disciplinary commission of the CGPJ who punished the judge with a fine of – sharp intake of breath here - €305! Such a crippling punishment couldn't be allowed to stand against a judge who had been so loyal to her ideological principles, so the conservative majority on the CGPJ lifted the sanction yesterday.

Normal Service Will Resume (After A Short Break)

Today's big word in Spain is "paréntesis". We're not talking about brackets either. Given that things are not going very well economically the head of the Spanish employers association has called for a paréntesis in the operation of the free market. Roughly translated, what he means is that the state should hand bucket loads of cash to the private sector. Then, when things recover again thanks to this communal generosity, we can go back to the normal situation where a tiny group of beneficiaries keep almost all of the profits. To help them on their way, the employers also called for a return to the days of guaranteed easy pickings with more privatisations and contracting of public services. That's what free enterprise is all about isn't it?

Meanwhile the latest construction company to be tottering on the edge seems to be Habitat, a name I always associate with overpriced furniture. They are reported to be in the process of renegotiating their debts with the banks in an attempt to avoid going into liquidation. With all the talk of a credit crunch and lack of liquidity, I was a little bit surprised to get a letter from my bank the other day offering me an easy loan. Not only that, they then phoned me up to check whether I had got the letter and to remind me that they could still lend me lots of cash. I don't know whether to be pleased or worried by this - it could mean my bank is flush with funds, or it could be that they just don't care as we all slide down the precipice that the pre-paréntesis free market has created for us.

Get Out The Way ZP!

Many years ago, back in the early 1990's when Felipe Gonzalez was still Spanish Prime Minister, the then leader of the opposition hit on a simple formula for undermining the government. Playing on the idea that Gonzalez had stayed in power too long and that his government was worn out and unable to react to developments, Jose Maria Aznar used the phrase “¡Váyase, señor González!” to such effect that it now forms part of Spanish political history. It's a great formula if you use it at the right time, when your opponent is clearly on the slide. It avoids any sort of ideological exposure or the need to present any concrete alternatives, you simply play on the feeling of popular exasperation with someone who clings on to power. Well the Partido Popular, having failed with ideological opposition in the last parliament, now seems to be searching for a way to repeat the Aznar formula against Zapatero. The speech made by Mariano Rajoy on the economy last week, the one where he demonstrated his “sincere perplexity”, was littered with references suggesting that Zapatero was part of the problem and should get out of the way. This has been followed up this week with further attacks suggesting that ZP is the main obstacle to solving the economic crisis in Spain.

All of this might be a little bit more convincing if the PP had something more to offer on the economy than tax cuts for their mates to be paid for with undefined public spending cuts. Nevertheless, the PP is actively trying to give the impression that only Zapatero stands in the way of a solution for all economic troubles. The problem for the PP is that Aznar used the formula against a government that was generally exhausted and mired in scandals, and that Aznar himself was still in a secure position as PP leader. Rajoy cannot say the same, and who better than Esperanza Aguirre to remind us of this? Last weekend the Lideresa gave a revealing interview to the newspaper ABC, where she made it clear that for her at least the leadership question in the PP was still not settled. Aguirre insists that the candidate for the next general election will only be decided at the next PP conference which should be held in 2011. All the more reason for Mariano to step up the pressure on the government, the best thing for him would be a government that can't see out its full term. Otherwise Zapatero may not be the first to fall.

Apartheid A La Madrileña

Here's the recipe for traditional Madrid style educational apartheid. First take one school, let's call it "San Roque", whose pupils are mostly of gypsy or immigrant origin. The school has reasonable facilities and even a bit of spare space for more pupils. Then take another school just 300 metres away, we'll call this one "Cristóbal Colón", where the pupils are mostly of Spanish (non-gypsy) origin. This second school is crowded and lacks key facilities such as a library. What to do about such a situation? San Roque offered to take excess pupils from Cristóbal Colón but such a mixture wouldn't work for the Comunidad de Madrid - most definitely an unequal opportunities administration. So the solution adopted is to put the gypsy and immigrant kids into the cramped school without facilities, and therefore leave the other one free for the Spanish kids. Swap the names of the schools and problem solved.

Rajoy Plays The Race Card Again

When he's not blaming Zapatero for the economic crisis, Partido Popular leader Mariano Rajoy has another favoured target; immigrants. Yesterday Rajoy directly attacked foreigners working in Spain by linking the number of immigrants claiming unemployment benefit and the number of Spaniards who travel to France every year to work on the grape harvest in that country. He suggested that immigrants should have no right to claim such benefits by claiming that the government budget was for “los Españoles”.

Sometimes with people like this who are a bit slow on the uptake you need to state the obvious. If there are immigrants claiming unemployment benefit in Spain it's because they have paid their social security contributions while they have been working here. The same contributions which are also paying the retirement pensions of several hundred thousand Spaniards. The last government which Rajoy formed part of was content to leave close to a million immigrants in a situation of absolute insecurity, without papers or social security and easy prey for unscrupulous employers. The regularisation of many of these immigrants led to a huge increase in the numbers paying social security contributions.

Meanwhile the explanation for the number of Spaniards going to France to work is equally simple, the conditions they are offered there are much better than those in Spain. They can be paid double what is on offer in their home country and have in fact been travelling to France to work on the harvest for years, this is not a new phenomenon resulting from the crisis. A PP which is increasingly attached to neocon economic policies at the very time when those same policies are unravelling at speed is naturally going to be unable to see the wood for the trees. The tried to play the xenophobic card in the general election campaign and if yesterday is anything to go by they will continue to try and use it to their advantage as the economic situation worsens. They have nothing else to offer.