And can we edit the post correctly…?

2) GOVERNMENT TRIES TO MAKE IT FLY ANYWAY: “Spanish government manoeuvres to get deficit limits reset throughout Europe” (Público: http://matbe.net/xpr5Vx). They insist that Spain will be able to make its deficit targets, despite the IMF: “Rajoy: “Spain is going to meet the target, and today that target is 4.4%” (El País: http://matbe.net/yYRKNm).

3) NO-ONE WANTS SPANISH ELECTRICITY DEBT: “Treasury fails to sell electricity debt” (Cinco Días: http://matbe.net/Ak4VNT). They mention the maturity date—4 years—of the paper and the glut of public debt lying around at the moment in the market as reasons for the failure, although they were only trying to hock a small amount. Can you think of any other explanation?

Let’s talk about laws and justice in Spain, because that appears to be important today…

4) SPAIN SUPPORTS MARTA: “Thousands of people in 40 cities demand justice for Marta del Castillo and a change in the law” (Yahoo!: http://matbe.net/wL3nJl). It doesn’t seem like the recent judicial decisions regarding the accused have convinced anybody, three years after the young girl went missing and was murdered, and after the whole country has watched how—in those three years—the accused played with the justice system, the police and the courts.

Clearly many Spanish people think that justice in this country isn’t what it should be, and not only criminal justice…

5) WILL SPAIN’S CONSTITUTIONAL COURT SPRING BACK TO LIFE? “Santamaría announces the immediate renovation of the Constitutional Court” (ABC: http://matbe.net/x7UCqr). It seems ‘unexemplary’ is the political word of the moment here in Spain. The government wishes to take a step backwards towards greater judicial independence, and has once again proposed that the country’s top judges be elected by other judges.

There is no mention of the government having mentioned the 432 new courts Spain needs to make it all work, but that must be because of the recession or something.

Nevertheless, a greater separation of powers in Spain would be very welcome although given that the statesmanlike measure has been proposed by the conservative government,…

6) SPANISH SOCIALISTS DON’T LIKE THE IDEA: “The PSOE thinks the proposal for choosing top judges breaks parliament’s sovereignty” (Yahoo! http://matbe.net/wkqlam). They think that the PP’s proposal breaks parliamentary ‘consensus’ on how judicial power in Spain should function. Which consensus would that be then…?

While we’re on the topic of different national narratives about the idea of justice in Spain…

7) PUBLIC PROSECUTOR DEFENDS GARZÓN, ACCUSES JUDGE: “Public prosecutor defends Garzón and asks that ‘historical memory’ be decided on out of court” (ABC: http://matbe.net/wpCxEx).. Not only has he called the case ‘unheard of and unsustainable’, he has also accused the judge of working with Manos Limpias, which has brought the private prosecution.

Spanish justice doesn’t appear to be working very well etiher over in Tarragona, where they have managed to mix the recession with justice and, of course, Catalan nationalism…

8) CATALAN TAX DISOBEDIENCE: “Two businessmen refuse to pay taxes to Spain” (ABC: http://matbe.net/zSk7xA). “The Catalan and Spanish governments should come to an agreement to stop Spanish plundering.” What does the Catalan government say? It understands them perfectly. This is the fault of the “fiscal abuse we suffer in Catalonia thanks to Spain.”

Still on the Mediterranean coast, and to keep going with mixing national narratives with the idea of justice, let’s look at the day’s best headline…

9) BEST HEADLINE OF THE DAY: “Valencia subsidises nuns accused of stealing babies” (Público: http://matbe.net/vZkxsp). We must at least congratulate them for their linguistic efficiency. In one short headline, they have managed to squeeze in up to five important areas of national life—politics, money, religion, justice and healthcare—whilst at the same time clearly alluding to the historic split between “the two Spains”.

And, just so it’s clear that it’s not only Público’s journalists who are good at making use of national stereotypes to tell you about ‘reality in Spain’…

10) CHACÓN WANTS TO DEFEND SPAIN AGAINST THE PP AND THE CHURCH: “We shall not retreat when faced with the PP and the church” (Público: http://matbe.net/wJolqd). A very skillful spinner, Chacón managed to turn what the Archbishop of Valladolid had said about the female conservative deputy primer minister and Easter week into a feminist defense of the rights and independence of women.

Is Spain capable of moving beyond its stereotypes in the middle of a huge recession and with more than 5 million people out of work? Doesn’t look like it…

11) MARGALLO WASN’T JOKING ABOUT GIBRALTAR: “Margallo, to the British: “No more jokes about Gibraltar” (ABC: http://matbe.net/yYqubT). The British government, of course, defends the right of Gibraltar residents to decide for themselves to whom they wish to owe their loyalty. This sound just like the political conversation between the UK and Argentina over the Falklands…

But we are now in a new era in Europe and the very survival of the euro is in question, so Europe for the moment has different homework for the inhabitants of Spain…

2) EUROPE CAN WAIT NO LONGER: “Brussels rejects the idea of giving Spain more time to reduce its deficit”. They don’t care that the Bank of Spain has just published a new recession forecast for Spain in 2012. They’re on the same deficit target as before: 4.4% for this year, 3% for next year. (La Vanguardia: http://matbe.net/zlUUhL).

So Rajoy, if he wants to meet those targets, will have to cut and cut and cut, with no conservative infrastructure and public works spending to soften the fall. Spain still has friends out there somewhere, though, ready to lend a hand when needs must…

3) SAUDI ARABIA WILL SUPPORT SPAIN: “Spain says Saudis promise to make up for loss of Iran oil”. Spain’s foreign minister says that Spanish oil companies have also sorted our alternatives, so in theory there won’t be any problems. (Reuters: http://matbe.net/wMLyrI)

Clearly, it is logical for the government to want to improve Spain’s image, to improve the national brand. What could the new slogan be?

4) SPAIN: ONE, GREAT AND…READY FOR WHATEVER COMES ALONG? “Foreign, Industry and Trade ministries push brand Spain with 25 big businessmen”. The government thinks that foreign investors are going to feel better now they have announced €15bn in cuts (Cinco Días: http://matbe.net/zwqVO9).

This being Spain, I suppose they will talk more about image than values, which are the key to any real brand. There are certain national brand values, for example, that I’m sure they won’t show any interest in highlighting. Washing dirty linen behind closed doors and all that…

5) URDANGARIN AND THE PRINCESS’S GHOST EMPLOYEES: Who would have thought they’d do that, at this stage of the game? “Urdangarin and the princess has ghost employees to pay less tax”. (El Mundo: http://matbe.net/xXksih).

I’m sure the government won’t want them in the new brand Spain photo now. Neither, it seems, will they want Spain to be known for its contributions to healthcare, education and justice…

6) NO HEALTHCARE, NO EDUCATION, NO JUSTICE: “Aguirre asks Rajoy for cuts in healthcare, education and justice”. Whilst in Valencia we see that they can’t pay for these institutions, in Madrid Aguirre is saying she doesn’t want to pay for them. (Público: http://matbe.net/wwfvjK)

Where it does appear the government sees some national value—at least that’s what it’s saying for the moment, to cover up the lack of another plan—is in national aviation…

7) DON’T SELL THE AIRPORTS…! “Public works ministry delays Aena privatisation until ‘better times”. The government says it sees a certain amount of value in the assets, knowledge and networks the company owns, beyond the slow sell off proposed by the PSOE in order to rustle up a few more euros for the bare public coffers. (Cinco Días: http://matbe.net/wjUeSA).

How much are Spain’s real-estate assets—that other component of national activity that until recently was the kingdom’s biggest attraction—worth? How much must all of those empty, unfinished houses we see every day all over the country be worth?

8) JUST HOW BIG IS THE HOUSING GLUT IN SPAIN? “818,000 new houses are empty” Have you seen any more in your area? Maybe they missed a few. And these are only the new ones. How many second-hand ones must there be lying around? Why are they still building houses in Spain when there is a massive glut? (La Razón: http://matbe.net/A1O9dl).

Seen as there are so many extra houses and they can’t be worth that much with such a big glut, it is logical that no-one wants to buy them, and many people can’t afford to anyway right now. You know, because of the recession and the sky-high unemployment and all that…

9) DOES ANYONE WANT TO BUY THEM ANYWAY? “House mortgages fell 35.8% in November.” The bad vibes just keep coming. That’s 19 months of continuously worse data, and a new record low since they started keeping tabs on those numbers back in 2003. (El Economista: http://matbe.net/xnCRIc).

And don’t forget the other part of household economics which is stretching Spaniards’ euros so thinly right now…

10) YES, PETROL PRICES HAVE GONE UP: “Driving a car costs 60% more than it did three years ago because of price rises.” So says an independent consumer association, so it might even be true. 60% more is the difference between €40 and €64 to fill up your tank. (La Bolsa: http://matbe.net/zZIr3C).

With such long unemployment queues, so much business destruction and so many thieves at different levels of government, you would have thought that someone might lend a bit of a hand to those still left standing, or help more people find a job…

Hahahahahahahaha…

11) FORGET ABOUT WAGE INCREASES: “Trade unions and business leaders agree salary increases lower than inflation rate.” In theory, I thought they were going to reach an agreement to liberalise the employment market but it seems they’ve got stuck in some kind of economic no-man’s land, bereft of both liberalisation and wage increases. (Público: http://matbe.net/zDqyRK).

More tomorrow. Regards from Murcia,

Matthew Bennett.

You can think what you will of the ideas in the video, but with so much immigration over the last 15 years, racism is undoubtedly a subject that Spain and Spanish society will HAVE to deal with sometime soon.

Obviously not many people like the suggestion that certain elements of Spanish society might possibly be racist.

Thanks to Nadia Rahman for tweeting this video to me.

He writes:

Salgado is necessarily obliged, by virtue of her post, to govern for the whole of Spain, but she prefers to leave the €759m owed to Catalonia in her assets column at the end of her time as a minister and not in the assets column of the Catalan government, despite the problems this causes. For Europe, the deficit isn’t Catalan or Andalusian, it’s Spanish, but with an extra €759m on her balance sheet, Salgado means to pretend that she is a better administrator and that non-compliance with deficit objectives is, generally, the fault of Spain’s regions. It is frankly pathetic that a deputy prime minister should offload her responsibilities on a lower administrative level like this, but the political charge of her formula cannot go unnoticed. Is it perhaps that, from her point of view, Catalonia is not Spain?

Dice:

Salgado tiene la obligación inherente a su cargo de gobernar para el conjunto de España, pero prefiere que los 759 millones que debe a Catalunya figuren al término de su mandato en su haber y no en el de la Generalitat a pesar de los problemas que acarrea. De cara a Europa el déficit no es catalán o andaluz, es español, pero con 759 millones más en sus balances Salgado pretende fingir que ella es mejor administradora y que el incumplimiento de los objetivos de déficit son culpa de las autonomías en general. Que toda una vicepresidenta descargue responsabilidades en el segundo nivel administrativo resulta francamente patético, pero no se puede obviar la carga política de su formulación. ¿Acaso desde su punto de vista Catalunya no es España?

In the article the New York Times highlights Rajoy’s lack of communication, saying he “has also blurred rather than clarified some previous policy statements”, and offers opinions on trying to understand his character:

“He has so far barely addressed the major problems of this country,” said Jaime Pastor, professor of politics in Madrid at the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. Such a cautious approach, Mr. Pastor suggested, reflects “his personality, which isn’t inclined to show forceful leadership, as well as his awareness that, whatever his aims, there’s very little room to maneuver in this European crisis.”

(…)

“The big difference between Rajoy and Zapatero is that Rajoy feels the need to be respected rather than loved,” said Fernando Fernández, a professor at the IE Business School in Madrid. “He’s neither creative nor really charismatic, but he has determination and great rigor when it comes to implementing decisions, however unpopular.”

The main reason for such a sharp fall in a single year? Europe, the euro and the technocrats’ attempts to dictate policy from Brussels when these policies were previously the sovereign responsibility of each country:

The main reason for the decline in democracy scores in 2011 in the region has been the erosion in sovereignty and democratic accountability associated with the effects of and responses to the euro zone crisis (five of seven countries that have experienced a decline in their scores–Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ireland). Most dramatically, in two countries (Greece and Italy) democratically elected politicians have been replaced by technocrats at the head of governments.

Six euro zone governments collapsed in 2011 and there have been growing public protests and a proliferation of new political parties and movements. Policy in some countries is no longer being set by national legislatures and elected politicians, but is effectively set by official creditors, the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the IMF. The severity of austerity measures has tended to weaken social cohesion and diminish further trust in pubic institutions, which had already been declining since the 2008-09 economic crisis

The report, subtitled: “Democracy under stress”, highlights the problems faced by many Western democracies this year, including protests and dysfunctional governments.

Still, while Spain’s score of 8.02 puts it right on the limit between a full democracy and a flawed one, at least it can say it’s not Greece, Italy, France or Portugal, all of which are now considered flawed democracies by the Economist.

Over the last couple of days, we have seen that:

• El País says Rajoy is punishing Amaiur;
• First reactions to congressional report on Amaiur;
• Spanish Congress legal report on Amaiur;
• Good morning, good start to the week…;

And absolutely do not forget to go and look again at that wonderful night shot of Spain from the International Space Station…

• Photo of Spain from space taken by ISS;

(Image by El País.)

(ABC’s front page tomorrow: “Democracy stops Amaiur”)

ABC in its editorial reaffirms its opinion that Amaiur’s proposal was a “legal fraud” and says:

The pro-ETA left always wants to play their advantage, when it means to bend the rules and take advantage of them. Amaiur’s members of parliament have the constitutional right to appeal the steering committee’s decision. They will be within their rights, as the steering committee has been in its obligation to comply with and enforce the law.

El Mundo, also in its editorial tomorrow, reminds us that it has been 18 years since a representative of the radical Basque left had been seen greeting the King at Zarzuela palace and says that:

The mos realistic option now open to Amaiur is to join forces with the Geroa Bai member in Navarra, copying what UPyD has done. That would make it impossible to deny them a parliamentary group, given that they would bring together eight members of parliament and more than 15% of the votes in each seat. But there is no reason for other political parties to be overly generous with a radical Basque left which refuses to condemn violence and holds ETA prisoners to be heroes.

In its online edition, EL Mundo quotes the First Vice-Chairwoman of the steering committee, the conservative Celia Villalobos, who defends the decision:

“We would make a terrible mistake and we would damage our democracy if we treated Amaiur differently”, she pointed out. Villalobos confirmed that the legal report is “exactly the same” as other previous reports and that the decision has been made because the regulations “didn’t allow any other”. “Anything else would have been misconduct”, she added.

Público reminds us that the rules that have been applied are flexible:

The PNV has seen, since 1982, how Congress showed them a more benevolent attitude. It did not take into account that they didn’t reach 15% of the vote in Navarra, where they ran. The situation was repeated until 2004, from when it has formed part of a coalition (first, using the Nafarroa Bai brand, and in the last general election with Geroa Bai). The PP also turned a blind eye in 1996 and in 2000, when they had an absolute majority.

Libertad Digital puts it all down to Rajoy’s personal initiative:

And his first step couldn’t be more conclusive: slamming the door in Amaiur’s face by not allowing it to form its own parliamentary group in Congress, by following the letter of the law. The order came down straight from Rajoy; in fact, “nothing happens” in the PP if he doesn’t give the okay. Neither will there be a family photo taken with the coalition, which has been excluded from the round of contacts the future primer minister has been organising with political groups. It is, in fact, an attempt to exclude them from political life, without making too much noise about it. The move has Rajoy’s fingerprints all over it.

ABC reports on PNV’s reaction, in the words of its spokesman:

Erkoreka regretted that a majority of the steering committee had chosen a “strict interpretation of the rules” and insisted that such an interpretation should be “more relaxed, like on other occasions.”

Yahoo Noticias gives us Amaiur’s reaction, via the words of the Amaiur MP for Guipúzcoa, Xabier Mikel Errekondo:

In statements in Congress, Errekondo has pointed out that the steering committee’s decision is “exclusively political”; (…) “The PP accepts responsibility for something which the rest of the committee’s members haven’t wanted to accept,” said the Amaiur MP, who believes the PP has tried to force a reading of congressional regulations that agrees with its aim of preventing the group from forming.

Yahoo Noticias also gives us the Galician BNG reaction to the decision:

The BNG spokesman in Congress, Francisco Jorquera, has accused the PP of making “arbitrary and restrictive use” of the chamber’s regulations by vetoing Amaiur’s parliamentary group. (…) “This is a very bad way to start the parliamentary session in terms of democratic manners and in terms of respecting political pluralism”, said the Galician nationalist spokesman in a statement.

The socialist members of the congressional steering committee have abstained, saying the report is “not very serious”.

What a good start to the week: we now have what we might call an editorial calendar for the day in Spain. I’ve been working on my technique over the weekend and wondering how to filter the all the news for you. It’s not easy to break it all down into something comprehensible…but I think I’ve come up with an answer for us.

I wonder what I’ll have time to publish today, though, as I have to teach at midday for a few hours. Let’s see how the day works out…

(Image by El Universo Hoy.)

Good night.

Here is a screenshot from Google Analytics, comparing Thursday and Friday this week (with the live blog on the front page) to Thursday and Friday last week (no live blog):

Total page views more than doubled, the number of pages people viewed during each visit is up 56% and average time on site is up a staggering 505%.

Not at all scientific, of course, but very interesting nonetheless, and I was concentrating more on making it work technically than on posting content.

It appears at first glance that you like the idea and find the format useful, so I shall post much more—and much more frequently—over the next few days.

What would you like to read?

Today I’ve learnt how to maintain the live blog but with the stories as individual posts, which is important. Over the next few days, I will get into the rhythm of things more and more, so stick around if you want to know all the latest news and gossip about Spain and/or practice your Spanish.

This is going to get better and be lots of fun.

More Spain news in half-an-hour or so when I’ve sorted out some technical things…

El País reports:

He arrived late and it was too late. One of the requests the Spanish put on the table yesterday—the first demand Mariano Rajoy has made as future prime minister—hasn’t been as successful as he hoped.

(…)

However, the text signed early this morning by European leaders outlines the proposal made by Herman Van Rompuy, the European Council president, and fixes the consensus required for decision making in 85% of the total votes, compared to the current unanimous majority.

Fantastic.. like the presentation, can read and learn in two ways at once. Fab.

From the WSJ:

Government austerity may further lower internal demand, which in turn would weigh on tax receipts and government budgets and debt levels as well as GDP.

Spain relied too heavily on its construction sector to spur growth in the early 2000s, and now “they don’t really have a growth strategy,” he says. “The only real way out is export-led growth, and it’s far from clear how they are going to be able to generate that.” He said because European countries buy mostly from each other they cannot all boost exports at the same time.

Standard & Poor’s rating agency has warned that it could downgrade a dozen Spanish and two Irish banks following a similar warning leveled at the eurozone this week. The agency said Thursday that its decision to reconsider the ratings of Spain and Ireland mean those countries’ banks needed to be reviewed also.