On a day when Spain’s unemployment figures have once again broken records, I was drawn to another set of data which may be equally bleak, but which offers a more subtle insight into how the country functions. A poll commissioned by Cadena SER looks at the attitudes of Spaniards aged between 22 and 30, the so-called “lost generation” who, we have been repeatedly told, can’t find a job, can’t buy a house and hate their politicians. All of that is confirmed in this study, but a breakdown of the figures makes for fascinating reading. The most shocking finding for me was that only 38 percent of young people live exclusively off their own revenue; 21 percent survive with the help of family … [Read more...] about A closer look at the lost generation
Iberoblog
Tales for Tapas: Catch of the day
With anti-austerity demonstrations, a song for Europe, a pair of Barcelona-Real Madrid encounters, and scandals (royal and otherwise) bubbling along – some people may not have been paying attention to Tuesday’s meeting of the European Union’s Agriculture and Fisheries Council. But when El Sueno de Morfeo have made Eurovision history (or not), when Cristiano and Leo have hung up their boots, and when harmony has returned to Spanish politics, the outcome of the Fisheries Council’s deliberations in Brussels will still be having a profound impact on dinner tables in Spain and beyond. Among the issues discussed at the meeting was the introduction of a ban on throwing unwanted fish caught by … [Read more...] about Tales for Tapas: Catch of the day
Tales for Tapas: Trouble in the air
Striking Iberia workers this week held up banners saying their airline is not for sale – they believe the restructuring plan put forward by parent company International Airlines Group (IAG) is not really about restructuring at all but about letting British Airways, Iberia’s partner under the IAG umbrella, acquire the Spanish airline’s assets at knock-down prices. The prices, though, would not in fact be knock-down, because Iberia has continued to haemorrhage money since its merger with BA at the start of 2011. It lost a cool €262 million in the first nine months of last year. In their campaign against the 3,800 redundancies, 15-percent route reduction and across-the-board pay cuts … [Read more...] about Tales for Tapas: Trouble in the air
In praise of ‘Soldiers of Salamis’
“I don’t remember who mentioned the name of Rafael Sánchez Mazas or how it came up […], but I do remember Ferlosio telling us: ‘They shot him not far from here, at the Collell Sanctuary.’” This passage near the start of Javier Cercas’ novel Soldiers of Salamis (Soldados de Salamina, in the original Spanish) is pinpointed by the first-person narrator as the starting point of an obsession, a quest. Before the 2001 publication of Cercas’s first masterpiece (he has written another since, The Anatomy of a Moment, on the failed Tejero coup attempt of 1981), local writing on the Spanish Civil War was conspicuously rare. The task had largely been left to foreign historians, writers and … [Read more...] about In praise of ‘Soldiers of Salamis’
Tales for Tapas: Turning points
Bowing to a campaign that gathered one-and-a-half million signatures, the People’s Party this week dropped its opposition to a debate on legislation intended to mitigate the social and financial impact of home evictions. The parliamentary initiative follows a rise in suicides associated with mortgage foreclosures – a shocking barometer of the human cost of economic austerity. Under the new measures, social housing would be made available to families that have been evicted, and mortgages would be cancelled when homes are handed over to the bank. Some argue that market forces will restore prosperity as long as they are allowed to work and that remedial social programmes are no more than … [Read more...] about Tales for Tapas: Turning points
Tales for Tapas: Delicate but not hopeless
Speaking on Monday at a press conference in Berlin alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel (not the ideal place for a lively exchange about domestic politics), Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dismissed allegations of irregular party financing but then undermined an otherwise robust performance by declaring that the charges are “untrue, except for some things.” Meanwhile, the Spanish tax authorities have ruled that a special tax return filed by the man at the centre of the People’s Party’s accounting difficulties, former party treasurer Luis Bárcenas, raises more questions than it answers. Mr Bárcenas now faces an expanding judicial investigation. His position was described this week as … [Read more...] about Tales for Tapas: Delicate but not hopeless
Rajoy is a liability for Spain if he can’t clear his name
“I didn’t get into politics because I wanted applause or money … I got into politics because I wanted to change things.” So said Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday as he gave his first proper public response to allegations published by El País that he was among many politicians who took under-the-table payments from a longstanding Partido Popular (PP) slush fund. But it doesn’t take a cynic to observe that very little has changed during Rajoy’s first year of government, despite his fighting talk at the weekend. As if to remind us of the fact, today he travels to Germany to meet Angela Merkel and discuss yet again the woes of the Spanish economy, on the same day that new … [Read more...] about Rajoy is a liability for Spain if he can’t clear his name
Scrupulously ridiculous
On Wednesday, the Catalan parliament voted on a Declaration of Sovereignty that is meant as a cornerstone for a referendum on independence envisaged for 2014. It was backed by CiU and ERC, which supports the minority government, plus the eco-communist ICV. The unionist Ciutadans and the Partido Popular (PP) voted against, as did the majority of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), although five of its deputies abstained in protest against the party line. This declaration is best defined by what it is not. It did not create a united front against Madrid. It did not garner the support of the two-thirds of the Catalan parliament necessary to change the Catalan Estatut, missing a benchmark … [Read more...] about Scrupulously ridiculous
Time for Spain to defy expectations as it battles corruption
It was, of course, a shock to hear about the €22 million that the former treasurer of the governing Partido Popular (PP), Luis Bárcenas, had hidden in a Swiss bank account; and equally shocking have been the allegations that for years the party paid its politicians under-the-table bonuses of up to €10,000 per month. But the depressing thing is, it’s not altogether surprising. This scandal broke in a month when 13 people linked to the PP are awaiting trial for their part in the Gürtel kickbacks case, and with the party’s Madrid premier Ignacio González facing questions over his luxury apartment in Marbella. Just days ago, Juan José Guëmes resigned his post in the company Unilabs España, … [Read more...] about Time for Spain to defy expectations as it battles corruption
Leaving the water running
History was made this week in Spain. For the first time that anyone can seem to remember, a political party admitted to corrupt practices. The party was Catalonia’s Unió, part of the region’s CiU governing coalition, and the corruption was the funnelling of €388,000 of EU funds meant for job training into the party’s coffers in the 1990s. Much of that cash was spent on furniture in Unió’s offices and on paying wages to party staff who, it transpires, didn’t actually do anything. So the admission of guilt was welcome at a time when corruption seems to have become such an endemic part of Spanish politics. But the reason for Unió’s admission is that it is part of a pact with the State … [Read more...] about Leaving the water running