At the beginning of June, dozens of white dove-shaped balloons were released into the sky above the Basque city of Bilbao. The gesture was to mark the end of Gesto por la Paz, a platform of peaceful anti-ETA campaigners, who after 28 years believed their work had been done. As a symbol of optimism and peace in the Basque Country it could hardly have been more striking. ETA has not killed on Spanish soil since 2009 and in October 2011, it declared a “definitive” end to a campaign of violence that started in the late 1960s. And yet, the weeks both leading up to and since Gesto por la Paz’s closure have somehow cast doubt on the idea that the Basque Country is enjoying a new era of peace. … [Read more...] about The end of ETA…still?
Politics
The private sector moves into Spain’s public hospitals
No sooner had the conservative Popular Party taken office at the very end of 2011 than it began drawing up plans to extend private sector involvement in Spain’s public health system, a process begun in 1997 with the support of the Socialist Party. Two years later, La Ribera hospital, built and run by a private consortium led by health insurers Adeslas, opened. Valencia has subsequently created Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in four other health districts. Other PP controlled regions, such as the Balearic Islands, Castilla y León, Castilla La Mancha, and Galicia, are also pushing ahead with the privatisation of healthcare. But Madrid is where the PP wants PPP to really come into its … [Read more...] about The private sector moves into Spain’s public hospitals
Spain still wrestles with immigration
Last month saw the release of the film Alacrán enamorado, the story of promising boxer Julián and his group of heavily-tattooed, neo-nazi friends, who spend their days in the ring and their nights beating up immigrants and members of ethnic minorities. Despite some strong performances, instead of tackling the complexity of the subject full on, this adaptation of Carlos Bardem's third novel is ultimately a superficial story of love and triumph against the odds. All of which is a shame, as Alacrán enamorado raises some potentially interesting questions regarding race relations in Spain. Figures published by the Spanish Institute for National Statistics reveal that immigration has risen … [Read more...] about Spain still wrestles with immigration
Spain’s Socialists are desperate for new blood
Close to 18 months after its catastrophic general election defeat, the Socialist Party remains further away from power than ever. Opinion polls have it trailing behind a Popular Party that has pushed through unprecedented austerity measures that only seem to deepen the recession, while Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who has broken every electoral pledge he made, now admits that there will be no improvement in the economy until at least 2016. Unemployment continues to rise, and the health and education systems are being dismantled before our eyes. And that’s without going into the Bárcenas corruption allegations. The ideal conditions, surely, for the Socialist Party to launch a sustained … [Read more...] about Spain’s Socialists are desperate for new blood
Portugal celebrates memory of 1974 despite bailout burden (Audio)
This month marks two years since Portugal requested a bailout from the European Union. Since then, the country has often been described as an exemplary exponent of EU economic policy. But many Portuguese are sceptical about the effect the rescue and austerity are having and four decades on from the 1974 Carnation Revolution which saw the downfall of the dictatorship, many people feel that it is the troika and political class they should now be overthrowing. Guy Hedgecoe looks at Portugal, two years on from the bailout (Audio): Guy Hedgecoe looks at Portugal, two years after its bailout and as it celebrates the anniversary of the Carnation Revolution (Audio) … [Read more...] about Portugal celebrates memory of 1974 despite bailout burden (Audio)
Resign? You must be kidding
When is it appropriate for a public figure to resign? After displaying gross incompetence? In the wake of evident policy failure? Being caught up in criminal acts? It’s not always clear-cut. Sometimes resignation is an option, but not necessarily the only one. An apology might be just as fitting, or a temporary withdrawal from front-line exposure to the limelight. But in the last few weeks in Spain, there have been several cases that would seem to offer strong candidates for the sack. The most recent is that of Alberto Núñez Feijóo. On Sunday, El País newspaper published photographs showing that the Partido Popular’s premier of Galicia had been a good friend of Marcial Dorado Baúlde, … [Read more...] about Resign? You must be kidding
Farewell to ETA’s destroyer of peace
When Xabier López Peña was arrested in Bordeaux in 2008 on terrorism-related offences, he hardly looked like an archetypal leader of ETA. Portly, middle-aged and bespectacled, he didn’t even have the carefully sculptured mullet that so many Basque separatists insist on sporting. But as he was bundled away by French police, his wild shouts and screams at TV cameras hinted at the true nature of the man. López Peña, who died of a brain haemorrhage on Saturday, was held responsible by many for the collapse of the 2006 peace process that offered the hope of a lasting solution to the Basque conflict. As a result, many Basque separatists, as well as the mainstream politicians in Madrid, came … [Read more...] about Farewell to ETA’s destroyer of peace
Another crisis for Spain’s Socialists
When Artur Mas embarked on his separatist bid for Catalonia last autumn, even he can barely have foreseen the repercussions it would have. The intransigent response in Madrid was predictable enough, but his CiU coalition’s loss of a dozen seats in a snap regional election was less so. And now another effect is being felt as Spain’s Socialists struggle to avoid a damaging schism between the national base in Madrid, the PSOE, and the PSC, the Catalan wing of the party in Barcelona. For 35 years, they have co-existed, not quite as the same party, but as something very close to it. Catalonia has been a stronghold for the Socialists in the democratic era and therefore the PSC has been a … [Read more...] about Another crisis for Spain’s Socialists
The Catalan spy game
Earlier this week police took action on a political scandal that had broken several days before, when Catalan newspaper El Periódico published a recording and transcripts of a conversation between Catalan Partido Popular leader Alicia Sánchez-Camacho and María Victoria Álvarez, ex-girlfriend of Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, a Catalan businessman and son of former Catalan premier Jordi Pujol. The Pujol clan, an historic dynasty in the leading Catalan party Convergència Democrática de Catalunya, is presently caught up in a maelstrom of accusations of financial wrongdoing. Jordi Jr’s brother, CiU parliamentary leader Oriol Pujol, is embroiled in his own personal scandal, over alleged kickbacks in … [Read more...] about The Catalan spy game
Ladies and gentlemen, the next prime minister of Spain…?
Should María Dolores de Cospedal weather the latest corruption allegations to hit the Popular Party (PP), there’s every likelihood she will progress from being its secretary general and premier of the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha to replacing Mariano Rajoy in the top post and go on to become Spain’s first female prime minister. Cospedal’s rise has been rapid. Born in 1965, she grew up in Castilla-La Mancha, training as a government lawyer after finishing university, and joining the Labour Ministry in 1997 after José Maria Aznar ushered in the first PP administration the previous year. During the PP’s two terms in office she moved up the ladder, making it to under-secretary … [Read more...] about Ladies and gentlemen, the next prime minister of Spain…?