Author: Bob James

Brexit Preparations
A hard Brexit would be catastrophic so Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said this morning while adding that there were contingency plans in place.
He said that, even in the case of Britain leaving without a deal, bilateral agreements with Spain over Gibraltar would remain in place.
And The status of British citizens in Spain and Spanish citizens in Britain would not change substantially in the case of a hard Brexit, Borrell said.

Extremist Protest.
Antifa anti Facist protesters clashed with far-right activists during a protest in Barcelona yesterday.… Read all the news

Bbudget
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his cabinet presented their 2019 budget in Parliament on Friday
although as yet they do not have sufficient support to push it through.
Backing from Podemos is likely as long as the socialist government agrees to its requests to reduce the
cost of household electricity bills, increase paternity leave and to reduce the price of renting a home.
Votes from Catalan Separatist parties ERC and PDeCAT are likely to be crucial to make up the numbers
needed for the budget to pass it through Parliament.… Read all the news

2019 Budget
The government’s bid to pass a national budget is doomed unless it bends to the demands of Catalonia’s separatists.
Catalan regional president Quim Torra said representatives of Catalonia’s separatist parties in Madrid’s national parliament “have made it very clear that they will vote against the budget because there has been no movement by the Spanish national government toward their demands
The passing of a budget would boost the chances for the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to see out this legislative term through 2020.… Read all the news

Tennis Match Fixing
Police have arrested 15 people in an investigation into tennis match-fixing by an Armenian criminal gang.
The Guardia Civil said 83 people were implicated, among them 28 players from the ITF Futures and Challenger tours.
One of those arrested is Spanish tennis player Marc Fornell-Mestres, who’s 36.
He was ranked 1007th in singles at the end of 2018 and was suspended by the Tennis Integrity Unit last month as part of an anti-corruption probe.
The Guardia Civil also said one of the players implicated in the investigation competed at last year’s US Open.… Read all the news

Plane Crash
A British pilot has been killed and another person is missing, feared dead, after their small aircraft crashed in Spain.
The Piper plane took off from the Portuguese town of Cascais and was heading towards Hondarribia airfield when it crashed on a mountain in the Basque Region at about 2pm yesterday.
Rescuers recovered one body while the second crew member is missing. Sources suggest the two people on board were British.
Pictures from the scene show foggy skies and the charred remains of the wreckage on the ground, high up in the mountain range.… Read all the news

Government Change
Spain’s far-right Vox party agreed yesterday to back the conservatives’ bid to rule the Andalusia region jointly with centre-right Ciudadanos.
The deal will see the ruling Socialists lose control of Andalusia after 36 years. It comes ahead of a busy electoral year in Spain.
Vox’s pledge to back the conservative PP and the centrist Ciudadanos’s draft coalition deal means the two Parties now have the numbers to pass it in Andalucia’s Parliament.
They have so far agreed to install the PP’s Juanma Moreno as president of the Junta de Andalucia and to share key ministries between them.… Read all the news

Ryanair Strike
Unions representing Ryanair cabin crew in Spain said they had called off plans to strike on January 10 and January 13 after reaching a preliminary agreement on contracts this morning.
unions said in a statement this is an achievement which contains a guarantee of employment stability and improves labour conditions and the application of Spanish legislation,
Ryanair suffered a number of strikes last year by pilots and cabin crew, forcing it to cancel hundreds of flights across Europe, after the airline recognised unions for the first time in 2017.… Read all the news

Major Trial
Rodrigo Rato blamed the Bank of Spain for mishandling the creation of Bankia yesterday at a trial in which the former International Monetary Fund chief and three other ex- board members of the Bank are accused of fraud.
Rato, who denies any wrongdoing, was Bankia’s chairman at the time of a merger of seven unlisted regional banks to form Bankia in 2010 and its ill-fated 2011 initial public offering.
Less than a year after the 3.1-billion-euro Listing Bankia reported a 3 billion euro loss, prompting a 22.5 billion euro state bailout and its nationalisation.… Read all the news

Ryanair Strikes
Ryanair cabin-crew have called off their strike for today, but will continue with further planned strikes on Thursday, January 10th and Sunday the 13th.
A last-minute meeting held between the Unions and the airline, at the Spanish ministry of work’s led to agreements to continue negotiations today and to try to reach solutions in time to avert the Thursday and Sunday strikes.
Cabin crew based in Spain are calling for Ryanair to comply with current employment legislation in the country and for this to extend to the agencies the carrier uses, Crewlink and Workforce.… Read all the news

Deportations
Spain deported 54,963 immigrants between 2013 and 2017, representing an average of 30 people a day, according to an Interior Ministry reply to a query by left wing party Podemos.
Moroccans and Algerians are the nationals who were most often targeted for deportation and reflects the bilateral agreements that both countries have signed with Spain to facilitate the return of undocumented migrants.
Deportations of people from sub-Saharan Africa, who make up the bulk of irregular immigration to Spain, are significantly lower due to identification difficulties and the lack of bilateral agreements.… Read all the news