News
Spain’s knife-edge
politics
The political scene in Spain remained
in turmoil throughout July as the
leader of Spain’s socialist party, the
PSOE, struggled to find enough
common ground to form a viable
coalition. The PSOE took most seats in
the lower house in parliament, the
Congress of Deputies, following the
General Election held on April 28, but
was 53 short of an absolute majority.
Until mid-July, hopes were firmly
pinned on a coalition with the anti-
austerity party Podemos which took 42
seats in April. However, according to
PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez, all five
proposals he put forward were
rejected. It then transpired that the
major obstacle to a coalition between
the two parties was Pablo Iglesias, the
40-year-old pony-tailed leader of
Podemos since 2014, to whom Sr
Sánchez refused to offer a ministerial
position. This was based on Igeslias’
support for a referendum on Catalan
independence and his insistence that
the detained leaders of the illegal vote
held in Cataluña in 2017 should be
treated as political prisoners.
However, on July 19, and within four
days of a crucial vote in parliament,
Pablo Iglesias agreed to step aside to
allow the PSOE-Podemos coalition to
proceed. As well as Podemos’ 42
Deputies, Sánchez still required
support from (or at least abstentions
by) the smaller parties to achieve the
majority of votes which would return
him as Spain’s prime minister.
However, on July 23 when it came to a
vote in the House of Deputies for the
investiture of Sánchez as prime
minister, it all fell apart. As Soltalk
went to press, Sánchez had failed in the
first vote, thanks to the abstentions of
Podemos’ Deputies. Reports say the
party turned down Sánchez offer of
the Ministries of Youth and Housing,
claiming the jobs were “decorative” and
carried no executive power. The
rejection included the deputy PM’s job
which had been on offer to Irene
Montero, who is Podemos’ deputy
leader and also happens to be the
partner of Pablo Iglesias.
A second vote, which required Sánchez
to win a simple majority was scheduled
for two days later. By the time this issue
of Soltalk is on the streets, we’ll know
whether he was successful in forming a
viable administration or whether Spain
faces another general election later this
year, the fourth since 2015.
Forty plus years on from Spain’s return
to democracy, the country has never
had a coalition government; it has
always been either the socialist PSOE
or the centre-right Partido Popular
which has been in control. The present
situation has arisen because of the
arrival of smaller parties such as
Podemos, the liberal group
Ciudadanos, and the far-right Vox.
Government acts on match-fixing
The Spanish government is to establish
a new commission in the wake of
match-fixing allegations which surfaced
in May. Several players and club
executives were arrested for allegedly
predetermining the result of some
matches in the country’s top soccer two
division. The new body will have the
brief to develop action plans and to
suggest initiatives and make
recommendations in order to, “detect,
prevent and combat illegal actions in
the field of sports competitions and
fraud in betting.” Its members are
expected to include representatives
from Spain’s gaming regulatory body,
sports council and both the Guardia
Civil and National Police. The group
has already been asked to develop a
new early-warning communications
Fatal storm
A 25-year-old man died after his car
was swept away when an
unprecedented intense storm hit
Navarra on July 7. The Cidacos river
rose from 11 centimetres to over four
metres in a few hours, flooding streets
and washing away vehicles, as well as
destroying roads. In Pamplona, the
running of the bulls during the San
Fermín festival was postponed. The
torrential rain and hail, which fell at
up to 150 litres per square metre,
followed a heatwave across much of
Europe which left two people dead in
Spain.
Fiesta death
A 56-year-old woman died last month
in Ciudad Real when she was struck by
a rocket launched during a local fiesta.
The firework veered wildly off course,
struck her in the mouth and exploded
causing her instant death. The
individual who lit the rocket has been
charged with manslaughter and the
fiesta was suspended with two days of
local mourning declared.
Briton detained
A 33-year-old British man was
detained on Tenerife under a
European Arrest Warrant on July 2.
Aaron Williams was the subject of a
fake kidnapping outside Salford
Magistrates Court in 1977 after which
he took part in a violent £70,000
robbery in East Yorkshire. He was then
jailed for ten years but absconded
when released on licence last
November. Williams is understood to
have been detained by heavily armed
Spanish police at an unnamed hotel.
Tourists tragedy
platform to catch match-fixing and
fraud. The Ministry of the Presidency,
which acts as a coordinating force
within Parliament and with the Courts,
says that the manipulation of sports
competitions and betting-related fraud
are, “two of the greatest threats to sport
and horse racing, as it undermines each
sport’s core values and ruins the
experience for fans and spectators.” Two British men aged 21 and 22 died
in Alicante on July 3 after falling seven
metres (over 20 feet) from an elevated
walkway. A third man aged 20, who
was treated for shock, said they had
climbed over a railing to take a “selfie”
when the accident happened. One died
at the scene while the other died later
in hospital from his injuries.
While problems within national soccer
made headlines in the spring, tennis too
is reported to have became tainted by
corruption, with a major match-fixing
operation recently uncovered. In France
alone, at least 17 people have been
arrested over their alleged involvement,
while around the world, almost 140
people have been said to be involved. Three beaches in Elche were closed for
a time last month after two youngsters
were bitten while bathing. Lifeguards
reported that both received injuries to
their feet, and were taken for hospital
for treatment where the wounds were
found to be clear of toxins. It remains
unclear what creature caused the
lesions.
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Bathers bitten