Tax debate
The regional government on the
Balearic Islands is being urged to scrap
its controversial tourist tax. Holiday-
makers are charged between €2 and €5
extra for each night they stay on
Mallorca, Menorca or Ibiza. Hoteliers on
the islands say they have been hit hard
this year by a late Easter and a fall in the
numbers of UK tourists in favour of
markets including Turkey and Egypt.
Irish murder
Four people appeared in a Torrevieja
court last month suspected of
involvement in the murder of Carl Carr
from Dublin whose body was found in
a shallow grave by the AP-7 autovía.
Carr was a convicted drugs dealer in
Ireland but the Spanish police and his
mother believe his death was
connected to a “love triangle.” He had
been accused of dating another man’s
girlfriend before his disappearance last
September.
Animal abuse
Arrests for animal abuse in Spain rose
by 20% in 2018. The Guardia Civil’s
nature protection service Seprona said
594 people were detained and 854
criminal offences were recorded during
the year. In addition, there were more
than 1,700 investigations into potentially
dangerous dogs and almost 4,000
complaints about wild animals being
kept as pets.
Popular planes
No settled status fee
for Brits in Spain
The British Home Secretary says
British expats should not be charged
for living abroad after the UK leaves
the European Union. His move came as
PM Theresa May scrapped the planned
fee of £56 for EU citizens who want to
reside in the UK after Brexit.
Encouragingly, Mr Verhofstadt, who is
in favour of fees being scrapped, has
already welcomed the UK’s call to
waive settled status fees. He said, “ It’s
time for the EU27 to show the same
spirit and reciprocate.”
Home Secretary Sajid Javid is reported
to have written to Guy Verhofstadt, the
Brexit co-ordinator in the European
Parliament, and Michel Barnier, the
European Commission’s chief
negotiator, asking for Britons abroad to
be given peace of mind. He says that
UK nationals living in the EU, “deserve
the same certainty and reassurance that
we have given their counterparts living
here.” He also pointed out the
“valuable contribution” which is made
in Europe by the estimated 1.3 million
British expats living in EU countries. Meanwhile, EU rules on post-Brexit
travel published last month raised
hackles in British diplomatic circles
because of a footnote which described
Gibraltar as, “a colony of the British
Crown.” The prime minister’s office in
London responded angrily, “It is
completely unacceptable to describe
Gibraltar as a colony in this way.
Gibraltar is a full part of the UK
family.”
Mr Javid asked Mr Verhofstadt to
“press” EU countries for a guarantee
that there will be no “settled status fee”
for Britons living abroad. It has already
been agreed by the EU that British The Rock’s Chief Minister Fabian
Picardo accused Madrid of trying to
“bully” the British Overseas Territory
by rejecting British demands for the
footnote to be removed.
Spain’s trial of the
century
Internal flights in Spain have proved
more popular than high-speed rail travel
for the second year running. Data from
the National Statistics Institute show that
40.2 million flights were taken in 2018 –
10% more than in the previous year –
compared with 21.3 million AVE
journeys. Travellers say that the plane
can be cheaper and sometimes quicker
than the train. A trial which began at Spain’s Supreme
Court on February 12th has been
described as the most important to
come before it since the return to
democracy. Twelve leaders of the
illegal referendum on independence
held in Cataluña in 2017 face charges of
rebellion and sedition, and could face
up to 25 years in prison.
Taxi troubles The vote went ahead on October 1,
2017, despite Spanish authorities
declaring it illegal. The regional
government in Barcelona declared the
region’s independence from Spain
shortly afterwards, forcing Madrid to
respond by suspending the region’s
powers and declaring direct rule.
Uber and Cabify pulled out of Barcelona
last month claiming that new local
restrictions made it “impossible” for
them to operate. Protests from
conventional taxi drivers in the city
forced the council to impose a 15 minute
advance booking requirement on the
new operators. While a similar dispute
continues in Madrid, Andalucía’s taxi
drivers are calling for a per person
charge instead of a blanket fee based on
distance.
citizens travelling to the Schengen area
after Brexit would be allowed to do so
for up to three months without a visa.
Nine of those who faced the Court last
month have been held in detention
for several months while the other
three have been free on bail. The
former Catalan Vice-President Oriol
10
Junqueras is amongst the defendants,
although his boss, former president
Carles Puigdemont fled from Spain
after the referendum and remains in
exile.
The opening remarks of the prosecutor
Fidel Cadena alleged that the
separatists were promoting “subversion
and break-up of the constitutional
order,” while the defence lawyer,
Andreu Van Den Eynde, told the court
that the trial was about, “the right to
self-determination and the democratic
principle.”
Protests against the trials have
continued in Cataluña with calls for the
defendants to be released. The first
weekend after the proceedings began
saw an estimated 200,000 people
march through Barcelona waving
Catalan flags and shouting pro-
separatist slogans.