Spanish elections and politics III / Pedro Sánchez faces a new term as PM
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  Spanish elections and politics III / Pedro Sánchez faces a new term as PM
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Former President tack50
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« Reply #450 on: July 16, 2021, 08:15:23 PM »

The Spanish Constitutional Court has a conservative majority, pretty much like the US Supreme Court. The term of the current members of the Constitutional Court expired some years ago, but the PP refuses to negotiate the Court's renewal with the governnent. The reason is simple: Pablo Casado's PP has the aim to preserve the current majority, in the hope conservatives and the far-right win the next general election. Sadly the conservative members of that court are drifting rightwards ards Vox. Thi is deeply disturbing, to say the least

Worth noting that while this is true, the Spanish TC isn't quite as partisan as say, the US Supreme court, and there was a bit of crossover here. In particular, the decision was 6-5; with one progressive voting with the conservative majority and 2 conservatives dissenting.

I actually agree with the decision from a judicial point of view, even if I can filly say that Sanchez had no good options there.

(I will say I do not condone PP's shameless power grab at all)
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Velasco
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« Reply #451 on: July 17, 2021, 07:54:46 AM »

The Spanish Constitutional Court has a conservative majority, pretty much like the US Supreme Court. The term of the current members of the Constitutional Court expired some years ago, but the PP refuses to negotiate the Court's renewal with the governnent. The reason is simple: Pablo Casado's PP has the aim to preserve the current majority, in the hope conservatives and the far-right win the next general election. Sadly the conservative members of that court are drifting rightwards ards Vox. Thi is deeply disturbing, to say the least

Worth noting that while this is true, the Spanish TC isn't quite as partisan as say, the US Supreme court, and there was a bit of crossover here. In particular, the decision was 6-5; with one progressive voting with the conservative majority and 2 conservatives dissenting.

I actually agree with the decision from a judicial point of view, even if I can filly say that Sanchez had no good options there.

(I will say I do not condone PP's shameless power grab at all)

Isn't it the State of Alarm the appropiate legal tool to handle with a pandemic? Isn't it in the constitution? Isn't it the State of Emergency more restrictive and invasive? Isn't it the Spanish Right crying out "freedom"? Where is the consistency?
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Former President tack50
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« Reply #452 on: July 17, 2021, 09:16:14 AM »

The Spanish Constitutional Court has a conservative majority, pretty much like the US Supreme Court. The term of the current members of the Constitutional Court expired some years ago, but the PP refuses to negotiate the Court's renewal with the governnent. The reason is simple: Pablo Casado's PP has the aim to preserve the current majority, in the hope conservatives and the far-right win the next general election. Sadly the conservative members of that court are drifting rightwards ards Vox. Thi is deeply disturbing, to say the least

Worth noting that while this is true, the Spanish TC isn't quite as partisan as say, the US Supreme court, and there was a bit of crossover here. In particular, the decision was 6-5; with one progressive voting with the conservative majority and 2 conservatives dissenting.

I actually agree with the decision from a judicial point of view, even if I can filly say that Sanchez had no good options there.

(I will say I do not condone PP's shameless power grab at all)

Isn't it the State of Alarm the appropiate legal tool to handle with a pandemic? Isn't it in the constitution? Isn't it the State of Emergency more restrictive and invasive? Isn't it the Spanish Right crying out "freedom"? Where is the consistency?

The consistency absolutely isn't there from the right wing politicians, but my argument is that, from a legal point of view, the ruling is perfectly correct. And the legal point of view is what matters in court rulings. Justice should not be politicized even if it sadly is in this country.

Ironically the legislation explicitly states that the state of alarm is appropiate for epidemics, but the measures Sánchez took back in April went too far

Remember that back in April you literally could not leave your house at all! The main legal argument is that therefore that is not some sort of "limitation" to the fundamental right of freedom of movement but rather its outright supression; and I agree with the courts on that.

Here is the relevant piece of legislation (Decree 4/1981):

Quote from: Article 12
Independently of the provisions of the previous article, the decree declaring the state of alarm, or the successive decrees issued during its validity, may agree on the following measures:

a) To limit the movement or stay of persons or vehicles at specific times and places, or to make them conditional upon compliance with certain requirements.

b) To carry out temporary requisitions of all kinds of goods and to impose compulsory personal services.

c) Intervene and temporarily occupy industries, factories, workshops, holdings or premises of any kind, with the exception of private homes, reporting to the Ministries concerned.

d) to limit or ration the use of services or the consumption of basic necessities.

e) To issue the necessary orders to ensure the supply of markets and the functioning of the services of the production centres affected by paragraph d) of Article 4.

I said this in the general covid thread, that Sánchez had no good options and he would have rightly been called a dictator if he used the state of exception. I'd have certainly used the state of alarm in his shoes as well, but it is no less true that it was unconstitutional because of the tools he used when applying it. There is a difference between limiting a certain right and outright supressing it by locking down Spain's entire population at home.

In my view however, other states of alarm, most notably the one used during winter, were constitutional actually since there were only limitations to freedom of movement, not it's outright abolishment (and despite what most people think, the constitution or legislation does not explicitly say that the extensions have to be 15 days in length; so while it sets a bad precedent and Decree 4/1981 should be reformed to make extensions to the state of alarm have a maximum lentgh, it was legal)

So the way a "legal" state of Alarm would have looked like back in April would have probably involved limitations to the mobility of people (like this winter), but not outright bans like it happened in spring 2020.
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« Reply #453 on: July 17, 2021, 10:10:49 AM »

Morning of the Long Knives
Deputy PM Calvo and the Foreign Affairs, Education, Science, Justice, Transport and Culture ministers are out, along with Moncloa Chief of Staff Iván Redondo. A total and complete massacre.

Female majority cabinets are back
Number of Deputy PMs goes down to three. New First Deputy PM is Nadia Calviño, Economy minister. Sánchez confidante Félix Bolaños replaces Calvo as Minister for the Presidency. Sánchez oldtimer Óscar López makes a comeback as Chief of Staff. Senate President Pilar Llop becomes the new Minister of Justice, rumor has it Susana Díaz could replace her in the upper chamber.

Fresh faces in the rest of posts. Also, mayors. Mayor of Gavá Raquel Sánchez replaces former heavyweight José Luis Ábalos (he is also out as PSOE organization secretary) in Transport, Zaragoza councillor Pilar Alegría is the new Minister for Education and Mayor of Puertollano Isabel Rodríguez comes in as Territorial Policy Minister, replacing Miquel Iceta, who remains in the cabinet as Minister for Culture; in addition to Government Spokesperson. Ambassador to France José Manuel Albares is the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Sadly, we no longer have an astronaut in the Council of Ministers. Minister of Science Pedro Duque is being replaced by (surprise, surprise) a mayor. Specifically the Mayor of Gandía, Diana Morant.

Forgive my ignorance, but it seems a bit unusual to me that mayors of cities of about 50,000, and a mere councillor from a city of 700,000, would be appointed to the national cabinet. How common is this in Spain, and how well-known were these individuals before becoming ministers?
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Former President tack50
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« Reply #454 on: July 17, 2021, 11:39:26 AM »

Morning of the Long Knives
Deputy PM Calvo and the Foreign Affairs, Education, Science, Justice, Transport and Culture ministers are out, along with Moncloa Chief of Staff Iván Redondo. A total and complete massacre.

Female majority cabinets are back
Number of Deputy PMs goes down to three. New First Deputy PM is Nadia Calviño, Economy minister. Sánchez confidante Félix Bolaños replaces Calvo as Minister for the Presidency. Sánchez oldtimer Óscar López makes a comeback as Chief of Staff. Senate President Pilar Llop becomes the new Minister of Justice, rumor has it Susana Díaz could replace her in the upper chamber.

Fresh faces in the rest of posts. Also, mayors. Mayor of Gavá Raquel Sánchez replaces former heavyweight José Luis Ábalos (he is also out as PSOE organization secretary) in Transport, Zaragoza councillor Pilar Alegría is the new Minister for Education and Mayor of Puertollano Isabel Rodríguez comes in as Territorial Policy Minister, replacing Miquel Iceta, who remains in the cabinet as Minister for Culture; in addition to Government Spokesperson. Ambassador to France José Manuel Albares is the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Sadly, we no longer have an astronaut in the Council of Ministers. Minister of Science Pedro Duque is being replaced by (surprise, surprise) a mayor. Specifically the Mayor of Gandía, Diana Morant.

Forgive my ignorance, but it seems a bit unusual to me that mayors of cities of about 50,000, and a mere councillor from a city of 700,000, would be appointed to the national cabinet. How common is this in Spain, and how well-known were these individuals before becoming ministers?

Worth noting that those people held higher offices other than councillor or mayor; or at least had held them in the past.

Pilar Alegría was the incumbent "Government Delegate in Zaragoza Province" (sort of an envoy of the central government in the provinces, a bit of a holdover position from when Spain was more centralized but still a fairly high profile position). She was also "Regional minister for Innovation and Universities" in the Aragon government between 2015 and 2019; as well as being the PSOE candidate for mayor of Zaragoza in 2019 even if she lost the race.

Similarly Isabel Rodríguez had previously held the position of "Government Spokeswoman" in Castille-La Mancha's regional government between 2008 and 2011. Granted she has not held such a high profile office since, but still that's a reasonably high office.

The weird naming if anything is Raquel Sánchez, who was an obscure mayor of some small town in Catalonia, which indeed is one that makes little sense. There are higher profile people in PSC though perhaps Sánchez wanted to elevate someone obscure for whatever reason.

If you read their background not as "mayor of a small town" but rather as "Government Delegate into  province" and "For their naming makes a bit more sense; Government Delegates and regional cabinets are a fairly common position to pick people from.
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« Reply #455 on: July 17, 2021, 11:50:36 AM »
« Edited: July 17, 2021, 11:57:48 AM by kaoras »

Is not like there's high requirements to be named a minister or to be a high-tier politician in Spain. Spanish politics is full of people that have done literally nothing with their lives besides climbing the party machine, like Susana Diaz. I mostly have noticed this with PSOE (I still remember former ministers Bibiana Aido and Leire Pajin) but I'm sure that PP is the same.
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Velasco
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« Reply #456 on: July 17, 2021, 10:48:04 PM »
« Edited: July 18, 2021, 03:19:45 AM by Velasco »

Morning of the Long Knives
Deputy PM Calvo and the Foreign Affairs, Education, Science, Justice, Transport and Culture ministers are out, along with Moncloa Chief of Staff Iván Redondo. A total and complete massacre.

Female majority cabinets are back
Number of Deputy PMs goes down to three. New First Deputy PM is Nadia Calviño, Economy minister. Sánchez confidante Félix Bolaños replaces Calvo as Minister for the Presidency. Sánchez oldtimer Óscar López makes a comeback as Chief of Staff. Senate President Pilar Llop becomes the new Minister of Justice, rumor has it Susana Díaz could replace her in the upper chamber.

Fresh faces in the rest of posts. Also, mayors. Mayor of Gavá Raquel Sánchez replaces former heavyweight José Luis Ábalos (he is also out as PSOE organization secretary) in Transport, Zaragoza councillor Pilar Alegría is the new Minister for Education and Mayor of Puertollano Isabel Rodríguez comes in as Territorial Policy Minister, replacing Miquel Iceta, who remains in the cabinet as Minister for Culture; in addition to Government Spokesperson. Ambassador to France José Manuel Albares is the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Sadly, we no longer have an astronaut in the Council of Ministers. Minister of Science Pedro Duque is being replaced by (surprise, surprise) a mayor. Specifically the Mayor of Gandía, Diana Morant.

Forgive my ignorance, but it seems a bit unusual to me that mayors of cities of about 50,000, and a mere councillor from a city of 700,000, would be appointed to the national cabinet. How common is this in Spain, and how well-known were these individuals before becoming ministers?

Worth noting that those people held higher offices other than councillor or mayor; or at least had held them in the past.

Pilar Alegría was the incumbent "Government Delegate in Zaragoza Province" (sort of an envoy of the central government in the provinces, a bit of a holdover position from when Spain was more centralized but still a fairly high profile position). She was also "Regional minister for Innovation and Universities" in the Aragon government between 2015 and 2019; as well as being the PSOE candidate for mayor of Zaragoza in 2019 even if she lost the race.

Similarly Isabel Rodríguez had previously held the position of "Government Spokeswoman" in Castille-La Mancha's regional government between 2008 and 2011. Granted she has not held such a high profile office since, but still that's a reasonably high office.

The weird naming if anything is Raquel Sánchez, who was an obscure mayor of some small town in Catalonia, which indeed is one that makes little sense. There are higher profile people in PSC though perhaps Sánchez wanted to elevate someone obscure for whatever reason.

If you read their background not as "mayor of a small town" but rather as "Government Delegate into  province" and "For their naming makes a bit more sense; Government Delegates and regional cabinets are a fairly common position to pick people from.

Since 2020 Pilar Alegría (Education) has been the delegate of the Spanish government in the region of Aragón, not only in Zaragoza province. She held the Innovation, Research and Universities portfolios in the Aragonese government (2015-2019), as well she was the leader of the opposition in the Zaragoza City Hall before her appointment as government delegate (her list came first in the 2019 elections, but rightwing parties have a majority). She has been member of the Congress of Deputies for Zaragoza (2008-2015) and member of the Aragonese regional parliament (2015-2019). Also, Pilar Alegría has held some important positions within the party and was the spokeswoman of the Susana Díaz candidacy in the leadership contest against Pedro Sánchez,  so her appointment apparently signals the Spanish PM wants to integrate party factions and stregthen the PSOE (Susana Díaz has been defeated in Andalusia and the leadership of Pedro Sánchez is currently unchallenged). Pilar Alegría was born in 1977 and has a Teaching Diploma (Primary Education)

Diana Morant (Science and Innovation) hasxa degree as Telecommunicatuons Engineer and was mayor of Gandia (Valencia) since 2015. Morant was also a member of the Diputación (provincial government). She joined the PSOE in 2011

Raquel Sánchez (Transport) has been the mayor of Gavá (Barcelona) since 2014. She held positions within the PSOE related to women's oolicies and climate action. Raquel Sánchez is said to be close to Salvador Illa, former Health minister and PSC candidate in the last Catalan elections. Her appointment us apparently ained at increasing the PSC quota in the government (comoensating the downgrade of Miquel Iceta from Territorial Policy to Culture and Sports). Before entering oolitics Raquel Sánchez was a lawyer

As said before, Isabel Rodríguez (Territorial Policy) was the spokeswoman of a regional government. Her appointment as the new national government's spokeswoman, which is a very important role, must be motivated by her communication skills. Isabel Rodríguez has a degree in Law and has been MP for Ciudad Real (2011-2019) before her election as mayor of Puertollano in 2019. She has a reputation for being hard working and socialist "from head to toe". Rodríguez is close to the premier of Castilla-La Mancha Emiliano García-Page, who is obe of the main critics of Pedro Sánchez on issues like pardons the handling of the Catalan conflict.  Ger appointment replacing PSC leader Miquel Iceta perplexed me, but anyway it's clear that Pedro Sánchez is seeking to integrate factions and stregthen the PSOE after the Madrid fiasco

In sum, these new ministers are relatively young and low profile (with the exception of Pilar Alegría, who is a relatively important figure within the PSOE). Anyway I think the role of local politics is increasingly important (as well it provides management experience and proximity to the citizens), even though only the mayors of big cities like Madrid and Barcelona (Valencia, Sevilla and Zaragoza trail at a great distance) have name recognition and a high profile in Spanish politics
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Skye
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« Reply #457 on: July 27, 2021, 05:46:19 AM »
« Edited: July 28, 2021, 05:57:10 AM by Skye »

Hi friends. The Community of Madrid finally uploaded the definitive results of this year's Regional election. So I could once and for all finish the precinct map for the entire Community, by ideological blocs. The final results for blocs are: Right: 57.47%, Left: 41.03%. The map is done, of course with Atlas colors.



This is a small preview version, if you want the high-quality version, you can download it with this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/134wcBiXcx8SVVpkfzVHcZG5fedL2iP1X/view?usp=sharing

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Former President tack50
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« Reply #458 on: August 19, 2021, 09:34:44 AM »

Spanish politics have been very quiet lately, so instead here is a project I've been doing lately thanks to finding out about a site that has all election results from 1987 to 2016 by precinct.

Here is the Canary Islands 2015 regional election with FPTP. Some things to note:

1) I respected the then-current seat allocation instead of redistributing seats. So this means the minor islands are insanely overrepresented and the 2 big ones very underrepresented.

2) There are 2 districts in La Gomera where I did not bother to calculate proper results. Still ASG wins easily given they won every precinct in the island save for 1 (which is in neither of these 2 seats). The other 58 seats have results properly calculated and they should be in the description with all parties over 10% featured

3) I think I made some mistakes and some districts are significantly larger than others.

Still this was a fun project to do with an extremely unexpected result.

Here is the full map, with the election results on the district descriptions:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Hryk1XYsTJqHKkh1kiLGFjLZklk9xVJQ&usp=sharing

And in case you don't want to use Google MyMaps, here are images of all the districts

Spoiler alert! Click Show to show the content.





End results are however absolutely hilarious and tragic. Here are the seat counts as well as the popular vote and a comparison to the real election results

CC 25 (18.19%) (+7)
PSOE 11 (19.86%) (-4)
PP 10 (18.59%) (-2)
NCa 6 (10.24%) (+1)
Podemos 4 (14.53%) (-3)
ASG 4 (0.55%) (+1)

As broken as the real election results were, FPTP somehow manages to make things a lot worse. Despite coming in third on the popular vote, CC manages to get an extremely easy win, with more than twice the seat count of the 2nd placed PSOE.

PSOE meanwhile despite winning the popular vote by 1.5 points suffers from an absolutely abysmal vote distribution where they get decent results everywhere, but have no strongholds where they can get seats. They are only saved from coming in third in the seat count by some very strong results in Lanzarote, a place where they'd actually go down 4 years later! (while going up everywhere else).

PP gets roughly the results you would expect, nothing too weird other than their one seat in the Santa Cruz metro area I suppose.

NCa came in fifth in the popular vote, yet since they have very clear strongholds and weak areas, they were able to get a whopping 6 seats. Their 5 Gran Canaria seats are all fairly expected given their strength in the GC-01 corridor and in the northwest, but I am more surprised at the seat they managed to get in Lanzarote.

Podemos manages to get 4 seats thanks to some very strong results in Las Palmas city, but are obviously underrepresented.

Finally as you would expect, ASG easily sweeps the 4 seats in La Gomera island on 0.55% of the vote.

The site has election results going from 1991 or 87 to 2015, so I am open to suggestions on a hypothetical next proyect Smiley Doesn't have to be a regional election, since I have results for local, island council and general elections too.
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BigSerg
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« Reply #459 on: September 08, 2021, 04:57:37 PM »

The second state of alarm is unconstitutional
https://www.abc.es/espana/abci-segundo-estado-alarma-tambien-inconstitucional-202109082329_noticia.html#vca=rrss&vmc=abc-es&vso=tw&vli=cm-general&_tcode=a2hpYzkx
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« Reply #460 on: October 12, 2021, 03:36:53 PM »

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« Reply #461 on: October 13, 2021, 09:24:15 AM »


Chega joining the eve soon?
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Velasco
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« Reply #462 on: October 16, 2021, 07:44:41 AM »

Vox and Chega have a good relationship, except in the occassions Vox is tweeting maps pf the Spanish Empire including Portugal  and its former colonies

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« Reply #463 on: October 16, 2021, 09:17:52 AM »
« Edited: October 16, 2021, 10:02:14 AM by BigSerg »

Former PM Zapatero (PSOE) allegedly obtained an illegal gold mine in Venezuela. This should be of concern to the left since it is not an unfounded accusation by Vox like the allegations that have been made (and dismissed), but comes from a former high-ranking Venezuelan government official.
 


"In 2020 Colombian Congresswoman Piedad Cordoba informed in an interview that former PM of Spain Rodriguez Zapatero had a gold mine in Venezuela"

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Mike88
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« Reply #464 on: October 16, 2021, 10:17:17 AM »
« Edited: October 16, 2021, 10:28:02 AM by Mike88 »

Vox and Chega have a good relationship, except in the occassions Vox is tweeting maps pf the Spanish Empire including Portugal  and its former colonies



CHEGA and Vox becoming closer now is mystery, to be honest. They had a very estranged relationship, almost ignoring each other, but recently they become closer. I suspect that Ventura may be, like I wrote in the Portuguese thread, seeing the colapse of Le Pen and Salvini and wants new "friendships" to remain relevant in the European far-right movement. That's my hunch. Also, the map is just ridiculous and Ventura's hails to Spain in that rally were also mocked, but it's not getting a lot of coverage because of the current "political tension/crisis" in the country.
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« Reply #465 on: October 16, 2021, 10:31:52 AM »

Vox and Chega have a good relationship, except in the occassions Vox is tweeting maps pf the Spanish Empire including Portugal  and its former colonies



CHEGA and Vox becoming closer now is mystery, to be honest. They had a very estranged relationship, almost ignoring each other, but recently they become closer. I suspect that Ventura may be, like I wrote in the Portuguese thread, seeing the colapse of Le Pen and Salvini and wants new "friendships" to remain relevant in the European far-right movement. That's my hunch. Also, the map is just ridiculous and Ventura's hails to Spain in that rally were also mocked, but it's not getting a lot of coverage because of the current "political tension/crisis" in the country.

Actually I think Vox has plans to create its own group in the European parliament some kind of "Mediterranean alliance".
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« Reply #466 on: October 16, 2021, 11:47:48 AM »


CHEGA and Vox becoming closer now is mystery, to be honest. They had a very estranged relationship, almost ignoring each other, but recently they become closer. I suspect that Ventura may be, like I wrote in the Portuguese thread, seeing the colapse of Le Pen and Salvini and wants new "friendships" to remain relevant in the European far-right movement. That's my hunch. Also, the map is just ridiculous and Ventura's hails to Spain in that rally were also mocked, but it's not getting a lot of coverage because of the current "political tension/crisis" in the country.

I listen to the news when I'm coming home after work (saving our healthcare system), but I'm not visiting this forum very often my focus is far from politics lately. I feel a bit surprised reading about political tensions or crises concerning our wise neighbours (Spain has plenty of them)

From what I've been listening, news cycle in Spain is dominated these days bu the following subjects:

- La Palma volcano, which erupted on September 19 and is still very active with no signs of decline. The ongoing eruption has caused the loss of a thousand homes, properties and valuable banana crops. Pedro Sánchez has visited the island on several occassions and is showing legitimate concern (imo). I have relatives in La Palma,  but they don't live in the area affected by the volcano.

- The skyrocketing electricity prices, which relate to structural problems extremely hard to solve. The government has presented a plan to top the exorbitant bill by limiting the extraordinary profits made by electric companies, which in turn declare war on the government. Pedro Sánchez has appealed to European insritutions with very limited success, in order to coordinate a response. In addition to tariff systems that favor the oligopoly of electric companies, European countries are facing rising gas prices and serious supply problems related to geopolitical problems (for instance: Alger us the main supplier in Spain and the country is at odds with Morocco,  due to the situation in Western Sahara) and prospects of diminishing productions. The impending energy crisis snd the scarcity of resources could eventually cause disruptions in the cjain supply (look at the situation in the UK before calling me alarmist)

-.PSOE and UP reached an agreement on the budget plan. The negotiation with parliamentary allies (ERC, PNV...) begins

- PP and opposition leader Pablo Casado have been extremely aggressive and obstructionist, especially regarding the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary. In a surprise move the PP made a kast minute offer to the PSOE, in order to renew all the constitutional organs except the afirementioned General Council. Later a PP spokesman said "everything is possible "

- Spain is finally at low Covid risk, due to the success in the vaccination campaign.  We enter a strange pseudo-normality
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« Reply #467 on: October 16, 2021, 06:28:18 PM »
« Edited: October 16, 2021, 06:41:30 PM by Mike88 »


CHEGA and Vox becoming closer now is mystery, to be honest. They had a very estranged relationship, almost ignoring each other, but recently they become closer. I suspect that Ventura may be, like I wrote in the Portuguese thread, seeing the colapse of Le Pen and Salvini and wants new "friendships" to remain relevant in the European far-right movement. That's my hunch. Also, the map is just ridiculous and Ventura's hails to Spain in that rally were also mocked, but it's not getting a lot of coverage because of the current "political tension/crisis" in the country.

I listen to the news when I'm coming home after work (saving our healthcare system), but I'm not visiting this forum very often my focus is far from politics lately. I feel a bit surprised reading about political tensions or crises concerning our wise neighbours (Spain has plenty of them)

From what I've been listening, news cycle in Spain is dominated these days bu the following subjects:

- La Palma volcano, which erupted on September 19 and is still very active with no signs of decline. The ongoing eruption has caused the loss of a thousand homes, properties and valuable banana crops. Pedro Sánchez has visited the island on several occassions and is showing legitimate concern (imo). I have relatives in La Palma,  but they don't live in the area affected by the volcano.

- The skyrocketing electricity prices, which relate to structural problems extremely hard to solve. The government has presented a plan to top the exorbitant bill by limiting the extraordinary profits made by electric companies, which in turn declare war on the government. Pedro Sánchez has appealed to European insritutions with very limited success, in order to coordinate a response. In addition to tariff systems that favor the oligopoly of electric companies, European countries are facing rising gas prices and serious supply problems related to geopolitical problems (for instance: Alger us the main supplier in Spain and the country is at odds with Morocco,  due to the situation in Western Sahara) and prospects of diminishing productions. The impending energy crisis snd the scarcity of resources could eventually cause disruptions in the cjain supply (look at the situation in the UK before calling me alarmist)

-.PSOE and UP reached an agreement on the budget plan. The negotiation with parliamentary allies (ERC, PNV...) begins

- PP and opposition leader Pablo Casado have been extremely aggressive and obstructionist, especially regarding the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary. In a surprise move the PP made a kast minute offer to the PSOE, in order to renew all the constitutional organs except the afirementioned General Council. Later a PP spokesman said "everything is possible "

- Spain is finally at low Covid risk, due to the success in the vaccination campaign.  We enter a strange pseudo-normality

Yep, when you add a bad election outcome to a budget negotiation, things get complicated and no one knows how this will end this time.

The volcano in Palma is going to remain active probably for several months. Just to compare, the last eruption in the Azores islands lasted a full year in 1957-58. The best thing to do, IMO, may be to define a big "exclusion zone" and try to live in the most normal possible way, because this is nature and you can't beat it, unfortunately.

About energy costs, how much in VAT on electricity in Spain? Here we are having the exactly same issues but with flip flops on taxes on energy and fuel which are upsetting everyone. Curious that Spain has a lower Covid rate per 100,000 inhabitants that Portugal, even though we have more share of the population fully vaccinated.
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Velasco
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« Reply #468 on: October 17, 2021, 12:27:53 AM »
« Edited: October 17, 2021, 05:31:05 AM by Velasco »


The volcano in Palma is going to remain active probably for several months. Just to compare, the last eruption in the Azores islands lasted a full year in 1957-58. The best thing to do, IMO, may be to define a big "exclusion zone" and try to live in the most normal possible way, because this is nature and you can't beat it, unfortunately.

About energy costs, how much in VAT on electricity in Spain? Here we are having the exactly same issues but with flip flops on taxes on energy and fuel which are upsetting everyone. Curious that Spain has a lower Covid rate per 100,000 inhabitants that Portugal, even though we have more share of the population fully vaccinated.

The last eruption in La Palma was fifty years ago and lasted about three weeks (Teneguia in 1971). Another eruption took place in 1949 (San Juan). Teneguia, San Juan and the new volcano are located on a mountain range called Cumbre Vieja (the name means "old top" or "old peak"), which is ironically the youngest part of the island and is geologically active. Also, a submarine eruption took place in 2018 near the southern tip of El Hierro. The Azores and the Canaries are volcanic islands,  huilt by thousands of eruptions like this one in La Palma.  There is already an exclusuon zone and more than 6000 people have been evacuated. As you say, nothing can be done against the forces of nature.  Thankfully there are no human casualties,  despite the loss of homes and crops swallowed by the lava flows. The eruption might last some months, but hopefully it won't last as kong as the seven years of Timanfaya in Lanzarote ( took place in XVIII century)

VAT on electricity is at 21% but it has been temporarily reduced to 10%, in order to curb the fast rise in prices. Needless to say it has heen to no avail. The root causes of the exorbitant rise in the electricity bill are in the marginalist price system, according to which we must pay etectricity produced by the cheapest means (hydro, for instance) at the price of the most expensive (gas). Anyway fuel is going to be more expensive from now on, as the production is expected to diminish in the next few years. Even The Economist admits we enter in a period of scarcity in fossil fuels (there is no mention to peaks in production, ehichbus an obvious one,  but to other multiple factors that contribute to the energy crisis)

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/09/20/what-is-behind-rocketing-natural-gas-prices
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« Reply #469 on: October 17, 2021, 06:14:18 AM »

The PSOE has been holding its 40th convention during this weekend in Valencia. Reports say supreme leader Pedro Sánchez has managed to convey an image of unity, while party leadership has been reshaped to incorporate younger people, more women and six cabinet members (as well as the Extremadura premier). Former PM Felipe González said he's loyal to the party, but vindicatesd his right to state his opinions (mostly contrary to Pedro Sánchez). Some resolutions adopted:

* The PSOE renounces to a change in the model of state. In other words: the party reafirms its commitment to "republican and democratic values", as well as its loyalty to the constitutional pact of 1978 and the parliamentary monarchy

* The PSOE commits itself to develop a regional financing model that "funds the real costs of public services ", in order to prevent "differences between citizens and territories "

* The PSOE commits itself to abolish prostitution within this legislative period,  punishing consumers ("puteros" in Spanish). Abolishing prostitution must be accompanied by measures of social and laboral reintegration.

"More cash for regions, defense, science: Spanish government details expansive budget plan"

https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2021-10-14/more-cash-for-regions-defense-science-spanish-government-details-expansive-budget-plan.html

Quote
  Details of the draft budget that the center-left government of Pedro Sánchez presented to Spanish parliament on Wednesday show a record-setting public-spending program for 2022 thanks largely to an influx of European funds to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. 

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Velasco
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« Reply #470 on: October 17, 2021, 02:16:01 PM »
« Edited: October 17, 2021, 02:38:44 PM by Velasco »

The tweet on the Vox venue 'Viva 21' shared by Zinneke is very interesting. Indeed it's remarkable the vast network of alliances with Latin American reactionaries



If you think twice, it's not so weird Latin American right-wingers care little about Vox's imperialistic rhetoric. Keep in mind that, in most cases, they represent racist criollo elites. They are the kind of people fought by the movements supporting the rights of the indigenous peoples.

However, there are limits to such things. Madrid premier Isabel Díaz Ayuso is mimicking Vox's rhetoric on the "discovery" (and she's mot the only one), while criticizing heavily indigenous movements (deemed as communist by her) and the Pope Francis. The latter was recently asking forgiveness for past abuses of rhe Church in America, which is far from being extraordinay given similar statements made by the staunch conservatives John Paul II and Benedictus XVI. During a short trip to Washington DC, Ayuso held a meeting with 4 or 5 Hispanic congressmen (out of 30-something caucus members,  presumably anti-communist), whom refused to endorse Ayuso on her attacks to indigenous movements.

Latin American leaders endorsing Vox's "cultural battle against the left and the globalism" include:

Keiko Fujimori and FranciscoTudela (Peru), Javier Milei and Victoria Villaruel (both Argentinian 'libertarians')
Tuto Quiroga (former Bolivian president)
Eduardo Bolsonaro (son of the Brazilian president)
María Corina Machado (Venezuela)
Andrés Pastrana (former Colombian president)
José Antonio Kast (Chile)

Also endorsing:

Ted Cruz (US senator)
Giorgia Meloni (Italy)
Matteusz Morawiecki (Polish PM)
Viktor Orban (Supreme Leader of Hungary)
MR ANDER VENTURA (Portugal)

Quite impressive list, actually

https://gaceta.es/actualidad/el-apoyo-de-meloni-ventura-orban-morawiecki-milei-y-bolsonaro-muestra-la-fortaleza-internacional-de-vox-20211012-0500/

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MaxQue
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« Reply #471 on: October 17, 2021, 03:40:47 PM »

The tweet on the Vox venue 'Viva 21' shared by Zinneke is very interesting. Indeed it's remarkable the vast network of alliances with Latin American reactionaries



If you think twice, it's not so weird Latin American right-wingers care little about Vox's imperialistic rhetoric. Keep in mind that, in most cases, they represent racist criollo elites. They are the kind of people fought by the movements supporting the rights of the indigenous peoples.

However, there are limits to such things. Madrid premier Isabel Díaz Ayuso is mimicking Vox's rhetoric on the "discovery" (and she's mot the only one), while criticizing heavily indigenous movements (deemed as communist by her) and the Pope Francis. The latter was recently asking forgiveness for past abuses of rhe Church in America, which is far from being extraordinay given similar statements made by the staunch conservatives John Paul II and Benedictus XVI. During a short trip to Washington DC, Ayuso held a meeting with 4 or 5 Hispanic congressmen (out of 30-something caucus members,  presumably anti-communist), whom refused to endorse Ayuso on her attacks to indigenous movements.

Latin American leaders endorsing Vox's "cultural battle against the left and the globalism" include:

Keiko Fujimori and FranciscoTudela (Peru), Javier Milei and Victoria Villaruel (both Argentinian 'libertarians')
Tuto Quiroga (former Bolivian president)
Eduardo Bolsonaro (son of the Brazilian president)
María Corina Machado (Venezuela)
Andrés Pastrana (former Colombian president)
José Antonio Kast (Chile)

Also endorsing:

Ted Cruz (US senator)
Giorgia Meloni (Italy)
Matteusz Morawiecki (Polish PM)
Viktor Orban (Supreme Leader of Hungary)
MR ANDER VENTURA (Portugal)

Quite impressive list, actually

https://gaceta.es/actualidad/el-apoyo-de-meloni-ventura-orban-morawiecki-milei-y-bolsonaro-muestra-la-fortaleza-internacional-de-vox-20211012-0500/



Which just underline the truth. They do not care about nationalism. They want to create a global dictatorship where they will be able to kill and torture their opponents.
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Velasco
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« Reply #472 on: October 18, 2021, 01:20:41 AM »

[
Which just underline the truth. They do not care about nationalism. They want to create a global dictatorship where they will be able to kill and torture their opponents.

They care a lot about nationalism,  but obviously their nation is not that of the original Americans ("indogenous", "Amerindians").  They claim to have "shared values" related to a "Christian civilization", as well they see themsrlves equal to the "White Europeans" (despite US racial categories, which make a clear distinction between "hispanics" and "caucasians")
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Former President tack50
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« Reply #473 on: October 18, 2021, 01:35:37 AM »

Tbh what I found most interesting about the Vox convemtion was how it was a huge political party, it genuinely looked super fun. I'll confess I considered unironically attending Tongue

Probably the biggest politics related festival since the good old "fiesta del PCE"
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Velasco
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« Reply #474 on: October 18, 2021, 06:09:23 AM »

Tbh what I found most interesting about the Vox convemtion was how it was a huge political party, it genuinely looked super fun. I'll confess I considered unironically attending Tongue

Probably the biggest politics related festival since the good old "fiesta del 

My idea of having fun does not include the company of Christian fundamentalists or radical rightwingers. The PCE annual party is a long established tradition, oth
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