Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin July 23
CLICK HERE FOR THE FEATURE ARTICLES "Spain burns in the worst wildfires in history" and "Brits travelling to Spain need 3 extra documents to get through e-gates"
It’s been another scorcher of a week here in Spain and although the heatwave is officially over, meteorologists are predicting more blistering temperatures for the coming days.
While holidaymakers are mostly happy to be able to get away and enjoy some sunshine, much of rural Spain is in despair over the worst and most destructive summer of wildfires the country has ever seen.
And not only this, but many other environmental tragedies and missteps. All this inside, plus, badly behaving bars in Spain, the dastardly driving licences drama and coronavirus confusion.
We’re adding fuel to the fire
Spain is burning.
As in much of the rest of Europe, there are dozens of forest fires eating up vast swathes of the countryside in Spain.
Trees blackened. The earth scorched. Animals driven away from their habitats. Whole villages evacuated. Homes, businesses and farms devoured by the flames. Firefighters overworked and underpaid, risking their lives day and night. People dead.
And it shows no sign of slowing down.
Until now, the most destructive year for forest fires in Spain was 2012, when 189,376 hectares of land were burned up. This summer has eclipsed that record though, making 2022
the year with the most devastating wave of forest fires since records began. Nearly 200,000 hectares have burned already, and we’re only in mid-July. The forest fire season can continue well into September and beyond, depending on the weather, and judging by the unprecedented temperatures we’ve been seeing recently, it wouldn’t be a surprise if we had a heatwave in October.
Or snow in August. When it comes to the weather these days, anything is possible thanks to the way we’ve managed to twist and mutilate our planet’s normal climate system.
During lockdown, when the whole world was forced to stay indoors, not fly and not use their cars every day, the Earth’s pollution levels decreased by 70%. Wild animals returned to habitats they had been driven out of by the presence of humans. Natural rewilding began to take place in green spaces. We gave the planet a respite and it began to heal itself. We saw for ourselves what was possible in terms of slowing down and reversing this climate crisis, if only everyone banded together to stop polluting.
“This is our warning,” we said to ourselves. “This is our opportunity.”
Then as soon as restrictions were lifted we were back at it. Getting cheap flights on a whim. Using our cars even for short journeys that we could make on foot. And when the energy crisis came along “because of Russia”, we were quick to jump on increasing the use of fossil fuels as a solution instead of renewables like wind and solar.
This has to stop. People are dying as a direct result of climate change. The time for disputing these facts is gone; the time for action started long ago. And we’re running late.
There have been heroes in Spain’s fight against the flames, not only the firefighters who risk their lives each day, but also the
“hero of Tábara”, an ordinary man who has been praised for saving his village after a heart-stopping video emerged of him dousing the fields to make a barrier, getting burns to 80% of his body in the process.
But actions like these are just a drop in the ocean. It needs a dedicated response from every single person, a shift in our mindset – “un cambio de chip”, as they say in Spanish – towards a way of life that minimises the damage we do to the environment rather than adds to it.
Of course heatwaves and forest fires in Spain are nothing new. They happen almost every summer. But they are getting much worse, much more frequent and more intense. And it’s because of manmade climate change. It’s because of us. Unless each and every individual makes a massive sea change in their behaviour in this very moment, without pause, don’t be shocked if next year even the records that have been set for high temperatures and the number of hectares destroyed by fire are beaten once again, and more people lose their lives.
Eating out
In a ceremony at London’s Old Billingsgate Exchange, Disfrutar in Barcelona was awarded the bronze medal, moving up from fifth place last year, while fourth place was given to Madrid’s DiverXo, by Dabiz Muñoz, which thus rises from position 20 to the top 5 of the prestigious ranking.
Not to be left out, Aponiente in the town of El Puerto de Santa María in Cádiz won the ‘Best Sustainable Restaurant’ in the world award, thanks to its innovative work in the marine environment and the use of unusual resources such as plankton. The brand-new award for best sommelier went to the Spanish Josep Roca, from El Celler de Can Roca in Girona.
If you’re looking for slightly more humble fare, you might be inclined to choose your local bar or restaurant for a tipple, but a word to the wise; check your bill closely before you leave… they say that nothing in life is free, but one bar in Spain has taken this concept to a whole other level and gone viral for their trouble.
It didn’t end there either, as the customer quickly realised he had also been charged 1 euro for the use of the cutlery.
It would appear that this kind of behaviour is far from uncommon though, as another visitor to Tenerife shared her bill with a six-euro charge for the blanket the waitress had offered her to keep warm on the outdoor terrace.
In Spain it seems, the customer isn’t always right!
On the road again, again…
In his most recent update on the situation with driving licences for UK nationals resident in Spain, the British Ambassador in Madrid Hugh Elliot has peddled back on his positive tone of previous weeks and hasn’t mentioned again his provisional deadline of the end of July for a date when a deal would be reached that would allow Brits to drive for another six months and be able to swap their licences for Spanish ones, just like they could pre-2021.
Having had a Spanish driving licence for under two years, most companies would assume you have no driving experience as they don’t take into account any previous years on the road in your home country. And of course, learner drivers pay more in insurance premiums, are often refused no-claims bonuses, and in some cases may not rent a car.
True, both insurance companies and car hire places are private businesses and each one has their own policies on this sort of thing. Maybe some of them will be willing to bend the rules if you explain the situation and can prove that you’ve actually been driving all your life. But by the same token, they are under no obligation to offer their services to people with a new Spanish driving licence if they don’t want to.
Still, with the current outlook, the most sensible option for Brits who want to live in Spain and start driving again is just to take their test. There is no guarantee that a deal will ever be made on the driving licences issue, and even if there is then it could still be as difficult and chaotic to exchange your licence as it was before the original December 2020 deadline.
For example:
What is the penalty for holding a mobile phone in your hand while at a red light?
- A. Loss of 6 points and 500 euros
- B. Loss of 6 points and 200 euros
- C. Loss of 3 points and 200 euros
Can you get them all right? Would you pass your Spanish driving licence theory test?
Click here to find out – Answers within.
Coronavirus
At the end of the sixth wave of the coronavirus pandemic in March, Spain stopped publishing data on the entire population and just focused on those over the age of 60, and instead of publishing data every day they reduced it to twice a week.
Now we have a seventh wave, and official figures suggest that it’s already abating with the cumulative incidence rate dropping 140 points in a week to stand at 1,081 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
More than just simple semantics, this new system aims to be more accurate and provide us with a picture of who is really in hospital because they’re suffering from Covid, and who is in hospital for a different reason and just happens to have Covid at the same time.
Either way, it’s worth repeating once again that Covid Is Not Over!
For all the latest coronavirus news and updates in Spain, use the link above
Murcia
As if the wildfires weren’t enough of a natural disaster, there were
two earthquakes in the Murcia Region last weekend measuring more than 2.0 on the Richter scale – one in Librilla and the other in Archena, both with a magnitude of 2.1. In addition, there were at least four more smaller seismic events around central Murcia and three more during the week, but thankfully none of these incidents was strong enough to cause serious damage.
Small, harmless earthquakes are frequent in Murcia, and most of them are nothing to worry about. No, there are worse environmental problems in the Region, not least of which is drought. For some reason, the water has been cut off at the Mar Menor Golf resort in Torre Pacheco, meaning they can’t water the golf course or refill the lake on the MM2 site. The first has an easy solution, as those who had reserved a round of 18 holes on the green (now more brown since it was closed on June 27) have had their bookings transferred to other golf courses. But the second consequence of the lack of water is more serious, and
has already led to the deaths of hundreds of fish on the Golf resort.
The managing company of the golf resort has claimed that their water has been cut off by the Segura Hydrographic Confederation (CHS), which monitors water usage and quality in the area, and so only they can solve the problem by turning the water back on. But it’s not clear why they cut off the water supply in the first place… was the golf resort not paying their water bills? Was their water contaminated? Were they watering in areas they shouldn’t have been, washing toxins into the Mar Menor (as has happened in the past with farmers around the Campo de Cartagena)?
While we wait patiently for the CHS to turn the water back on and save the remaining fish in the lake, residents and property owners on the Mar Menor Golf resort look on helplessly as the animals suffer in water that is shrinking, heating up quickly and has a lower oxygen level.
In the Mar Menor itself, there may be
cause for optimism as a newly patented invention from an engineer at the University of Cartagena has shown in preliminary tests in Los Alcázares that it is capable of sucking up the sludge that plagues the lagoon without stirring up the water and endangering the wildlife further. This is possible, according to the device’s designer, thanks to a floating “suction pump that sucks up the sludge” and filters it so that “the sludge remains in a mesh and the water and healthy sand are recirculated”. Very clever, but of course the regional government is once again the one holding back, refusing to greenlight more tests and to put the system into place. Heaven forbid they should actually do anything to help the Mar Menor! No, it’s been left to Spain’s central government to come in and starting
rewilding the ramblas around the Mar Menor to prevent pollution, a natural solution announced this week that represents a departure from the Regional government’s ineffectual plans.
On Camposol,
the redirection of the Rambla de los Aznares riverbed to prevent flooding of the kind seen so dramatically in 2014 has finally taken a step forward… after the CHS and local and regional authorities selected one of the options previously proposed back in 2018! This option involves diverting the course of the water away from the original route and depositing it in a tributary of the Rambla de las Moreras between Camposol Sectors C & D, but it is still not known how much disruption this would cause to homeowners and roads. The Rambla de Aznares issue has dogged Camposol for nearly 20 years and the problem still persists – not only from potential flooding but also the situation where technically around 600 homes are built on government land, which is causing administration problems in the completion of the Camposol urban plan. Hopefully a satisfactory solution can be reached soon.
To round off the litany of environmental dangers in Murcia,
the Villas Caravaning saga continues as the La Manga campsite is, for the second time, appealing a decision by Cartagena City Council to suspend its operating licence for a lack of fire safety measures. Despite changes brought in by the managing team of the campsite to improve safety, such as installing more fire hydrants, the City authorities have declared it’s not enough and are demanding that Villas Caravaning do more to protect residents and visitors.
With the current situation we are seeing with devastating wildfires literally costing people their lives, it is appalling that a campsite should have such shocking conditions as Villas Caravaning, packing campers in like sardines and not even giving them basic electricity and fire safety or the means to put out large fires when they know that lethal fires have occurred on the site before.
Fire razes 12 homes to the ground in Villas Caravaning, October 2021
Villas Caravaning are only starting to make these changes now, and will only do the minimum amount necessary to be able to reopen, because of the fear of losing money. The Camposol residents have been instrumental in getting officials around the table to address the flooding situation. Ordinary people living on the Mar Menor Golf resort are the ones who have brought the lamentable situation to light. We can’t rely on the bigwigs and the fat cats to solve these problems of their own accord because it’s not in their interest unless we put pressure on them and take it into our own hands to improve the place where we live and have property. No one else will do it for us.
Check out our EVENTS DIARY to see everything going on in Murcia:
Spain
It’s difficult to stay cool in this weather, and most of us turn to the air conditioning or at the very least our trusty fans to take things down a notch or two. However, these appliances can be pretty heavy on juice, and with electricity bills at an all-time high the last thing we want to do is hike them up even more. Luckily, the experts have come up with their
top tips for saving energy and saving the planet without having to give up our creature comforts.
The first may seem like an obvious one, but it’s best to take advantage of the longer days and make the most of natural light by throwing open those windows as often as possible. This also reduces the amount of time we need to have the air con on. Of course, appliances received a mention, and we’re advised to closely regulate the temperature our air conditioning is operating at unless we want to see our bills climb sky-high. These appliances generally use more than 90% of the energy of a fan, somewhere between 0.990 kWh and 3,000 kWh.
According to the money-saving experts, the ideal temperature for a home is between 24°C and 26°C, bearing in mind that for each degree the temperature drops, energy expenditure increases by 8%.
As with everything, it’s definitely a good idea to shop around for the cheapest energy suppliers as they all have different offers depending on your needs, and make the most of the off-peak hours to run energy-heavy appliances like washing machines and dishwashers.
When it comes to saving, an indeed making, money, the self-employed are believed to get a pretty raw deal here in Spain, paying extortionate social security rates before they even earn a euro. Well, the powers that be have listened and this week the government came to an agreement with representatives and unions to
overhaul the entire autónomo system and change the payment structure.
What the new system means essentially is that low-income earners will pay less into the monthly contributions, or autónomo payments as they are commonly known, while people bringing in the big bucks will have to pay more.
The new system will come into play in 2023 and the social security payments will gradually change for everyone over the next three years. It divides workers into 15 different categories depending on their net earnings, but without a doubt the biggest difference will be noticed by self-employed people who bring in less than 670 euros each month, with a saving of 1,127 euros per year from 2025.
In general, the four categories who earn the least (between 670 euros and 1,300 euros net per month) will see their autónomo fee reduced by between 3 and 64 euros per month the first year, increasing to 94 euros by year three.
On the other hand, the fees for the self-employed who earn a net income of between 1,300 and 1,700 won’t change all that much as they will continue to pay 295 euros each month, while payments will increase substantially for those bringing home more than 1,700 euros.
In a much-needed move to speed up the process of passengers navigating passport control when they arrive in Spain, the authorities are now permitting travellers from the UK to use the e-gates usually reserved for EU citizens, rather than queuing in the much longer non-EU line.
However, the UK Foreign Office has asked holidaymakers to have three things to hand: proof of a return or onward ticket, enough money to cover their trip and proof of the address they will be staying at.
This is all, of course, on top of the Covid-19 entry requirements for British tourists, which include proof of vaccination, a Covid Recovery Cert or a negative test.
Alicante
Rolling out of bed half an hour before the majority of holidaymakers making the most of the chance to have a lie-in and dashing off to the beach to bag the perfect spot with a strategically placed umbrella may seem like a great idea for some. But in one seaside resort on the Costa Blanca, the early morning ritual of seat-saving on the sand can lead to hefty fine.
The town council has published a municipal notice clearly stating that “individuals are forbidden from occupying areas between the platform of the Accessible Beach Points and the sea, as this is an area reserved for bathing for people with reduced mobility”. It also warns that “private elements that are installed before 8am or in the concession or accessible beach area” will be considered as “non-compliance” and can lead to fines ranging from 750 to 3,000 euros.
Avid spot-savers reserving the best position on the sand is just one nuisance other beachgoers can experience on a day at the seaside. For many, what should be a carefree day on the coast can often become a nightmare, packing up the car and slowly making your way through heaving summer traffic before spending forever trying to find a parking space. But discovering Alicante province’s stunning beaches doesn’t have to be so frustrating. For the remainder of July,
Alicante TRAM users can jump aboard for free on Sundays as part of a government initiative “to encourage the use of public transport, contribute to the decongestion of towns and cities and reduce pollution to advance in the fight against climate change.”
The onset of summer has seen a surge of visitors to Alicante’s most popular beach in San Juan, bringing with it motor mayhem as thousands scramble to find a parking space. So Alicante City Council has come up with a seasonal solution and has begun creating
almost 400 new provisional parking spaces on a new plot between Avenida de las Naciones and Calle Músico Vicente Spiteri and extended an existing car park. The temporary car park is expected to be operational within two weeks.
It’s not just the sun, sea and sand that attracts tourists in their droves to the Costa Blanca. It’s rich traditions and cultural heritages are also major attractions for people who love to travel and explore new places. And whilst it has certainly fallen out of favour over the last few years, the controversial practice of bull running is one of Spain’s most deeply rooted customs.
However, the traditional fiestas in which thousands line the streets, often chasing and provoking the bulls is not without its dangers and this week three people lost their lives at ‘bous al carrer’ fiestas in the Valencia region.
One of the victims was a 64-year-old French tourist who was thrown into the air and trampled on during a bull run fiesta in Pedregeur, Alicante province.
64-year-old Pierre died after spending nine days in a coma after suffering a serious head injury on July 9. He was reportedly standing next to a safety barrier having left a bar when a bull hooked him by the leg and hurled him into the air. The deceased was then caught up in a stampede. According to witnesses, the father-of-three was not taking part in the bull run and didn’t realise that the bull was hurtling towards him when he was struck.
In terrifying scenes at a bar terrace in Xàtiva, Valencia,
an 11-month-old baby was attacked by a bull terrier in front of her horrified family. The little girl thankfully escaped with a non-life-threatening bite wound to her leg, and her father and grandfather were also injured trying the pull the dog off the child. According to police, the dog – a bull terrier breed classified as dangerous – was with its owner on the same terrace when it managed to get free and lunge at the baby.
Lastly, the actions of a motorist who went to extreme lengths to evade the police could have had catastrophic repercussions in Torrevieja this week. The reckless driver sped through a breathalyser checkpoint in a stolen car before a
20-minute high-speed police chase in which he drove along a section of the N-332 in the wrong direction and put the lives of others at risk.
According to the Guardia Civil, “the detainee did not hesitate to cross roundabouts and drive for long stretches in the opposite direction, seriously endangering the safety of all road users”. Once police managed to intercept the stolen vehicle, the arrestee then tried to make a run for it on foot, injuring one of the officers in the process. “The driver ignored all the police signals telling him to stop, putting his own safety and that of other road users, including that of the officers themselves, at serious risk,” added the police.
Andalucía
Marbella is one of the most popular beach destinations for tourists on the Costa del Sol, a luxury resort town where the sun shines and the wealthy and beautiful can earn some well-deserved downtime.
But this idyllic dream was shattered in the early hours of Monday morning when
shooting broke out at the Opium Beach Club Marbella nightclub, a high-end club popular with influencers and celebrities from Spain and abroad. In what some have taken to be a struggle between rival drug gangs, at least five gunshots were let off, injuring four people. Two of those who were shot have been in a serious condition in intensive care all work, and one of them was an Irish national.
A fifth person, the man alleged to be the shooter, is also in hospital with serious knife wounds to his neck, head, arms and chest, and has been placed under arrest even as he fights for his life. Much was made in the Spanish media of the fact that the nephew of the King of Spain, the 24-year-old Lord of Tejada, was partying in the club at the time of the shooting, but managed to escape unscathed, as did Dutch Love Island contestant and influencer Kelly van der Minne.
But away from the celebrity aspect, the most terrifying thing is the fear that people must have felt as they fled for their lives in the dead of night, as videos shared on social media showed. It’s shocking and sad that such incidents could take place so close to us, and a stark reminder of the fragility of our peaceful lives, which could be shattered in an instant.
Elsewhere in Malaga province, the Brit who was on the UK Most Wanted List for murder and drug trafficking and who was arrested in Coín two months ago has this week
refused to be extradited to the UK. David Ungi is claiming that he has lived in Spain since 2018 and that he wants to remain close to his family and young daughter. The British Crime Agency has described Ungi as a “very dangerous person” and said that his capture was “very good news for communities both in Liverpool and Spain”. But in the hearing that he attended via videoconference this Tuesday, the suspected murderer argued against his extradition to the UK on the grounds that Spain is now his home and also where his family connections reside.
After the two got into an argument about the issue, the driver, 32 punched the foreign holidaymaker three times in the face and broke his nose. The tourist went to hospital and the horse carriage driver was arrested, but for many the real issue here is the fact that the horses were being made to work and trot around the city centre in the middle of the say when temperatures are nearing 40ºC due to the heatwave. Humans can pay a fine and broken noses mend but the horses which are mistreated in this way can end up losing their lives, and all for the sake of a few measly euros or a jolly holiday ride.
You may have missed…
UFC fighter Conor McGregor has been in Spain this summer celebrating his birthday in Ibiza, Formentera and around the Balearic Islands but he has been embroiled in controversy once again.
A Boeing 757-300 passenger plane destined for Hamburg was forced to make a dramatic U-turn and head back for base after its crew reported engine failure shortly after take-off.
A worker was rushed to hospital after he fell from a height of about 2 metres while he was putting up screens on a home on Camposol Sector C.
A large snake was discovered loose in the Morales Meseguer General University Hospital in Murcia, taking hospital staff by surprise.
Says it all.
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