Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin Nov 17

FEATURED ARTICLES: "Tragedy as 200 expat families evicted from their Murcia campsite homes" and "Sánchez made President again amid divisions and amnesty controversy"

Home is where the heart is, and for many who don’t live in Spain but frequently holiday here, it holds a special place in their hearts and is a home away from home.

But what happens when your hearth and home is suddenly swept out from under your feet? Far from being a ‘lifestyle choice’, this is precisely what has just happened to a nudist community in Murcia, Spain, who are being made homeless at a moment’s notice, with devastating effects.

We also have details for you about how to make your house a home without falling foul of the neighbours, and, of course, the big Spain story of the week and possibly the whole second half of this year – the ‘new’ President being sworn in amongst very controversial circumstances. But will the chickens come home to roost?

Let’s home in on each of these stories below…

Homecoming

It’s official folks. The votes have been counted and verified, as they say, and socialist leader Pedro Sánchez has swept the boards to become the President of the Spanish Government for another four-year term.

A two-day debate was held on his investiture this Wednesday and Thursday and while his re-election has seemed like a foregone conclusion for some time now, there was always a chance things could go wrong.

However, several smaller parties who had agreed to give Sánchez their backing in exchange for a series of controversial guarantees, finally cast their 179 votes to return the PSOE president to power.

With the exception of Sumar, which is a coalition of far-left parties, all of his votes came from the smaller local parties in Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia and the Canary Islands, some of whose main focus going forward is likely to be eventual independence from Spain.

And so begins what is almost certainly going to be a complicated legislature for the president, who will have to bring all of these differing parties to agreement any time he wants to pass a measure in Congress.

Indeed, what a way to begin a term in office, surrounded by police escorts and in the midst of widespread protests.

The parties Sánchez has pacted with are not to be trifled with either as, before casting their votes on Thursday, most of the separatists warned the new President not to forget the agreements that have been made when he’s back in power.

“Don’t try to play your luck with us,” Junts spokesperson Mirian Nogueras said rather ominously.

But it’s actually the agreement of an amnesty pact with Junts that is causing the most commotion, and more than 1,600 National Police officers had to be hires to guard the new president and the Congress building while the debate was taking place. Thousands of protestors have taken to the streets against Sánchez’s promise to grant a pardon for all those involved in the illegal 2017 independence referendum in return for the support of the Catalan separatist movement.

Of course, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the Partido Popular (PP), actually received the most votes in the July 23 election and for a time it was looking like a PP-VOX government in Spain. Ultimately though, he only managed 171 votes so missed out on the top spot.

True to form, he was one of the first to congratulate Sánchez and his PSOE deputies, but he did issue his own warning as they were shaking hands: “This is a mistake and you are responsible,” he said.

All of the other defeated spokespeople, with the notable exception of the VOX leader, also stepped forward to offer their congratulations.

But has Sánchez really sold his soul for a return to power?

Aside from the amnesty law which is causing such a ruckus, most of the other agreements made with the political parties are really rather sensible and aim to help ordinary working families and vulnerable groups, something which the socialists naturally align themselves with anyway.

The government has already committed to a reform of the unemployment benefit system which is designed to encourage workers back onto the labour market, but this will go a step further with a shock plan to tackle youth unemployment in particular. Sánchez has also agreed to shorten the working week, extend paid maternity leave and ensure public preschool is available to all families with children under two.

Other benefits for the normal Joe Bloggs include unspecified improvements to the public health system, an increase in the availability of low-income housing and higher taxes for banks and energy companies.

On the other hand, it’s fair to say that most of the agreements reached are mainly designed to benefit the regions the parties represent. Aside from insisting on amnesty, ERC for example, has demanded that Catalonia’s debt with the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA) be reduced by 15 billion euros; BNG has done the same in Galicia.

It’s only natural that the politicians took the opportunity to guarantee a few favours for their constituencies, but some of the negotiations are already causing problems. The decision to transfer the management of Rodalies, Catalonia’s commuter train services, to the regional government, has led to rail workers downing tool in a five-day strike later this month.

In any case, almost four months after the election, Spain finally has a fully functioning government and Pedro Sánchez once again has the highest seat in the land, just as he wanted. We’ll have to wait and see if this is the poisoned chalice it appears to be.

Home improvements

Anyone who owns property knows you sometimes have to make adjustments and give the house a bit of TLC. But if you live inside a ‘comunidad’ in Spain, be it a residential resort or urbanisation or an apartment building (which is pretty much everyone except those who live in rural country homes), you can’t just go DIY mad.

There are actually a lot of things you may not be allowed to do without express permission from the ‘comunidad de propietarios’, the owners’ association which sets the rules for the communal living space and manages the affairs of the community.

You see, each and every community has (or should have!) its own statute of regulations that covers in minute detail what residents of the community may and may not do, as well as outlining the monthly fees to be paid for the upkeep of the place you’re living.

When it comes to making home improvements and doing any sort of work on your home, then, your first port of call is to check what the statutes say. If there is an express prohibition on the work you want to carry out, you pretty much just can’t do it.

In a general sense, this includes anything that alters or affects the common areas of the property, as well as changes to the façade, load-bearing walls and similar, such as closing in your terrace with windows or walls to make a kind of conservatory, putting up an awning or pergola outside or even something as simple as installing an air conditioning unit that goes on the outside of the building.

Even painting your house a different colour could be subject to restrictions. However, all communities are different and have different rule, so you should always consult the statutes and regulations laid out by the community of owners itself just in case.

If you really want to do the planned work, you’ll have to go, cap in hand, to the President of the community and ask very nicely for your request to be brought up at the next meeting of the board and see if they will vote on whether you may be allowed to do it, and whether they will change the statutes to allow it in future cases.

And if they vote against you, that’s pretty much the end of it. For certain types of work you may also have to go as far as to request planning permission from the Town Hall anyway, so permission from the Community of Owners would mean nothing if you didn’t have the go-ahead from the municipal building technicians.

Please bear in mind that this information is not intended to constitute legal advice. Always go to a lawyer or architectural technician if you want professional, detailed information on your specific case as there are obviously nuances and individual circumstances that we can’t cover here.

Out of house and home

It only happened within the last week or so but it has already ruined the lives of hundreds of families in Murcia, many of them expats. An elderly couple have been hospitalised due to the physical strain, many people are suffering from stress and depression and one person has even committed suicide.

This is the sad and shocking story of what is taking place at the El Portús Naturist Campsite in the Region of Murcia, a residential camping site on the southern coast about halfway between Cartagena and the Port of Mazarrón.

This nudist campsite is, according to the recently formed Owners’ Association, “known all over the world as a special destination where people of all nationalities can live a natural and peaceful life.”

But that is all under threat now as the new corporate owners of the site, investment company Newtown Capital S.L., who bought it in September 2023, have begun threatening over 200 families living there with eviction notices, some of which are due as soon as just a couple of weeks from now.

Understandably, this bolt out of the blue has had a drastic impact on the mental and physical health of those living there, many of whom have owned their homes there for decades and who are registered on the padrón.

Since the sudden notices began arriving, the whole community of all nationalities got together and engaged in setting up what they have called the ‘Asociación of Owners El Portús’ with the intention of campaigning for their legal rights to continue to live, own or buy and sell as they have done for over 40 years. The fledgling Association has recently engaged the services of a lawyer to try to negotiate a suitable way forward with the new owners.

While legal recourse may be available to help the inhabitants of the El Portús Naturist Campsite, it is too late for some of them.

“One of the owners committed suicide after receiving his eviction notice and many others are now suffering from stress and depression,” said the Owners’ Association in a statement.

“Another elderly and fragile couple were so terrified of the threat of eviction that they gathered as many of their belongings as they could a few weeks ago and have rented temporary accommodation near their family in another region of Spain.

“The wife is 80 and has Multiple Sclerosis. Her husband is 77 and has Parkinsons disease. They have been living in such unsuitable accommodation that they were both admitted to hospital within a few days of each other in October, only a short while after moving away from their lifetime home in El Portús.”

It’s a sudden and horrendous shock for the people who live at the El Portús site, but the community is strong and united, and have vowed to fight on, as a single force under the banner of their newly formed association, for the right to continue living in their homes.

Murcia

Remember at the beginning of October when those two nightclubs caught fire in Murcia city? It was a major international news story and one of the worst tragedies to befall the usually quiet and unassuming Region of Murcia in years, with 13 people losing their lives after becoming trapped inside, and countless others left traumatised.

Well, while police investigations are still ongoing, two men were arrested recently for their alleged role in starting the fire.

The blaze began when a late-night party using ‘cold flame’ flares was held in one of the two neighbouring discotecas, and one of the two people who was arrested was the employee who was contracted to bring the flares to the venue.

The other is the manager of the other nightclub, although his legal team insists he wasn’t cuffed and dragged in by police but rather cooperated willingly.

Both men gave statements to police and were charged with 13 charges of reckless homicide. They have been released already, but could still face between 1 and 4 years in prison, or more if there are found to be aggravating circumstances. Meanwhile, police have not ruled out the possibility of new arrests being made.

Away from the tragedy, Murcia city desperately needs some good news. Lucky for them, they’re getting plenty of applause for making public transport free this Christmas period.

Between December 1 and January 7, buses, trams and rental bicycles will be free of charge to use, although it’s not strictly an early Christmas present or an environmental measure. Rather, it is out of necessity as a way to alleviate traffic congestion in the city while road works are ongoing.

The City Council is expecting the fact that they are making buses and trams free to increase the use of public transport by as much as 50% during the Christmas period. It’s also hoped that the measure will function as a sort of test bed for a new transport model that will be launched next year, including adding more vehicles to the most popular urban bus routes and those that go to the outlying districts of Murcia municipality too.

On the resorts, there is excitement this week as the Mar Menor Golf Resort’s golf course was finally and fully reopened, after having been partially closed since last year due to maintenance work.

As of this Monday just gone, MMGR has once again opened its full 18 holes to golfers. It was originally due to reopen back in July but that date that was repeatedly pushed back. Now, though, the long wait is over and regulars on the course and those who are looking forward to get over to play in the coming weeks and months are excited to try it out with its new and improved collars and greens.

On the Camposol urbanisation, meanwhile, a new Councillor for the affairs of the residential area has been assigned by Mazarrón Town Council after the passing of Councillor Silvana Buxton a month ago. In a reshuffle of Council positions, Silvana’s position as Councillor for Camposol and International Relations has been filled by Carmen Navarro Paredes, who takes on these responsibilities in addition to her role as Councillor for Finance, Healthcare, Civil Protection and Municipal Emergency Service.

Ms Navarro, whose background is in healthcare and emergency services, was previously also the Councillor for the Environment, but she has relinquished this position to another new Council member. However, she retains her position as Third Deputy Mayor and also has a seat on the Council’s governing board.

Any issues regarding the Camposol urbanisation that should be addressed by the elected officials at the Town Hall in Mazarrón can now be directed to her.

Lastly, on La Torre Golf Resort a new president of the General Community has been sworn in after a snap election was held following allegations of a lack of transparency and communication by the previous presidency team.

While it’s undoubtedly a smaller affair than the new swearing in of the old president who runs the entire Spanish government, it’s nonetheless incredibly important for the local people who live and own property on La Torre Golf Resort.

Many were disappointed that the candidate Linda Robinson, who ran a solid campaign, lost out on the presidency, and the election was mired in some controversy as several residents complained of not having received the email in time inviting them to cast their votes.

Regardless, the election result has been accepted as valid and Robinson and the other members of the La Torre community have now thrown their support behind new President Juan Jesús Atienza and Vice President Andy Baker. It is hoped that, unlike the previous administration, Atienza, Baker and co. will not be taking decisions without consulting the community first and will provide clearer and more regular information to property owners on the resort.

So, what’s going on around the Region this weekend? Well, loads as always. A tapas route in Bolnuevo for the Mazarrón fiestas, a ‘Glitz and Glamour Winter Party’ on El Valle Golf Resort on Saturday and a free guided tour in English explaining the fascinating history of the Águilas mining industry, the railways and their links to Great Britain on Sunday.

Check out our EVENTS DIARY for more ideas of what to do in the Region of Murcia:

Spain

Spain has already committed to creating a smoke-free generation in 2030, “with the expansion of smoke-free spaces and a more restrictive regulation on the use of vaping devices by minors.”

Along the way, the government is imposing a series of small changes aimed at making smoking less attractive and this week it announced a ban on flavoured e-cigarettes, vapes designed to smell and taste more like a conventional cigarette.

The law affects heated tobacco products and will impact several brands of electronic cigarettes, or vapes, currently available on the market.

In Spain, the best-selling product that will soon be banned is made by IQOS.

A huge surge in the popularity of these devices has prompted the European Commission to call for a ban, but it will take a little while before the prohibition comes into effect in Spain.

In the meantime, manufacturers will have to put a health warning on the packaging of all heated tobacco-containing e-cigarettes that have a flavour or aroma.

Despite being banned in several countries now, the notorious Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) has 62 chapters around the world and more than 5,000 members. This gang, with its well-documented links to organised crime and drug smuggling in particular, first appeared in Spain in 1997 and set up shop in places like the Costa del Sol and the Canary Islands.

Police always keep a close eye on their activities and last week, six members of the Tenerife branch were arrested for a series of crimes including violence and intimidation, narcotics trafficking, criminal damage and illegal weapons.

🚩 Detenidos en #Tenerife 6 miembros vinculados al autodenominado capítulo Canary Islands de la #banda motera Hells Angels 🏍

🔹El grupo absorbía y #coaccionaba a otros clubes #moteros existentes en las islas para hacerse con el control del territorio pic.twitter.com/Pnw6L0Jp9A
— Policía Nacional (@policia) November 14, 2023

The Hells Angels established a chapter in Tenerife three years ago and investigators quickly realised that the biker gang considered the Canary Island to be their sole “territory”. So much so that they threatened and abused other legitimate clubs trying to establish themselves on the island, damaging several expensive motorcycles and cars in the process.

Now that Pedro Sánchez has been invested as President of the Spanish Government, talks are expected to resume in earnest on the contentious issues surrounding the governance of Gibraltar, and not a moment too soon, it would seem.

Following Brexit, the UK no longer recognises EU ID cards, but the Spanish are giving as good as they get and have stepped up checks at the border between the Rock and Spain. Earlier this week, the Gibraltar government was outraged when 35 non-EU nationals, mostly Brits, were refused entry to the Spanish mainland in one day, supposedly because they didn’t have the correct travel documents.

In Gibraltar, there are three types of identity cards issued: red cards are issued to Gibraltarians and permanent residents; blue cards to other EU nationals and yellow cards to non-EU citizens. Only the red cards are valid as a travel document.

“Most were asked for the reason of their visit to Spain and for flights or hotel bookings,” a Gibraltar government spokesperson explained.

“The BCA are not aware of any British national who presented their passport and a Gibraltar red ID card, to have been asked to provide reasons for travel.”

Members of the opposition refused to buy this excuse, however, claiming that the Spanish government is being unreasonably harsh in its treatment of legitimate British travellers who hold the blue IDs.

“This latest development is a worsening of restrictions faced by blue ID card holders,” Gibraltar Social Democrats leader Keith Azopardi criticised.

“What is the Government doing about these things which spark huge frustration at the unreasonable measures taken by Spain at the border?”

Alicante

Residents of the Costa Blanca have plenty of gripes with the regional government but one of the longest-standing issues, the widening of the one-lane section of the N-332 highway outside Torrevieja, looks set to finally be resolved.

Earlier this week, the Torrevieja City Council was surprised by a memo from the central government confirming that an environmental impact study of the project will begin shortly, meaning that this constantly congested stretch of road could soon be improved.

The project won’t go out to tender until the environmental study is completed though, since the road runs through the protected areas of the salt lakes and lagoons. But Torrevieja mayor Eduardo Dolón has vowed to put pressure on the administration to ensure that it’s completed before the end of the year so that work can begin as soon as possible.

While most of the N-332 is a dual carriageway, this section only has one lane in each direction yet is forced to handle more than 40,000 vehicles each and every day. It’s the main route from Orihuela Costa to Alicante airport and as a result, traffic moves at barely a crawl during the high season.

The road is also an accident black spot as many drivers are still tempted to overtake even though there’s been a continuous white line since 2014.

However, it’s not all good news. For reasons that haven’t been explained, the central government is, for the moment at least, only looking at widening around half of the eight-kilometre stretch, which runs between the hospital and the Ozone leisure centre at the access to the CV-905.

Staying on the coast, shoppers got the fright of their lives on Tuesday morning when dozens of armed police officers screeched to a halt in front of the Zenia Boulevard Commercial Centre and stormed up the stairs into the mall.

Footage of the incredible scene quickly flooded social media, with many people wondering if the Orihuela Costa shopping centre had been the subject of a bomb scare or terrorist threat.

The raid took place at 9am before the shops were open, but there were still plenty of pedestrians and bus passengers staring open-mouthed as the spectacle unfolded.

However, Orihuela Local Police were quick to dampen the panic on ‘X’, reassuring residents that the operation was simply a training drill.

“If you see this in Zenia Boulevard, don’t be scared, it is a terrorism drill,” they said in the statement.

Si ve esto en la @ZeniaCC no te asustes, es un #simulacro por terrorismo. pic.twitter.com/f1NuYAQnSx
— Policía Local Orihuela (@plorihuela) November 15, 2023

Last week we brought you the exciting news that easyJet has opened a new base at Alicante-Elche airport, its fourth in Spain, offering 9 more routes from the Costa Blanca from next year. Now, Norwegian has added to this quota with direct flights from Alicante to Munich for summer 2024.

Consistently ranked the most punctual airline in Europe, Norwegian will operate a total of 332 routes to 123 destinations next summer, among which are also Málaga to Munich.

“Our exciting new destinations will take travellers to vibrant European cities and destinations with crystal clear waters and sandy beaches. Our job is to make sure we get our customers to where they want to go and that their journey is as pleasant and smooth as possible,” promised Magnus Thome Maursund, the airline’s Chief Commercial Officer.

Alicante is famous for its crystalline beaches and vibrant, cosmopolitan city, but the area also has a rich history. One of the must-see sights for any visitor is the Cova de L’Or cave in Beniarrés, widely considered to be “one of the most emblematic examples” of the Neolithic era.

The MARQ Foundation has always organised fascinating guided tours of the site but the area has just been expanded by 32 metres so that visitors can explore even more of this archaeological enclave.

Plans are also afoot to install a museum in the amazing ‘Room of the Columns’.

The guided tours of the cave will begin in the Interpretation Centre right at the heart of the municipality. Reservations can be made through the MARQ website and the price is three euros for schoolchildren and five euros for everyone else. The current schedule is Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 2pm.

Check out the Costa Blanca What’s On and Where to Go Facebook group to see more things to do around Alicante province!

Andalucía

We’re still over a month away from the end of the year and already the number of cruise ships that have stopped off in the port of Málaga on the Costa del Sol is higher than in 2022. What’s more, it also looks like there will be more cruise ships stopping in Málaga overnight this year at the end of one tour and the start of another; in 2022 there were 25 in total and so far in 2023 there have been 23 already.

But what’s really interesting is that, of those 23, 16 are classed as ‘small- to medium-sized’ cruise ships, which means they are less than 200 metres in length and have fewer than 400 passengers. The authorities in Málaga are actually delighted about this, since a few years ago they took the decision to try to focus on this luxury sub-section of the cruise sector in order to try and bring in passengers who would be more likely to stay in hotels in the city and not just stay on the boat.

And it’s a plan that seems to be working, helping to boost the local economy rather than simply flooding the streets of the city with cruise tourists who wander about for a bit and then leave without having spent very much money or contributed in any significant way to the city’s wealth creation.

This differentiates Málaga from other Spanish cities such as Palma de Mallorca, which has an ongoing love-hate affair with cruise tourism. They like having plenty of tourists around to bring them money, of course, but the place is overcrowded in the high season and they’re having to take legal steps to limit them. Málaga is also a very touristy city compared with the likes of other Andalucía cruise cities like Almería, of course, but it’s still a pleasant place to visit that’s definitely on the up.

Taking of nice places to visit this year, Seville is hoping to have one of the biggest Christmas lights and decoration programmes in all of Spain for 2023, beating out the usual leader of Vigo in Galicia.

The city, capital of the Andalucía region, will turn on its Christmas lights on Saturday December 2 in a total of 287 streets and squares, and there will be no fewer than seven huge Christmas trees scattered around near the main sites of the city.

But the jewel in the crown this year is slated to be the unique and intriguing light projection show on the river. The ayuntamiento has erected a huge stand next to the Guadalquivir River with capacity to hold 12,500 people, from which you can watch the “audiovisual spectacle” entitled ‘Navigalia’, which will tell a Christmas story based in Seville, apparently.

Lights and images will be thrown onto the Triana footbridge and the Muelle de Sal, illuminating these riverside spaces for a 12-minute-long extravaganza of lights and music. Starting from Wednesday December 20, there will be three daily screenings, starting at 8pm, 9pm and 10pm. It promises to be quite the attraction!

Such is the prominence of Seville on the Christmas decoration and events calendar this year that the series of Spanish TV channels owned by Mediaset will broadcast the ringing in of the New Year from the city.

Back to Málaga, though, and actually most people will be more familiar with the famous Christmas lights in the provincial capital’s Calle Larios, with its usual four, 16-metre-high Celestial Angels which are returning this year, also with nightly light shows.

Málaga will also have its own projected illumination show, this time on the Cathedral, while Calle San Juan will have a unique decoration that divides the street into three different spaces: an area of Luminous Tinsel, an area of giant LED candy canes and ‘The Magic Cave’, a cavern of lights with glowing electrified stalactites.

In total there will be more than two million LED lights lighting up the Costa del Sol city this Christmas, New Year’s and Three Kings festive period. The Christmas light switch on is happening on Friday November 24, coinciding as it does every year with the last Friday in November.

Feeling festive yet?

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And that’s the end of this week’s Editor’s Roundup Weekly Bulletin. Thank you, as ever, for being a regular reader. We’ll be back with another eidition for you next week.

Happy trails!