Spanish Press Review
Spain Papers Review - Thursday May 1 2008
By h.b. - May 1, 2008 - 9:42 AM
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Público celebrates the first of May with photos of ten typical workers from different walks of life in Spain. The paper considers that the economic crisis is marking the International Day of the Worker today.
The Spanish papers cover the decision of the National Court judge, Baltasar Garzón, to send the Mayor of Mondragón to prison. From the ANV party she is accused of collaborating with Basque terrorists ETA. El País has a photo of her walking to the court yesterday, but the paper went to bed before the three ETA bomb explosions which are being seen as a response to the decision overnight.
El Mundo says that Inocencia Galparsoro slept last night in the Soto del Real prison in Madrid. The paper notes the judge acted after receiving requests from the AVT terrorist victims association and the Dignity and Justice organisation.
ABC has a large photo of the Mayor also.
El País reports that the Prime Minister is said to be ‘disagreeably surprised’ by one of his past economic assessors, David Taguas, moving to head a lobby which represents the 33 largest construction companies in Spain. The paper says that Taguas was nominated by six of the largest companies, ACS, FCC, Acciona, Ferrovial, OHL and Sacyr.
El Mundo considers there is a possible conflict of interests in the appointment which still has to be confirmed.
El Mundo tells us that González Pons will be one of the people to have most influence in the new opposition team led by Mariano Rajoy. The paper describes him as the man of the moment in the party, despite only being officially named as the vice-president of the commission on Climate Change. Meanwhile El Mundo has an editorial today called ‘The worst 50 days of the PP’ referring to the time since the General Election.
There is more coverage on the return to Spain of the crew of the Playa de Bakio tuna fishing boat. El País has the headline quote ‘We were nearly killed and now I am back home with nothing’.
The 13 Spanish members of the crew are now home with their families. El País quotes another member of the crew, Thierry Abdalá from Madagascar says ‘I thought I’d earn a lot of money, and I nearly lost my life’.
ABC leads with the story but has a new angle. The paper says that Government stopped the Spanish navy from acting against the Somali pirates after the ransom had been paid. The paper claims that the frigate in the area was ordered not to intervene, despite having the pirates under control, and that the order upset the navy.
In international news:
The Hacienda tax authority in Italy has put the fiscal data of 40 million contributors on the Internet. The numbers are from 2005 and apparently the site crashed as thousands of Italians went to look up how much their neighbour earns. El País reports the Italian Government justified the measure saying it was ‘democratic and transparent’.
ABC tells us today that the European Union has now increased the alert of the adulterated Ukrainian sunflower oil to include other products. The paper says they have contradicted the Spanish ministry of health and recommended not to use products which have more than 10% of the oil, such as some mayonnaise for example.
Back in Spain,
El País reports that a decision of the Andalucian High Court has torpedoed the citizenship classes. The court, sharing the opinion of Bishops in Spain, considered that the references in the classes to possible options on sexuality acted against the ideological freedom of parents to educate their children.
And finally,
In Barcelona, El Periódico has a front page photo of the Barcelona football club chairman, Joan Laporta. The paper has what it calls 15 new questions for him, including why has he not applied the promised code of conduct to punish the players who show an attitude lacking in professionalism.
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