Spanish Press Review
Spain Papers Review - Tuesday May 20 2008
By h.b. - May 20, 2008 - 9:44 AM
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The leadership of the Partido Popular dominates El Mundo yet again today with the paper headlining that the previous PP Prime Minister, José María Aznar, saying that the party needs to be ‘without complexes’ and have a leader who ‘calls on the best’.
The paper says Aznar used the anniversary of Spain into the Euro to criticise tactics and to say that in political life, then and now, confidence and the defence of your principles are always essential.
The paper has a rather unfortunate picture, hand out to greet an empty chair.
The paper notes that the PP regional leader, Esperanza Aguirre, says she will support a new leader being directed by a vote.
El Mundo notes that San Gil has brought forward the PP regional party congress in the Basque Country, but did so thanks to more abstentions than votes in favour.
El País considers that Aznar has now joined the offensive of the party hardliners to do away with Rajoy as leader, despite the fact that Aznar himself handpicked him as his successor. The paper notes that the Mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, has said he wants a party which talks with the nationalists.
ABC takes and highlights the other line and notes that Gallardón has called for the party to move back to the centre. He’s shown at the ABC forum yesterday with Rajoy and Aguirre.
Público has an entertaining front page split between a photo of Aznar and Rajoy. With the headline ‘the two faces of the PP’ the paper notes that Aznar has finally spoken out and coincides with the radio presenter Jiménez Losantos who has called for a right wing party without complexes.
El País looks ahead to today’s meeting between Zapatero and the lehendakari, Juan José Ibarretxe, with the Prime Minister angry at a recent vote in the Basque Parliament which considered that central government had supported the torture of ETA prisoners.
El Mundo notes that Gorka Aguirre from the PNV has been named as the person who had to ‘take the pulse’ of ETA and deal with the cases of extortion which reached the Basque Nationalist Party.
ABC tells us that the government is considering a new ‘social tariff’ for electricity which would be available for pensioners. The Minister for Industry, Miguel Sebastián is in contact with the Social Security officers to try and work out a method.
El Mundo has a photo of Carme Chacón, who the paper describes as the first minister to give birth. She will be replaced by Rubalcaba during her maternity leave.
ABC notes that the Socialists are in no hurry to replace the deceased rightwing judge on the Constitutional Court. The paper says the PP is demanding that customs be followed and a new judge be appointed immediately.
El Pais notes that Spanish company Abertis is to run the largest private motorway in the United States. The company has won the tender to run the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
El Mundo notes that Britain has approved the creation of hybrid embryos with genetic human and animal material.
El Mundo notes that the construction industry here has slowed down ten times faster than in the EU, and also that youth unemployment here is the highest among the 27 countries.
Few international stories, but El Mundo notes that China came to a halt for three minutes yesterday to honour the 71,000 victims of the Sichuan earthquake.
El País reports from Botota and says that hundreds of FARC rebels are now abandoning their armed struggle. ‘I’m tired of the war’ is the headline.
El Pais has a photo of the latest campaign rally for Barack Obama, He assembled more than 75,000 people at the rally, the largest so far in Portland Oregón, where primaries are to be held by the democrats today. The number of people is, says El País, without precedent in recent United States politics.
And finally,
El Mundo notes that the PSOE socialist party in Madrid has denounced the free access for children in Madrid to Nazi and sex sites on the internet in municipal libraries.
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