Spain Papers Review - Monday May 12 2008

Spain Papers Review - Monday May 12 2008
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By h.b. - May 12, 2008 - 9:48 AM

Today's Público front page.

A bacterial infection in a Madrid hospital and the politics of the Basque Country and the Partido Popular dominate the front pages in Spain today.

Following their revelations of the allegation of 18 deaths by a bacterial infection in a Madrid hospital in Sunday’s paper, today El País leads with the headline that the Prosecutor is to investigate the case. The paper notes the hospital denied the existence of the bacteria a year ago.

El Mundo leads today on the on-going problems in the Partido Popular and the decision of the party’s leader in the Basque Region, María San Gil, to take a step back from the party’s policy-making committee, because of ‘differences’.
The paper sees this as her distancing herself from the new strategy for the party being put forward by Mariano Rajoy. She is not happy that the party is getting closer to the Nationalists in the region.
El Mundo shows an archive photo of San Gil and Rajoy together at a rally in Bilbao during the last election campaign.
ABC considers her decision as a surprise, and notes that she has spoken of ‘fundamental differences of criteria’ over a text being prepared for the party congress in Valencia next month.
The party HQ in Madrid has described her announcement as ‘unexpected’.
Público has an interview with PP deputy, Gustavo de Aristegui, who tells the paper that many people have asked him to stand as leader of the party.

Staying in the Basque Country, El Mundo reports that the Prosecutors’ Office allowed the ANV party to field seven Batasuna candidates in the town on Mondragón. The paper says a report from the Civil Guard says the Mayor and six members of the coalition in power in the town have been on the pro-ETA candidate lists.
ABC says the police think that the son of ETA activist, Josu Ternera, is directing the re-organisation of Batasuna.

Meanwhile the Prime Minister has been making his ‘no’ for a referendum in the Basque region clearer to the lehendakari, Juan José Ibarretxe. El Mundo says the Basque regional government has accused Zapatero of tricking society and slamming the door yet again.
El País has a photo of Zapatero in Euskadi where he was supporting the Socialist candidate for the regional poll there, Patxi López.
The paper also notes that the Minister for Tax and the Economy, Pedro Solbes, has started contacts with the regions of Spain to try and reach a new agreement on how they are financed.

ABC notes that under the electoral reform being proposed by IU, the PSOE party would be the ones to lose out the most. IU would see the number of deputies they get in congress multiplied by 7.

Many papers note the embarrassment of the Deputy Prime Minister, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, who had posed with a businessman in Niger and his three wives. A statement said she was ‘horrified’.
ABC has a front page photo and says that María Teresa thought the three women she posed with were part of his 18 children, when in fact they were three of his wives.

El Mundo notes that speed boats loaded up with hashish are openly seen on the beaches of Nador, before they head for Spanish shores.

El País notes that Serbia has voted for Europe and gives victory in the general election to Tadic and the pro-europeans. The paper says the far right has obtained a worse result than expected.

Back in Spain, El País notes that the Ministry for Defence paid three million € to intermediaries in the Yak 42 case. The money is mentioned in a confidential report prepared for the head of the armed forces, General Féliz Sanz and covered ther costs of 42 flights in planes such as the Yak 42 which crashed.

El País notes that the intervention of the State has revealed the extent of real estate corruption at Las Terrasitas, on Tenerife. The paper talks of irregular payments of 110 million €.

And finally,
Público informs us that the United States is closing Spanish websites which are dedicated to Cuba.

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