Spain Press Review - Tuesday June 23 2009
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By h.b. - Jun 23, 2009 - 9:34 AM
The Gúrtel case, the economy and more coverage from Iran dominate today

El País leads with more revelations regarding Luis Bárcenas, the PP treasurer, who is implicated in the Gürtel corruption case. The paper prints part of the judicial summary and headlines that he quadrupled his assets, and failed to declare 1.3 million to Hacienda.
The judge links him to opaque money in financial havens and also says there was a suspicious credit used to purchase paintings, noting he had 330,000 € in cash to buy paintings which in fact he never did. The judge thinks holding such an amount in cash ‘is not reasonable’.
ABC reports that the instructing judge in the Gürtel case has warned the Supreme Court that there is new data, and new names in the case. ABC says it has also had access to documents.

El Mundo leads with the revelation that the Ministry for the Interior has withdrawn the bodyguard for opposition leader Mariano Rajoy on his trips abroad.
The paper says that economic reasons were given to limit protection also in Spain, and El Mundo says that the PP leader has already visited Warsaw and Brussels without protection.

El País has a large photo of a poster of the National Policeman killed by ETA last Friday. It comes from the events to honour Eduardo Puelles, held in the Basque parliament yesterday.
ABC leads with the headline that the PSOE Socialists has voted with the pro-ETA ANV in Pamplona, just three days after the latest ETA killing. The vote was on a motion to get rid of the local police chief, who is known to have been harsh on terrorism.

El Mundo is among the papers to report that five of Silvio Berlusconi’s fiestas are being investigated to see if prostitution took place. The paper says that some 30 girls who could have been paid have to declare before the courts in Italy. The paper has a front page photo of Lucia Rossini and Barbara Montereale in a bathroom at the Grazili mansion in Rome.
El Pais says the scandal has had its effect on voters as only 23% turned out to vote on Sunday in a referendum on voting reform.

El Mundo highlights the threats of the Guardians of the Revolution in Iran, saying they will flatten the demonstrators. The paper reports on double lines of anti-riot police across Tehran yesterday.
El País notes that the Iranian regime has admitted that three million votes could have been fixed in the elections, and says that the official threats have not stopped the protests.
Público leads with the story and says that the ayatollahs have admitted electoral fraud, and that the Council of Guardians estimates that there are three million irregular votes in 50 cities. It say that the Revolutionary Guard broke up protests yesterday using tear gas and shooting into the air.

El Mundo continues its revelations against the head of the CNI, the Spanish secret service, and today says there is stupor in the Government over his use of a lie-detector to try and find who has been leaking information about him to the press. Today the paper also prints 30 questions which it says Alberto Saiz should respond to, and says that military sources think his use of the lie detector to be ‘very serious’, while the PP doubts on its legality and has called for explanations.

ABC shows the three top members of the PP, Rajoy, Aguirre and Gallardón were at the paper’s Forum event yesterday and supported the party’s leader in Galicia, Núñez Feijóo, in rejecting the latest ultimatums in the financing of Cataluña.
El Periódico leads with a statement from the President of the Catalan Government. José Montilla says ‘Agreement (on the statute) in July or nothing’.

El Mundo tells us that the economic crisis has led to the most aggressive summer sales ever seen in Spain. Sfera for example is to offer savings of upto 70%.
The paper also notes that the Governor of the European Central Bank, Jean Claude Trichet, has called on the Spanish government to making sackings cheaper and bring more flexibility to the work place.
ABC says that Trichet painted a dreadful picture of Spain and has called for drastic measures including moderate wages.
Público says that Trichet has added his voice to others calling for a labour reform, and that the latest data on consumer demand and construction show that the crisis has started to slow down.

La Vanguardia leads with the headline, ‘The fall in tourism sets off the alarms’. It comes as the latest number for foreign arrivals in Spain this year to May is 12% down on the number for last year.

Público reports that Madrid has opened another new railway interchange in the Puerta del Sol. Local cercanias lines can be boarded there for the first time.

And finally,
El País has an article today on the latest hope in the fight against cancer, and reports on the protein which is capable of stopping the disease.

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