Spain Papers Review - Friday October 16 2009

Spain Papers Review - Friday October 16 2009
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By h.b. - Oct 16, 2009 - 9:28 AM

El País today

The papers all have something to say about the PP leader Mariano Rajoy today

El Mundo headlines that Rajoy said that Costa resigned, and that ‘results are life’. The paper says Rajoy justified Costa’s exit as the General Secretary has to meet greater levels of responsibility and exigency, and that Camps remains in place because ‘there is no new element’ which affects him. The paper’s editor, Pedro J. Ramírez, comments that Rajoy has blatantly lied as Costa did not resign, and none of the Valencia party executive committee who attended the meeting on Wednesday, say that he did, with the exception of Francisco Camps.
El Mundo also notes the comment from PP party founder, Manuel Fraga, who said that Rita Barberá is above all suspicion and he could not say the same about Camps.
El País headlines that the Pope’s trip to Valencia also fell into the Gürtel network, and says the businessman at the centre of the affair, Francisco Correa, collected more than a million € in commissions from the visit which was promoted by Camps. The paper says it was done through the construction company Teconsa which was paid 6.4 million € by the Valencia regional television to set up the public address system. El País notes meanwhile that Mariano Rajoy has repeated his support of Francisco Camps.
ABC leads with that support and headlines that Rajoy has defended ‘the times’ of his actions. The paper notes that Rajoy says that Camps did not lie to him, while Fraga has praised Barberá and placed doubt on Camps.
La Razón headlines ‘Camps did not lie to me, I keep my confidence in him’. The paper notes that the ‘progressive’ lawyers association has condemned the phone taps pordeed by Judge Garzón in the case.
Público has a front page photo of Rajoy’s back as he faced the press yesterday and headlines that he his hiding now behind Luis Bárcenas. Rajoy has said that the ex PP National Treasurer warned him in 2004 about the dangers of Francisco Correa. The paper notes Rajoy does not demand the same high standards from Camps as he has done with Costa, and has announced the same ethical code which he himself rejected a year ago.

Many papers have photos from Zapatero’s Middle East tour, with El Mundo taking one of him at the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. The paper says that three years after provoking the anger of Israel by wearing a Palestinian scarf, he paid his respects to the victims of the Holocaust.
El País has a large front page photo of Zapatero at the Holocaust museum and notes he has met with both Simón Peres and Mahmoud Abbas.

In other international stories, El País has a piece about the 24 year old Iranian, Ibrahim Sharifi, who tells the paper how he was tortured for protesting against the regime. He said that the he was raped after they faked his execution. The paper notes he was just one of thousands of youngsters detained during the protests against electoral fraud on June 12.

ABC picks up on the claim that Italy hid from NATO that it was paying the Taliban in Afghanistan not to attack them. The paper says the Italians did not tell the French who took over from them, and who were promptly attacked in a move which resulted in ten deaths.

Publico reports that Nicolas Sarkozy has changed a law so he can bring his son to power.

Back in Spain, El Mundo notes that Mariano Rajoy is backing Rodrigo Rato, the ex PP Economy Minister to become President of the Caja Madrid savings bank, while José María Aznar is backing Manuel Pizarro.

El País says that the cabinet considers that the fall in house prices in Spain has finished, and the sector is on the road to stability. However the paper notes the IMF has named Spain as one of the countries where it considers house prices still have most to fall.

The official state bulletin published a list of the assets of the cabinet members yesterday. El País notes that Garmendia, Rubalcaba and Sebastián are the richest ministers, and notes the Prime Minister declared 209,206 €.
ABC has a front page photo of the cabinet, and places their declared assets across each one of their chests. The paper describes the numbers as attention grabbing.

El Mundo has a front page photo of a group of men in suits carrying blazing torches. One of them is the President of Barcelona Football Club, Joan Laporta, who was marching with the ERC Catalan Republican Party. The paper considers that Laporta has political aspirations in Cataluña.

ABC says that 63% of Spaniards see no social consensus for the relaxing of the abortion law. The number comes from a GAD opinion poll which showed that only 38% considered change is needed.
La Razón says that thousands of Spaniards are getting ready to take part in the grand march against abortion being held this weekend.
Público notes that previous PP Prime Minister, José María Aznar, is to lead the march.

Many papers notes that Ángeles Caso, a writer and journalist from Asturias, has won this year’s Premio Planeta. Her book tells the story of an African immigrant who comes to Spain.

And finally,
El Mundo highlights the negative reaction in Argentina to Diego Maradona. The national side has finally qualified by the skin of its teeth with Maradona as manager, who after qualification insulted the journalists with an expression which roughly translates to ‘Suck on that’.

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