Spain Business Brief - Friday November 20 2009

Spain Business Brief - Friday November 20 2009
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By h.b. - Nov 20, 2009 - 2:27 PM

EFE

Spain facing court over public adjudication law

The EU has denounced Spain for changing public contracts after awarding them. The European Commission is taking Spain before the EU Courts over the detail of the new public adjudication law. The Commission considers that the legislation does not respect the principles of equality, transparency and no discrimination.
The Commission has also given Spain two months to recover the tax which new companies in the Basque Country were excused under legislation declared by Brussels to be illegal in 1999.

Meanwhile the Bank of Spain has forecast what it called a ‘tsunami’ of European regulations. The Bank considers that there will be no alternative to asking for more capital, but that it will have to be done in a proportional way.

The Governor of the European Central Bank, Jean Claude Trichet, has said he thinks it is too early to speak of the end of the recession. He warned that the authorities cannot continue to give financial support indefinitely and said that banks needed to strengthen their independence.
Meanwhile the PP is reported to be considering placing a denuncia for fraud against the operation which saw Cajastur savings bank take over the bankrupt Caja Castilla la Mancha. If it proceeds the administrators of the Bank of Spain face fines of 12 million € each.

The Seat car company has presented its fourth ERE temporary layoff application which will affect 7,484 workers next year. It represents half the workforce in their factories in Martorell and the Zona Franca in Barcelona. They hope that production can be resumed with the launch of the new Audi Q-3 but that is a year away.
Meanwhile General Motors has described the Opel factory at Figueruelas, Zaragoza as ‘a reference point’ for the group. Nick Reilly, the company’s manager in Europe, has met with the Industry Minister, Miguel Sebastián, and gave a guarantee for the future of the plant ‘in the medium to long term’.

The European Court of Justice has made public a sentence which obliges airlines to give equal treatment to travellers who suffer cancellations and delays.
The EU court considers that a delay of more than three hours is equivalent to a cancellation and the following payments should be made – 250 € in flights of upto 1,500kms., 400 € for flights upto 3,500 kilometres and 600 € for distances over that.

Cabin Crew in Iberia have called off more planned strike action following an agreement reached with the company for a wage rise of about 4%. The agreement is reported to be a verbal one at this stage, but it has served to cancel the stoppages planned at the end of this month and in December.

Farmers and other workers in the agricultural industry have been called to a large demonstration in Madrid on Saturday, to protest against the ‘serious situation’ of the countryside as prices fall and production costs increase. Some 100,000 people are expected to attend. The farmers are particularly angry at how prices increase by an average 5.37 times between the farm gate and the shop shelves.

Telefónica says that two million clients are expected to take up their 25 Mega broadband internet offer as copper wire technology is extended across the country to the areas not served by fibre optic. The VDSL technology offers up speeds of 1Mega. The new product, called ‘Trio Futura’ costs from 50,90 € a month.

And finally,
If you work in Spain and think you are overworked, celebrate the fact that there is an extra day off in the Calendario Laboral for next year. There will be eight non-replaceable national holidays, plus one, January 6, which can be moved by regional governments.

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