Spain Business Brief - Wednesday September 8 2010

Spain Business Brief - Wednesday September 8 2010
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By h.b. - Sep 8, 2010 - 5:35 PM
Three quarters of Town Halls will be able to apply for credit in 2011

Minister for Tax and the Economy, Elena Salgado - Photo EFE

The Spanish Government has decided to allow local Town Halls to remain in debt in 2011. In what is a policy change on earlier announced policy, the Minister for Tax and the Economy, Elena Salgado, said that three quarters of the municipalities, those which are in the best situation, will be able to ask for investment credits.
The Municipal debt cannot be more than 75% of liquidated income, and the new loans must be used for investments, not current costs. It means that Madrid and Valencia will not be eligible for credit, while Barcelona and Sevilla for example, will be.

A study by the AXA insurance group has shown the Spanish to be among those most against delaying retirement age here from 65 to 67. Seven out of ten Spaniards rejected the idea, while the majority considered the ideal age to retire is 59.

A total of 64 airlines have denounced Marsans travel group, for appropriating five million €. There are six Spanish airlines on the list: Air Europa, Spanair, Vueling, Binter Canarias, Islas Airways and Helicópteros del Sureste. Iberia decided not to do so. Details of the legal action which is in effect alleging the crime of misappropriation were printed by Cinco Días newspaper.

Eurocontrol has described as ‘totally crazy’ the idea from Ryanair to do away with the co-pilot on short routes. The idea was voiced by the company’s Chairman Michael O’Leary, in an interview with the Financial Times. O’Leary described co-pilots as ‘superfluous’ as computers do nearly all the work today, drawing the comparison to trains where there is only one driver.
‘In 25 years and 10 million flights we have only had one pilot to suffer a heart attack, and he was able to land the plane’.

Air Berlin has demanded the end of grants paid to Ryanair in Cataluña. The Air Berlin boss, Álvaro Middlemann, said he thought the money paid amounted to meddling with the competition. He called on public and private institutions to stop subsidising the low cost airline, criticising the deal done at Barcelona’s El Prat airport in particular.

Unions UGT and CCOO are now trying to issue a more united message on the forthcoming General Strike set for September 29. They have warned the Government of increasing indignation among the citizens, and said the Government should ‘take note’ of the success of the stoppage in France on Monday. Cándido Méndez of UGT said the stoppage was justified because of the about turn in policy by the Government last May.
However several workers organisations have predicted that there will be only ‘scant’ following of the strike. Civil Servants, Doctors, Teachers and Farmers associations said they will not follow the stoppage, when asked by El Mundo.

The Bank of Spain has said that the situation of the savings banks in Spain is still ‘complicated’, and complained that the restructuring of the sector has not been completed. Even so the Bank admitted that the restructuring seen so far via the FROB funds had improved the situation.

And finally,
The price of Gazpacho this summer was seven times higher on the dining table than paid to the farmer for the ingredients. Latest research showed that on average shoppers end up paying four times the price given to farmers, according to the IPOD index which compares prices at origin with destination, and which is drawn up monthly by the COAG farmers union with the UCE and CEACCU consumers’ groups.

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