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Spain Finance & Business - Tuesday October 10 2006
By h.,b. - Oct 10, 2006 - 2:58 AM

Christian Streiff, who has resigned as President of EADS - Archive Photo EFE
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Spanish concerns at the Airbus crisis
As expected the President of Airbus, Chrstian Steiff has resigned following the delays in the delivery of the new A380 giant airbus. He will be replaced with immediate effect by the Frenchman, Luis Gallois.
Spanish industry has an estimated 1.2 billion € worth of business at risk in the Airbus crisis with a new viability plan leading to the possible closure of some plants and threatening the business of several sub-contractors. The plan will be in place in four months.
The delays in the A380 are caused by problems with the cables – each plane contains 500 kms of cables.

The Ministry for Housing is to spend a total of 44.8 million € helping some 16,000 tenants during next year. The spend is 167% more than this year’s budget. The maximum award paid out will remain the amount of 2,800 € every two years. The numbers were given by the Deputy Secretary for Housing, Mercedes del Palacio who said that next year the department would be centring its efforts on increasing the rental market in Spain.

The courts in Barcelona are investigating 115 people who are allegedly implicated in a fraud of falsifying telephone contracts with the ONO company for some 350 users across 29 Spanish provinces. The court move follows an investigation by the Civil Guard which started a year ago, claiming that many people were tricked into becoming clients, and that in some cases signatures of elderly clients were forged. The company is presenting itself as a prejudiced party in the affair.

The Spanish are saving less than ever with current levels now down to those seen in 1999. Currently only 9.4% of income is being saved, with the reduction being blamed on increased consumerism, increased taxes, and social security payments. The number comes from the National Statistics Institute, INE:

Energy consumption in Spain has doubled over the past 30 years and the country can now be considered to have an energy inefficient economy. The claim comes from a report drawn up by the Sustainability Observatory, which is under the control of the Ministry for the Environment. Minister Cristina Narbona presented the numbers and said that in transport in particular the country was highly energy dependent. In the home too power usage was soaring with ever more air conditioning units and as many as 23 million electrical appliances sold each year. Greenhouse gas emission was up 53% in 2005 from 1990.

The Spanish Civil Aviation Authority is investigating Air Madrid following a spate of cancelled flights and delays in the low cost airline. The company boss, José Luis Carillo, has said the company is going through a rough patch, with at least seven marathon delays over the past three weeks affecting more than 1,200 travellers. The Civil Guard has been called on several occasions to calm passengers down. Also a flight sub contracted to a Portuguese airline from Argentina had to carry out an emergency landing in Cape Verde because of mechanical problems, and other technical problems led to a 30 hour delay on a flight from Madrid to Quito.

The Ministry for Agriculture has announced a new program to replace old agricultural machinery. Help can reach a maximum of 12,000 € for the replacement of a tractor, for example. Earlier plans only offered 4,000 € for such an upgrade.