From typicallyspanish.com
Spain Papers Review - Thursday April 24 2008
By h.b.
Apr 24, 2008 - 9:44 AM
El Mundo leads with the headline – ‘Deputies and managers of the Partido Popular add their support to the request for primaries’. The debate on the party leadership therefore kept in the news by the paper which supports the candidacy of Esperanza Aguirre. It lists the top members of the party who are now supporting the motion for primary elections which was presented by the party in Madrid. However El Mundo also notes the comments from González Pons who says that primaries are ‘not in the culture of the PP and are more suited to presidential regimes’. He added that they would de-legitimise Congress.
Público leads with the story too, and says that Mariano Rajoy is resisting the idea of the primary elections. They describe it as a new debate in the party’s crisis.
El Mundo notes that the Minister of Defence, Carme Chacón, is reported to be restricting access of the military to the websites of sports papers Marca, As and also gossip magazine Interviu.
The financial crisis continues, with El Mundo noting that the current account surplus has been cut in half by the fall in the construction industry in Spain. The paper notes the government is getting 6% less in IVA/VAT payments, and says the Euribor is now moving up towards the 5% level, and is already at a seven year high. The paper notes the Employers organisation, CEOE, has called on the Government not to increase the minimum wage until the crisis is over.
El País notes the higher Euribor and the reduction in the surplus.
ABC concentrates on the CEOE as their President, Gerado Díaz Ferrán was speaking in the paper’s forum yesterday. The CEOE is calling for ‘drastic measures’ or they say there will be 500,000 more people on the dole this year.
El País leads this morning with the financing of the regions of Spain and says a battle is underway between the rich and poor areas.
Cataluña has aligned itself with Valencia and the Balearics to defend their current financing model, while Andalucía, Galicia, Asturias and Castilla y León have rejected the formula.
El Mundo celebrates its best sales figures for 12 years for the month of March, and tells its readers about it on the front page.
ABC tells its readers, also on the front page, that with a 9.4% increase it is the paper which has seen its circulation increase the most, in the face of the fall in their competitors.
In International News:
The papers play catch up with the Pennsylvania primary, with El Mundo with a photo of a happy Hillary. The paper considers that she still has options, and notes her claim that the tide was turning after she beat Obama by 10 points. He still has 145 more delegates however.
El País agrees and says that Clinton has kept her campaign alive with the win in Pennsylvania.
ABC says that the Somali pirates are demanding 1 million ransom to free the Playa de Bakio tuna fishing boat and crew. Other papers have reported a sum less than half that though.
ABC tells us that the Spanish Government is opting for a low profile at the Beijing games, and will send minister Cabrera. Iñaki Urdangarín has been invited by the Spanish Olympic Committee and will attend the opening ceremony with the Infanta Cristina.
Back in Spain,
El País notes that Juan Antonio Roca has been sent back to prison in the Saqueo 1 case in Marbella, and that he only had nine days of freedom, on bail. The paper notes that the appeal against his bail had been placed by the current PP mayor of the town, Ángeles Muñoz.
El País reports that the Council for Judicial Power, the body which oversees the judiciary, has ordered an urgent inspection of the Madrid courts dealing with domestic violence sentences. It follows the report in El País yesterday which revealed that there are more than 7,000 cases pending.
And finally,
El País has a front page photo of this year’s Cervantes Prize winner. The Argentinean poet Juan Gelman, gave an emotional speech yesterday on the power of poetry in the face of death.
ABC also has a front page photo and notes how King Juan Carlos yesterday spoke in praise of the work of the poet.