From typicallyspanish.com
Spain Papers Review - Friday November 21 2008
By h.b.
Nov 21, 2008 - 9:50 AM
El Mundo headlines that Zapatero allows an oligarch allied to Putin to buy Repsol. The paper notes the Spanish Prime Minister has affirmed that Lukoil is a private company whose main shareholder is from the United States.
The paper says the Russian press say the founder and president Vagit Alekperov, and his ‘number two’ control 30% of Repsol. The paper says the magnate supports Putin’s campaigns and uses his newspapers and television stations against the opposition leader Berezovski.
El Mundo notes that the Minister for Industry, Miguel Sebastián has said he will do everything possible to stop the deal.
El Mundo also carries an interview with the President of Georgia. Mijail Saakashviki tells the paper that Russia entered his country because it wanted to control the energy.
El País says that the Prime Minister opened the door to a possible Russian holding in Repsol, where as last week he expressly rejected the idea. The paper notes last week it was the state-owned Gazprom, and now it is the private company Lukoil.
El País also notes that Putin has said that the current economic crisis will not alter his strategic plans. He described the crisis as ‘a natural catastrophe’.
ABC leads with the news also and says that the Government and La Caixa savings bank have opened the door for the Russian company Lukoil to enter Repsol.
La Caixa is mentioned as they want to sell their Repsol shares as well. ABC says the Russians want to reach a 29.9% shareholding.
El País leads with the first auction for state help for Spanish banks, and headlines that it ended up ‘semi-deserted’. The paper says the large banks and savings banks of Spain did not need to ask the treasury for liquidity. 23 entities took up only 2.11 of the 5 billion on offer.
El Mundo notes that the Kutxa and BBK banks are trying to recover 2 million € which they have lent to Batasuna.
El País notes the cut in funding of the Common Agricultural Policy agreed yesterday. The paper says the changes mean 200 million € extra for Spain, but adds it was rejected yesterday by small and medium farmers organisations here.
ABC has a quote from the mother of the 18 year old who died outside a Madrid disco last weekend. Beatriz Caballero says she hopes the death of her son was not in vain. A demonstration against the aggression is to be held in Madrid today.
El País reports on the demonstrations at many universities across the country yesterday with a photo of a sit in at Barcelona University, and notes that the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has said that the problems in education in Spain are damaging the economy here, with an ‘unusually large’ number of unqualified youngsters for a rich country.
ABC reports that the Madrid region is to make certain educational costs tax deductable. Uniforms and language classes are included and the region also says it will compensate for the increase in mortgage rates.
EL Mundo notes that the Deputy Prime Minister, María Terersa Fernández de la Vega, has said she wants to see advertising eliminated form the state broadcaster, TVE.
ABC reports that a challenge placed by Juan José Ibarretxe in the Supreme Court has blocked the star project from the Prime Minister – his idea for a Military Emergency Unit, UME.
And finally,
El Mundo reports that ten Spanish hospitals will take part in trials with drug addicts for a vaccine against cocaine addiction. The vaccine cancels the effects of the drug on the brain.