Spain

False diploma row deepens at the heart of ruling Popular Party

Cristina Cifuentes attends the national convention of ruling 'Popular Party' PP in Sevilla..

Published

5 years ago

April 12, 2018

Europe Disk

Cristina Cifuentes attends the national convention of ruling 'Popular Party' PP in Sevilla on April 8th. Photo: AFP

University authorities in Spain said Wednesday they suspected "serious irregularities" over the awarding of a masters law degree to the conservative president of Madrid's regional government as pressure mounted for her to resign.

When leading politicians "say they have a masters they should be in a position to guarantee they do and if they say they do but do not … that is grounds to resign," said the chairman of Spain's conference of university rectors, Roberto Fernandez, without naming Cristina Cifuentes.

Along with the ongoing political stalemate in Catalonia, the issue helped to overshadow a weekend conference of the ruling Popular Party (PP).

The rectors said in a statement if it transpired that Cifuentes' masters award from Madrid's King Juan Carlos University was bogus it would be a very serious matter.

ANALYSIS: How fake degree scandal is provoking a new crisis in Spain's government

Cifuentes holding up her degree certificate in a congressional session. Photo: PP

Cifuentes has been caught in a media storm amid accusations she obtained the diploma without taking all the required exams and rarely attending lectures. Further allegations have been made that documents allowing her to receive the diploma were falsified.

The public prosecutor is investigating the claims.

Cifuentes, touted by the PP as a new broom in a party tainted by scandal in recent years, has denied any wrongdoing and refused to resign despite some in her own party opposing her staying in her post.

The PP's centre right ally Ciudadanos, a key backer in the regional parliament, is among those urging her to go while the leftist opposition is preparing a motion of censure.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who initially swung behind his party colleague, has urged the affair be resolved "as quickly as possible with as much common sense as possible" fearing it could taint PP's image as the government looks to next year's municipal, regional and European elections.

Pablo Casado's degree has also been brought into question. Photo: Partido Popular

But Cifuentes is not the only only one to be tainted in the scandal which stretched also to Pablo Casado, an MP and the partys deputy communications chief, who is also now accused of obtaining a masters degree from the King Juan Carlos University in Madrid without ever attending classes or writing a dissertation.

Bruised, the Popular Party (PP) has over the months lost ground to Ciudadanos, with opinion polls finding the newer, centre-right grouping whose leader is an admirer of France's Emmanuel Macron would get more votes if general elections were held.

At the weekend, the PP held a convention meant to kick off its campaign for municipal and regional elections in May 2019.

In so doing, the party also hoped to close ranks and address the rise of Ciudadanos, Catalonia's drawn-out separatist crisis and the 2018 budget which Rajoy's minority government is not managing to get approved for lack of parliamentary support.

To outsiders, however, the gathering was overshadowed by a scandal involving the PP's regional president in Madrid Cristina Cifuentes — accused of getting a master's degree fraudulently — and Rajoy's handling of the Catalan crisis.

"A lost opportunity for the PP," headlined the El Mundo daily Monday. "A bitter convention," said El Pais.

the local

Spain

Spain’s far-right Vox seek to make gains in 28 May local and regional elections

Published

2 weeks ago

May 28, 2023

Europe Disk

Spain’s third largest political group in the national parliament, the far-right Vox party, is looking to make gains in the local and regional elections due to be held across the country on 28 May.

Since it entered a regional government for the first time in Castilla y León last year, Vox has attacked the unions and pushed polarising positions on social issues, including abortion and transgender rights.

It is now poised to spread its influence beyond the sparsely populated region near Madrid, with the party hoping to make gains in the elections at the end of May.

Surveys suggest the main opposition, the right-wing People’s Party (PP), could need the support of Vox to govern in half of the 12 regions casting ballots, just as it did in Castilla y León last year.

Polls also indicate the PP is on track to win a year-end general election but would need Vox to form a working majority and oust socialist (PSOE) Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his coalition government from office.

Vox leader Santiago Abascal [pictured at a recent rally in Chinchón, near Madrid] has called the PP-VOX coalition government in office in Castilla y León since March 2022 a ‘showroom’ and ‘an example of the alternative Spain needs’.

It is Spain’s first government to include a far-right party since the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

In Castilla y León, Vox has slashed funding to unions, which the party has vowed to ‘put in their place’ if it comes to power nationally. Trade union UGT was forced to lay off 40% of its staff in Castilla y León last month and scale back programmes to promote workspace safety. Spain’s other main union, the CCOO, is reportedly preparing to follow suit.

Vox has also angered LGBTQ groups by refusing to allow the regional parliament to be lit up in the colours of the rainbow, the symbol of the gay rights movement, for Pride festivities as in past years when the PP governed alone.

In addition, the regional vice-president, Vox’s Juan García-Gallardo, has railed against a law passed by Spain’s leftist central government that extends transgender rights.

The 32-year-old lawyer warned earlier this month that women would now be ‘forced to share locker rooms with hairy men at municipal swimming pools’.

Vox’s most contested initiative was a proposal that doctors offer women seeking an abortion a 4D ultrasound scan to try to discourage them from going ahead with the procedure.

The idea was swiftly condemned by Spain’s leftist central government, and Castilla y León’s PP president Alfonso Fernández Mañueco stopped the measure from going ahead.

The issue highlighted the hazards for the PP of joining forces with Vox, which was launched in 2013 and is now the third-largest party in the national parliament.

Read from: https://www.spainenglish.com/2023/05/19/spain-far-right-vox-may-local-regional-elections/

Spain

Spain – Gas falls below 90 euros per MWh for the first time in almost two months

Published

5 months ago

January 8, 2023

Europe Disk

The price of TTF natural gas for delivery next month has fallen below 90 euros on Friday for the first time in almost two months and closes a week marked by the decision of the European Commission to cap gas with a drop of 29, 36%.
According to data from the Bloomberg platform, gas closed this Friday at 83 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh), 8.9% less than the day before and the first time it has lost 90 euros since last October 31.
After months of negotiations, the EU agreed on Monday to set a cap of 180 euros on contracts linked to the Amsterdam TTF index with a price difference of at least 35 euros above the average price of liquefied natural gas in the markets.

EU countries agree on a cap of 180 euros for gas with the support of Germany
In a report this week, the Swiss investment bank Julius Baer indicated that the chances of the mechanism being activated are low and pointed out that the chosen formula was not very effective in avoiding the multiplier effect that gas has on the price of electricity. However, he reiterated what was said in other previous reports: “Energy supply risks are minimal and prices should continue to decline in the future” due to the availability of raw materials from Asia to offset cuts from Russia.

Gas tends to fall during the hot months due to lower demand, but this summer it has reached historic heights as European countries were buying to face the winter with their tanks full and reduce their dependence on Russia. The price fell in September and October due to lower demand once the warehouses were full due to the high temperatures at the beginning of autumn, but in November it picked up again and 66% more expensive.

This article was originally published on Público

Spain

Spain – The retirement age rises to 66 years

Published

5 months ago

January 8, 2023

Europe Disk

Ordinary retirement at age 65 ends for those who have contributed less than 38 years. In fact, 2023 will be the last year in which this can be done since it will be necessary to have a contribution career of a minimum of 37 years and nine months to be able to retire with the reference age of the last century, since it was established in 1919, and once the year is over another quarter will be added to be able to do it without cuts in the benefit.
This requirement means that to access ordinary retirement at age 65 without loss of pay, it will be necessary to have been working, at least, since April 1985 for those who exercise this right in December 2023 and since May 1984 for those who intend to do it in January.

More than ten million contributory pensioners
In the last decade, and coinciding with the implementation of the delay program, the real retirement age of Spanish workers has increased by one year, from 63.9 in 2012 to 64.8 in mid-2022, according to data from the Financial Economic Report of the Social Security included in the General State Budget.

Contributory pensions will have a historic rise of 8.5% as of January as a result of the disproportionate increase in the CPI, while for non-contributory pensions the revision will be 15%. This review will place the average pension of the contributory system at 1,187 euros per pay, while the retirement pension will rise to 1,365, the disability pension will reach 1,122 and the widow’s pension will reach 847, as a result of applying the 8.5% increase.

The Social Security forecasts point to next year, and while waiting to find out the real effects that the rise may have on the payroll due to its “call effect” to bring forward retirement given the opportunity to alleviate with it the penalties for anticipating it, the number of pensioners will consolidate above ten million, with almost two-thirds of them (6.37) as retirees, to which will be added 2.3 million widows and almost one affected by work disabilities.

This record number of pensioners will place the cost of pensions at 209,165 million euros, the bulk of which (196,399, 93.8%) will be used to pay benefits, including non-contributory ones. Health care has a budget of 1,890 million euros and social services another 3,791, while the remaining 7,144 are dedicated to operating expenses.

On the revenue side, the largest contribution comes from the contribution chapter, which will amount to 152,075 million and will leave the gap with contributory benefits at 36,765.
The imbalance will be covered by a contribution of 38,904 from the Government, to which is added a chapter of others worth 18,116 and which includes everything from sanctions to asset disposals, among other concepts.

Read more of this from the source Público