Spain

Spaniards continue to rail against release of sexual abuse gang

Demonstrators raise their hands on Friday in Madrid a day after a court ordered the release on bail ..

Published

5 years ago

June 23, 2018

Demonstrators raise their hands on Friday in Madrid a day after a court ordered the release on bail of five men who call themselves 'the wolf pack'. Photo: JAVIER SORIANO / AFP

Protesters hit the streets across Spain for the second day running on Friday, after five men sentenced to nine years in prison for sexually abusing a young woman at Pamplona's bull-running festival were released on bail.

The men, who called themselves "The Pack" in a WhatsApp messaging group, had been accused of raping a woman, then 18, on July 7, 2016, at the start of the week-long San Fermin festival, which draws tens of thousands of visitors.

All five, aged between 27 and 29, were convicted of sexual abuse in April but were acquitted of the more serious crime of sexual assault — which includes rape — as the court did not consider the victim to have been subjected to intimidation or violence.

The men appealed their jail terms and a Pamplona court on Thursday ordered the five to be released on bail of €6,000 pending the outcome of the appeal.

Thousands of people of all ages demonstrated outside the justice ministry in central Madrid on Friday evening, shortly after the five men left jail after spending nearly two years in custody.

"I was stunned" by the court ruling, Aratz Beranoaguirre, a geologist, told AFP at the Madrid protest. "Men have been educated with the idea that we can do anything, and with this ruling we have seen that you can rape and nothing happens."

The crowd chanted: "They don't believe us if they don't kill us."

Other protests were held in the southern city of Seville, the hometown of the five men, Pamplona — where the crowd held a large banner that read: "No is no. Justice!" outside of city hall — Granada, and elsewhere.

Women's groups took to social media to call the protests with the slogan: "If the pack hits the streets, we will as well."

Marches after the verdict in April brought tens of thousands of protesters out on to the streets.

'Not fair'

"It is not fair that they are released with a sentence of nine years, and just a few days before San Fermin, they can even go there," said Lucia Rodriguez, a 60-year-old protester in Madrid, referring to the upcoming running of the bulls festival which gets underway on July 6.

In its decision on Friday, the Navarre court said the five had been allowed out on bail because the social pressure on them made it "practically unthinkable" they would risk re-offending. The men will remain under judicial monitoring. They have had their passports withdrawn and must report to court three times a week. They are also banned from travelling to Madrid, where the victim lives.

One of the men is a policeman with the Guardia Civil — who is currently suspended — and another was once in the army. Several are "ultras" or hardcore fans of FC Sevilla.

The fact that the men videoed the attack on their smartphones and bragged about it within their WhatsApp group added to the outrage over the case.

'Not enough'

The mayor of Pamplona, Joseba Asiron, said Friday his office would appeal the decision to release them, saying there was "a growing distance… between society itself and certain decisions taken by the courts".

An online petition calling for the five to be kept behind bars had garnered 657,000 names by Friday night.

New socialist Justice Minister Dolores Delgado has not commented on the court decision, speaking only of a need to "change mentalities".

The first step announced by the government of Pedro Sanchez, who took office earlier this month at the head of a cabinet that includes 11 women, was to train magistrates in awareness about violence against women.

Noelia Garcia, 41, said she did not trust that the situation would change with a new government dominated by women.

"That is not enough. There needs to be a reform of the judicial system. Judges from another era need to be replaced," she added at the Madrid protest.

Demonstrators raise their hands on June 22, 2018 in Madrid a day after a court ordered the release on bail of five men sentenced to nine years in prison for sexually abusing a young woman at Pamplona's bull-running festival. The men, who called themselves "the pack" in a WhatsApp messaging group, had been accused of raping a woman, then 18, at the entrance to an apartment building in Pamplona on July 7, 2016, at the start of the week-long San Fermin festival, which draws tens of thousands of visitors.
JAVIER SORIANO / AFP

the local

Spain

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

Published

1 day 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