The Political Scene

 We arrive at the end of another year, bowed but unbroken (as someone said somewhere). For Pedro Sánchez, it has been a tricky but mostly successful time. The budgets have gone through and the Government looks safe to continue until the end of its cycle in 2023. His greatest failure (as we shall read in the right-wing media over Christmas) will likely be his unfulfilled promise of a large drop in the electric bill by the end of the year, back to 2018 prices, which now looks increasingly unlikely, as even the European Commission doesn’t want to get involved.

Sánchez has seen off the opposition, who can make as much noise as they like – they are still standing outside on the terrace. If anyone has come to the front, it has been the fresh leader of Unidas Podemos: Second Vice-President, Minister of Labour Yolanda Díaz. How the Establishment must fear her!

Outside, warming their hands, we find the increasingly pointless Ciudadanos party. What’s the point of voting for a shrill leader of a tiny PP splinter, whose only remaining function is to remove support from the PP? They are forecast to get just two seats in a future election; and tiny parties that can be bisagra – that can carry the day thanks to the balance of the two main forces – are clearly counting more on Luck than on Grand Rhetoric.

On the other side of the PP – further still to the right indeed, is Santiago Abascal and his Vox. Perhaps (in British terms) a kind of UKIP or Brexit party, Vox has been doing dispiritingly well. Gosh darn those foreigners (with their pesky foreign ways) taking our jobs and our women! Only an increasingly rightist PP can stop them!

So, we arrive at the doors of the PP, led by the straw-filled Pablo Casado, increasingly known by the Wits as El Fracasado (the RAE describes this as ‘A person discredited because of the failures suffered in his attempts or aspirations’). Big business may be behind the PP, but the endless column of scandal, corruption and poor politics is paying a heavy price. What say it’s time for Casado to go, maybe replaced with a young, attractive, forthright, popular (and populist) leader to bring the limping conservatives back to the forefront, see off the neo-fascists back to their kennels and put an end once and for all to Ciudadanos?

In short, will 2023 be the year of Isabel Díaz Ayuso?

A Surprise Visitor to the Vatican

One might hesitate to call God’s Vicar on Earth a communist, but it seems most likely that, between his other duties, Pope Francis will have read the New Testament and picked up on some of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The Pope, known dismissively by his surname as ‘Citizen Bergoglio’ in certain circles, is – we read – in reality neither right nor left; and a story goes that when, back in 2015, ‘…an overly-enthusiastic Bolivian President Evo Morales presented him with a cross in the shape of a hammer and sickle, the pontiff looked as if he had been handed a dead animal.

“That is not good,” he reportedly told Morales…’.

This past Saturday, Yolanda Díaz, the Second Vice-president of Spain and Minister of Labour (and member of Izquierda Unida), was granted an audience with the Pope – an exception politically speaking, as the Pope normally only receives heads of state.

elDiario.es says ‘The meeting held in the Vatican by the pontiff and the vice president becomes a prominent chapter in the criticism and insults that the conservative Catholic sector utters to the Argentine Jesuit who speaks of the rights of migrants and the poor and who asks for forgiveness for the events of the past…’. Perhaps, says El País, the message was simply that the Pope wants us to understand that he will always support social justice and offer hope to the poor and the downtrodden (viz. his message of ‘las tres Ts – tierra, trabajo y techo’ – broadly: nationality, work and a roof over one’s head).

Thus, the 40-minute ‘cumbre comunista’ (the Communist summit), where the substance of the meeting has largely not been revealed (at the Vatican’s behest).  Yolanda Díaz merely describing it afterwards as ‘muy emocionante’. El Mundo nevertheless reports that the subject close to both – better labour conditions – was the main subject under discussion.

La Sexta brings us some of the reasons why the Spanish Right doesn’t approve of El Papa. The apology to the Mexicans for the sins of the conquistadores; his comments on the Spanish Civil War dead who’s bones are still lying in the ditches – and his support for a basic living wage (with video). There’s the fact that Pope Francis is a Jesuit (Spain in under the shadow of the Opus Dei, bitter rivals to the Jesuits). And also, needless to say, his audience with the upstart Commie lady…

Religión Digital reports that La Conferencia Episcopal (the Spanish bishops) are not entirely at ease with the Pope’s recent actions – with Isabel Celáa (the ex-Government spokesperson) approved as the new Spanish ambassador to the Holy See, and of course the surprise visit of Minister Díaz. Indeed, a tranche of Spanish bishops (including some leading critics of the current Bishop of Rome) will be meeting with the Pope today, Thursday – no doubt to test the waters.

 

Living the Good Life

We are often invited by publicists to ‘discover one of Spain’s best kept secrets’. No doubt, as we enjoy the cliché, we will be offered the chance to buy a ‘dream home’ while we are there, soaking up ‘the warm Mediterranean sun’ or enjoying ‘the welcoming smiles of the locals’ (as they gauge the size of one’s wallet).

I was up at the almazara the other day, converting a lorry-load of olives into oil. This process took several hours, as old Tío Juan likes to do things in an orderly fashion, and to make sure that your oil comes from your olives.

While my wife insisted on watching eagle-eyed to make sure that Tío Juan didn’t slip in a few acorns, I walked into the nearby village of Uleila del Campo (wiki) for a cerveza and a tapa or two.

It’s very pretty there, a white village in the plains (and hills) behind Sorbas (Almería), far-enough away from the coast to find that the northern Europeans are few and far between and that the dream homes – if one is so inclined – are still reassuringly cheap. Idealista I see has a place as low as 13,000€ (it, ah, needs some work).

The thing is, of course, that a spot on the map like Uleila del Campo – or a thousand others - may be a great place to retire too if you are completely antisocial and don’t mind roughing it, but otherwise it has a few decided drawbacks. There are a few northern Europeans scattered about, between Lubrín, Tabernas and Sorbas, and there’s even a British-run hostal/restaurant nearby (Tripadvisor). However, it can become very lonely living there unless you are writing a novel.

Even more lonely might be to live in another forgotten village further inland, maybe in Granada or Jaén perhaps. Idealista found me somewhere for 10,900€ in Hornos (wiki) – a pretty village in Jaén with a castle. There: One of Spain’s best kept secrets for your pleasure.

All of which is why so many of us prefer the coast. We have managed to make our own communities in several areas along the Med, with our own bars, clubs, restaurants and even newspapers. We can get by without having much contact with our host nation or its language or (when they finally turn off that dreadful Christmas music) even their customs. In return, we are largely ignored.

So, if one can manage to live inland, and integrate into the local society, so much the better, perhaps.

Or perhaps not.

Written while enjoying some bread dipped in our very own olive oil.

The Ordeal for the Swallows

Of small interest to the Spanish – and indeed most foreign residents – is the sad plight of those Brits who own property in Spain which they use for long periods; generally over the winter. They are sometimes called in journalistic shorthand ‘Swallows’ and they are non-resident, having no TIE or green immigration-card, they aren’t on the local padrón and, much beyond sundry local impuestos, they continue to pay their taxes in the UK.

Things had gone well-enough for this group as long as they remembered to spend six months a year outside Spain, but with the arrival of Brexit, this changed to a movable 90 days in any 180 limit for the whole of the Schengen area (as it is for any other non-EU citizen).

Now, their plans must be rearranged, and the question comes to them – is it worth it to own a home in Spain that we can only use for three months during the winter season? After all, the whole point was to avoid the UK from October to Easter (Brrr!).

While most Europeans think -if anything- that they brought it upon themselves, the British press has taken them to heart.

From The Express (which has grave doubts about any and all Europeans anyway) to The EWN, with its baffling mix of cruise-ship’s news and British-abroad editorials (why won’t the natives kowtow to us?), we read that something must be done. From The Costa News, a rather more sober newspaper, we find in the letters page: ‘…One change in the Schengen rules could help so many smaller businesses. British (and European) tourists like to visit southern Spain for the winter. Many have even bought holiday homes or take the long trek south in their motorhomes – the counterpart of the American ‘Snow-birders’…’. It makes the point that ‘…The majority of holiday home owners and motor-homers are of retirement age and the warmer winter climes and relaxed lifestyle benefits their health and well-being. So – a boost to Spanish tourism and a reduction of the strain on the NHS’.

It all sounds logical enough – change the rule to allow Britons to stay longer: it’ll help the Spanish economy!

The Spanish authorities aren’t particularly bothered by what they see as the small economy of the foreign home-owners and sundry long-term visitors, and even less so by this particular subset. While tourism is a key attraction to Spain’s GDP – we have a minister, a budget, an agency, endless promotions abroad and the second-biggest tourist fair in the world (FITUR: January 19th – 22nd), foreign residents (who clearly spend more in Spain than tourists do) are blithely unrepresented and ignored.

In a country where even the sheep are counted down to the last animal (there are 15,371,420 since you asked), they don’t even know how many homes are owned here by foreigners.

Thus the Swallows are ignored.

It’s a small issue after all.

But not entirely. We hear from The Independent that ‘Valencia’s regional president Ximo Puig has said the time limit should be extended’ and that ‘…the country’s industry, tourism and commerce minister, Reyes Maroto, has started assembling a “mobility” taskforce of Spanish and British embassy staff to find a joint solution to the restrictions’. Puig had also met with the Spanish ambassador to London while attending the British World Travel Market earlier this month. The Majorca Daily Bulletin ran a leader earlier this year titled ‘Fighting to resolve the 3-6 month trap for Britons in Spain. Bilateral agreements can be made, providing the will is there’. The article introduces ‘Andrew Hesselden, who has launched a number of campaigns to challenge and see that this is changed, at least in Spain…’.

One place to find Andrew and his supporters is on the 180 Days in Spain page on Facebook. Andrew says on the site ‘I estimate this issue probably affects more than 1.6 million British “part-year” residents that spend time (and money) in Spain each year…’.

So, not such a small issue after all.

 

The Spanish Health System, Mostly

 

Like the British with their NHS, the Spanish are also fond and supportive of their own national health, the SNS or Sistema Nacional de Salud as defined by the Spanish Constitution (explained here) in 1986 (wiki).

Expatica says here: ‘Around 90% of Spaniards use the public healthcare system, which is called the National Health System. However, it is very decentralized with service delivery organized at regional level. The system is overseen by the Spanish Ministry of Health, which develops policy and oversees the national health budget…’. In short, each autonomous region runs its own bureaucracy within the health system.  

And, it’s relatively easy on one’s pocket – as the World Health Organisation says: ‘Spain’s health system is more likely to protect people from financial hardship than health systems in most other European countries’, although, as here, some families are suffering from medical prescriptions and dental bills. The copago system, where the patient pays part of the prescription, can cause financial issues.

But (and there’s always a ‘but’), times are hard and the administrations have problematic finances: in short, cuts are evident everywhere (yes, yes: more taxes!)

This is usually noted by the time between an appointment with one’s local doctor (the atención primaria) and the trip to the specialist.  Weeks or months, depending. A short-cut is to turn up at the Emergencia at the public hospital, who will give immediate hands on treatment as necessary.

It’s also the case that the Spanish medical attention is very good, with first-rate doctors and dedicated nursing staff. Those of us who have been through the system will probably acknowledge this.

Cuts arrive in staffing, equipment, standards, medicine and so on. The conservative regional governments are more inclined to push private hospitals and consultants while the socialist regions might (a trifle unwillingly) encourage the public system. Certainly, the private companies, the health insurance people and our friends at ‘Big Pharma’ are all for private health.

….

From the cuttings:  ‘The waiting lists in the Madrid health care system grew by 35% in 2021. Almost 800,000 citizens of the Community "wait up to six months to be called"’ says El Huff Post here.

This tends to annoy the health workers as well. From 7Días we read that the health service in Extremadura are ready to strike over their long hours and regional government cuts.

But some good news too: ‘The Government repeals the Aznar law that encouraged the privatization of the Spanish health system. The draft of the Health Equity, Universality and Cohesion Law establishes public management as a "preferred formula" for health services but does not close the door to outsourcing’. elDiario.es here.

Sometimes the public hospitals will send patients to the private ones, but more often, it’s the other way around. Certain equipment is prohibitively expensive and not every hospital has, for example, proton therapy machines (Amancio Ortega has just donated ten of these to the public health).

Finally, as the Covid issue begins to recede, some politicians want to mount inquiries into the high number of deaths in the residencies for seniors during the first wave of the crisis. Other politicians – perhaps understandably – don’t want the subject to be opened. Here the Parlament decides against an investigation (Catalunya Press) and here, Madrid does the same (InfoLibre).