Tragic Accident
A woman has died and 36 people were injured (three seriously) in Cantabria when a lorry, in over-taking a bus, crashed into the passenger-vehicle. The front end of the bus was utterly demolished. It is thought that the passing lorry had a tyre blowout that led to the driver losing control.
Madrid Court Support Guardia officer
In Madrid, a Military Supreme Court has supported the decision of a Military Tribunal Court in ruling that Guardia Civil agent, Juan Carlos Torribo, has every right to collaborate as a volunteer with driver associations in order to improve road safety, and that this is fully compatible with his job in the Guardia Civil Tráfico department.
He has been working primarily with Mutual Motorists Association, who explained that Torribio is well known for criticising the conditions of roads, and that the last time he complained, the fourth judicial proceeding was initiated against him by the Guardia Civil mothership. Torribio still faces the threat of six months plus one day of suspension from work, with no pay, and of being expulsed from the corps.
The Motorists Association complained that, while in other countries civil servants or those in authority who demand the law be obeyed are honoured and promoted, here in Spain they are sanctioned and punished.
Andaluces in the bar
Catalonia’s leading politician (and perhaps the best in all of Spain) Josep Duran i Lleida put both feet in his mouth when he claimed that Andalucian and Extremaduran farmers, while being paid subsidies, passed their days sitting in bars.
Catalonia’s politicians are well known for this sort of thing, and it does nothing to heal the divisions in Spanish society. Duran’s comments elicited a wave of indignant protests from all over. “Ignorant comments and offensive xenophobia” were typical reactions. Duran refused to apologise, saying he had nothing to apologise for, but then tried to remove one foot from his mouth by saying, “what I meant was not Andalucian or Extremaduran farmers, I meant Andalucian politicians who encourage a climate of subsidies, which gets us nowhere, and is something I do not want, neither for Andalucia nor Catalonia.” He added rather slyly, “I make a lot of mistakes, but not this time.”
PER, which is basically the relief fund for Andalucian farmers that also gives work to unemployed farmers and peons in municipal works, is at the heart of Duran’s comments. Denouncing this practise, he said, “I’m against this socialist practise of ‘You won’t suffer, there’s an economic crisis but there won’t be any consequences because we pay the unemployed.’ Social politics is not paying the unemployed, not paying the PER, it is creating jobs. I don’t like this model of a subsidized society.”
Some numbers will cast some light on the controversial PER. It costs 2 millions euros a day, that is, 750 million euros a year. 150,000 or more people in Andalucia and Extremadura benefit. There are supposedly entire families who live off the PER, some of which work in the underground economy. Basically, if you’ve done some work (35 working days) for the PER program, you are then entitled to the subsidies.
All in all, its a system that Felípe González began, which is why Andalucia and Extremadura are PSOE supporters. The thing is, Duran seems to have wilfully forgotten that Catalonia is also subsidized by the government, especially in the automobile sector, and he applauded that. I think he better get that other foot back in his mouth.