More Bad News
I was tempted to write s*** news but figured Dave would nix it (He’s right, we don’t allow shit in the Gazette! Ed). Anyway. The electricity is going UP again on April the 1st, and no, this is no April Fool’s joke.
The electric companies appealed to the Supreme Court after a governmental decision refused, for the time being, any further price hikes, but that august body decided in favour of the electrical behemoths, so, it could be as much as 17 per cent, but as of yet we don’t know. The Minister of Industry, José Manuel Soria, clearly uncomfortable with this decision, has attempted to palliate its effects by saying that the total cost of the hike will not fall exclusively on the shoulders of consumers and businesses, but what that means is unclear.
It is the fault, as it were, of successive governments in subsidizing the price of electricity in this country which has led to a massive debt owing to said companies, and over the past few years they have been steadily clawing it back. But and anyway, Spain’s electricity prices are the third highest in Europe (compare Spain’s internet prices) after Malta and Cyprus, which only means that more of us are being reduced to poverty every single day.
Now is the time for my monthly rant. Five million unemployed, severe cuts in spending, no building industry to speak of, petrol at an all-time high and getting higher, and everything incredibly expensive; the Post Office just tried to get away with the biggest money-making swindle of users of all time; feeding yourselves and family coming close to impossible; Spanish digital TV is on par with the reception they get in the Congo; and every time you venture out on to the roads the bloody Guardia are awaiting you with their little red books of fines and points. Let’s all go solar and wind and screw the electric companies. That would be a good start to getting this great country back on track.
Meanwhile, watch for April’s rise. I plan to take a match to my factura in protest….
The Softening of Eviction
Eviction rates have been going up as more and more people fall behind in paying their mortgage until finally the bank’s temper snaps, they re-possess the house and boot the family onto the street. Unlike a number of other Euro countries, whose policy is that an eviction automatically cancels the former house-owner’s debt, in Spain the rule is that the evicted family still owes the bank the outstanding amount plus interest of course. How a family, evicted due to lack of income, can be expected to keep on paying a mortgage has not been something the banks have adequately explained.
The PP government have instituted the Code of Good Ethics (well, a rough translation of Código de Buenas Prácticas), which nicely asks banks to consider cancelling the mortgage of any evicted persons. Certain banks have come on board, Santander and CajaLaboral, to name only two. Now the opposition PSOE have gone one step further, and have proposed to Congress the following: that banks accept a moratorium of two years during which the troubled house-owner would only pay half the interest on the mortgage and none of the principal; once this period has expired, the house-owner, now considered a tenant, to avoid eviction, would pay rent to the bank of no more than 50 per cent of any income.
Once this five-year period was up, then the bank could evict the people. Of course, at any time that the house-owner can resume paying the mortgage would be looked upon favourably by the banks. The main difference between this plan and the government’s is that the PSOE plan would legally binding, hence obligatory, and not voluntary like the government’s. Either way, potential evictees will hopefully be able to stay in their houses until the crisis passes and without losing their homes and serious investment.
Pedro Grows His Own
In an unusual move a small campo town in Catalonia, Rasquera, has made a 1.3 million euro agreement with a cannabis association from Barcelona to lease out seven hectares of town land to the association so that it can grow marijuana for its 5,000 plus members. Now before you say, “Surely that can’t be legal,” and stop calling me Shirley, Spain’s marijuana laws are somewhat unclear.
Growing a couple plants for personal consumption does not appear to be illegal, so this would be growing for personal use on a larger scale. Another association of 7000 members is also interested in the plan. But it won’t all be dope: they will also grow vegetables as well, and all for the involved association(s) only. “This is a chance to bring in money and create jobs,“ remarked the Rasquera mayor.
Legal advisers told him the plan would not break existing Spanish law. But according to one neighbour, it would turn Rasquera into the laughing stock of Catalonia, and another señora lamented that it would “lead our grandchildren to perdition.” The Barcelona Personal Use Cannabis Association will pay 650,000 euros a year to the town for growing rights in a deal that the mayor said would create 40 jobs or more.