Month: May 2020

Hours after facing down calls in parliament to resign for firing top coppers – Marlaska goes and fires ANOTHER top copper

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So today marked one of the most tumultuous days in the Spanish parliament ever, with accusations of supporting terrorism being levied at Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, general cries of corruption, and a unified demand from the main opposition parties for the Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska to either stand down or be fired. Really, it’s almost a question of what will explode first, the ruling coalition or Spain itself. Marlaska is in trouble for Continue reading Hours after facing down calls in parliament to resign for firing top coppers – Marlaska goes and fires ANOTHER top copper→

Guardia Civil’s Nº2 officer quits in protest over fired colleague

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General Laurentino Ceña, the second most senior office in the Guardia Civil, has quit his position with immediate effect in order to show his support for his colleague Colonel Pérez de los Lobos who was fired in murky circumstances after opening a penal investigation into senior politicians and the chap in charge of Spain’s pandemic response. Granted, the good General was only a week away from retirement and quit in such a way such as Continue reading Guardia Civil’s Nº2 officer quits in protest over fired colleague→

Madrid’s Guardia Civil chief fired – for investigating those he shouldn’t, it seems

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Colonel Diego Perez de los Lobos, the head of the Madrid Guardia Civil, has been fired on personal orders from the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, with immediate effect. A terse note from the Ministry of the Interior confirmed the firing, and said that the motive was down to a “loss of confidence in his ability to do his job”. The Colonel was later seen driving out of head office, in mufti and in Continue reading Madrid’s Guardia Civil chief fired – for investigating those he shouldn’t, it seems→

Iglesias just got re-elected in a landslide and got permission for a pay-rise to boot

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Podemos held its third Citizen’s Assembly, online due to the COVID19 crisis, this week. Iglesias got re-elected as leader by a whopping 92%. However, only 11% of party members bothered to vote, so maybe he isn’t as popular as he thinks he is. The low turnout may have been influenced by the fact that he only had one opponent, a nobody called Fernando Barredo. Nobody had ever heard of this Fernando before, he was obviously Continue reading Iglesias just got re-elected in a landslide and got permission for a pay-rise to boot→

So how is Pedro Sanchez recovering from his bad day?

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The pact that PSOE and Podemos signed with EH Bildu to gain five abstentions in the vote to extend the last State of Alarm is surely one of the biggest errors in Spanish politics. Read my write-up on what happened here. In summary: PSOE agreed to get rid of all the PP’s labour reforms before the end of the state of alarm (and gave the Basque’s a wad of cash) in exchange for five abstentions Continue reading So how is Pedro Sanchez recovering from his bad day?→

Another 100 million euros to stop gender violence

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The Spanish council of ministers has just approved an additional 500 million euros to help prevent gender related violence, split over five years (so that’s 100 million euros a year), on top of what-ever large amount is currently spends on gender related violence. Seems it was going to be 1,000 million euros, not sure what happened to the other 500 million! https://boe.es/boe/dias/2020/05/19/pdfs/BOE-A-2020-5135.pdf The money is divided up according to population density according to an eye-wateringly Continue reading Another 100 million euros to stop gender violence→

Pedro Sanchez’s bad day out

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While you were out enjoying the sun, the commies in government just blew up the coalition. OK, this is difficult to explain but I’ll try to explain why Sanchez just went down the toilet today. Both the PSOE and Podemos have said they want to undo the “labour reform” laws enacted by the previous PP government, which made it (very slightly) easier for companies to hire and fire. PSOE want to “evolve” the laws, Podemos Continue reading Pedro Sanchez’s bad day out→