Chaves & Griñán thrown to the judicial wolves to save the PSOE-A

Susana Díaz may be President of Andalucía after all next week, after her two predecessors Manuel Chaves & José Griñán both announced they would quit politics at the next elections. It is impossible for Susana to become President at next weeks investiture without the support of some of the opposition parties, and both Podemos & Cuidadanos have drawn “lines in the sand” which Susana’s PSOE party have to agree to first. The first of the Continue reading Chaves & Griñán thrown to the judicial wolves to save the PSOE-A

Andalusian Parliament investiture ends in rows and legal action

Today saw the investiture of the Andalusian Parliament. Not the votes for the President of the Junta de Andalucia which takes place on Monday, and which looks likely to leave Andalusia rudderless. In brief, the President of the Junta is the executive, the Parliament is the legislative. 109 MP’s from five different parties turned up today to take their seats. For the first time anywhere in Spain, MP’s from the new Podemos and Cuidadanos parties Continue reading Andalusian Parliament investiture ends in rows and legal action

Who will rule Andalusia?

Andalusia came out of the recent election with a hung parliament, and Susana Diaz of the PSOE party continues running round all the opposition parties to see if she can put together some sort of coalition ahead of next weeks investiture. If she can’t get support, she won’t be voted in as President of Andalusia and the region will continue without a parliament. In order to rule, the PSOE has to make a coalition with Continue reading Who will rule Andalusia?

Junta asks EU to 280M to finish off Almería’s motorways

The Junta has said it will finish off all of the abandoned motorways in the province, if the EU stumps up 280 million euros to pay for it all. Well, that’s the essence of yesterday’s statement. The plan submitted to the EU is asking for Andalucia’s share of Presidents Juncker’s massive cash spend under the known “Plan Juncker”. The EU Prezzie, you will remember, has abandoned austerity and announced he’s spending hundreds of billions of Continue reading Junta asks EU to 280M to finish off Almería’s motorways

Junta gives 475.000€ to the needy

The Junta de Andalucia has thrown a few coppers to the poor – 475.000€ is being spent on 1.371 families who have kids they can’t afford to feed. Or, about 346€ each. I hope those kids aren’t fat. Anyway, the money is only going to towns with more than 20.000 residents and is 9% more than last year. Hey, did I tell you that the politicians who are still running Andalucia are so far known Continue reading Junta gives 475.000€ to the needy

Senior Junta politician cracks under police pressure and admits 270 million euro theft

The sheer amount of money stolen by the Andalucian politicians over the last decade is immense. So far, we’re talking billions of euros, mainly of EU cash. Nobody seems to care very much, but it is a fairly enormous scandal. Basically, for every euro the EU sent Andalucia over the last 20 years or so, the politicians seem to have happily, and with no real comeback, pocketed whatever percentage they wanted to. Anyway, Carlos Cañavate, Continue reading Senior Junta politician cracks under police pressure and admits 270 million euro theft

Illegal homes blow – “reinterpretation” of law put off due to holidays

The Spanish legal term prescripción doesn’t have a direct UK translation, despite it being such a useful get out of jail free card. It means “to fall outside of the statue of limitations”, and what that means is that whatever criminal offence you’ve committed, if you keep quiet about it for long enough, you can no longer be prosecuted. For example, let us assume you go into your local friendly supermarket and “lift” a jamón Continue reading Illegal homes blow – “reinterpretation” of law put off due to holidays

Andalucia’s doing so well it can pay civil servants their Xmas bonus again!

Since Andalucia is now out of la crisis (according to whom? Oh, the Junta) it can start paying an Xmas bonus to all civil servants again. 260,000 civil servants across the region will see their pago extra returned as from next year, costing the region an additional 350 million euros in staff costs, said Susana Diaz in a triumphant speech this morning. It’s allowed because the Conserjería de Economia, the Andaluz Ministry for the Economy, Continue reading Andalucia’s doing so well it can pay civil servants their Xmas bonus again!

Magda Álvarez sees her assets embargoed

Magdalena Álvarez used to be Andalucian Minister for Taxation and Economy. She’s also up to her neck in the ERE slush fund scandal, accused of helping to skim hundreds of millions of euros from taxpayers in order to setup false pension schemes and redundancy payments across Andalucia. Anyway, the judge in charge of the investigation slammed a bail of 29.568.129,20 euros on her last month. (Gotta love that 20 cents on the end!). Naturally enough, Continue reading Magda Álvarez sees her assets embargoed

PSOE gives way to IU pressure to save the coalition in Andalucia

The PSOE has collapsed and given in to the demands of their communist IU party, returning the housing rights to the IU minister for Housing and Development, in a humiliating climbdown for the Andaluz president. President Diaz of Andalucia had revoked those rights yesterday in an unprecedented move, after Minister Elena Cortes started handing out free homes to a bunch of squatters who had been evicted from their squats earlier in the week.