Welcome to the tuSPAIN weekly review of the Spanish media. Cristina Marquez Arroyo de Camihort has selected a wide range of articles covering general news about Spain, politics, business and culture. We also invite you to view the latest news from Spain (in Spanish) at the web sites of El Pais, El Mundo, ABC and El Periodico
NEWS REVIEW
12 - 18 March, 1997
SPANISH PRISON WORKER KILLED
Javier Garcia Elosegui, a 37 year old psychologist who was working at a Basque Detention Centre was shot three times in his head during an attack by ETA. The shooting occurred in the Basque City of San Sebastian. The attackers were a man, who was detained by the Basque police and a woman, who fled the scene. The Police were interrogating the man, who was identified as Pedro Elejalde.
CHANGES IN JURY SYSTEM
The Government has proposed some changes in the actual jury system after the acquittal of Mikel Otegi, the man who admitted killing two policemen in 1995. The Popular Party (PP) said they want to ban the use of Juries when there is a suspicion of intimidation, and also, they want to lay the burden of the decision to the judges, leaving the final decision to them. Otegi was acquitted on account of his defence allegation that he had been drunk and therefore out of his mind at the time of the crime. However, the officials and judges think that jurors acquitted him for fear of a revenge from Jarrai, the radical youth group with links to ETA, as Otegi was one of its prominent members.
ROMANIA AND NATO
The governments of France, Italy and Spain will support the admittance of Romania as a full member of NATO. The announcement was made by Victor Babiuc, Romanian's Defence Minister, after a tour of the three countries geared to persuade the Western allies to accept Romania in the first wave of the enlargement already planned for this year. Babiuc also met NATO Secretary General Javier Solana in Brussels, with hopes that this meeting "will play an important role at the Madrid summit."
EMPLOYERS-UNIONS AGREEMENT CLOSER
The Spanish unions have presented a new proposal to employers last week hoping they will be able to reach an agreement on labour reforms with their employers before the end of the month.
Last week the government warned both parties at the discussions that they might loose patience and enforce its own new measures by law, something neither of them want materialised.
KING HUSSEIN OF JORDAN CUTS SHORT VISIT
King Hussein of Jordan cut short a visit to Spain last Thursday after hearing that one member of the Jordanian Army had killed seven Israeli little girls. He also put off his planned trip to Washington, where he was supposed to meet President Clinton after undergoing a regular health check-up at the United States Capital. Before heading back home, Hussein shared lunch with Jose Maria Aznar, the Spanish Prime Minister, and also met King Juan Carlos. No public statement on the killings was released during his stay in Spain.
INFLATION AT ITS LOWEST LEVEL
The Spanish inflation has been reduced to its lowest level in 29 years during February, and the Bank of Spain is expected to enforce its second interest rate cut of the year. In this way, Spain has fulfilled the inflation requirement from the EU in order to be accepted as part of the monetary union. It has also allowed the government to reach his target for 1997. But despite the rapid achievement of these goals, the market's assessment of Spain's chances to join has declined.
TELEPHONE RATES COMPETITION
The government has taken a huge step towards the war of the telephonic rates by launching the
country's second telecommunications operator, Retevision. The announcement took place just a few weeks after the privatisation of Telefonica was concluded. Now, they will privatise a 60% stake in the State owned group RETEVISION, which will start as a competitor of Telefonica providing basic domestic phone service at the end of this year. Retevision will be also opened to foreign competitors in a figure close to the 1.4 billion pesetas per year. So far, two main International Communications groups have joined the Banco Central Hispano in order to bid in the privatisation auction, they are France TELECOM and Deutsche TELEKOM. Spaniards are expected to benefit from this competition, as tariffs for domestic and long-distance calls will be reduced substantially.
ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN FUNDS
In a moment when the Government of the United States is facing allegations of illegal funding from the Chinese Government for Bill Clinton's electoral campaign, the Spanish government has denied that Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar had received illegal funds for a regional electoral campaign. He has been accused of receiving money in exchange of awarding some public construction contracts, charges that represent the first public accusation of corruption since the Popular Party came to power.
TORTURE FOR ETA SUSPECT
The Basque nationalist party have accused the police of torturing Fernando Elejalde, the suspected assassin of Javier Garcia Elosegui, the prison psychologist who was shot dead in San Sebastian. The hospital where he was taken semiconscious and in serious condition two days after the killings have denied any symptoms of torture and authorities stated that his injuries were caused during his violent arrest. Jaime Mayor Oreja, the Interior Minister, called immediately for an investigation into the events and asked the people of the northern region of Spain to remain calm for the sake of peace.
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