NEWS REVIEW
30 JUNE - 7 JULY, 1996
NEWS INDEX
Monday, July 1, 1996
CONTACTS WITH ETA...
Arsalluz states that the Basque people wants peace, but not to beg on bended knees for a ceasefire. Political forces were very cautious yesterday, as the truce with ETA came to an end last Sunday midnight. Sources from the Home Office refused to play prophets , considered that the extension of the ceasefire was a possibility in view of the new political scenario and the offer made last Tuesday at the Pact of Ajuria Enea, supported by the Government of Jose Maria Aznar. The pro-amnesty agencies ignore the identity of the 32 prisoners transferred and the Home Office has decided not to add any special issues to the anti-terrorist plan.
MESSAGE FROM THE BASQUE POLITICAL PARTIES...
The message from all Basque political forces to ETA is clearly focused on the fact that everything is possible only if they abandon violence. During the last week, all the parties that participated in the anti-terrorist Pact of Ajuria Enea have insisted that if ETA chooses peace as a way to communicate, everything is possible. The radical wing of the Basque political spectrum seems to be taken aback by this reaction from the democratic parties.
PRE-TRIAL DETENTION FOR PEROTE...
The Military Court extended up to the maximum legal term of four years the sentence of detention while awaiting trial for Colonel Juan Alberto Perote, former service agent of the Spanish Secret Service. The tribunal maintains there is an actual risk that the former agent will try to flee the country.
NEW ASTRO-PHYSICAL OBSERVATORY IN CANARIAS.
Their Majesties, Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofia opened the new Astro-physical Observatory in the Canarias, where they examined details of the radiotelescope project, Experiment Tenerife. The project is designed to capture the oldest radiation in the Universe with the purpose of verifying the origin of the Great Explosion.
NEW LASER TECHNIQUE FOR HEART ILLNESS.
The Hospital Virgen Macarena in the University of Seville has become the first government hospital in Spain to use an innovative laser technique that will allow patients with unstable coronary conditions the opportunity of leading a normal life. These patients are usually considered unsuitable to survive conventional cardiac surgery or transplant treatment.
Monday, July 1, 1996
ARCHITECTURAL CONGRESS IN BARCELONA
In spite of the fears and uncertainties that the rapid changes in the field are bringing to the more than 25.000 architects working and living in Spain, environmental issues and design of functional housing are the two main topics at the Congress of Spanish Architects that opened yesterday in Barcelona. Up to yesterday, there were officially 850 architects attending the conferences
Tuesday, July 2, 1996
TAX BREAK FOR PRIVATE INVESTMENTS...
The Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Trade and Finance are working on the negotiation of a tax break for private investments in infrastructures to be announced with the next State General Budget, according to official sources in the government. It is foreseen that this fiscal support will be included as part of the budget. This will include shock treatment to reactivate investment through different measures.
NEWS INDEX
WELFARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY REFORMS...
Mr. Luis Angel Rojo, President of the Bank of Spain, affirmed yesterday that the margins to review the social security systems in Europe are quite wide, in order to provide for a protectionist policy that will not imply excessive cost and will not discourage employment and economy growth.
In the opening remarks of a course in the Complutense University of El Escorial, Mr. Rojo added that the proper defence of the welfare state begins by its revision. This is not an easy task from a political point of view, he said, but the reforms must be done, in the acceptance that there is no viable alternative that will not pose a political, social and economic cost.
CAPITAL ADJUSTMENTS IN PUBLIC ENTERPRISES..
The Minister of Industry, Mr. Pique, reaffirmed yesterday that the government is in the process of analysing the reduction of capital in public enterprises, such as Endesa, and also announced the immediate commencement of the deregulation and privatisation of government industries. According to Pique, the reduction of capital will avoid the placement in the market of shares from some industries that are not properly labelled yet.
ETA SHOWS THEIR WILL...
ETA has demonstrated to both the government and Ajuria Enea which type of commitment to dialogue they exercise by not extending the truce and threatening more terrorist attacks. The mafia style organisation has affirmed that they have taken proper notice of the message sent by the government and political forces that are part of the Pact of Ajuria Enea, which intended to test the extent of their will to negotiate. The response makes them stronger and the terrorists have received orders to commit future terrorist attacks, after the deadline of the trap-truce expires. Anti-terrorist experts fear that ETA, stronger after this tactic move, will start a new campaign of brutal terrorist attacks and also increase their demands for rehabilitation with the sole purpose of blackmailing the democratic institutions.
COMPLIANCE WITH TRUCE WILL NOT BE STALLED...
The Home Office minister, Jaime Mayor Oreja, acknowledged that he implemented the rapprochement plan to honour ETA’s truce, which will not be suspended for now. The communiqué from ETA announcing that the truce was over, and their operating commands were well aware of it, took all the political parties involved and the Home Office by surprise. In spite of these clear threats from the terrorists, the leaders of the nationalist parties stressed their support to point 10 of the Pact of Ajuria Enea, which establishes the dialogue as the way to end violence based on general consensus. This article highlighted by the home office minister, who accepted yesterday that the office implemented the transferring of prisoners from ETA at an earlier date, as a sign of goodwill to honour the truce offered by the criminals.
SPAIN ADMISSION TO NATO...
The General Secretary of NATO, Mr. Javier Solana, affirmed yesterday that Spain is ready to reconsider their position in NATO. Solana, who offered the Government his support to implement any decision they want to adopt, had a meeting with the President of the Spanish Government, Jose Maria Aznar, at the Palacio de la Moncloa. At the meeting, the future of NATO and the situation of Bosnia after the elections in Mostar were discussed.
NEWS INDEX
CATALONIAN DIFFERENTIAL FACTS...
Jordi Pujol claimed yesterday a larger quota of self-government for Catalonia, warning that if the Catalonian differential facts are not politically recognised, it will be necessary to revise the Constitution or the National Statutes. Pujol, who also requested to have the concept of solidarity in the autonomic financing reviewed, asserted his proven Loyalty to the State in support of his request, as well as the fact that Spain is a country with a solid foundation to do it.
RELIGION HAS ACADEMIC VALUE...
The teaching of religion as a curriculum subject will have academic value in Catalonia, this means that it will count as a credit course at the end of the term, with an specific numerical value. It will be counted towards average grades, which will be used, as an example, to obtain scholarships. In recent weeks, Mrs. Esperanza Aguirre, Minister of Education, denied that religious instruction and its alternatives would have any value to enter university and to obtain scholarships, even when she acknowledged they would require further evaluation.
RAFAEL ALBERTI SCULPTURE...
Rafael Alberti inaugurated his own sculpture in the Wax Museum of Madrid, where he is portrayed in his sailor hat, a wide shirt in pastel colours and his white long hair. He is placed next to Peman y Gala, in the Writers Cafe, and holding his book Marinero en tierra with both hands.
Wednesday 3, July
DIFFICULTIES WITH BUDGET...
The President of the Government, Jose Maria Aznar, has reaffirmed today that the General Budget for 1997 will be difficult , and has acknowledged that there will be a reorganisation of Health expenditure, as it does not seem logical that the pharmaceutical expenses in Spain are the highest in the industrialised world. According to Aznar, the Spaniards will have to endure the adjustment policies for a couple of years, with the objective of complying with the European Union. According to Aznar, we have to comply with the requirements of the EU by the end of 1997. We have to pass their test by the spring of 1998, and then, the country will be able to enjoy the stability and security it’s so badly lacking now .
SOCIAL EXPENSES IN 1997...
Mr. Candido Mendez, General Secretary to the UGT, today expressed his concern over the possible reduction of social services expenditure in the 1997 state general budget that the government may have to make, he also stated that there are no guarantees that all the social security pensions will maintain their actual purchasing power.
Mendez, who participated in a meeting called by UGT to request the freedom of Jose Antonio Ortega Lara, the prison officer kidnapped by ETA more than five months ago, considers that the government will have to change their policies on this subject.
The UGT leader added that if the government pretends to go ahead with this model of budget, tremendously restrictive, with such a brutal cut in expenses, it will find a strong opposition in the whole spectrum of union organisations and society in general .
Mendez also responded to the recommendation, made by the executive branch of the government, to raise the salaries by 2 per cent in order to create about 500.000 jobs for next year, and reminded everybody that the moderation in salary policies is a voluntary commitment to the creation of jobs, but it also needs to be based on inflation objectives that are credible and at the same time support the stabilisation of the salaries’ purchasing power .
To this respect, Mendez was assertive and reaffirmed that the salary policies proposed by the unions is the only proposal that is strong and rigorous, and the one that is sacrificing the retributions of workers in order to generate employment for those who are now in need of jobs . In his opinion, this commitment of the unions has not found a positive reaction with the employers, who are only focused on increasing their profits, nor in the government, who has relegated their employment policies to an irrelevant role .
NEWS INDEX
Wednesday, July 3, 1996
BEST SITUATION SINCE 1993...
The majority of Spaniards believe that the current general situation in Spain is the best since 1993, according to a poll taken by the Centre of Sociological Research (CIS), during the period May 29 to June 2, which has been analysed by newspaper EL MUNDO.
According to the poll data, the general tendency towards the future of the country is optimistic , a feeling that became more obvious when the citizens were asked about the present economical conditions. However, the poll was conducted before the government announced the new package of economic austerity measures.
Fifty one per cent of the participants stated to have a very good impression on the government of Jose Maria Aznar, with a twenty six percent affirming that the conservative government deserves a bad qualification. In any case, more than half of the citizens polled expressed their belief that the team leaded by Aznar is more accessible than any of the teams formed by the socialist administration.
Seventy three percent of the citizens that answered the questions are convinced that the changes to be introduced by the government of the Partido Popular will help to improve the situation, especially in the areas of economical, social and foreign policy.
122 YEARS PRISON SENTENCE...
Two members of the Vizcaya command of ETA, Joseba Koldo Martin Carmona and Lourdes Churruca Medinabeitia, had been sentenced to serve 122 years in prison for three attempts of terrorist attacks committed in June and August 1994.
The Criminal Chamber of the National High Court has sentenced each of the defendants to 5, 8 and 48 years in prison, for the abortive attacks on the city of Bilbao and the village of Guernica.
The first attack took place in June 1994, when the terrorists placed a knapsack containing 4 kilos of amonal in a phone booth situated at the Islas Canarias Street, in the neighbourhood of San Blas, Bilbao. The explosive did not cause any harm when it was disarmed under the supervision of the police after an anonymous phone warning.
Friday, July 5, 1996
GONZALEZ DID NOT WANT TO LISTEN...
Alfonso Canas, the former Socialist Mayor of Malaga, publicly accused Felipe Gonzalez for refusing to listen to his reports about internal corruption in the PSOE as well as the payment of commissions to members and leaders of the Socialist Party. After complaining that nobody paid attention to him before it was too late, Canas explained that, I had a appointment for a meeting with Felipe Gonzalez for October 2, and two days before this date, I got a call from the secretary of defence, Fali Delgado, who was at the Palace of la Moncloa, asking about the subject I wanted to discuss with the President. When I explained to him that the subject was corruption, the meeting was cancelled and never rescheduled.
THE WAY ETA NEGOTIATES...
ETA yesterday broke its alleged truce and thanked the transferring of about thirty etarrean prisoners to correctional facilities in the Basque country with a grenade attack which aimed to kill about 20 children and their families in the headquarters of the Civil Guard in the Olite. The unsuccessful attack is not a surprise for the government , according to Mayor Oreja, who declared his solidarity with those affected, however assuring that the government policies will not change. This is the first criminal action perpetrated by the terrorist group since the end of the truce, qualified by anti- terrorist groups as a trap .
TERRORIST WILL END UP IN JAIL...
The Home Office Secretary, Mr. Jaime Mayor Oreja, stated yesterday that the criminal attack did not take the government as a surprise, but has confirmed what they realised that we are still dealing with the same ETA, with their same intolerance and their same violent attitude . He also added that there is no before and after, a purely tactical operation as a truce .
NEWS INDEX
GETTING TOUGHER WITH OFFENDERS...
The creation of infrastructures, the gradual privatisation of municipal services and the reaffirmation that there will be more harsh treatment for those who are not paying their taxes and are violating traffic rules were the bone of the speech given by Jose Alvarez del Manzano, at the conclusion of his five years as Mayor of Madrid. For the immediate future, his main concerns will be the polemic situation of Valdemingomez and the increasing drug problems.
Friday, July 5 1996
ANTI-FRAUD PLAN AIMS TO...
The Ministers Council has scheduled to pass the bill against fiscal fraud drafted by the Secretary of Trade and Treasury during todays session.
Amongst the subjects to be covered are a more stricter control of the underground economy, the value added tax, the smuggling of tobacco and oil, the hidden assets and the use of fiscal paradises for personal wealth. The Government also plans the approval of another package of measures designed to terminate unemployment and social security fraud. Their goal is to have this plan implemented in two years. To this purpose, they have announced the appointment of a commission in charge of investigation and control.
THE WAY HAS BEEN CLEARED FOR PRIVATISATION...
Pedro Ferreras, president of the Spanish Society of Industrial Participation, (SEPI), which yesterday absorbed all assets from Teneo for a value of 2.2 billions, confirmed yesterday that the board of directors of this group will clear the way for the sale of 9% of Enagas, the Gas Natural company, and also for a public sale of 4% of the shares of Gas Natural. He also stated that the privatisation of Auxini, Musini and Almagrera are almost ready to proceed.
LIBERAL WINDS BLOW FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS...
Jose Maria Vazquez Quintat, Minister of Communications, announced yesterday that the government is preparing a new package of measures to get to the bottom of the Spanish telecommunications deregulation problem. At the same time, he sent a clear message to the future partners of a second carrier Retevision who will hold the necessary legal security to operate as a dual monopoly with Telefonica, under actual operating conditions.
PROFESSIONAL CURRICULUM FOR JOURNALISM...
Fernández del Moral had just stated that there is an urgent need to create a professional college curriculum for journalism . However, currently there are more than 32.000 students in Spain pursuing careers related to communications, mainly journalism. It’s an outrageous figure, if we consider that the actual number of active professionals is right now around the 8.000. In the best scenario, this means that only 10% of these students will have the opportunity to make a living out of their professional training. Sñr Morals´ comments were made at the end of a course which had gathered some of the most prestigious personalities in Spanish journalism.
NEWS INDEX
Saturday 6
PSOE REHABILITATION DEMANDS SILENCE...
The debate on the rehabilitation of the PSOE might be postponed until the new sessions of the Federal Congress are held after the summer. Prominent leaders of the party asked yesterday all the members of the party their public silence about the internal situation. Even the secretary of the organisation, Cipria Ciscar, sent an internal memo to the general secretaries of the regional and provincial administrations demanding them to refrain from all public statements.
Ciscar expressed that there is a definite strategy set by the right wing parties and the communications media related to them , which has been designed to keep the PSOE from exercising an opposition to the government . Finally, he also issued a warning that this public debate is being used by our political opponents to question the party and its leaders .
In the memo, there are references to the cases of presumed corruption which has been discovered during the last months, indicating that the council of the PSOE has given a strong and efficient response to every internal problem almost immediately. According to Ciscar, all responsibilities have been verified and all necessary measures have been taken.
BACCALAUREATE STUDENTS DON’T PASS ALL THEIR COURSES...
The academic failure is not diminishing. Only half of the Baccalaureate students have passed all their subjects between June and September, according to the report presented by the Commissioner of Education. Five out of ten students in the First and Second courses of the Baccalaureate pass all their subjects, with four of them succeeding only after the second finals in June. During the third course, this figure is four out of ten, as stated by the final report from the Commissioner of Education for the 1994/1995 academic year which is to be discussed at the Ministry of Education.
GRAFF SETS UP HISTORY...
History was made once again. For Steffi Graf, it meant glory and the tribute of an audience that is in love with her, as well as the Championship trophy. It was the seventh Wimbledon for the German player, her twentieth Grand Slam, her title number 100 in an immaculate career. For Arantxa Sanchez Vicario instead, it meant a bitter final, the incomplete achievement, the un-ended exploit, the great relief for Jose Maria Aznar... Graff made the journey to legend in only one hour and twenty eight minutes, as she is missing only two titles to equal the record of nine Wimbledon’s held by Navratilova, and defeated Arantxa 6-3, 7-5.
Sunday July 7, 1996
CIVIL GUARD ENCOURAGED BY AZNAR...
Aznar sent an encouraging message to the Civil Guard and exhorted them to act under the most strict legality . While presiding over the awarding of diplomas at the College for Young Guards Duque de Ahumada, Aznar sent, at least, three basic messages: the support of the Government to proceed in the most strictly legal scenario, an invitation to forget the past, and a request to respect the laws, their honour, their discipline and their obedience to the legitimately established powers.
STONE AGE POLICIES...
Alfonso Guerra, vice-secretary to the PSOE, accused Jose Maria Aznar of presiding over a Government that is practising some reactionary and alms stone age policies . Guerra added that the Government is committing authentic abuse of authority.
NEWS INDEX
QUEBEC AND CATALONIA...
Jordi Pujol, President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, stated in Canada, where he is on an official visit, that Catalonia aspires to reach the same level of self-government accomplished by Quebec, the French province of the North American Country. Pujol embellished his statement saying that the majority of Catalonians is definitely not for their independence from Spain.
MINE EXPLOSION IN PALENCIA...
The corpse of Francisco Insúa Villalba, 27 years old, the miner who was buried under the flood caused by an explosion in a mine located in Palencia, was found yesterday. Also yesterday morning, his friend Jose Manuel Montiel Manrique, 38 years old, who also died as a consequence of the tragedy, was laid to rest.
EXTREMISTS AGAINST THE ‘RIAU RIAU’
Young radicals, members of the Herri Batasuna organisation, prevented the celebration of the traditional procession called Riau Riau , after repeated confrontations with the police similar to the ones that obstructed the same celebrations in 1991.
However, after the procession was cancelled, some members of the municipal corporation succeeded in reaching the church of San Lorenzo, where the vespers for San Fermin were supposed to start at 8 PM. The corporate members could not accomplish the traditional walking with La Pamplonesa.
Different groups of young abertzales , gathered at the Consistorial Plaza, halted several times the procession, which was intended to go from the municipality to the Church of San Lazaro, where the statue of San Fermin is located. The members of the corporation suffered all kinds of attacks and insults from the radicals, until the act was finally cancelled.
The Riau Riau , a procession that is celebrated on the vespers of the Day of San Fermin, is a tradition that started in 1914, and has been suspended during the last four years after the serious incidents that occurred during 1991, when five people were injured during a confrontation between the police forces and the radical youngsters, who tried to stop the procession and assaulted the Consistorial Palace. On that occasion, the authorities announced the indefinite suspension of the procession until more favourable circumstances.
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