Tag Archives: ELECTIONS

SPANISH EMBASSIES DO NOT ALLOW CATALAN PEOPLE TO VOTE IN NEXT ELECTIONS IN CATALONIA. CAN THAT BE TRUE?

Spain has very beautilful embassies. At least the one near Hyde Park and the one in Tier garten are quite beautiful. But now I read that Catalan people are having problems to vote in Spanish embassies. This 25th of November we vote in Catalonia. The election is very important because if the Catalan nationalist parties win again this time they have agreed to ask later whether we want to become a new state of the European Union?

So, what is this non-sense that Catalan people are having problems to vote in the Spanish embassies. I cannot believe that to be true! If that was true that would mean that Spanish embassies are not acting as one would expect from a democratic country inside the EU? Is this too an internal affair of Spain that Spanish embassies are putting problems to vote? I thought that a condition to be inside the European Union is to be a democratic country so any behaviour that goes against that I think it should matter in Europe! In anycase, I do not know if its true of flase the accusation! I hope the accusation is false because if it is true, really true, this would be a terrible blow for Spain.

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SYRIZA’S ALEXIS TSIPRAS LIES ABOUT SPANISH DEAL

I am very worried that Syriza may win the Greek elections because it is obvious that Alexis Tsipras is lying when he talks about the deal of Spain.

According to Alexis Tsipras Spain got money from Europe but with the conditions attached to the Greek bailout. So, he is saying. If I am elected I won’t accept the conditions of the bailout. Spain had a bailout and it had no conditions for it.

Well, let me explain why I think he is missleading Greece:

Some days ago Spain asked for a rescue of its banks to Europe and it is true Europe accepted to lend money to Spain without the hard conditions that were asked to Greek, Irish and Portuguese. In this I agree with Alexis Tsipras. BUT HE IS LYING WHEN HE DOES NOT SAY THE FOLLOWING:

1. Europe has not put so harsh conditions to Spain because Spain has been doing what Europe has asked for months!

2. Spain, in contrast with Greece, STILL CAN FINANCE ITS DEBTS! So it has non sense that Europe asks the same to Spain than to Greece. Greece has the international markets closed so it is SEurope which has to send all the money to Greece. On the other hand Spain only asks money for its banks! No for paying pensions, etc. Spain is not fully intervened (yet …) so that the conditions cannot be the same.

3. If you compare the GDP of Greece and Spain and its population you will see that Europe is lending much more money per capita to Greece than to Spain. So the conditions cannot be the same!

4. In Spain we had a real estate buble. In Greece you just cheated Europe!

In summary it is crazy to imagine that Greek will have a better deal because Spain has had a better deal! In fact what will happen, I am afraid is that quite soon in Spain we won’t be able to sell our bonds so that we will need a full intervention from Europe! And you can be sure that if we have a full intervention then the conditions will be very very harsh. In any case, when Spain needs a full intervention, maybe just next week, you can be sure that Greece will be heading out of the eurozone if Syriza has been the winner.

And let me end by one suspicious thought! I have the feeling that Europe wants Greece out of the euro. I think a lot of Europeans are fed up of Greek tragedies so they want Greece to leave the euro. So, maybe they have given to Spain this bailout lite so that the Greek just vote Syriza! So, the people in Greeece that vote Syriza thinking that they are defying Angela Merkel they may think twince! In fact maybe a lot of people in Europe want Syriza to win! In this way we have the perfect excuse to get rid of Greece!

If you do not believe what I say just look to the news in the following days! I am sure that after the Greek elections the conditions for Spain are going to get very hard indeed! And even a full bailout may be needed!

So I think that Greek should be wise and see that the Spanish soft rescue in fact it is a hoax so that Greek vote Syriza!

People in Europe only want Greek if Greece pays back. If not Europe does not want Greece.

People in Portugal or Ireland seem not to be angry about the Spanish bailout because its top politicians maybe know that all has been a deal so that Syriza wins. They may know that after Syriza wins Spain will get a full intervention. And if Spain does not get a full intervention that would mean that the fourth largest economy of the eurozone is not so weak so that this is good news for the eurozone and for them too!

As I am almost sure that Spain will need too a full intervention I do not want Greece to be out of the euro just because top politicians in Europe have prepared a hoax to the Greek. I think that the Greek should resist! Show to the world that you can be very good at cheating to the rest of Europe but that at the same time you are serious and you pay your debts.

If Greece gives confidence to Europe I am sure that Europe will know how to help Greek people. If Greek just show defiance I think Europe will put Greece out of the euro.

This Sunday I think so it is the last opportunity for the Greek to stay in the eurozone. I just hpe that Syriza does not win. In any case, if it wins, I just wish Greece luck outside the euro. It is going to be very hard to be ouside the euro but if this is the decision of Greek voters I should accept it. Unfortunately I am afraid that Syriza, if it is in power and with Greece out of the euro won’t be able to rule Greece for long so that news elections will be needed. But then it would be too late to return to the eurozone.

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MARIANO RAJOY FIRST MISTAKE

Sometimes the small details tell us a lot about someone. Today I have read a news about the possible new president of Spain, Mariano Rajoy. The detail I have read may seem small but it may tell volumes about the possible new president.

The detail is the following: Mariano Rajoy has said that he’s quite happy in his house and that in its party program does not say that he is going to live in LA MONCLOA.

La Moncloa is the house where Spanish prime ministers live (it is the 10 Downing Street for Spain)

The fact that he says that he is very cozy at his house and that he is not thinking about going to live in La Moncloa seems to me a detail that is quite a worry!

LA MONCLOA is the first new challenge that a Spanish Prime Minister must pass. If he does not go to live there the image he gives is that he seems afraid of new challenges!

I am also worried about this detail because now Europe is the real issue. A person that does not want to leave his house to go to La Moncloa I cannot imagine himself being quite happy to travel abroad to see Angela Merkel or Nicolas Sarkozy!

If foreign heads of state come to Spain it is obvious that they must be welcome in an adequate place. Is he going to receive people in his own house? Is his house big enough to receive foreign people? Does his kitchen is big enough to prepare good food for foreign politicians?

I think that what Europe wants from Spain is a prime minister that speaks languages and that it is open to the world! A person that even does not want to live in La Moncloa sounds weird.

Can you imagine that Barack Obama did not want to live in The White House but prefer to live in a private house in Washington?

I like eccentricity and in some way I find funny if Mariano Rajoy does not go to La Moncloa (if he is the winner) But this little detail of not wanting to go to La Moncloa seems to me to be a very bad sign for a man that still has not been even elected.

How will be able to ask flexibility to the workers if he does not have the flexibility to move to his possible new workplace? Does not Mariano Rajoy realise that not wanting to go to La Moncloa can be seen not as a sign of a sparing man but of a lazy man?

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy...

ZAPATERO AND RAJOY IN LA MONCLOA

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SPANISH BAILOUT POSSIBLE?

This Sunday there are general elections in Spain but because the markets are abstract things without soul their only logic is to win money or not to lose money so that the markets don’t pause in its attack to the Spanish sovereign debt. If the markets were run in a human way it would be agood idea that the days before a general election they could show a bit of respect for the democracy process which is going to take place.

Anyway, I was just wondering if Spain would need a bailout just some days before the election or just some days after! This is crazy! Markets run so fast and democracy runs so slow! Even if Mariano Rajoy is elected this Sunday he won’t be in charge until some weeks! So, who would ask for a bailout if needed?

In any case, Can Spain ask for a bailout? Is there money left for a Spanish bailout? And for a Spanish and Italian bailout?

If the ECB does not start printing money we are heading for disaster. It is obvious that printing money to rescue countries is not a part of the ECB task but I imagine that the responsability of the ECB is to rescue the eurozone at least! And if Spain and Italy falls then the eurozone falls!

I think that Germany is making a big mistake! It is not realizing that it is better to have a weak euro than not have a common currency. Eurozone countries should converge to German standards but Germany should try to converge too into the eurozone as a whole!

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WILL A NEW GOVERNMENT IN SPAIN MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE?

Mariano Rajoy en Barcelona

CAN MARIANO RAJOY MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE?

In some days we have elections in Spain. The polls say that the winner will be Mariano Rajoy, the leader of the Partido Popular (PP). At the same time these hours the markets are attacking again the Spanish sovereign debt. So, as there are very few doubts that the next president will be Mariano Rajoy (by a large majority it seems) I have the feeling that the possible new government of Mariano Rajoy is not bringing peace to the markets.

The party of Mariano Rajoy says that a government of him will be good for the markets but I think that the situation is so bad that the markets distrust Spain in general.

Maybe a lot of people will vote Mariano Rajoy believing that by voting him the markets will trust Spain but as far as I see I think this maybe not the case. By that I don’t mean that a possible win of Rubalcaba would improve or worsen the markets.

It is so weird! The situation is currently so bad that maybe in Spain we should not be voting for the party that may be good to calm the markets in the long run but just now!

I feel we are in an emergency!

It is as a family that owes money to the landlord and the landlord askes for the rent. The family tells the landlord that now they are deciding who will ahndle the economy in the family. For the landlord it is important just to get the rent so he is frustrated with the internal decisions inside the family.

In some way now we have a shock between markets and democracy! Markets run fast and Democracy runs slow! Markets should then run less or Democracy must be faster!

I feel as if I was inside a Greek Tragedy. And I know I am just in the first scene of it. It is awful.

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WILL MARIANO RAJOY BE A GOOD PRESIDENT?

Mariano Rajoy

WILL MARIANO RAJOY BE A GOOD PRESIDENT?

If you ask people who will vote PP in the next elections they will tell you so and people who will vote, for example, PSOE, will tell you the opposite. One could also ask oneself what I mean by being a good president.

I am quite worries about Mariano Rajoy because now it is not just that he is from the right or the left it is just the fact that he may be a good or bad politician.

Spain is in one of its worst situations since decades so if Mariano Rajoy becomes president what he does will affect Spain in an incredible way. In fact the eurozone future is also related to what Mariano rajoy acts.

I do not know if he can be a good or bad president. In anycase I just hope that he knows to be together with the right people.

Whatever he does I will always ask myself what Rubalcaba have done in his case. And I mean in his case because it Rubalcaba loses what he may do maybe quite different from what he might have done if winner. Anyway, we still have to vote.

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COMMENT ON THE RESULTS OF THE ELECTIONS IN SPAIN

Strauss-Kahn at the FICCI, India

DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN

BEFORE THE ELECTION BEGINS …

I have good reasons to begin writing this post in advance. As we have had protest this week in Spain this elections this Sunday are very special. In Catalonia we just wote for local elections but in Spain there are 13 regoins where they also vote for their autonomuos governments.

The people who protest have said that they will continue protesting after the election day.

It is crazy but the protests have been such a major event that I even have to tell to myself that it is this Sunday that elections are taking place. I have had my thought out of the election and totally in the protests.

I wonder how the protest will be heard in the election. Less people will vote? More people will vote? Will there be surprises?

This is quite weird because the political parties these days seemed to be almost the political parties of another country in another continent because the protests were so impressive that I did not care a damm about the politicians. After all, it was the same thing as always. So boring! Each politician fighting to get his job or her job secured.

I which it was possible to vote too against. So that thanks to the vote there were less politicians! That you could vote for empty seats!

Anyway, it is too late. I am gong to sleep. This has been one of the most interesting weeks I have ever lived here. I am so proud of young people in Catalonia and Spain. All the protest has been very peaceful and the police has acted also with common sense. Just the opposite of Syria.

Some may see these protests in Spain as a sign of the bad situation that Spain is living with such a hight rate of unemployment. I see these protests as a sign that the youth people in Spain have finally began to work for their future.

ONCE THE ELECTION HAS ENDED …:

Well, I am a bit tired and I must sleep but just let me tell you that the right has won the elections. In Catalonia Barcelona, for the first time in recent democracy, we will have a nationalist party with Xavier Trias ahs the mayor of Barcelona. One of the sad news is that in more towns now we will have tto a xenophobic party.

All this is happening at the same time that the squares of the towns are places for young to protest. They do not seem happy with the current system.

So, I think that we have a very big problem. This people in the street and the results of the election do not seem to me to match.

I am worried because I see here a crash between what has happened in the polls and the protesters.

I think that the result of the election will bring ever more frustration to the protesters. They are not happy with politicians but these politicians have been just elected!

I think that the polticians, the ones who will rule our cities, for example, should listen to these protesters. It is important to listen to them because if you do not listen to them then we are creating a big problem.

If the new rulers of our city do not care for the problems of these people in the street then these people, even if they are not the majority, they can make that all the cities become less nice. Protesters during months and months in the squares does not seem to me a good prospect for the future.

Something should be done.

I wonder what will happen now.

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#globalcamp PROTESTS ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY HAVE BEEN BANNED IN SPAIN. SHOULD WE PROTEST ANYHOW?

Plaça Catalunya at night.

PLAÇA CATALUNYA

This Saturday and this Sunday are going to be very important days in the history of the Spanish state because I am afraid that Spain maybe the focus of world attention because demonstrations have been banned for Saturday and Sunday.

We have elections on Sunday and on Saturday we have a day to reflect. The day before an election the political parties stop asking for votes and it is a day for people to reflect about the election.

As Puerta dle Sol in Madrid is full of people ans so is Plaça Catalunya in Barcelona I am afraid that this Friday evening we are going to have a very very big problem in Spain.

According to law thses people should leave the squares or this seems to be what we just know now. On the other hand the protesters have already said that they won’t leave the squares.

So what’s next?

When you are in a dictatorship and the dictatorship tells you not to protest you always can defy the ban because you do not agree with the dictatorship.

But in a democracy what are you defying when you want to remain in a square that is banned?

This is very serious because if you let protesters carry on then other people may do the same in the future. On the other hand the use of police canbe very dangerous and bring more trouble.

In someway, this weekend Spain is going to have a test. A very difficult test?

I am very worried of what may happen and I add this worry to the worry that I have for month about the cuts and cuts that are coming. In some way, it is months since I fear that something wrong may happen in Spain.

A country with almost 50% jobless youth cannot stay calm forever.

I think tha tthe problem we are having now in Spain is also a probem of generations. We are govern by old generations and the big problem is with the youth.

Some months ago when I watch the demonstrations in Tahrir Square in Egypt I thought: Well, at least the Egyptian can through its anger to a dictatorship. But here, in the West, if we are unhappy, what can we do?

The answer of the youth people has been to go to the squares and protest. But the current democracy seems that is more worried to protect the traditional parties geting its votes than the voice of the youth.

We are always hearing that there is a lot of abstention, that young people only think to have fun. Then, once in a generation, they protest and then what is the answer: SHUT UP!

I understand perfectly well that some young are tired of current politicians. Politics currently here is so awful. I do not trust any of the politicians not even the ones who share somve of my political views.

In some way, the democracy we have in spain is still analogue and we need a digital democracy.

I think that in the next months the situation in Spain will worsen because the dreams are broken here.

One day, I do not know when, some of the youth that we are now saying in Plaça Catalunya or Puerta del Sol will rule Spain or Catalonia.

The people who protest now, or some of them, were born after 1986, so they have always been part of the European Union. On the other hand current politicians seemed to come from almost the Franco times. it is necessary that the young people get represented!

So my answer to SHOULD WE PROTEST ANYHOW is that each person must think very well what to do because what we do this weekend is going to have a long reprecussion in this part of Europa. At the very least.

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CATALONIA DEBT IN THE FINANCIAL TIMES

UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hospital de la San...

Image by Arjan Richter via Flickr

This Sunday we have local elections in Spain and there are fears that with changes in some regional governments we will know more about the real debts of regional governments. In Catalonia we have local elections only. Last November we had elections and we had a change of government. Some months ago the Catalan government talke about cuts in education and health but now, because of the election this Sunday, there is silence about it.

But as I have said after this Sunday we may have bad news from Spain because once the elections have passed then we may know about the real debts and the cuts needed too.

What you can read in the article of the Financial Times is quite known in Spain but I just want to say that some peole in Spain are using the crisis to attack the system of 17 autonomies in Spain. When the real big debt comes from central government.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/6e89358c-7fee-11e0-b018-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz1MYlD8MVD

In Catalonia we pay a lot of taxes and we receive less than we give to the other parts so now when the central governments asks us to cut and cut the feeling is a bit awful.

The news about Catalonia differ a lot if they come from Catalonia or from Barcelona. I do not know why but the Financial Times always offers the version from Madrid.

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