It's
been said that taking people to court - via a denuncia - is
Spain's national pastime. Whether you can do this for both civil and
criminal offences, I'm not sure. But I do get the
impression there's no concept of a frivolous case and that the
Spanish judicial system is pretty clogged up with these petitions. So
it's probably a good thing that a bit of a brake has been applied via an increase in court fees. Numbers were down 3% in
2013 and are expected to reduce again this year. Poor lawyers.
Spain
has been - and remains - one of the biggest recipients of EU funds -
a total of
€300 billion since it joined in 1986. During this period, the
country has been utterly transformed, with per capita income shooting
from €7,000 to €23,000 a year. So it's not very surprising that -
despite what Brussells-imposed austerity has done to Spain in the
last few years - the EU remains more popular here than elsewhere. If
not quite as much as it used to be. More than 58% of Spaniards are still in favour of the EU, compared
with 75% in 2007. Only 30% disfavour it. As El
País put it "Other studies
show how deep-rooted pro-European feeling is in Spain. Accession to
the union meant definitive closure on the dark past of the
dictatorship and isolation." As someone has said, "It's
difficult to find an autovía, AVE high-speed train, bridge or port
in Spain which wasn't financed with EU funds". The end result is
a level of involvement in the upcoming EU elections which will
probably exceed that of most other members. Despite (or because of?)
the disdain most Spaniards understandably display to their
homegrown politicians.
Talking
of Spanish politicians . . . There seems to be talk of a unity
government in the air, comprising the 2 leading parties. Which would
surely be a stretch as they couldn't even get together to tackle
corruption. But, then there's no political will in respect of the
latter. Among other reasons.
Yesterday
I wrote to my car insurance company, asking them to reply to either
of my previous 2 messages. They called me today and the guy asked me
to confirm that I was Mr Davies and that I'd written to them about an
accident in the UK. Then he asked me - 'just for security' - to give
him my ID number. In case, I suppose, that the person answering my
phone and familiar with the subject was someone pretending to be me.
There
was a cartoon - by Roto - in El Pais the other day,
showing a matador administering the final sword thrust through the
bull's shoulders. The latter is saying, "Maestro, why don't we
talk about it?" Although he could be saying "Why didn't we
talk about it?", as the present and past tenses are the same for
the first person plural in Spanish. This is one of the early fences
you have to get over in tackling the language.
What
do foreigners think of the Brits they live among? Here's one batch of
amusing responses.
Finally
. . . The King of Galicia's Gipsies - whose family attacked the lawyer
of someone he was suing - goes under the unfortunate name
of Morón.
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