Thoughts from Galicia, Spain:. 7.3.19

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.

            Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain

Note: As it's Thursday, some of the items below have been borrowed from Lenox Napier's Business Over Tapas

Spain

• I asked yesterday why properties remained empty while rents rose. Lenox has suggested it's because they're more valuable empty than occupied.
• Another possible explanation is that tenants' rights are seen as too onerous by owners. If so, the situation is about to get worse. See also The Local here.
• The annual Fallas are imminent. Here's news of the solution to one serious problem facing las falleras. Which introduces us - or at least me - to the word updo.
• Talking of styles . . . All nations have identifiable clothing. One of Spain's is the (upper middle class?) male uniform of sleeveless puffer jacket, check shirt and beige, yellow or red trousers. Not for me, I have to admit.
• An interesting development, I think national  . . . Restaurants will be compelled - in the interests of stopping wastage - to give clients doggy bags of surplus food, on pain of large fines if they don't. Which reminds me that 'Tupperware' is known in Spanish as el Tupper (tooper). I don't know why the double P is retained, possibly because it is/was as brand name. It achieves nothing in Spanish.
• Corruption National: A comprehensive analysis of one of Spain's (many) huge scandals. The one which brought down the last PP government. 
• Corruption Local:  A Vigo surgeon(sic) is looking at 9 years in stir for performing at least 31 operations in which he didn't install what he said he had.
• Local News:-

- I think they've chucked some stuff into the holes in the tarmac on the bridge. As ever, it won't last for long.
- I have a film night in my house on Thursdays, when I'm joined by 3 Spanish friends. It starts at 8pm. Last week, they arrived at 8.15, 8.25 and 8.45. It's pure coincidence, I guess, that they're all female. So, very busy . . . .

The EU

• There's an open letter to M Macron below.

Spanish

• Words of the Day:- 

- Flipar. 
- Trotar, to trot
- Galopar, to gallop. Both said by the Royal Academy to come from French. But, in fact, originally from Frankish German. Or maybe Sanskrit . . .
- A real treat, for some of us at least:  The influence of Arabic on Iberian languages. Nice to see the mention of Galician-Portuguese (Galaico-Portugués).

English

• Another treat . . . The influence of Scandinavian languages on English.

Finally . . .

• Having read the obit of Albert René, I know now something I didn't when I met him - He'd studied at King's College, London and I was on my way there to study law, having postponed entry for a year to do VSO. Also, I taught at the college mentioned there, where one of my pupils was the future 'playboy' president, Jimmy Mancham. Later ousted by René in the coup described in the obit. Maybe they were both very fond of women because the ratio to men was said to be 7:1 when I was there. Which I was far too young to take advantage of.
• By coincidence, the Seychelles are in the news this morning. AGW, I guess. Didn't catch the item.
• A conversation with my dentist last night, as he inserted a new crown:-

Him: How does it feel?
Me: Fine. But I don't like the colour.
Him: But you didn't see it.
Me: No, it's a joke.
Him: Ah, I didn't get it.
Me (sotto voce): No me digas.

THE LETTER

Dear Mr Macron, your arrogance will only make Europe’s problems worse.

Cher President Macron,

It’s kind of you to write, especially when you’ve had so much going on at home recently. I share many of your concerns about Europe’s future, but we disagree profoundly about some of the causes of Europe’s problems and the right solutions to them. At the start of your letter, you launch a bitter attack on Brexit. But perhaps it would be worth reflecting more on why the Continent’s second biggest economy (yep, sorry), and one of Europe’s most innovative, tolerant and diverse societies chose to leave.

This wasn’t some fit of pique – or a bolt from the blue. As David Cameron warned in 2013, democratic consent for the EU was “wafer thin” in the UK. These problems have been building for a long time.

Now, I know you don’t agree with the result of our referendum. You opposed us holding one altogether. But you will recognise that the right to exit is afforded to every member in EU law through a fundamental treaty. I recall you telling Andrew Marr that France would “probably” have voted to leave, if it was asked. You may prefer that the choice is never offered, but that’s hardly a sustainable basis for democratic legitimacy.

You argue that Brexit is a “lie”, and complain British people weren’t told the “truth”. You even invoke a Trumpian “fake news” charge. Did you actually follow our debates before the referendum? It often seemed the whole country was discussing the merits of the Single Market and what it would mean to leave the EU. Turnout was high.

No one would claim that the referendum process was perfect, but many of your claims are simply wrong. You ask who “mentioned the risks to peace in Ireland”? Well, Tony Blair and John Major warned about the possibility of a border in the event of Brexit at a joint appearance at the University of Ulster before the referendum.

17.4 million people voted to leave the EU. To suggest that they were “retreating into nationalism” or hadn’t been told about “losing access to the EU market” is an insult to them and to our political processes. You ask who “told” people “the truth about their post-Brexit future”?

Perhaps you’re not clear how our democracy works. We don’t have an independent arbiter of “the truth”. What happens is both sides make their own arguments. There’s a dialectic. Then the public - the voters - decide who they trust more.

But I think your de haut en bas attitude towards Brexit belies the real problem - people voted for something with which you profoundly disagree. There’s nothing wrong with opposing Britain leaving the EU, but please don’t insult the intelligence of our electorate.

I was struck that your letter largely conflates Europe with the EU, eliding the distinction between a political union of 27 members and the broader concerns of our continent which includes proud nations such as Switzerland, Norway and - soon - the UK, which are friends and allies of the EU but outside of that political bloc.

Your letter has various suggestions for improving the EU. Some may be welcome, others less so. But each proposal involves the EU gaining further powers and greater influence over people’s lives, at the expense of sovereign states, when we both know that right across the bloc a strong majority want the EU to do the precise opposite. For you, it seems the answer to every question is always more Brussels.

Of course it will be up to you and other leaders to determine the EU’s future, once Britain has left. But I would caution you to proceed slowly. Listen to Dutch or Danish concerns about your plans for a eurozone budget and shared finance minister. Try to understand Italian anger about your support for a German permanent UN Security Council seat, when that overturns a long tacit understanding that France would never back Germany at Italy’s expense.

Did I miss the part where you acknowledged that rather than allowing us to resist the “crises of financial capitalism”, the euro is helping destroy the hopes of a generation across Southern Europe through rampant structural youth unemployment?

You praise the “thousands of projects” backed by the EU – schools, roads and high-speed internet - without mentioning the taxpayers who generously fund them especially in net contributor states like Britain. You demand a Single Asylum Policy, despite knowing how controversial that is, above all for Eastern Europe. You claim to see Europe as a “project” but balk at the Dutch buying a stake in Air France and nationalised your Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard to stop the Italians gaining control of it.

The United Kingdom and France, Europe’s premier military powers with long and intertwined national histories, have a particular responsibility for protecting the post-war global architecture. As we leave the EU, Britain has given a unilateral security commitment to Europe. We enjoy unprecedented military and intelligence cooperation at a bilateral Anglo-French level. Yet it sometimes feel that when it comes to security you want to have your cake and eat it.  For example, you want British helicopters to support your operations in Mali. But you were also instrumental in blocking post-Brexit full participation for Britain in the Galileo satellite project. British officials are determined to avoid a drop in shared security capabilities when we leave the EU, yet I hear again and again that France is the most inflexible when it comes to considering how we can work with the EU, from outside, to protect lives across our whole continent.

Monsieur le President, I was delighted when you were elected - and not just because it meant your prime rival, Marine Le Pen’s, defeat. No, I supported you because I passionately believe a strong France is good for Britain, Europe, and the world.

And yet now I worry that your arrogance risks exacerbating Europe’s problems not resolving them, that you are furthering divides not addressing them. You mention an upcoming Conference for Europe. I’d be more than happy to attend and give a British, pro-European but pro-Brexit  perspective on how we can best address our shared challenges.