Spain Update – Pre-electoral Campaigns & more –11th May 2023

th of May: 2023

It's pre-electoral campaign season, and left, right, and center parties are bringing out their manifestos, but how much is it all estimated to cost?

ng people turning eighteen in: 2023

tlet El Pais investigated the: 2022

According to the report, Madrid City Council invests 16% of its budget in security and citizen mobility, representing 2% of the regions in Spain that spend the most on this. On the other hand, they allocated around 4% of the total budget to culture, meaning they are in the bottom 28% of regions that allocate money to this program. In comparison, in Sant Sebastián, the Gipuzkoan council allocates 9% of its funds to cultural promotion, arguably because of its yearly film festival.

Municipalities with higher levels of tourism also have different priorities. Torrevieja Alicante, Arona, Tenerife, and San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Gran Canaria spend between 15% and 18% of their budget on waste collection, whereas larger cities barely allocate 7%. Promoting tourism is also an important allocation in places like Benidorm or Salamanca, which invest more than five times the average.

While parties are going forward with manifestos, the Central Government has given a bit more context on its housing proposals. More than half of the 40,000 new homes the Government is allocating to social and affordable rental housing will be placed on unoccupied land. This Tuesday, the 9th, the Ministry of Transport, Mobility, and Urban Agenda will approve plans to buy unoccupied land across the country belonging to the Ministry of Defence to run the project.

Once it's approved, plans are to build just over 19,000 homes. Around 10,000 will be in Madrid, with the most estimated units. A further 1,600 is proposed for Sant Boi de Llobregat in Barcelona, and around 1,500 will be built to serve Castilla y León, and many others dotted around the country. The plan, however, doesn't include proposals for the Basque Country, Navarra, or the Balearic Islands.

cal figures, according to the: 2023

While Isabel Díaz Ayuso is supposedly in favor, shock has rippled through Spanish politics after EH Bildu, the left-leaning pro-independence coalition of the Basque Country, Navarre, and Burgos, presented their candidate lists for the upcoming local and regional elections.

skatasuna or ETA, between the: 1950

a separatist party banned in: 2013

y adhere to a promise made in: 2017

Continuing with elections, the central government organized an emergency meeting on Thursday, the 11th, to discuss Spain's drought situation. Some say it's an electoral decision to showcase to the general public that the executive is doing something. The president of Andalucia, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, said this meeting is "clearly electoral."

in a long-term drought since: 2022

Speaking of the south, for those curious about Spanish cultural traditions, there are plenty, but one of the oldest is the El Rocío pilgrimage. A multi-day voyage of colorful dresses, afternoon siestas in the dry grass, caravans, and flamenco under the backdrop of Catholicism, specifically one of the many Marian pilgrimages associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Held annually, El Rocío takes place at the end of May after Sevilla's Feria de Abril and Holy Week or Semana Santa. Andalusian families prepare for months to travel from their hometowns via horseback, caravan, or walking to El Rocío, a small village in Huelva of around 1,000 people, aiming for the shrine of the Virgin. It is described as one of the most sacred representations of their culture, regardless of religious ideologies. Visitors are welcome, but it is worth pointing out that it's a cultural tradition deserving respect.

Want to find out more about the El Rocío Pilgrimage? Link in the show notes.

Next up, did you know that the 9th of May is Europe Day?

Schuman Declaration, a joint: 1950

in, which joined the union in: 1986

aims to be climate-neutral by: 2050

As part of the law, cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants were obliged to incorporate low-emission zones or ZBEs. These are designed to limit the number of polluting vehicles in certain areas. So far, since the deadline expired in December, only ten cities have complied with the law, like Madrid, Barcelona, and Barcelona’s Hospitalet de Llobregat.

Europe is rich in culture and tradition; in Spain, none are more important or confusing than the afternoon. When does it start, and when does it end? Barney Jopsen, a journalist for the Financial Times with Spanish roots, discovered that although there might be a word for the afternoon in dictionaries, "la tarde," it's way more complicated than that.

The "tarde" isn't well defined; it covers a large segment of the day before the evening- it's so up in the air that even Spanish people can't agree when it begins or ends.

A sociologist at the University of Valencia says this confusion is because mainland Spain is in the wrong time zone. If its clocks were set according to the sun, it would be on the same time as Portugal and the UK. Instead, it's one hour ahead because of Francisco Franco, who wanted Spain to be aligned with Nazi Germany, and it's been that way ever since - which means official time and solar time are constantly out of sync.

Want to find out more? Link in show notes.

Aaaand that's it for this week! Have you checked our website? Over there you can find more about us, how to contact us, and support us. Link to it in the show notes!

¡Hasta la próxima!