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E L P E R I D I C O G L O B A L E N E S P A O Lwww.elpais.com TUESDAY, JANUARY3, 2012

ENGLISH EDITION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

CYCLIST KILLED IN BARCELONA. A 49-year-old woman was killed on Monday afternoon in Barcelona after being hit by a heavy truck at a roadintersection. The woman, whose body had not yet been removed from the scene when the above photo was taken, was riding a bicycle hired from the cityspublic rental scheme. She was traveling in a lane set aside for cyclists but one that runs alongside a main thoroughfare for regular vehicles. A similar fatalaccidenttook placein thesamebicyclelanelastyear. The truckdriver reportedly failedto seethe cyclist when turning at the intersection. / andreu dalmau (efe)

Traffic fatalities in Spain lastyear dropped for the eighth yearin a row, authorities said Mon-day. There were 250 fewerdeaths on the road in 2011 thanduring the previous year. And forthe first time in half a century,the number of motoring fatalitiesfell to a figure below 1,500.

There were 1,479 deaths onSpanish roads in 2011, saidInteri-or Minister Jorge FernndezDaz, who also applauded the

magnificent work of traffic di-rectorPereNavarro,who wasap-pointed by the Socialist govern-ment in 2004.

Spain is oneof several Europe-an countries that have reportedfewer traffic deaths in the pastseveral years. It is only naturalthat Spain follow the same evolu-tion that is occurring in the bestcountries in Europe when itcomes to road safety, Navarrosaid, adding that it has been adifficult task trying to keep theroad fatality rates down.

Finance Minister Cristbal Mon-toro on Monday said the Cabinetwill unveil further measures torein in the budget deficit.

The incoming conservativePopular Party government on

Friday announced tax hikes andspending cuts worth some 14.9billion euros after revealing thebudget deficit for lastyear wouldovershoot the previous adminis-trations target of six percent ofGDP by a full two percentagepoints.

Montoro did not say if thenew measures, to be announcedon Thursday, would include fur-ther belt-tightening measures orinitiatives to boost growth. Theminister said the new batch ofmeasures will show Spains Euro-pean partners that the countryhas a government capable oftaking decisions.

In an interview with Spanishradio stationCadena SER,Econo-my Minister Luis de Guindossaid thefinal figurefor last yearsshortfall could even come in

above eight percent. It is possi-ble, he said. I hope it wont beby much.

During its campaign for theNovember 20 general elections,the PP had pledged not to hiketaxes. De Guindos said the gov-ernment, which took office in

the third week of December, hadonly detected the blowout in thecountrys finances days beforeannouncing last Fridays mea-

sures, which he justified as anexercise in responsibility.

The economy minister ar-gued the austerity drive wasneeded to ensure Spain meetsthe target agreed with the Euro-pean Commission for reducingits budget deficit this year to 4.4

percent. If the government hadnot taken the measures, theywould have been imposed onus, he said. Continued on page 6

Repossessions Pages 4 & 5

Catalan police are investigatingthe death of a woman in Girona,

in what might be the first caseof domestic violence of theyear.The bodies of a Ukrainian

couple were found lifeless in-side their home by their daugh-ter, who had tried to reach themall day. Natalya Platukhina, 54,was found to have sustained astrong blow to the head, whileOleksandre Platukhin, 53, had aknife wound on his neck anddeep cuts on his wrists.

The evidence suggests thathe committed suicide after kill-ing her, investigators said.There were no previous com-plaints against Platukhina fordomestic violence.

If the crime were to fall intothe gender violence category, itwould be the first of the yearafter the 60 deaths reported last

year.

Road fatalities downfor eighth year in a row

The duke of Palma, Iaki Urdan-garin, was the visible face of amoney-diversion operation runthrough his not-for-profitNos In-stitute andwas involvedin invisi-ble transfers to fiscal paradises

through front companies, accord-ing to the anti-corruption prose-cutor working on the Palma Are-na case, Pedro Horrach.

Urdangarin,King Juan Carlosson-in-law, andhis business part-nerDiego Torres, as well as high-ranking former members of theBalearic and Valencia regionalPopular Party, stand accused ofmisappropriationof publicfunds,falsifying documents, fraud and

corruption for organizingrigged tenders and issuingfalseinvoices. Continued on page 3

See Opinion page 2

Why evictedhomeowners areresigned to fate

Woman dies in2012s first case ofdomestic violence

EL PAS, Madrid

Urdangarin wasvisible face of cashsiphon operation

Cabinet to unveil furthermeasures to trim deficitShortfall last year may exceed eight percent of GDP

SUSANA FARRERS, Girona

A. MANRESA, Palma de MallorcaF. G. / A. S., Madrid

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2 EL PAS, Tuesday, January 3, 2012

OPINION AND EDITORIAL

THE STENCH of theGrtel corruption scan-dal fills the High Court of Valencia,which this week will witness the finalstretch of the trial concerning the suitsallegedly received as bribes by the ex-pre-mier of the Valencia regional govern-ment, Francisco Camps, and by theformer secretary of the Popular Party(PP) in Valencia, Ricardo Costa. A smellof contempt for the public good, of hol-low flattery and unctuous conversations,and, above all, of shameful connivancebetween a network created solely for ap-propriating public money, by thosewhose duty it was to protect it and man-age it with care.

The forced resignation of Camps inlarge measure defused the politicalcharge associated with the trial. Rajoysroad to the prime ministerial mansionwas thus cleared of an annoying obsta-cle: the appearance of a sitting regionalpremier before a judge and jury. But hisresignation did not entirely eliminate thepolitical charge; Camps is before thecourt for what he allegedly did whilehead of the regional government.

The fact that Camps hasdeclared him-self absolutely innocent, and not justplain innocent, squares well with hisclaim, as an argument against his trial,that he is the most widely accepted pre-mier in history. Yet the excellence heclaims for himself is not apparent in his

record: his mandate has left the Valenciaregion spattered withcases of corruption the most recent one being that of thepublic company Emarsa, charged withthe treatment of sewage in the Valencia

metropolitan area. To this bad manage-ment theruinous state of Valencian finan-cial institutions must be added, and pub-lic accounts that border on the status of

junk bonds.Exercising his right as a merely inci-

dental figure in the case, Camps mayhave lied in court, sowing confusion andattempting to empathize with the juryas he says he empathized with his dearfriend lvaro Prez, aka El Bigotes, thehead of the Valencia branch of the Grtelnetwork. He has been able to offer noproof at all that he bought the 12 suits,four jackets and nine other garmentsthat came to his wardrobe by way ofGrtel. The cashier of the shops that soldthese garments has no record of pay-ment. The head tailor of these shops,Jos Toms, has stated who paid: PabloCrespo, thenumbertwo figurein thenet-work after Francisco Correa.

In addition, the other two high publicofficials implicated, Vctor Campos andRafael Betoret, who admitted in courtthat their suits had been gifts fromGrtel, have, like it or not, become solidwitnesses for the prosecution. If Grtelshowered them with gifts, with all themore reason the heads of the regionalgovernment andparty must have been soshowered. The Grtel case, though splitup into different trials, is materially oneand the same. The case of the suits is, if

you like, the cherry on top of the cake lucrative contracts for public events ob-tained by the network which makesthe cherrys meaning clear to even themost obtuse.

The stenchof Grtel

The trial of Camps reveals habits that explain

the corruption in the Valencia region

Continuing the habit ofthe last term ofoffice,Mar-iano Rajoy has started thenew one by not respond-ing to questions from themedia, and by extension,from citizens. This atti-tude disregards the citi-zens right to know the in-tentions of the govern-ment. However, it is not

just Rajoy who is responsi-ble, but also you the me-dia, for giving coverage tomere propaganda, whichis what statements be-come when there are no

questions or answers.The solution should be

silence. No media cover-age to press conferenceswithout questions. Thepoliticians need the mediato communicate or pub-licize their achieve-ments; youneedthe politi-cians to fill your newspa-pers and airwaves. But wethe citizens need and de-mand the information tobe complete and truthful.If one of the sides thepoliticians is not dis-posed to do that, the othershould not makethe gameeasy for them.Fernando

de Fuentes.Collado Villal-ba, Madrid.

EDICIONES EL PAS, SOCIEDAD LIMITADA

PRESIDENT

Juan Luis CebrinCHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Jos Luis SainzCHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Jos ngel Garca OleaEDITOR

Javier MorenoDEPUTY EDITORS

Vicente Jimnez & Llus Bassets

EDITOR ENGLISH EDITION:James BadcockEDICIONES EL PAS SL is aGRUPO PRISAcompany.PRESIDENT:Ignacio PolancoCHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER:

Juan Luis CebrinDEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE

OFFICER:Fernando Abril-Martorell

Lettersto the Editor

Letters submitted to this sec-tion should not exceed 20typed lines. It is imperative thateach one is signed and is com-plete with an address, tele-phone number and DNI orpassport number of the au-thor. EL PAS reserves the rightto publish such pieces, eitherin shortened version or as anextract when it is consideredopportune. Unless otherwisestated, original letters will notbe returned, nor will informa-tion be made available about

them by mail or by phone.Email: iht@elpais.es

In his speech to parliament, the kingcalled for a strengthening of confidencein our institutions a priority, no doubt.But the prolonged applause he receivedbefore he spoke is not the best way ofanswering this call. The monarchy is ina tight corner due to a member of theroyal familys irregular behavior, whichwasnot stopped in time. The reaction ofthe great majority of deputies was toclose ranks behind the king. If we keepin mind that both parties had a hand inUrdangarins deals, by commission (thePopular Party) or omission (the Social-ists), by applauding the king, the parlia-mentarians were really applaudingthemselves. Leaving Urdangarin as the

only villain in the movie, a scapegoatwho frees the political leaders of respon-sibility for what they did, or allowed tobe done, in the vicinity of the crown.

This parliamentary castes reactionnourishes the citizens ideaof theinstitu-tions as a closedworld,remotefromreal-ity. And it isa bad omenforthestrength-ening of confidence in our institutions.What is the origin of this distrust? It hasbeen said that if you are interested inknowing what really happens in a soci-ety or an ideology, you only have to fol-low the money trail. The principal fac-tor in institutional discredit is undoubt-edlycorruption. Weare gettingever clos-er to the day when the citizen will sim-ply surrender, and resign himself to see-

ing the political class as a closed club,whose noisy parliamentary squabblesare part of a comedy staged to protectunmentionable interests they all share.

Thepoliticalpartieshave beenfar tooslow in addressing this problem. Theirinsistence in putting candidates who arefacing corruption chargesin court up forreelection, in utilizing the vote as an ab-solution of responsibilities, in maintain-ing unsustainable situations in spite ofobvious facts, all serve to foment theidea that corrupt politicianshave a hugepower of blackmail over the leaders oftheir parties.

The ritual so often seen, of passing

quite suddenly from unconditional sup-port of theaccused, to leaving himutter-ly alone when he or she definitively be-comes a liability, confirms the cruelty ofpolitics as a game of complicity withoutfriendship.The useof theargument thatthe majority of politicians are honest asa reason to not make the fight againstcorruption an absolutepriority weakensthestruggle against this pathology of de-mocracy.

Insucha precarious situation, wearenow facing a quantum leap in the prob-lem. With the process of globalization historically, money and crime have beenthefirst to globalize corruption threat-ens to become systemic. The Spanishdemocratic regime hasno defensemech-

anisms prepared to cope with omnipo-tent corporations and organized crime.And if the politicians are unaware of theproblem, they are in need of a kick frompublic opinion.

The crisis has worsened the poor im-age of politics.The governments inabili-ty to take the lead in bringing us out ofthe crisis, after the bank bailouts in2008; the substitution of democraticallyelected governments by technocratswith links to the big banks that causedthe disaster; the imposition of drasticausterity measures that jeopardize ourmodel of society, keeping these mea-sures under wraps in the electoral cam-paigns and avoiding public debate; therapidpassageof figureswithpoliticalre-

sponsibilitiesto corporatepostsand busi-ness lobbies; and the transfer of finan-cial executives to posts of political pow-er, all form part of a long list of evidencethat weakens the credibility of politics.

Strengthening confidence in institu-tions means prioritizing thefight againstcorruption, so that it will not becomesystemic. And it means ending indiffer-ence among the public caused by behav-ing as a closed caste. If the idea is con-

veyed from on high that money is allpowerful and that politics is impotent,the only thing we will achieve is to nor-malize corruption in society.

No questions, no coverage

Strengthening confidence

EL ROTO

Perspective can be deceiving. What looks like a disaster down there is clearly visible

from up here as a great opportunity.

JOSEP RAMONEDA

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EL PAS, Tuesday, January 3, 2012 3

NEWS

The administrative council ofRadio-Television Espaola(RTVE) will meeton Wednesdayto study how the governmentsproposed cutbacks will affectthe state broadcaster.

On Friday, the new PopularParty administration an-nounced that it will slashRTVEs budgetby 200million eu-ros a drastic amount for thestruggling network, which isstill adapting to a new commer-cial-free financing scheme.

At least 80 percent of the 550million-euro direct governmentsubsidy RTVE received last yearhas already been committed.

The networks annual budgetstands at 1.2 billion euros.

But some boardmembersarealready talking about reintro-ducing television advertising tohelp offset the government cut-backs. There is also discussionover selling the rights to somesports programs and maybeeven pulling the plug on one ofits channels. (Besides its flag-ship La Primera, RTVE alsoowns and operates La 2, Canal24 horas, Clan-TV, TVE-HD andTeledeporte. It also broadcastsfive radio stations.)

Regardless of what measuresthe board plans to take, RTVE

officialshave said that there willbeno layoffs. However,RTVEal-so warned that the estimatedone billion euros remaining af-ter the 200-million-euro trim isnot enough for the state broad-casting network to operate suffi-

ciently. The council is still wait-ing for a legal opinion from itslawyers before deciding whatdi-ection to take.

Santos Ruesga, a professor inpplied economics and a mem-er of the board representing

the UGT labor union, says thestudy should determine howmuch money RTVE can raiseand how much it can spend.

Ruesga is in favor of bringingback paid publicity to the televi-sion network. Advertising waseliminated a year ago after theSocialist government intro-duced a new financing model, amove that was applauded by

viewers who got fed up with thelong commercial breaks be-tween programs.

Three minutes for everyhour, Ruesga insists, addingthat viewers wont notice toomuch because RTVE currentlybroadcasts four minutes of in-house ads for its own programs.

Ruesga proposes substi-tuting the networksown publicity slots for

commercial advertise-ments.

Accordingto some cal-culations, RTVE couldrake in some 100 millioneuros if it decides to rein-troduce advertising. Butbefore commercials areput back on air,there arehurdles that must becleared.

We willhave to modi-fy the financing law,says Ruesga, who is cur-rently serving as head ofthe board in RTVEs ro-tating presidency. Butbefore the government

makes this decision, itwill have to consult withthe private channels be-cause there will be dropsin advertising costs.

Under the financinglaw, whichhas only beenin effect for a year, RTVEreceives its funding froma pot that is fed by thetaxlevied onothertelevi-sion networks, radio sta-tions and telephone com-panies for the use of thefrequency spectrum, aswell as by a special taxon telecoms operators.The government also pro-

vides RTVE with its an-nual subsidy.Miguel ngel Sa-

caluga, the Socialist rep-resentative on the RTVEboard, says the PP gov-ernments cutbacks willsuffocate the corpora-tion. It is unreasonable.RTVE will end up mak-ing adjustments by hav-ingto layoff some40 per-centof its workforce, hesays. The telecommuni-cations operators andthe other television net-works may end up decid-ing whether to pay less

to finance RTVE.Before discussing so-lutions at hand, the ad-ministrative councilwants to know whetherreduction of revenue

will also have to go hand-in-hand with a reduction in spend-ing. One of the biggest eventsthat is already in jeopardy is theLondon 2012 Olympics. RTVEwill have to pay 70 million eurosfor the transmission rights.

No one wants the OlympicGames.Theycosta lotof money,they dont last very long, andthere arent many viewers, saysRuesga.

Broadcast rights to other spe-cial sports events, such as theChampions League and La Ligamatches, may also be compro-mised.

If RTVE does decide to pullthe plug on one of its channels,many of the board membershave already said they are in fa-

vor of shutting down Telede-porte, even though they say thatthe savings will be minimal be-cause the transmission rights tomany sporting events have al-ready been purchased.

Cutbacks return to haunt RTVEState broadcaster toys with idea of returning to commercial advertising

Since TVE stopped broadcast-ing commercials a year ago, ithas depended on a govern-ment subsidy and a tax im-posed on telecommunicationcompanies and private broad-casters,which use the frequen-cy spectrum, to finance its op-erations.Nevertheless, the net-works 1.2-billion-euro budgethasnt been enough to keep itout of the red.

At the end of 2010, lossesamounted to 47 million euros.In November, the Telecommu-nications Commission re-

viewed the finances of tele-coms and private broadcast-ers and ordered them to forkout another 56 million euros.

Thanks to this latest audit,RTVEs accounting books re-turnedto black.In fact, it has asurplus of some nine million.

Still, some board membersbelieve that the Popular Partyadministrations decision onFriday to reduce the annualgovernment subsidy by 200million euros is just the firststep in a bigger plan to eventu-allyget rid of thepublicbroad-caster. During the 2011 budgetdebate, Mariano Rajoys partywanted to include a provisioninthe budgetlaw aimedat cut-ting the subsidy by 200 millioneuros as well as demandingthat RTVE give up its multipledigital terrestrial (DT) chan-nels, which are capable ofbroadcasting four networks.

Industry, Energy and Tour-ism Minister Jos Manuel So-ria said Monday that the Pop-ular Party (PP) governmentwill not close any of Spainsnuclear plants at the currenttime, given that the Cabinetwants to lower the price ofelectricity.

Speaking in a radio inter-view, Soria suggested that thegovernment will reconsiderkeeping the Santa MaraGaroa nuclear plant in Bur-gos open for the time being.The former Socialist govern-ment announced that it

would close Garoa in 2013.The new minister said thathe didnt favor giving out per-mits for newnuclearreactorsbut instead wants to concen-trate on tapping into othersources, such as wind and so-lar power, and continuing torely on the current batch ofnuclear reactors.

Eight reactors

The PP doesnt want to un-derutilizeany sources of ener-gy, especially nuclear be-cause there are eight nuclearreactors, which according to

the Nuclear Security Council(CSN)could still continue pro-viding energy for a deter-mined amount of time.

Soria said that the govern-mentwill continue exploitingthe energy from the reactorsfor a number of years tocome, as long as the CSNagrees it is safe to do so.

Part of a bigger scheme

From page 1

According to Horrach, anddespite Urdangarins appar-ent departure from his postsunder orders from the RoyalHousehold in June 2006, theduke squirreled away676,000 euros though his pri-

vate company Aizoon be-tween 2006 and 2009.

Urdangarin and Torres al-so owned front company DeGoes Center for StakeholderManagement. According to apolice report thetwo hadap-parently been able to use thisfiduciary structure to divertfunds from the Nos Insti-tute.

De Goes has accounts inBelize, Luxembourg and Lon-don and received 300,000 eu-ros from Nos, as well as car-rying out invisible trans-fers overseas of 420,000 and50,000 euros, according toHorrach,who based his accu-sations on documents fromtax authorities and the po-lices financial crimes unit.

PP governmentreverses plansto close downnuclear plant

Dukes frontcompanyfunneled cash

overseas

EL PAS, Madrid

EL PAS, Madrid

ROSARIO G. GMEZMadrid

The shadow of RTVEs Torrespaa tower, in the east of Madrid. / gorka lejarcegi

There is talkabout pullingthe plug on oneof RTVEs channels

No one wants

the OlympicGames. They cost alot of money

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4

EL PAS, Tuesday, January 3, 2012

FEATURES

On December 14, af-ter the police man-aged to evict himfrom his home inthe Madrid dormito-

ry town of Legans, AntonioJos Gomes, a 29-year-oldGuinean, tried to contact the dif-ferent utilities with whom hestill had contracts. But it waslate, and most were now closed.His apartment now belonged tothe bank, but the electricity andwater bills were still in hisname, and until he canceled thecontracts, he would continue toreceive bills. After walkinground Legans all afternoon, at9pm he tried to find somewhereto sleep at an apartment ownedby a friend from Guinea, Pauli-no, but there was no room, andhe could barely find space toleave his two suitcases. By10pm, exhausted, he took a bustoa nearby town, where he sleptin a cheap hostel for 20 euros.Thefollowing dayhe wasable todisconnect the water and elec-tricity in his former apartment.That night he found a bed in hisfriends apartment, and sleptthere.

Gomes stopped paying his

1,016-euro mortgage in Septem-ber 2009, when he lost his job.Up to then he had been earning1,800 euros a month as a laboreron a building site. His incomesuddenly dropped to 750 euros.He tried to reach a deal with hisbank, Caja Espaa, to hold on tohis apartment by paying 500 eu-ros a month, but to no avail. Hecontinued paying for a fewmonths anyway, but by thattime the bank had begun pro-ceedings against him that wouldeventually lead to his evictionfor non-payment. He stoppedpayingcompletely when he real-ized that he was never going to

be able to recover his property.Jos Manuel Plazuelo, the di-

rector of the branch of CajaEspaa that had arranged Go-mes mortgage, has refused totalk to this newspaper about thematter.

The headline of this storymight as well be 476/2010, thecase number issued by the courtinLegans that is overseeing Go-

es eviction. The court papersake no mention of the eviction

ate being 11 days before Christ-as, nor that Gomes has two

young daughters, or that he hassince found a job paying 800 eu-ros a month, part of which he

could have used to pay CajaEspaa a refinanced mortgage,thus avoiding losing his home.But at the end of 2010, when thecase was passed to the courts,Antonio Jos Gomes had nohope of holding on to his apart-ment. Gomes was assigned a du-ty lawyer. He never managed tospeak to her she never an-swered her cellphone when hecalled but it would have madelittle difference: she alreadyknew that there was nothingshe could do.

Gomes case will have fol-lowed more or less thesamepat-tern as the more than 300,000repossessions for non-paymentof mortgages estimated to havetaken place over the last four

years by the Plataforma de losAfectados por la Hipoteca(PAH), a nationwide networkset up in the months followingthe collapse of Spains propertymarket to draw attention to theplight of people who had losttheir jobs and could not meettheir mortgagerepayments. Dur-ing the first six months of the

year, the General Council of theJudiciary, the body that over-sees the legal system in Spain,says there have been 32,000.This figure is a 28-percent in-crease over the same period in2009, which in turn was a41-percent increase on the previ-

ous year. Unlike in Gomes case,not all the properties recoveredover this period were occupied,and some of those recoveredwere garages, offices, beachproperties and industrial pre-mises. Given that it takes longerto recover properties that areoc-cupied, PAH says that there willbe a greater number of evictionsthat will leavefamilies homelessover the course of 2012 thanthere were during the previous

year.The housing boom that end-

ed in 2008 left Spanish bankswith 315.8 billion euros in loansrelated to real estate activities inthe fourth quarter of 2010, ac-cording to the Bank of Spain.Thats after they were forced totake on properties and land inreturn for canceling debt tobankrupt developers.

The PAH has put forwardthree proposals: thatSpain intro-duce legislation allowing bor-rowers unable to meet their re-payments and facing homeless-ness to simply return the keys to

their property to the lender, amodel that exists in some areasof the United States and has be-come known as walking awayfrom a mortgage. It also wantsthe hundreds of thousands ofempty homes throughout Spainowned by the banks to be takenover by the state and rented outat low rates; and that the banksgive borrowers the option to re-turn their property but allowthem to continue living in it pay-ing 30 percent of whatever theirmonthly income is.

Gomes lawyer, who hasproved impossible to contact,even by this newspaper, wouldnot have been able to do any-thing, because by the time shebecame involved there wereonly two ways to avoid eviction:if there had been a mistake andthe debt was not Gomes; or if he

had been able to pay his arrearsand the court costs up to thatpoint. In short, it makes no dif-ference if the propertybeing pur-sued by the bank is a beachapartment, or if the occupantschildren are going to have tosleep in thepark in subzero tem-peratures. Its about payment,nothing else. Even though thematter is being heard by a court,the judges proceed as thoughtheir hands were tied. There isnothing to assess, no evidence tohear, no statements to be made:

it is simply a question of wheth-er the payments have been metand whether the paperwork isin order.

There is no room to do any-thing, says Carlos Guerrero, alawyer who works for MAB Le-gal & Corporate, and specializesin bankruptcy. A mortgage re-possession is the most unfairprocedure. There is nothing tobe done. Outof thousandsof cas-es, perhaps one or two are ruledin favor of the person owingmoney. And of course the debt is

not even canceled when theproperty is repossessed, the fullamount of money has to be re-paid on top, he adds.

Guerrero believes that thecurrent legislation that permit-ted Antonio Jos Gomes andthousands of other people to be

evicted from their homes is outof sync with the current reality.Fifteen years ago,beforeproper-ty prices were inflated to theircurrent levels, repossession wasthe right approach, for both par-ties. And there was still someroom for negotiation. But withthe property boom, we find our-selves facing a law that is nolonger appropriate. The proper-ty that guarantees the loan issuddenly worth a good deal lessthan it waswhen it wasbought.

In Spain, say the experts, fewpeople bother to attend the re-possession hearing with a law-

yer. The reason is simple: thereis nothing to be done to stop theprocess, even if it can take up to18 months before the property isrepossessed and put up for auc-tion. Not that anybody attendsthe auction, because nobodywants to buy the properties be-ing repossessed. So, the bankends up reducing the value ofthe property to 60 percent of itsoriginal sale price, and demandsthat the former owner make upthe difference, along with inter-est and legal costs. Many fami-lies notonly endup in the street,but are also effectively con-signed to the margins of societybecause they cannot open abank account, given that anyearnings or income they receivemust go toward repaying thedebt.

Lawyer Javier Garca, a part-ner at law firm Ura Menndezthat represents banks and loancompanies, tells the other sideof the story.

The fact that the law givesno room for maneuver in repos-session cases is because itsjob isto protect economic and legalsystems. The current situation

is complex, but it must be re-membered that those limits areguarantees for the lender andfor the system itself, he ex-plains.

In other words, it is preciselythe strict limits put on the loanthat makes it possible for themoney to be lent in the firstplace,he says. The mortgage fa-cilitates the loan. The loan is fa-cilitated because the bank orlender has this mechanism at itsdisposal, and knows that it canuse it if the loan is not repaid.The fewer the guarantees, themore limits on lending.

Garca accepts that the law

asit stands isno longer appropri-ate to the current situation.Laws should be made so thatthey can be adapted to changingcircumstances, but we have tobe careful that we dont createmore problems than we solve bydoing so. We need to take all thefactors into account before do-ing so. Laws need to be adaptedto changing realities, but weneed to tread carefully.

Jos Mara Fernndez Feijo,a judge at Barcelonas mercan-tile court,goes further: The lawis stuck in the 19th century. The

judge is carrying out an orderrelated to assets, not people. You

shouldnt know the name of theperson you are evicting. It is

very h ard.Fernndez says the current

legislation was drawn up at atime when the economic realitywas very different. We are nowin an economic crisis, and thelaw should be adapted to thatreality, and mechanisms allow-ing people in debt to rent or forinterest payments to be frozenneed to be found. The law isblind to the extent that judgeshave no idea about the circum-

No walking away from mortgage debtThis year will see a sharp increase in the number of people evicted from theirhomes after they failed to meet property loan repayments

The debt is noteven canceled whenthe property isrepossessed

Evicted families cantopen a bank accountas any income mustgo toward the debt

Once the casepassed to the courts,Gomes had no hopeof keeping his home

A repossession isthe most unfairprocedure. There isnothing to be done

Antonio Jos Gomes, father of two, at Madrids Atocha station the day after his eviction. / samuel snchez

PABLO XIMNEZ DE SANDOVAL

Repossessions

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EL PAS, Tuesday, January 3, 2012 5

FEATURES

stances of the people involveduntil the commission discoversthat there are elderly people orchildren, or that there is nobreadwinner. Even so, the evic-tion cannot be stopped, he says,though he addsthat social servic-escan be brought into help fami-lies with no means.

The judge overseeing case476/2010 probably didnt knowthat Antonio Jos Gomes is mar-riedwith two small children: An-tonia, who will be one in Febru-

ary; and Neuza, who will bethree in March. His wife anddaughters are staying with rela-tives in La Mojonera, a smalltown in Almera.

And the judge would nothave known that Gomes was soupset by the eviction, and thepresence of the police, that heleft behind his coat, along withphotographs and other personalbelongings. I dont know whatto do. I have no money, and ha-

vent even eaten. When I talk tomy daughter on the phone,I justbreak down, he said.

This summer, in the face ofthe growing number of evic-

tions and the certainty of manymore to come, Fernndez decid-ed to contact the EuropeanCourt in Luxembourg to estab-lish whether Spanish law on re-possessing property meets Eu-ropes consumerprotection legis-lation. Obviously, if money hasbeen borrowed, it must be paidback, says Fernndez, but a se-ries of obligations are includedthat are debatable, to say theleast.For example, havingto paythewhole amountof a loan backin one go because one has failed

to meet payments for a short pe-riod of time. Fernndez be-lieves that this aspect of Spanishlegislation may breach consum-er rights.

The law also allows for a re-possession order to be halted ifit can be proved that the condi-tions of the loan are themselvesabusive or that the person tak-ingout theloan wasdeliberatelydeceived.

At the beginning of last year,a group of Ecuadorians, repre-

sented by lawyer Rafael Mayor-al, brought a case in Madrid ar-

guing that they had beentrickedby their bank when they signeda mortgage deal they would notbe able to pay back. They hadbeen granted mortgages ofaround 200,000 euros, the abu-sive repayment conditions ofwhich were not explained tothem. They now face bankrupt-cy and ruin. The group broughta class action suit against a com-pany called Central Hipotecariadel Inmigrante, which special-ized in sub-prime loans to immi-

grants working in Spain. Thesuit also aims to halt the evic-tion orders issued against themon the same grounds, arguingthat the alleged crime commit-ted against them has resulted inirreparable damage.

A judge admitted the suit,and on December 1, the ownerof Central Hipotecaria del Inmi-grante was arrested. But thesame judge ruled that whilethere were grounds for arrest-ing the owner of the company

for fraud, this was not a reasonfor stopping the repossession or-der. The court is not authorizedto intervene in executive proce-dures that are being undertakenbefore these bodies, he said.

In other words, the law is notonly blind to the personal cir-cumstancesof the person whoseproperty is being repossessed,as well as to what is happeningin Spain, but is also unable torespond to the no-questions-asked malpractice of the proper-ty boom.

In the case of the CentralHipotecaria del Inmigrante,Mayoral and the judge oversee-

ing the case disagree about thereach of a very basic aspect ofthe law, regarding the measuresto be taken when evidence sug-gests a crime has been commit-ted. Article 13 of the CriminalProsecution Law states that insuch cases, those affected orprejudiced by said crime shouldbe protected, along with theirfamily and other persons. May-oral argues that the contractswere fraudulent, and thereforeshould be considered null and

void, which by extension means

they have no legal status, andthat the repossession order up-on which they are based is simi-larly invalid and should be halt-ed.

The judge has asked the At-torney Generals office to assessthe matter, which has givensome hope to the Ecuadoriansthat in cases such as theirs, bor-rowers should not lose theirhomes. That said, Conadee, anorganization representing Ecua-dorians living in Spain, says that

it sent a letter to the then-Attor-ney General, Cndido Conde-

Pumpido, calling on him to actagainst the widespread fraudbeing committed through sub-prime mortgages.The organiza-tion said it was puzzled at thelack of investigations being car-ried out in this regard, andasked for clear guidelines to beissued to judges and lawyersabout how to proceed in suchcases.

So far, the Attorney Generalsoffice has yet to respond. Asthings stand, says the body,

there are no guidelines, recom-mendations, or instructions forlawyers on how to proceed inrepossession cases where thereare indications of fraud.

Its notjust shady outfits suchas the Central Hipotecaria del In-migrante that are accused oftrickery. Cristina Martn andJos Luis Salazar have broughtcharges against the Kutxa sav-ings bank for fraud. The couplehad just 120,000 euros to pay ontheir mortgage with Caj a

Madrid when they decided toselltheir apartment to buy some-where bigger, given that theirtwo children were now aged 16and 12. The couple were on lowincomes: he earned just 1,600 eu-ros a month,and she was paidincash. In August 2007, they tookout a bridging loan to purchasetheir new home, valued at240,000 euros, while their oldproperty was sold. But the mar-ket collapsed shortly after, andtheir former home could not besold. He then lost his job, andthe repayments rapidly rosefrom 700to 900euros, makingitimpossible to keep up the mort-

gage repayments. Their lawyersays there are clear signs theywere lied to by the bank, andthat the supposed loan was infact twomortgages, onefor eachproperty, and both based on in-flated valuations.

But once again, neither theevidence pointing to malprac-tice by the bank, nor legislationto protect young people, nor thewidespread crisis that hasplunged thousands of other fami-lies into the same situation, hasbeen borne in mind by thecourt.

Cristina Martn and Jos Luis Salazar have brought charges against the Kutxa savings bank for fraud. / gorka lejarcegi

Its the strict limitson the loan thatallow the money tobe lent, says a lawyer

We are now in aneconomic crisis, andthe law should beadapted to that

Repossessions

I dont know whatto do. When I talk tomy daughter on thephone, I break down

One organization saidit was puzzled at thelack of investigationsinto mortgage fraud

8/10/2019 El Pais English 2012-01-03

6/8

6 EL PAS, Tuesday, January 3, 2012

BUSINESS

IBEX35

Equity Latestprice Da ily variation Y es terday Annual Variation %

Euros % Min. Mx. Previous Current

E F M MA J J A S O N D E6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

Yesterday8,723.80

Ibex 35

ource:Bloomberg. ELPAS

BIGGEST LOWS

% Euros

San Jos -4,35 -0,090

Vrtice 360 -2,67 -0,004

Prim -1,75 -0,070

I nm ob il ia ri a d el S ur -1, 55 -0, 09 0

Miquel y Costas -1,46 -0,270

Uralita -0,96 -0,015

PRISA -0,57 -0,005

Pescanova -0,50 -0,130

Ezentis -0,38 -0,001

Zardoya Otis -0,28 -0,030

Last year was one of the worston record for the Spanish carindustry, as an anemic econom-ic recovery evaporated and al-ready-giddy unemployment lev-els turned even higher.

According to figures releasedMonday by the industry associa-tions ANFAC and GANVAM, reg-istrations of new passenger carsfell 17.7 percent to 808,059units. That was the lowest fig-

ure since the recession of 1993when Spains population wasonly 39.8 million, comparedwith 47.2 million in 2011. Salesin 2010 climbed 3.1 percent to

just under a million due to a gov-ernment direct-subsidy scheme.

The year 2011 [...] was a yearto forget, marking as it did asomber milestone for the auto-mobile sector on a par with1993, GANVAM Chairman JuanAntonio Snchez Torres said ina statement.

The only segments of the

market that escaped the crisiswere luxury cars (sales of whichclimbed 83 percent), small SUVsand people carriers.

In December alone, new auto-mobile purchases declined 3.6percent from a year earlier to66,458 units. The size of the fallwas lower compared with othermonths, suggesting the marketmight be starting to bottom out.

ANFAC predicts sales thisyear will be around last yearslevels at 800,000. The Spanisheconomy is estimated to havecontracted again in the lastthree months of 2011, with thegovernment expecting weak-ness in activity to extend intothis year.

The car industry accountsfor about 6 percent of SpainsGDP and about 8.7 percent ofthe countrys jobs.

Sales to individuals last year

were among the worst hit, re-flecting high unemployment,tight credit, and weak consum-er confidence. Purchases in thissegment dropped 33.6 percentfrom a year earlier to 387,831units. Sales to individuals ac-counted for only 48 percent oftotal purchases, compared with60 percent in 2007 before thecrisis broke.

Sales to car-hire firms rose4.3 percent to 141,147 units, re-flecting a revival in the touristindustry.

16,870 0,470 2, 87 16,500 16,890 -7,3 2,9

Abertis 12,615 0,275 2, 23 12,350 12,615 11,1 2,2

Acciona 68,140 1,410 2, 11 66,630 68,290 34,6 2,1

Acerinox 10,050 0,140 1, 41 9,892 10,100 -20, 4 1,4

ACS 23,250 0 ,3 50 1, 53 22 ,9 55 2 3, 29 0 - 29 ,5 1,5

Amadeus 12,560 0 ,0 25 0, 20 12 ,5 20 1 2, 65 0 - 18, 1 0,2

Arcelor Mittal 14,810 0 ,7 35 5, 22 14 ,0 05 1 4, 84 0 - 43 ,9 5,2

Banco Popular 3,583 0,063 1,79 3,488 3,583 0,8 1,8

Banco Sabadell 2,972 0,038 1,30 2,926 2,972 4,8 1,3

Banco Santander 5,966 0,096 1,64 5,820 5,999 -18,4 1,6

Bankia 3,599 0,004 0,11 3,551 3,600 -4,0 0,1

Bankinter 4,840 0,090 1,89 4,721 4,840 22,3 1,9

BBVA 6,795 0,115 1,72 6,619 6,820 -1,3 1,7

BME 21,195 0,395 1, 90 20,715 21,200 30,3 1,9

Caixabank 3,875 0,080 2,11 3,820 3,884 6,4 2,1

Dia 3,579 0,084 2,40 3,400 3,579 11,7 2,4

Ebro Foods 14,700 0,350 2, 44 14,355 14,800 -1,6 2,4

Enags 14,465 0,175 1,22 14,295 14,480 2,9 1,2

Endesa 16,320 0 ,4 70 2, 97 15 ,8 60 1 6, 32 0 - 11 ,2 3,0

FCC 20,110 0,070 0,35 20,090 20,350 9,9 0,4

Ferrovial 9,433 0,108 1,16 9,324 9,479 34,3 1,2

Gamesa 3,350 0,140 4,36 3,220 3,350 -40,3 4,4

Gas Natural 13,555 0,290 2, 19 13,350 13,600 26,3 2,2

Grifols 13,140 0,140 1, 08 13,045 13,200 41,7 1,1

Iag 1,781 0,041 2,36 1,752 1,781 -46,2 2,4

Iberdrola 4,963 0,124 2,56 4,815 4,984 -9,2 2,6

Inditex 64,240 0,960 1, 52 63,320 64,240 16,6 1,5

Indra 9,936 0,099 1,01 9,813 9,950 -18,4 1,0

Mapfre 2,499 0,044 1,79 2,455 2,501 28,0 1,8

Mediaset 4,655 0,245 5,56 4,417 4,655 -42,6 5,6

OHL 19,815 0 ,4 35 2, 24 19 ,4 00 1 9, 84 0 - 10 ,9 2,2

Red Elctrica 33,495 1,105 3,41 32,600 33,495 2,0 3,4

Repsol 24,070 0,335 1, 41 23,680 24,100 20,9 1,4

Sacyr 3,998 0,028 0,71 3,876 4,010 -11,4 0,7

2,4Telef

Automobile industry endsthe year in reverse gearSales plunge to lowest level in close to two decades

CONTINUOUS MARKET

BIGGEST HIGHS

% Euros

GAM 47,37 0,180

Quabit 20,99 0,017

Solaria 18,65 0,180

Reno de Mdici 11,85 0,016

Urbas 8,70 0,002

Sniace 8,58 0,082Tecnocom 8,57 0,120

Reyal Urbis 7,29 0,035

Deoleo 6,98 0,030

R ent a Co rpo rac i n 6 ,4 4 0, 065

The Spanish stock and bondmarkets got off to a reason-able start on the first tradingday of the new year, althoughSpains risk premium missedout on the improvement en-

joyed by Italys.After sheddingover 13 per-

cent last year in the grip ofthe euro-zone sovereign debtcrisis, the Spanish blue-chipIbex 35 on Monday added1.84 percent to 8,723.80points. That contrasted withgains of 3.00 percent byFrankfurts DAX, 1.98 percentby the CAC 40 in Paris, and

2.32 percent by the EuroStoxx 50. The PSI-20 in theEuronext Lisbon exchangeput on 2.13 percent.

Market observers, howev-er, warned that not too muchshould be read into Mondaysperformance given the clo-sure of the London, New

York and Tokyo bourses,which served to depress trad-ing volumes.

Despite comments by Span-ish Economy Minister Luis deGuindos that Spains publicdeficit last year could come inat slightlyhigher than8.0 per-cent of GDP, Spains risk pre-

mium improved five basispoints from Fridays levels to320 basis points.

That was due, however, toa sell-off of the Germanbenchmark 10-year govern-ment bond. That helped nar-row thespread with theSpan-ish equivalent, which wassteady. The risk premium forItaly narrowed by 13 basispoints. The improvement inItalian government debt wasmore notable at the shorterend of the yield curve.

FOREIGN CURRENCIES

Buy Sell

US dollar 1,2920 1,2920

Argenti ne an p eso 5 ,5 57 0 5 ,5 57 0

Austr al ia n d ol la r 1 ,2 65 0 1 ,2 64 0

Brazilian real 2,4210 2,4200

Ca na di an doll ar 1 ,3 200 1, 319 0

Cz ec h k orun a 2 5,5 570 2 5, 516 0Danish krone 7,4340 7,4330

Hong Kong dollar 10,0390 10,0370

Hungarian forint 314,7500 314,0700

Icelandic krona 159,0100 158,7600

Indian rupee 69,0560 69,0350

Japanes e yen 99,4200 99,3900

Me xi ca n pe so 1 8,0 240 1 8, 016 0

Moroccan dirham 11,1230 11,1230

Nor we gi an kro ne r 7 ,7 50 0 7 ,7 44 0

Polish zloty 4,4730 4,4690

Rusian ruble 41,6200 41,5330

S inga po re d ol la r 1 ,6 78 0 1 ,6 77 0

South African rand 10,4400 10,4340

Sterling pound 0,8340 0,8340

Swedish krona 8,9390 8,9330

Swiss franc 1,2160 1,2150

Units per euro at 18:00

From page 1

The government cannot al-low itself to announce thatthe public deficit will fall twopercentage points short ofthe six-percent target with-out introducing tax hikes, de-spite the fact that Prime Min-ister Mariano Rajoy rejectedthis during the campaign,De Guindos said.

A failure to act wouldhave created a very difficultsituation for the domesticeconomy, De Guindos said.Spains risk premium wassteady on Monday.

The minister said the gov-ernment is not ruling outhav-

ing to raise the standard val-ue-added tax (VAT) rate,which currently stands at 18percent, in the state budgetfor this year, which is expect-ed to be released aroundMarch.

While in opposition, Rajoyheavily criticized the outgo-ingSocialistgovernments de-cision to raise the standardVAT rate from 16 percent as ameasure that would dampendemand and depress activity.

Reform agenda

We have to talkwith our Eu-

ropean partners as we haveto be aware that if we onlyturn the screws in terms ofspending cuts, were going toget ourselves into a mess.

The minister said the newgovernment has an aggres-sive reform agenda, to boostgrowth. Thefirstpillar of thisagenda will be an overhaul ofthe labormarket.The govern-ment expects to receive pro-posals in this area next weekfrom the countrys laborunions and employer groups.

Spains Meli Hotels Interna-tional said Monday it hadsold a 522-room hotel in Ten-erife in theCanaryIslands for49.0 million euros.

In a statement to the Span-ish National Securities Com-mission (CNMV), Meli saidthesale of theSol Tenerifeho-tel will generate capital gainsof 16 million euros, whichwill be used to reduce thegroups debt. Meli will con-tinue to manage the hotel un-der contract.

Meli said the sale reflectsa shift in the groups businessmodel away from capital-in-tensive projects toward agreater focus on manage-ment contracts and joint ven-tures in order to diversifyrisk.

Financialmarkets getoff to steadystart in 2012

Ministernot rulingout need forVAT hike

Meli sellsTenerifehotel for 49million euros

EL PAS, Madrid

EL PAS / AGENCIES, Madrid

Juan Antonio Snchez Torres. / s. s.

ELPASSource: ANFAC

Number ofunits

Annualpassengercar sales inSpain

0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 20111990 1992 1994 1996 1998

808,059

952,772

1,614,8351,649,320

1,405,611

1,500,097

881,511

956,367

792,590

1,023,013

A. S., Madrid

8/10/2019 El Pais English 2012-01-03

7/8

EL PAS, Tuesday, January 3, 2012 7

SPORTS

The coming year presents manyimportant sporting events, nota-bly the London Olympic Games

and the European Champion-ships in Poland and Ukraine,where Spain will attempt to be-come the first national soccerteam in history to win three ma-or tournaments in a row. Rafa

Nadal will defend his gold medalin London, while Fernando Alon-so will try to make his Ferrari awinning car. Alberto Contadorfaces a court decision before hecan focus on regaining his Tourde France title.

European Championships.No team has ever won a Euro-World Cup-Euro treble, andSpain is the bookies favorite to

achieve thefeaton July 1.A super-lative record in qualifying sincelifting the European Champion-ship trophy in Vienna in 2008 played 18, won 18 has been

marred by hefty post-Johannes-burg friendly defeatsat thehandsof Argentina and Portugal, and,of more concern still, a narrow1-0 loss to England achieved byFabio Capellos tactics of stiflingthe midfield. Spains play is basedon possession and rapid move-ment of the ball, and Vicente delBosque will need to work on aplan B probably involving bus-tling Athletic forward FernandoLlorente for when opponentspark the proverbial bus. Mean-while, David Villa, Spains all-time leadingscorerwith 51 goals,facesa battle tobe fit forthetour-namentafter breaking hisleg dur-

ing Decembers Club World Cup.

Barcelona and Real Madrid.Barcelona is seeking its fifth Eu-ropean Cup / Champions League

victory; Real its 10th, the overrid-ing obsession of its fans and itspresident, Florentino Prez. Thetwo remaining Spanish sides arethe favorites to lift old Big Earsin Munichs Allianza Arena onMay 19 but the owner of that co-lossal stadium, Bayern, mayhave a say in the matter. Inter,champions in 2010 under cur-rent Real coach Jos Mourinho,AC Milan, Chelsea and Arsenalare still lurking in the wings.The mighty Manchester clubs,City and United, were eliminat-ed at thegroupstage. BeforeMu-nich can be contemplated, Barafaces Bayer Leverkusen and Re-

al CSKA Moscow in the last 16.

Alonso and Ferrari. Thegreen light of the Formula 1 sea-son will belit upin Melbourne on

March 18, and the checkered flagwillwavegoodbye to2012in Bra-zil on November 25. In between,20 Grands Prix, two of them inSpain Catalonia on May 13 andValencia on June 24 and ahuge challenge for FernandoAlonso and Ferrari of dethroningSebastian Vettel and his Red Bullteam. WhenAlonso, world cham-pion in 2005 and 2006 withRenault, and Ferrari joined forc-es in 2010, great success wasfore-cast. But the emergence of Vetteland the explosion of Red Bullsmachinery saw the England-based team dominate in 2010and2011. Last year Ferrari limped in

thirdin the constructors champi-onship with just one win for theseason: Alonsos at Silverstone.Ferrari has been working to im-prove its competivenessand Alon-so has been watching develop-ments in the wind tunnel as heplots the return of the drivers ti-tle to the Italianteamfor the first

time since 2007.

Nadals defense. Having saidrecently that he had become toopredictable, Nadal has re-nouncedthe DavisCup in 2012 toconcentrate on defending hisOlympic title and on regaininghis number one spot, as well ashis Wimbledon and US Open ti-tles, from last seasons stand-outplayer, Novak Djokovic. The Ser-bian number one defeated Nadalin six finals last season, includingtwo on clay, and brushed asideRoger Federer for the loss of justthree games at last weeks AbuDhabi exhibition tournament. Ac-customed to being the youngswashbuckleron the circuit, Nad-al now faces an unprecedentedchallenge in Djokovic, a year his

junior, in a reversal of the Span-iards rivalry withthe Swiss Mae-stro. While Nadal will aim to re-store his dominance on the Tour,Djokovic will hope to buildon hisfine clay court season in 2011 tostorm the last bastion of Nadalshegemony at Roland Garros and complete a career slam inthe act.

Contadors Tour de force.New Years day saw Alberto Con-tador begin training for the up-coming season and the three-

times Tour de France winnerposteda pictureof himself onlinesporting his Saxo Bank teamsdark blue jersey. Before he cancompete in the colors, Contadormust await the decision of theCourt of Arbitration for Sportover his positive clenbuterol testat last years Tour,a long-runningsaga that will be resolvedin a cou-ple of weeks time. If absolved ofguilt Contador has alwaysmaintained he ingested the sub-stance through tainted meat he could return to action in theTour de San Luis in Argentina,before attemptingto win a fourthTour in July.

Spains sporting 2012 challengesSoccer team aims for history as Nadal, Alonso and Contador seek return to top

Strong north coast windsGalicia will be very cloudy with some rain,most likely in the west and toward the endof the day. Cloudy spells will affect Castillay Len, stretching into Cantabria. The restof the country will be mainly clear withcloudy spells and rain early on in Menorcaand the western Pyrenees. Strong windson the northern coasts of Galicia and As-turias. Lows: Madrid 2C, Barcelona 7C,Lisbon 6C.

All emergencies .......................... 112Ambulance ............................. 061Fire Brigade ........................... 080Municipal police .................... 092National police ..................... 091www.policia.esCivil Guard ............................. 062www.guardiacivil.orgCatalan police ........................ 088Traffic ..................... 900 123 505Consumerin format ion ................ 900 775 757Forest fires ............ 900 850 500Domesticabuse ............................ 900 100 009

Coast Guard ........... 900 202 202ImmigrationInformation ............. 900 150 000Directory .......................... 11818Internationaldirectory inq .......................... 11825

TOURIST POLICE

Madrid ............ ........... 9 1 5 48 8 5 3 7........................... 91 548 80 08

FLIGHT INFO

AENA (airports authority).......................................... 902 404 704

Iberia ................... 902 400 500

TRAINS

RENFE ......................... 902 240 202www.renfe.comInternational ............. 902 243 402

BUSESwww.socibus.es

www.avanzabus.com

www.alsa.es

EMBASSIES

Australia ..................... 91 353 66 00Canada ........................ 91 382 84 00Ireland ......................... 91 436 40 93

New Zea land ............. 91 523 02 26

UK . ................................ 91 714 63 00US ................................. 91 587 22 00

CITY WEBSITESwww.munimadrid.eswww.bcn.eswww.sevilla.orgwww.valencia.eswww.ayto-malaga.esa.org

CINEMA, THEATERwww.entradas.es

PORTUGALAll emergencies .......................... 112

Useful information

J. MORENILLA / A. CIRIZA / R. T.

Spain captain Iker Casillas will hope to lift a third straight major tournament trophy in Kievs Olympic Stadium. / alejandro ruesga

8/10/2019 El Pais English 2012-01-03

8/8

MADRID: Miguel Yuste, 40. 28037Madrid.91 337 82 00.Fax:91 327 08 18. Legal deposit: M-14951-1976. Ediciones EL PAS, SL. Madrid, 2009. All rights reserved.

According to articles 8 and 32.1, second paragraph, of theintellectual Property Law, it is expressly prohibited toreproduce, distribute or communicate in public, including

making available, the entirety or segments of this publication forcommercial ends, in any shape or form, without the authorization ofEdiciones EL PAS, SL.

ENGLISH EDITION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2012

Saygoodbyeto theolddigital can-on andhello to thenewper capi-ta canon to cover intellectualproperty rights. The former con-cept, a feelevied pre-emptively onall equipment capable of makingprivatecopies of digital content such as CD and DVD recordersand even MP3-enabled cell-phones was controversial fromthe get-go and was disputed inthe courts more than once.

Now, the new Popular Party(PP) government has decided thatrather than charge just the buy-

ers of digital recording equip-ment, every single Spaniard willcontribute to a lump sum to behanded overto copyrightmanage-ment groups as compensation forprivate copies that people mightmake of protected work. Thatmeans newborns, hackers, re-tired folks and college studentsalike.

The exact amount agreed tobetween the parties involvedcould range between 37 and 42million euros, according to sourc-es at the Education, Culture andSports Ministry. This money willcome out of the state budget andgo to copyright management

groups in charge of relaying it tothe creators of content.But the new system is already

prompting misgivings among thelawyers, tax experts, content cre-ators and industry representa-tives to whom EL PAS has spo-

ken. Authors note they will nowmake less than half the moneythey made with the digital can-onin 2010, nearly100 million eu-

ros.To many, this change meansspreading the cost around indis-criminately. Although we stilllack sufficient data for an in-depth analysis, onecan guess that[the new system] has the same

faults as the old canon, whichtook it for granted that if I boughta photocopier, I was going tomake private copies. We are all

paying alike for this subsidy forauthors, says Luis delAmo, man-ager of the Economists and TaxAdvisors Registry.

From a legal viewpoint, Palo-ma Llaneza, a lawyer specializingin intellectual property rights, be-

lieves that the proposal does notestablish the necessary balancebetween equitable compensationand damages caused, since it

makes any physical person withSpanish nationality a user of pro-tected services, independently ofage or use and access to copymechanisms.

Some sources said the govern-ment found inspiration in Nor-

way, which charges a per capitafeethat comes out ofthe statebud-get. A report by the UK Intellectu-al Property Office using 2009 fig-ures shows that the per capitacost for private copy was 2.60 eu-ros in France, with Spain ranking

third at 1.70 euros. Norwayranked 11th at 0.90 euros.

Interestingly, the figure thatministry sources said would behanded overto property organiza-tions, 42 million euros, is the re-sult of multiplying the Spanishpopulation by 0.90 euros.

Thus, the government is cut-ting offthesupply of fundsto man-agement organizations, which

will now be subsidized and con-trolled by powersthat decidehowmuch money they get each year,says Llaneza.

Management groups are notexactly happy, either. RafaelSnchez, spokesman for Egeda(which groups audiovisual pro-ducers), says that if the previoussystem was indiscriminate, thisone is even more so.

Jess Banegas, president ofAmetic (technology companiesandoperators) adds that ifartistswant to chargefor allegedprivate

copyright, they can raise the costof their work when they put it onthe market. If Spain applied a taxon everyone to pay artists... whatartists? Circus artists? Why not

jugglers?If the canonwas absurd,this is even more absurd.

New digital canon pleases no oneLawyers, tax experts, industry and authors distrust PP-passed everyone-pays model

Madrid has a new attraction.TheImprenta Municipal the oldMunicipal Printing Shop hasbeen converted into a living mu-seum, where hand-operatedpresses and linotypes serve to il-lustrate different aspects of thistraditional vehicle of culture.

The museum is located in theheart of Madrid, on ConcepcinJernima street, a few stepsaway from what was once thehouse of Diego Velzquez.Around50 peoplework there,un-der the direction of Jos Bonifa-cio Bermejo, a well-knowngraph-ic arts expert. His mission is tomanage thepressusing tradition-al means. The aim is to preservean age-old art, and to promotetheculture of books,he explains.

The big rooms smell of string,paper and ink. The ink is the tra-ditional kind, made of boiled lin-seed oil and chimney soot, thesame that Gutenberg and AldoManuzio spread on their type toprint their early editions. Ma-chines made of wood and metal,

in various colors; thick creamy pa-per; oilcloth to line the leatherbacks of bindings; and the skill ofcraftsmen, experienced in themanifold aspects of the graphicarts, all give meaning to this tradi-tional shop, where theknow-howof past centuries is still in use.

The Municipal Printing Shophas been in continuousoperationsince 1853, and since 1933 in thissame building, until electronicprinting methods rendered itsmachinery obsolete. After thatthe Imprenta Artesanal (Crafts-man Press) took over here, begin-ning the process of setting up op-erations in this fine old buildingwith three ample, well-lit floors,totaling 3,653 square meters,around a central courtyard. Itwasdesigned by themunicipal ar-chitects Francisco Javier FerreroLlusi and Luis Bellido, with un-usually large reinforced concretebeams and pillars used to sup-port the heavy presses, explainsJuan Jos Echeverra, the citysCultural Infrastructure Coordina-tor.

While normal buildings in

those days had a resistance offrom 100 to200 load units, Ferre-ro and Bellido used materials of10 times that strength, he says,also emphasizing the all-impor-tant search for natural light to il-luminate the works of composi-tors, linotypists and printers.Great expanses of window havenow been restored to their origi-nal condition, having been inex-plicably bricked up for decades.

On the lower floor are the

hand-operated and mechanicalpresses, the illustration tech-niques department, the bookbind-ing area and an activities room.Among other treasures is thetypecasting equipment from thefirm Bauer, of Barcelona. Thiswasthe last company to manufac-ture typographic matrices, until2007. It was acquired in Barcelo-na at a very reasonable priceand brought to Madrid. It nowswells the museums already

splendid collection of graphicarts material, which numbersaround 3,000 pieces.

Also notable are the collectionof Futura characters, the crispsans-serif font designed for theBauhaus movement; a handpress similar to the one used toprint thefirst editionofDonQuix-ote in 1605; an excellent collec-tion of gilding tools; and a pressidentical to one used by Goya in1789.

A municipal museumaimed at keepingthe presses rollingRAFAEL FRAGUAS,Madrid

One of the printing presses at a new Madrid museum dedicated to graphic arts. / carlos rosillo

A. FRAGUAS / I. SEISDEDOSMadrid

Ana Mara Mndez appealed the digital canon at the European Court of Justice. / alberto estvez (efe)

Authors note theywill make half whatthey made with the

digital canon in 2010