Daily Brief

Spain Today – Thursday 1 February 2024

Published

3 months ago

Feb 1, 2024

Mark Nolan

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Today in Spain, Immigration Commission set up, court clarifies new 5-day family care leave plan, financial boost for small airports, sales boost for shopping centres, and cheap high-speed train tickets to the fallas in Valencia.

Around Europe today, inflation data and the final reading of the Eurozone manufacturing PMI will be published. At the same time, in the UK we will know the decision of the Bank of England, projecting that the monetary entity will choose for the fourth consecutive time to maintain official interest rates at 5.25%.

Contents (click to jump ahead)

Spanish News Headlines

The Government of Spain has established the Interministerial Immigration Commission with the holding of the first analysis session on the migration phenomenon in Spain. The Commission is chaired by the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, who highlighted that each department has taken stock of its management and priorities have been established which, at this time, due to the significant volume of arrivals of irregular vessels, are focused on the Canary Islands, and that 83% of the boats are leaving from the coasts of Mauritania.

The National Court has determined that the newly agreed five days of leave available to workers to care for a family member who has suffered an illness, accident or hospitalisation, must be considered working days and not natural days. The ruling clarifies for the first time how the days of this new leave should be computed, as well as the authorisation for the death of a family member, of two days, which should also be understood as business days, because on non-working holidays it would not be necessary to request them since they do not work.

The Board of Directors of airport operator Aena has approved an incentive package for the 32 airports and heliports that had less than 3 million passengers in 2023. The package includes airports such as Corvera in Murcia, Asturias, and Girona-Costa Brava, and as part of the deal airlines will be exempt from paying the per-passenger fee for all travellers additional to those in 2023 for three consecutive years.

Retail space management company Nhood, who, amongst the 30 shopping centres in Spain they manage includes the Zenia Boulevard, the largest commercial centre in the Alicante province, has announced significant growth in 2023, according to its annual balance sheet. The tenants of its 30 shopping centres in Spain have experienced a 5% increase in sales compared to the previous year. This growth is also reflected in the number of renewals and new contracts, with more than 70 new brands joining its portfolio and around 100 renewals.

Train operator Renfe has launched a special promotion with increased seats and lower fares on high-speed trains to Valencia for the celebration of the popular fallas. Tickets for this promotion can be purchased until February 4 and are available, while seat availability lasts, for travel between March 1 and 20, with an example price starting at 7 euro each way in relation to Madrid.

To read these articles in full, visit SpainToday.news

Things to Do Today

Torrevieja Carnival continues this weekend, we will have full details tomorrow, but the second weekend begins on Friday, February 2, with the celebration of the V Quedada Carnavalera, where the carnival parades will begin, and we have the famous Drag Queen competition to look forward to this week.

The Medieval Market in Orihuela is on this weekend too, which is something everyone should try at least once.

In the Casa de Cultura in Guardamar del Segura a collective exhibition featuring “new perspectives” is getting set to close on February 4.

For more local events, pick up The Leader newspaper every Monday, and This is Torrevieja for Torrevieja events.

Local Markets

Thursday markets are held in Alicante, Bigastro, Campoamor (Orihuela Costa), El Altet (Elche), Gran Alacant, Lo Pagan (San Pedro del Pinatar), Rojales, and San Fulgencio (La Marina).

The roads will of course be busy around those locations.

Traffic and Travel

The same as last week, the weekend is going to be busy on the roads particularly around winter leisure areas, which includes second homes, but mostly the mountainous regions for winter sports. We will have the full details of the busiest times in tomorrow’s bulletin.

For information and updates about driving in Spain, visit N332.es

Weather

The current forecast for the next 10 days will see a maximum temperature of 22°c on Sunday 11 February, a minimum of 10°c this Sunday, 04. The windiest day currently is expected to see wind of up to 42 kmph on Tuesday 13 February, which could be unlucky for some, and we will explain why on Tuesday.

On This Day

2009, a tornado in Malaga causes significant material damage.

2006, on the outskirts of the city of Bilbao, the terrorist group ETA detonates a bomb in a Post Office building, without causing significant damage.

2005, in Leganés, Madrid, police arrest four Moroccans, members of the same family, for their alleged relationship with the train bomb attacks of March 11, 2004

1992, the Treasury agrees to retain 25% of cash prizes awarded in television contests that exceed 100,000 pesetas.

1982, the provinces of Oviedo and Santander become the uniprovincial autonomous communities of Asturias and Cantabria, respectively.

Video of the Day

Today’s Video of the Day has no relevance whatsoever to anything mentioned, but as I stumbled across it on YouTube, I thought we all love a bit of nostalgia, and so, considering the day, we could have a little #Throwback#Thursday and relax with a retro advert of a better time in many ways…

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The post Spain Today – Thursday 1 February 2024 first appeared on Mark Nolan´s Podcast.