Daily Brief

Spain Today – Tuesday 27 February 2024

Published

2 months ago

Feb 27, 2024

Mark Nolan

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In Tuesday´s Spanish news, an educator is on trial for touching a minor, 195 million to promote the circular economy in the textile, fashion and plastic sectors, Pedro Sánchez accompanied the King at GSMA Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2024, and snowploughs ready for action.

Use the contents menu below to jump ahead, or sit back and press the play button above and just let me tell you all about Spain Today.

Contents (click to jump ahead)

Spanish News Headlines

The Second Section of the Provincial Court of the Balearic Islands holds the trial from today against an educator in a Mallorca centre for allegedly touching a minor in a sexual manor.

The prosecutor is asking for nine years in prison for the defendant for a crime of sexual abuse, a restraining order for another ten years and disqualification from working with minors, plus compensation of 20,000 euro.

Within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has published the official requirements for granting of subsidies, on a competitive basis, from the Biodiversity Foundation to promote the circular economy in the textile, fashion, and plastic sectors for an amount of 195 million euro.

The objective is to finance projects and actions that contribute substantially to the transition towards a circular economy in the textile and fashion and plastic sectors. Specifically, in the field of research and development, digitalisation to innovate in terms of processes and organisation, increasing the level of environmental protection, and improving waste management.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, accompanied HM the King, Felipe VI, at the inauguration of the GSMA Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona 2024, the most relevant event in the world in terms of connectivity.

During the event, the Chief Executive was accompanied by the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, and the Minister for Digital Transformation and the Public Service, José Luis Escrivá.

After the inauguration, the President of the Government held several meetings with representatives of leading companies in the telecommunications and information society sector, with whom he highlighted Spain’s leadership position in digital transformation, as well as the Government’s commitment to the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence.

The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility has activated the necessary means to deal with snowfall that may occur in the Communities of Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla y León and Catalonia during the snowstorm expected between now and Wednesday.

To deal with these phenomena, the Ministry has 686 snowploughs and a storage capacity of 129,005 tons of fluxes. You can read this article in full on the n332 website, and advice and information about driving in snow.

To read these articles in full, visit SpainToday.news

Business, Markets and Statistics

The contributory pension figures for February and the bank deposit data for January will be the main macro references of a day in which investors’ attention will also be directed to the business sector.

Companies such as Naturgy, Ferrovial, Vocento, Gestamp or Rovi will publish their 2023 results.

Outside our borders, the Gfk index in Germany will stand out, as well as consumer confidence in the US.

In Spain, at 09:00 a.m., the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration publishes the contributory pension figures for February.

The Bank of Spain publishes deposit data, as well as banknotes and coins for January.

In the Eurozone, the ECB publishes the M3 monetary supply for January, and makes public loans to non-financial corporations for January.

There is also a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.

It´s going to be a busy day for statisticians in the UK as the OBR publishes their outlook on Welsh taxes, plus we will have the FTSE Women Leaders Review, BRC Nielsen Shop Price Index, Bank of England capital issuance, and quarterly figures on crime in Scotland.

Things to Do Today

This week, Andalusia Day, Dia de Andalucia, is celebrated on Wednesday, 28 February.

International Flamenco Day is celebrated in Torrevieja with a concert on 2 March. You can then take a Trip to Oz, with the kids, on 15 March, assuming you survive Peter and the Wolf on 10 March. There is also the Magical world of Disney concert on 16.

For runners, on 10 March, Elche has both as 7.2k and half marathon, Crevillente on 6 April has a 6 k race, and the Dama de Guardamar half marathon, which takes the form of both a 10k and 21k variant (10.5 and 21.1 kilometres, respectively, to be pedantic), and will take place in Guardamar del Segura on 14 April 2024.

Aircraft fans can look forward to RACEFEST, Madrid, taking place on 16 March, where the Patrulla Aguila aerobatic team from San Javier will be taking part, before showcasing their skills locally in the San Javier Airshow, taking place from 3rd-5th May – Festival Aéreo San Javier – over the playas de Santiago de la Ribera, San Javier, Murcia. They are also at the DIFAS 2024, taking place in Oviedo on 1 June, and on 15th June, the 50º Aniversario del ALA 14, in Albacete, where a competition is open to design a Eurofighter livery.

If your love of the sky means watching people jumping out of planes, then there´s good news for you too, as on 19th March – Fiestas Patronales de Puerto de Mazarrón 2024, in Murcia, sees the Patrulla Acrobática de Paracaidismo del Ejército del Aire (PAPEA) parachutists perform, and on 31st March they are at the Conmemoración de “El Encuentro” de Alcantarilla, also in Murcia, before the team head overseas in April to attend the 5th FAI World Indoor Skydiving Championship, in Macau, China.

Musically, James Blunt is back in Alicante on 19 July, as is Tom Jones on 25. Other popular groups coming to Spain in the near future include AC/DC, Depeche Mode, and Simple Minds.

A Black Music Festival is taking place in Salt until 9 March, and the Jerez Festival of Flamenco and art is on in Jerez de la Frontera also until 9 March.

Down south, the Malaga Film Festival takes place from 1 to 10 March, followed by the Granada Tango Festival from 12 to 17 March.

Fallas season is about to start, culminating in the celebrations around the middle of March, not forgetting of course we have San Jose, Spanish Father’s Day, a big event in the Spanish cultural calendar. The main fallas event is around Valencia, where this year the calendar is from 25 February to 19 March.

We must also remember that Easter is earlier this year, and one of the big draws is Elche, and in particular Palm Sunday, on account of the history of the city in relation to palm trees. A huge Palm Sunday procession takes place in the city each year.

One of the most unusual festivals takes place in the town of Mula, with the Night of the Drums, or Noche de los Tambores, where drumming begins at midnight on Holy Tuesday until 4 in the afternoon on Wednesday. Similar drum festivals take place in a few other towns too, but Mula is known as one of the best.

Another unusual celebration takes place in Jerte, usually at the end of March and beginning of April, but it depends on the weather, and therefore could be earlier this year, but it is the Cherry Trees in Blossom festival, which beholds a beauty of colour and aroma that is definitely a feast for the senses.

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

Local Markets

Local markets on a Tuesday can be found at Benijofar, Daya Nueva, La Marina (Elche), Orihuela, San Bartalome (Orihuela), and San Fulgencio.

The roads will of course be busy around those locations.

Traffic and Travel

There is still the ongoing protest with farmers blocking roads around the country, and so you should check the DGT traffic map (below) before you travel.

A snowstorm is forecast in some areas for the next few days which could lead to significant problems if you are heading towards higher ground, and if you are venturing into the mountain areas, which in some cases might be less than an hour from the sunny coast, snow chains should be a consideration to avoid getting stranded.

Wednesday is a special day in Andalusia and so a special operation will be taking place on the roads around the area in preparation for the celebrations of Dia de Andalucia.

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

Slightly busier day flight wise, with around 22.900 flights expected across Europe, with industrial action in Greece taking place from 22:00 on Tuesday 27th February until 22:00 on Wednesday 28th February. Overflying traffic will not be affected, only departures and arrivals to and from Greece.

The weather will continue to pose problems in the south of the UK, with low visibility affecting some airports, and wind continuing to add to the problems.

Once again there is missile Firing over the Black Sea from 25 to 27 February 2024, with alternative routes provided for commercial aircraft.

Military Exercise BVR 2024-1 will take place in Hungary from 26 to 29 February and 04 to 07 March 2024.

Military exercise Joint Warrior (JW 24-1) will take place mainly within Scottish airspace, but also impacting areas in England. This exercise is part of the Steadfast Defender campaign, which will continue with the Nordic Response exercise in the first half of March. The exercise schedule is 24 Feb – 04 Mar, but the activities on the weekends will be very low.

The exercise is not expected to have much of an impact on commercial traffic, but intensive military movements are expected, especially in Scottish airspace.

Official Websites for Travel Information

For live traffic reports, visit the DGT traffic map
For weather warnings, consult AEMET
DGT Twitter account
AEMET weather related road information
Aemet Twitter account
For flight information, check the AENA airport operator’s website

Weather

Always check the weather where you are before embarking on a trip. Here are the official sources for alerts and warnings.

On This Day

2004, Juan Costa (Minister of Science and Technology), announces the installation of the largest supercomputer in Europe in Spain.

1988, heavy snowfalls are recorded in Cantabria and Asturias, with many towns cut off from communication.

1981, mass demonstrations are held in all Spanish capitals in support of the democratic system and in rejection of the attempted coup d’état of February 23.

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The post Spain Today – Tuesday 27 February 2024 first appeared on Mark Nolan´s Podcast.