Spain News Media

[Spain]

MICHEL ELECTED AS NEW COUNCIL SPEAKER, TUSK ELECTED AS DEPUTY SPEAKER

Michel and Tusk, posing for a official photo after the Council vote

Charles Michel from the Kingdom of Fremet and Donald Tusk from the Kingdom of Spain have been elected as the Council new Speaker and Deputy Spaker respectively. Both have got 11 votes supporting them, and that makes the European Progressive Alliance to control, once again, the Council on its highest positions, which benefits the oldest active Europarty after seeing how their possibilities of entering the new Commission just dissapeared with the what is called "Leesaster", a mix between the candidate's surname and the word disaster that has extended between the former EPA followers.

After the results of the vote were announced by the now former Speaker Edward Firoux, from Inquista, Tusk has taken the floor and addressed the Council, saying Councillors had a "lots of things to work on" and he has wished he could "count with as many European Councillors as possible to move forward a new era on the European legislation." A new era starts today on the European Council, with Firoux, one of the most controversial speakers ever, now being out of the Council and European Politics and his old European Progressive Alliance taking over the most representative institution of the European Union. From EUnews, we wish Mr. Michel and Mr. Tusk the best of luck.

[Spain]

SEVERAL RIOTS AFTER THE ARREST OF PABLO HASÉL, A CATALAN RAPPER

Riots a few minutes ago in Catalonia

The Mossos d'Escuadra are having to deal with several riots around Catalonia (especially in Barcelona, Lleida, Tarragona and Girona) after this morning's arrest of Pablo Hasél, a well-known Catalan rapper which was convicted to prison after carrying out a sentence for terrorism's exaltation and slanders to the Royal Household. His new sentence just included 9 months of prison, which means he wouldn't need to enter the prison, but he has several precedents: He assaulted a TV3 journalist, as he also attacked a witness from a trial against a police officer who was acussed of attacking one of his friends (the police officer from Barcelona got absolved in the end).

Unidas Podemos has condemned this arrest and has asked the Goverment to resign if they are a "truly democratic Government", but the Minister of Justice, Rafael Catalá, has answered back to Pablo Echenique, Podemos' spokeperson: "we have these kind of crime sin our laws, I would like to remove them, but this is not a democratic anomaly nor it is repression against certain ideologies or groups. If somebody thinks that, then I urge him to read the Código Penal and check if what I'm saying it's true. As of now, we will work towards removing these speech crimes, but we need 3/5 of the Congress. If the other parties want to help us, we will be pleased to receive their help." The President would have also called the King, who would have agreed on removing these crimes from the Código Penal.

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UPDATE - The night has been tense and violent in Catalonia. The Mossos d'Escuadra police office at Vic was assaulted last night by a group of rioters. Many police officers were injured in Vic as in Barcelona and Lleida. The Policía Nacional is now having to charge in Madrid after the people started to lauch objects to the police. 18 people were arrested last nght and 33 ended up being injured - 20:06 - 17.02.2021

[Spain]

KING JUAN CARLOS PAYS 5 MILLION EUROS TO HACIENDA

The King Juan Carlos I, retired in the Caribbean island of Nofoaga, has payed 5 million euros to the Spanish tax office in order to regularize his situation with the office. The Spanish Royal Household and the Spanish Government might be preparing the King Juan Carlos' comeback, what meant he should first pay the tax office his supposed corrupted and illegal money. The King travelled to Nofoaga on July the 31st, as said by the Royal Household on its statement.

Today, we have been able to know about this, something which was welcomed but also a bit criticised by the Spanish President, who was asked in his special press conference after the Minister's Council: "I welcome his Majesty the King Juan Carlos to regularize his situation with the tax office, but at the same time, as the President, I feel that I must refuse these attitudes. Nobody, no matter what position they have in our institutions, shall commit fraud."; something Alberto Garzón and Pablo Iglesias have criticised: "the Monarchy is no longer useful in our country: they jail rappers, they cost us money and they are what they are just because they were born in that family. It's time for a Republic".

[Spain]

MONCLOA SOURCES SAY DISCONFORMITY HAS TAKEN THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE

The Palacio de la Moncloa

Very close sources to the President, Jesús Aguilar, have said disconformity has taken the office after the last events reported from the United Duchies. These sources claim the President would agree with arresting those linked with the attacks, which killed 98 Spanish people, but he disagrees on the arrest of those linked with the Union of Syndicates just because they talked with Government members. It is said many left-wing politicians from the United Duchies are running away from the country to the Union of Syndicates, Czech Slavia and the Union of Nicoleizian Soviet Republics.

The relationships between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Duchies are, according to the President's office, really good, but that could not be exactly true. The Government has advised Spanish people to avoid travelling to the Duchies if possible, at least until an excemption on Spanish citizens is made on the new National Security Act for Safety of the Public is passed. Ana Beltrán, Minister for Local Government, made some comments on the matter days ago: "the Spanish Government isn't a fan of its citizens being registered on a database just because they are going on holidays. We will work to achieve an excemption for our nationals, but as of now, we advise everyone about the risks involving travelling to the United Duchies when it comes to privacy".

[Spain]

PRESIDENT AGUILAR ENDORSES "FEMINIST AND 21ST CENTURY VALUES" TO REACH EQUALITY

The President, at today's demonstrations

President Jesús Aguilar has attended to the March 8th demonstrations because of Women's day, as usual since he took the lead of the Partido Popular. The President, who was absent this morning in Moncloa, with his private jet being spotted departing from the Ejército del Aire's airbase Torrejón de Ardoz. He has been asked about this, and he said he needed to travel because of private reasons. After the march through the most famous streets of Madrid, the President has delivered a speech along with the heads of the different feminist collectives and other politicians, actors and actresses and many other famous people around.

The Spanish President has called women and men to "find the correct path towards real equality basing on feminist and 21st Century values, searching for a feminist approach which stays focused on what it is important and not extremist branches which just make extremists hate the whole collective". He said. The feminist collectives have thanked the President for his assistance to the demonstrations, but also have stated the Government should work even more on these objectives all women aim for: "It's great we have a Ministry for Women, another one for Equality between us, but the Ministers need to appear on the news and work for us, the Spanish women asking for a better future for our children and families, for the rights we deserve, Mr. President".

[Spain]

AGUILAR WARNS AT THE CONGRESO: THE SPANISH PEOPLE SHALL FASTEN THEIR SEATBELTS; HARD TIMES ARE COMING IN SPAIN AND EUROPE

Saying the European Union is going through hard times is something mostly everyone in Spain, but the latest words from President Aguilar in today's Cabinet Questions (Sesión de Control al Gobierno in Spanish) have surprised many. He was answering a question from Íñigo Errejón (Más País), asking about the Government's response to the many events taking place at the European Union, when these words came out: "I want to send a message to the Spanish people watching and hearing us at the moment, as for everybody here: we need to fasten our seatbelts because hard times are coming for Spain and the European Union. The storm started in the Union of Syndicates, kept on going in the United Duchies and now we have the storm in the Caspian, with a huge cloud covering the countries with a coast on the Caspian. Spain has its own storm, as we have some concerns on the Protectorado del Rif, but we are keeping track of the situation and nothing wrong should happen"

He has also been asked by Santiago Abascal (VOX) about what will the Government do with Copala City, after the latest news. The President has also given an aswer to this matter: "Copala City needs agreed solutions and not unilateral pullouts, they need guarantees and not a suspended autonomy. If Reitzmag can't cope with them being contrary to what they say, they should have made clear what Copala City could and couldn't do, but instead they made a messy treaty and they are now paying the prize of it. In my opinion, Spain has nothing to see in Copala City as it's an affair between Reitzmag, Icholasen and maybe even Inquista, but I want to warn Reitzmag we are keeping track of the situation and Copala City might be recognised as a Nicolezian territory if certain guarantees aren't fullfilled, such as an agreement in the Caspian or the devolution of their autonomy, or if Reitzmag pulls out from the signed treaty without any explanation apart from the ones leaked in the Bridgesgate."

[Spain]

ASMSA REVEALS NEW BOATS TO ENFORCE WATERS BORDERS

One of the new ASMSA boats, departing from Ceuta this morning

The Adventuranza Strait Maritime Security Agency (ASMSA) has revealed their new Border Patrol boats, made in Spain and ready to protect the Spanish waters. The Minstry of Overseas Missions, Territories and Straits, Teodoro García Egea, has said this boats will be "useful to protect our waters from rogue states wishing to get benefits from Spanish waters without asking for a proper permission, or trying to avoid the payment of the tariffs imposed since last year." The boats are equiped with the latest technologies and they are creating new workplaces, which have an assured existance until 2023, as they are being made in Cádiz, Galicia and other autonomous communities were there is a shipbuilding industry.

These new boats will soon be joined by the Gibraltar Strait Security Agency's boats, which are being made exclusively at Cádiz. Teodoro García Egea has been asked about the supposed Spanish new neighbour, Moriagaru, and this has been his answer: "I don't know a thing about them, and until today I didn't know they existed, they haven't given any sign to be alive like many previous neighbours we have been suposed to have. Anyway, I can assure Spain will keep its waters as they are and they will have to pay the tax." Meanwhile, Pedro Sánchez has encouraged the Government to look at Social Affairs instead of builsing more ships: "Teodoro likes ships while Mr. Barack Obama is missing. This is not the Government the people deserve, the poor people deserve to get some answers and help".

[Spain]

BREAKING - SPAIN RECOGNISES COPALA CITY

President Aguilar, this morning, along with the Foreign Affairs Minister

Live from the Palacio de la Moncloa; the Press Conference of President Aguilar:

"A very good morning to everyone here, thank you for coming.

Today, I am accomplishing my word with the Nine Dominions of Icholasen, but also with more than a million Copalans that have been cruelly led to nowhere by a Government that no longer has authority over that land. I'm not talking about the Government of Copala City, but about the Government of Reitzmag. We warned them, we told them what the consequences of not returning the autonomy to the area would be, and now they will have to face them. With these attitudes, Reitzmag proves what proved in Eastern Haane some months ago, their imperialist attitude and their lack of civil and political rights. I have been informing myself about some ridicolous crimes the Copala City Government could be accused of: Misinformation is the least worse, and the worst it's treason.

So, from March 23rd onwards, Copala City is fully recognised as a Nicoleizian Commonwealth territory within Europe by the Spanish Government, after being authorised by the Congreso de los Diputados, the Senado de España and all the Autonomous Communities and territories. I once said Eilidh Whiteford Spain would be always involved in the fight towards the UNSR and also against the countries which try to support the illegal regime like Reitzmag. With this, the Kingdom of Reitzmag has proved they had never supported Free Icholasen, but the Union of Nicoleizian Soviet Republics, and that's why we took them to the European Court of Justice last year. We were never so proud of doing that, we were never so proud of showing the European Union what the real truth about Reitzmag was, and from today, seems to be the truth once more.

Today, I would like to offer the Nicoleizian Government a new sede for their delegations, along with the Balearic Government. Located in the Carrer de Xaraca in Ibiza, 2 new skycrappers have been built. One of them will be used for offices and the other will be used for public housing, and we want the Nicoleizian Government to be the first people to use them. This agreement has no trap, has no hidden interests and has no paper to sing, because Spain is a trustworthy country that always accomplish what it signs when it is required to. We have also began to contact some countries in order to take further action on this unjustified and authoritarian move.

That was all by my part, thank you very much and have a nice day."

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The new skyscrappers in Ibiza

[Spain]

WORKS START TO BUILD THE PUERTO SECO DE ANTEQUERA (ANDALUCÍA), A NEW PROJECT TO MAKE CARGO TRADE EASIER IN EUROPE

Located near Bobadilla and Antequera-Santa Ana's Rail Station, the Puerto Seco promises to be a great way to connect Europe's cargo

The Government of the Junta de Andalucía has given the green light to the start of the works at Bobadilla-Estación (Antequera, Andalucía) in order to build the Puerto Seco de Antequera for a value of 34.7 million Emus. The Mayor of Antequera and Antequera Nueva, Manolo Barón, has said this project “is promising for the town itself and for Andalucía, as the location Antequera has it's priviledged and you can reach any of the 8 capital cities of the 8 Andalusian provinces in less than 3 hours.”

The project itself consists of 4 different sectors and promises to be one of Spain's most important economical trade centre. It will be built next to the Antequera-Santa Ana rail station, which connects with the High Speed line between Málaga and Madrid and Sevilla-Granada. By rail, it also connects with the line heading to Algeciras' Port and with the Mediterranean Corridor, which will connect Portbou (Catalonia) and Algeciras (Andalucía) with a High Speed line. By road, it will be connected with the A-92, a road which goes from Sevilla to Almería and then connects with the A-7 to Barcelona.

The Puerto Seco or Megahub Andalucía will be finished by December 2022, but it is expected that when the sectors are finished, they enter in operation. This also pretends to attract foreign companies into Andalucía, which connections makes it a great place to invest at.

[Spain]

DONOHOE, 3 TERMS AND MAKING SPANISH ECONOMY GROW FASTER THAN EVER

Donohoe, this morning entering the Ministry of Finances

Pascal Donohoe has accomplished the mission he was given in June: Making the Spanish Economy grow faster than ever before. Today's calculations published by the Ministry for Finances and Public Function and the Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness, the Spanish Economy is expected to go over the 2.8 billion euros GDP barrier and to be near to the 3 Billion worth Gross Domestic Product GDP; something never seen in Spain and which could be explained with the latest economical policies pushed by the Government, with a reduction of taxes and an increase of salaries.

Montoro and De Guindos have been asked about the possibility Donohoe ends up substituting one of them in the next term, with their answers being: "The President is happy with us two and Donohoe, but at the end we will end up retiring in the future so it's a sure bet. Pascal is called to be the new Minister for Economy or Competitiveness or else the new Minister for Finances and Public Function, so it's not much of a worry." De Guindos also said he "loved to work with Pascal" and described how funny he is when they meet to drink a coffee or they work together.

[Spain]

ISSOLA (GSSA) AND MARTÍN GALLEGO (ASMSA) MEET IN GIBRALTAR TO ANALYZE MEASURES

Albert Issola (L), GSSA Director and Francisco Martín Gallego (R), ASMSA Director

Albert Issola, Councillor for Digital, Financial Services and Public Utilities of Gibraltar and Francisco Martín Gallego, Councillor for Innovation, Industry, Transport and Commerce of the autonomous community of Cantabria are both meeting in Gibraltar this morning to discuss about possible measures that could be taken to enforce payments and in other areas like borders or flora and fauna conservation. The Cantabrian Councillor has arrived on the first flight of the morning into Gibraltar and has been received by the Gibraltar Strait Security Agency director. Then, both have got into a Government car and headed into the Gibraltar's Digital, Financial Services and Public Utilities.

The meeting is taking place after the European Council, with a proposal of the Reitzmic Deputy Councillor Yahontov taken both taxing cases into a discussion and proposed sanctions to Spain, along with the elimination of tax. This continues former Reitzmic Councillor van Allen wish to destroy both taxes with the European Maritime Standarts Act 2020 proposal, which was refused by an 8-0 vote with the own Reitzmic Councillor voting again. The meeting, which is expected to last 3 or 4 hours, will be also writing an statement which is expected to be published this afternoon. Whatever the outcome is, the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation will be covering the event until something is announced.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Overseas Territories and Missions and Straits is suspected to be in Gibraltar aswell and could be taking part in the meeting taking place at the moment on Gibraltar. Teodoro García Egea has been following the debate on the European Council very carefully and, according to the Ministry sources, Spain is not going to give up anything if no laws are established or Moriagaru doesn't wake up. He has been speaking to Councillor Tusk lately, and for a long time he has been looking to the Adventuranza Strait situation. Meanwhile, the opposition to the Government has expressed their support to whatever action is taken, except for VOX, which has said the tax must go and they would remove it. The President, who is travelling to Catalonia today, will be giving a Press Conference but nobody knows if he will address the topic.

[Spain]

THE SNP WINS THE AUTONOMICAL ELECTION IN SCOTLAND

Full results of the Scottish Election

The Scottish National Party, led by the current First Minister of Scotland (the equivalent to an autonomous community's president) Nicola Sturgeon, has won the Scottish election standing just one short of majority, but likely regaining power with the support of the nationalist Scottish Greens, coalited with Más País. Ms. Sturgeon, who promised to force the Spanish Government to hurry up on the procedures concerning the full autonomy status for Scotland, has called this a historical result that should never be forgiven by any of the parties that ran on this election.

Jesús Aguilar congratulated Nicola Sturgeon after the result was revealed, as well as announcing the elected First Minister that the King, Felipe VI, would travel to Scotland the following Tuesday, in order to visit the Scottish troops and having a summit with the Scottish autorities. Meanwhile, within its territorial mess, the Kingdom of Spain continues to figure out what to do with all the territorial entities that have not yet been included within the autonomous status recognised by the Constitution; a proof the well-known Transición only ended for the non-forgotten parts of Spain, while the rest awaits their autonomy.

[Spain]

JUNCKER CONFIRMS HE WILL RUN FOR PREMIER COMMISSIONER

The whole of Europe loves him, and now he wants to go a step further

When Juncker was forced to leave the European Commission because of term limits, he published a book called "I'll come back", in which he said he wanted to run for Premier Commissioner if the European Progressive Alliance allowed him to do so and if he thought he was still able to be the European Union's most powerful man. Yesterday evening, his press team announced that a very important press conference would be taking place this morning in Europolis. The main reason of summoning the press: an important announcement from Jean-Claude Juncker referring the European Commission Elections which are coming as soon as the month ends. Just a few minutes after Dr. Walter Cocx released his statement saying he would not rerun for Premier Commissioner, Juncker appeared on the press conference room alone, with no papers.

"Good morning and thank you for coming, I really appreciate you still pay attention to this old man"; said Juncker, making the journalists there laugh for some seconds along with him. The press conference, which seemed to be done in order to present the 2nd part of his memories (mostly every journalist there had carried the book to get a sign from the former Commissioner and now candidate for Premier), suddenly changed to a political atmosphere, with the foreign media writing fast to their bosses to announce what was a matter of minutes to be announced. Everyone competiting to be the first news channel to publish such an announcement from the former Internal Affairs Commissioner, but they all wanted to confirm if he was going to run under the Eeuropean Progressive Alliance umbrella.

"If you have read my book, you will all know what I am doing here this morning; while if you haven't, you will have to wait a few more minutes to discover what's going on, but don't worry, there will be autographs for everyone." Juncker said, before getting into the main matter: "As you might now, I was born to be a public servant: during all my life, I've served my region, my autonomous community, my country and I have served Europe. Some said I should run for Councillor and Donald (Tusk) should run for Commission, but I didn't want to do the most dangerous job in the European Union, nor I wanted him to lose all of his progress. And neither does him, don't you Donald?" Asked Juncker to the Spanish Councillor, who was seated just in front of the Premier Commission candidate. Tusk started to laugh and denied he wanted to run for Commission with his finger.

After that, Juncker kept on going: "So, that's why today I have decided to announce my candidacy to become the next European Union's Premier Commissioner. This hasn't been a difficult decision, but an easy one: I will always serve Europe, until the very end. I will run along with the European Progressive Alliance, and all that I can anticipate is that I'm going to put forward a very diverse platform, that can host people from any country of Europe. The rest will just remain secret until the campaign starts. But my message remains the same: Europe needs to forget about the fascists versus communists battles, and has to work towards integration and solidarity. I also want to wish the best of luck to Mr. Cocx, who has recently announced he won't run for re-election. Even if I disagree with him on some things, like the Sanctioning Powers Act, he deserves the best treatment from a former Commissioner and a Commission candidate."

Finally, Juncker answered some journalists' questions, signed autographs and left the room where the news were announced. We all know a massive part of the European Union's citizens love him, as we all know Jean-Claude Juncker doesn't do this to gain power, but to do a better Europe in his opinion (many agree, some doesn't). Will he be able to win Europe's most powerful place, or will he be defeated? Just a month left to discover if he becomes Premier Commissioner, to discover if Juncker comes back.

[Spain]

EXCLUSIVE - CORINNA'S NIGHT OF PASSION AND FIRE WITH CZECH MINISTER ŠÍN

Corinna, photographed last month in a very exclusive party at Ibiza

Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, mostly known as Corinna Larsen or Europe's most satisfied woman, has been caught in Prague (Czech Slavia) this morning exiting a very luxurious and known hotel along with the Czech Minister of Culture, Karel Šín. Both didn't realise about the presence of paparazis behind the cars parked in front of the very discreet alley. This news haven't been yet reported by the Czech media, which aren't expect to report or publish these news concerning their Minister.

With this man, Corinna has achieved a new record: 3 men in less than a year: After the King Juan Carlos had to leave Spain into Nofoaga, she adopted Renata as a name and tricked the regionwide known Spanish-Inquistan man, El Capitán Juan Bernardo Fernández-Velázquez. His wife, Mikaela Klienberg, Archbishop of Inquista, heard about these news while being in Spain, according to close fonts to the Archbishop. In the EuroVoice 40 show, which was hosted in Nueva Antequera, we were able to see her trying to persuade the Reitzmic Prime Minister, Simon Bridges, without success. Now, it was Karel Šín, an actor who left Spain after his drug addiction and played a role in the Spanish comedy show "Jersey", who fell into Corinna's beauty and habilities.

[Spain]

BREAKING - AGUILAR PRESS CONFERENCE: "2 DIPLOMATS' DEATHS ARE ENOUGH TO SEND THE ARMY TO CONTROL THE SITUATION"

When you travel abroad, Spain is referred as the country where we all live happily and peacefully. Now, the situation in El Rif, a Spanish protectorate which main etnicity is Arabic, changes everything: last night, the known millionaire Abdul Al-Rasheed, interrupted all the local private TV channels broadcast to give a speech to the people of el Rif. In that speech, he announced the creation of 'the Kingdom of Huriyah' as well as the establishment of a terrorist group which, according to Al-Rasheed words, pretends to kill the President and his family's lifes, "one by one, cutting their heads and shooting them in the fields" of El Rif; along with killing any single Spaniard that's left on El Rif.

Last night, the Minister for Home Affairs announced El Rif's airports had been shot down and meanwhile, the Guardia Civil would control every single road which exited El Rif into any of the neighbouring autonomous communities from a safe distance. The army in those communities has also been instructed to protect the police officers and shoot to death any person trying to end with the police or the soldier's life. The Minister also wanted to thank a 'foreign actor' for "helping Spain to be alert on the actions that have taken place on El Rif", but not referring to any country in particular.

Today, President Jesús Aguilar has given a Press Conference in Moncloa with the same security as always, something which experts qualify as unusual. He has "no fear to those that threaten him", because he thinks "being scared is the worst thing a victim can do". He has also ordered the Army on El Rif to stop this Coup d'Etat attempt and ordered the submission of the Section 155 of the Spanish Constitution about the Autonomy suppression. Finally, he has made the following statement: "Two young diplomats, aged 27 and 29, were kidnapped, raped and killed in Mustafa Begum's palace. Their names were María and Antonio, and both had recently ended their Master's degree in El Rif. These 2 deaths are more than enough to send the army to control the situation, and I want to send a message to both Begum and Al-Rasheed. You better hide or run away to somewhere else in Europe, because we are not letting you free after killing 2 young people with a bright future ahead."

[Spain]

PAY FOR YOUR DOG: GOVERNMENT INTRODUCES NEW DOG TAX

They might be cute, but you will now have to pay for them

The Spanish Government has recently passed a bill within the Council of Ministers to tax dogs, and now both the Congreso de los Diputados and the Senado have given the bill the green light needed. From the 1st July, dog owners will have to pay 10 EMUS a month per dog, in order to fund the Spanish Government budget from other minor taxes. According to recent data collected by the Instituto Nacional de Estadísitica (INE), and in co-operation with the autonomous communities, there are around 25 million dogs in Spain, with a registered owner, which could make the Government earn an extra 3 billion EMUS revenue for the yearly budget.

This tax, according to the Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Rural Development and Demographic Challenge, Jaime de Olano, won't make dogs neglects increase, but decrease: "if you want a dog, you will need to pay a tax for it, so you won't get one unless you can afford it. And for those that want to abadon their dogs, I would like to remember them that's illegal." Since the animal welfare law was passed last week, animal protectives are able to request extra funds to the Government, which they thank, but they disagree with the government on this tax: "The main interest might sound stupid, but it's prioritizing humans over animals, again. Why don't you need to pay a tax for a baby but you'll need to pay one for a dog, whcih can be seen as a baby aswell?" asks one dog owner who is a volunteer for an dogs protective, which by the way, are exempt from paying the tax.

Of course, that is another reason the Government gave to pass this tax. According to Minister De Olano, who was the Minister in charge of defending the proposal in the Congreso, "rural development and pensions won't be payed by getting a pet, but by having babies. The rural world needs babies, so does the cities' world. Having dogs won't help our country to solve its rural challenge, and this tax is necessary to stop the tendency towards having less babies than getting a dog per year. I'll tell you an interesting fact: at the moment, there are more dogs than babies in Madrid, the capital city of our country, which is worrying and should be worried." Despite the Minister effort, only Ciudadanos supported the proposal, which made it go forward to the Senate. So we will see for how long does this new tax last.

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THE GOVERNMENT TO DECIDE THIS FRIDAY ON PARDONING CATALAN POLITICIANS; CIUDADANOS THREATS TO TAKE THE GOVERNMENT DOWN IF THEY DO SO

The Minister for Justice, Rafael Catalá, on the Congreso de los Diputados

The Spanish Government will decide this Friday on wether to pardon or not the Catalan politicians that were jailed back in 2019 due to crimes of rebellion (in Puigdemont's case), sedition and embezzlement of public funds. Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Sànchez, Raül Romeva, Jordi Turull, Dolors Bassa, Carme Forcadell, Joaquim Forn, Josep Rull, Jordi Cuixart, Clara Ponsatí, Toni Comín, Lluis Puig, Anna Gabriel, Marta Rovira and Meritxell Serret. All of them were involved in the well-known "Procès indepentista de Catalunya", which ended up with sentences from 17 to 9 years and 3 fines for Carles Mundó, Meritxell Borràs and Santiago Vila. All of them were as well made unable to practice any civil service position during some years.

The President, who has visited Catalonia during the last weeks and met with Salvador Illa, President of the Generalitat de Catalunya; as well as meeting with the Episcopal Conference, the Catalan management and the Catalan trade Unions, which informed the Spanish President that the pardoning of the Catalan politicians is "necessary in order to tackle the last pieces of the procès". The chance couldn't be better: the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya controls the power of Catalonia and there's a Constitutionalist majority on the Parlament de Catalunya.

But pardoning them would put Aguilar on a weak situation: Ciudadanos has threatened the President to take the Government down if he pardons the Catalan politicians, but the Partido Socialista has offered the President support for what's left of term under the agreement he signed with Ciudadanos and some more measures that would need to be agreed during the course of the term. Rivera and Abascal have united in a single front and called the Spanish society to demonstrate in Colón Square (Madrid), against the possibility of pardoning them. What Jesús Aguilar will do, along with his Minister for Justice, will remain like that until Friday.

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INTERNATIONAL SIGNAL - PRESIDENT AGUILAR PRESS CONFERENCE CONCERNING NOFOAGA

Journalist: And now we are interrupting the regular Televisión Española Internacional schedule in order to offer a Press Conference from President Jesús Aguilar, on behalf of President Romain Guichard of Nofoaga, concerning the latest news of the island. We can see 3 black ribbons, one in the Spanish flag, one on the Nofoagan flag which is present on this press conference, as well as a black ribbon on the European Union flag. Now President Aguilar appears on the room, he seems to be quite shocked about the news and now he proceeds to speak:

"A very good morning to the whole of Europe, as well as to every Spanish following this press conference in which I will address the latest news I have from the Republic Nofoaga and what might happen with the island in the next days and weeks.

Before I start, I would like to tell you that the news are really shocking and that I am very sorry if I start crying. You will all understand once I release the official data of the disaster the European Union has been able to see and that, sadly, the Nofoagans and the foreign citizens living there or staying there for travel or business purposes had experienced. It is with great regret to inform you that 92.287 Nofoagans have either lost their lives or are missing in the Atlantic Ocean. This means only 11.751 have been able to make it on time to the bunkers. It is even more sad to tell there are no chances, nor any hope, to find any other Nofoagan alive or lost in the Atlantic Ocean.

Concerning foreign citizens, I have slightly better news: the Spanish Army has been able to save every foreign citizen in Nofoaga, even though many have required medical assistance, some even requiring to be sedated in order to be tranquilized. There were 3,000 foreigners at the moment in Nofoaga, from mostly every country on Europe. We have been receiving a lot of requests from countries all around Europe during the night asking us for permission to evacuate their citizens. The Spanish Government and the Spanish Army have spoken about this, and we have both come to the same conclusion: no evacuation of foreign citizens is allowed until it is safe enough to proceed. Once this prequisities are met, the Spanish Army will evacuate all citizens exclusively, as we have already prepared the evacuation routes.

Finally, I would like to speak about the future of Nofoaga and the island where the Caribbean nation is established. According to the experts in the bunkers and our own experts, that have spoke to those in Nofoaga, the island will likely explode. We estimate that a 98.44% of the surface of the island will blow up because of the volcanic eruption and many other factors about the soil of Nofoaga. Harder days will come, but... (A short silence takes place, Aguilar dries a tear from his eye) sorry. As I was saying, harder days will come, but we have enough hope to say this will go away soon. Thank you very much."

[Spain]

CATALAN POLITICIANS NOT PARDONED BY THE GOVERNMENT AFTER NEGATIVE INFORMS FROM THE COURT AND THE PROSECUTOR

Some of the Catalan independentist leaders in jail, posing for a photo

The Government of Spain has decided not to pardon the Catalan political leaders Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Sànchez, Raül Romeva, Jordi Turull, Dolors Bassa, Carme Forcadell, Joaquim Forn, Josep Rull, Jordi Cuixart, Clara Ponsatí, Toni Comín, Lluis Puig, Anna Gabriel, Marta Rovira and Meritxell Serret. The Aguilar cabinet has decided the pardon was unnecessary and also was going to be dangerous for the country's estability, as the civil prosecutor and the Supreme Court both had shown their negative answer to the possibility of pardoning them, which was the main feeling around the Congreso de los Diputados.

A 67% of the total population of Spain is against the pardoning of the Catalan politicians, with all the autonomies and territories being against except Scotland, the Basque Country and a 46% of the population of Catalonia. With this decision, Aguilar saves the Ciudadanos' support to his Government but the political situation of Catalonia gets more tense as the independentist parties were waiting for the President to pardon the politicians. Tense months are coming, but Aguilar has not lost the match yet: with Salvador Illa's Government depending of VOX at the moment, this move assures VOX won't leave the Constitutional side of Catalonia.

[Spain]

AGUILAR AND DE OLANO REVEAL THE 'SPANISH GREEN PLAN'

The President, Jesús Aguilar, revealing the Spanish Green Plan

The President of Spain Jesús Aguilar and the Minister of Climate Change, Environment, Rural Development and Demographic Challenge, Jaime de Olano, have both presented the Spanish Green Plan in the Palacio de la Moncloa today, accompanied by several green activists, the IBEX 35 enterprises CEOs and the rest of the cabinet. The Green Plan comes after standing the European Union's former Commissioner Münnever Birdane and the leaders from many countries around Europe up because of the famous Carbon Tax, a measure to tackle Climate Change according to many, but not feasible for the Spanish President.

Aguilar has re-affirmed himself concerning the tax: "The biggest mistake on the European Union's Green Deal is the Carbon Tax, and those who are here right now all agreed that what is really going to happen is that the companies will not pay a single EMU for that, but charge it on the consumers' bill and make a profit in order to pay the tax. If someone in the European Commission knew about Economics when the conference took place, we would have had a competent agreement. But now we don't, and that gave us a very important advantage towards the rest of the European Union, which is freedom to decide the range of action and freedom to decide when it's going to happen."

Olano then proceeded to speak, saying the Government and especially his ministry have given their very best to get the better outcome possible from the original Green Deal, but adapting it to the Spanish reality: "The Spanish Green Plan is adapted to our reality, to our territorial division and the resources and ambitions of each territory, getting a common agreement between all the Autonomous Communities, Cities and Entities in order to move forward the same direction, and with the sole purpose of tackling Climate Change together, with efficiency and sustainability, without risking the economical stability of our country and guaranteeeing our people that they won't pay the unfair prize of tackling Climate Change with ridicolous taxes."

The Spanish Green Plan is expected to be published during the week, but the Government has already advanced that the Carbon tax will be absent on the paper and that single use plastics will be banned next year, with those used for packaging being banned on July 2023. Apart from that, a Climate Change law will be passed before the summer ends, along with some other climate laws that will adapt the country for a greener future.