SPAIN

Inflation & The Current Minimum Wage- In Spain It’s €1,080 Per Month (€6.75/hr with a 40hr week)- Minister of Labor Yolanda Díaz proposes raising it by 43 euros more per month (€7.02/hr, a 3.8% increase): {Translation, summary}
– Employers in our country reach 2024 with new threats hovering over their activity and which they will have to face. The rise in the minimum wage is one of them. It should be remembered that increases in the SMI affect, above all, small businesses, which are the ones that find it most difficult to meet the state minimum wages. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that these figures do not include the total labour cost of hiring for the employer, since to this amount must be added the Social Security contribution borne by the company, which rises even more with the rises in the SMI.
– This is what the confederal secretary of Trade Union Action of CCOO, Mari Cruz Vicente, and the deputy secretary general of Trade Union Policy of UGT, Fernando Luján, told the press on leaving the second meeting for the negotiation of the increase in the SMI. The employers proposed a rise of 3% with the possibility of adding up to 1% in case of inflation deviation. A few days ago, the Minister of Labour announced that the SMI would rise “at least 3.8%”, which equals the overall average inflation rate for the last 12 months but is less than the 4.5% “core inflation rate”.
– {Editor provides additional info} Spain’s consumer price inflation rate eased to 3.2% year-on-year in November 2023, down from 3.5% in the previous month, a preliminary estimate showed. It was the lowest rate since August, mainly due to the decreases in the prices of fuel and tourist packages. Additionally, food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation slowed. The core rate, excluding volatile items like food and energy, eased to 4.5% from October’s 5.2%, marking the lowest level since April 2022. Spain’s European Union-harmonised 12-month inflation was 3.2% in November, down from 3.5% in October and below the market consensus of 3.7%. source: National Statistics Institute (INE)
Source, Spanish: https://www.libremercado.com/2023-12-11/yolanda-diaz-marca-la-cifra-de-la-subida-del-smi-y-plantea-elevarlo-43-euros-mas-al-mes-7078408/
Additional info source: https://tradingeconomics.com/spain/inflation-cpi 

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VOX leader Santiago Abascal says, “The Spanish people will want to hang Sánchez by his feet”, PSOE freaks out, Sánchez calls Abascal’s words “extraordinarily serious”: {Translation, summary of 2 articles}
– The president of Vox has provoked an important controversy by stating in the Argentinean press (Clarín), that “there will be a moment when the Spanish people will want to hang Sánchez by his feet”, a reference to the death of Benito Mussolini {pic}. The statement made during his visit to Buenos Aires to attend the inauguration of the new president, Javier Milei {pic 2}.- The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has described as “extraordinarily serious” the words of the Vox leader.” Furthermore, he has indicated that Abascal was going to be vice president of the Government, in a Government chaired by the PP.
– In different messages on the social network X, leaders such as Patxi López (member of Congress of Deputies, lower house of Congress) have directly asked Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s PP party to break the government agreements with Vox for “vomiting threats against the president”, accusing Abascal of being a “totalitarian who has crossed all limits”.
– Feijóo responded to Abascal’s statements in an interview on Telecinco, assuring that he “regrets” and “condemns” them, as the PP “has nothing to do with them”, stressing that this type of controversy “suits Sánchez”, pointing to the leader of Vox for providing Sanchez with an unnecessary distraction in a key week for the amnesty, which begins its parliamentary procedure in Congress tomorrow.
Sources, Spanish: https://www.libertaddigital.com/espana/politica/2023-12-11/pp-y-psoe-se-lanzan-reproches-ataque-abascal-colgar-sanchez-pies-7078232/ & 
https://www.europapress.es/nacional/noticia-sanchez-tacha-palabras-abascal-extraordinariamente-graves-senala-pp-meterles-instituciones-20231211135214.html

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Hypocrite left roars against Abascal quote but forgets when it wanted the guillotine for the King and PM Rajoy: {Translation, summary}
– The left roars against the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, for claiming that “there will be a moment when the people will want to hang Pedro Sánchez by his feet”. However, the same left forgets that the Socialist Youth guillotined an image of PM Mariano Rajoy in 2013 or that Podemos also called for it for King Felipe VI.
– In October 2013, the Socialist Youth of the PSOE organised a “solidarity” play {pic} in a theatre in the Alicante municipality of Rafal that ended with an image of the then Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, guillotined. Several PSOE leaders and officials posed smiling for a photo with the head of the PP leader. The PSOE youth organisation posted this photo on social networks and the Popular Party denounced these events to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for an alleged crime of incitement to hatred.
– A Podemos deputy criticised King Felipe VI for not standing before the sword of Simón Bolívar (Columbian symbol of independence from the Spanish Empire) during the inauguration in August 2022 of the new president of Colombia, the former terrorist Gustavo Petro. It was the at that time leftist Podemos parliamentarian Pedro Honrubia said, “Alert, alert, alert, alert that the sword of Bolívar is passing through Latin America. And if Felipe the fascist is bothered, then fu*k him. What we miss is a good guillotine in the history of the Spanish state, dammit,” he said in a message posted on social networks.
Source, Spanish: https://okdiario.com/espana/izquierda-brama-contra-abascal-pero-olvida-cuando-queria-guillotina-rey-o-rajoy-12050361 

ANDALUCÍA

Use Designated Drivers If You Go Out To Party- The DGT intensifies alcohol and drug controls on the eve of the Christmas holidays: {Translation}
– The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) launches this Monday and until Sunday a new control and awareness campaign on the risk of alcohol and drug consumption while driving, precisely on the eve of the Christmas holidays. The campaign will consist of a reinforcement of controls, which will be carried out at any time of the day and on any route, during these dates prior to Christmas, when a good part of the business dinners and meetings are held. of friends.
– DGT has invited local police to join the campaign to carry out surveillance as close as possible to consumption areas and avoid greater exposure to risk. Source, Spanish: https://andaluciainformacion.es/andalucia/1460340/la-dgt-intensifica-los-controles-de-alcohol-y-drogas-en-visperas-de-las-fiestas-navidenas/

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Adelante demands that Moreno close the 109 golf courses in Andalucía due to the drought: {Translation}
– Adelante Andalucía has demanded this Monday that the Andalucian president, Juanma Moreno, adopt urgent measures against the drought instead of announcing future water cuts in the community and has defended the closure of the 109 golf courses in Andalucía.
– Faced with the announcement of possible water cuts, the head of Adelante Andalucía’s Organisation, Néstor Salvador, criticised the fact that the president is “preparing the ground” to cut off water to millions of Andalucians “without providing” solutions. “The Junta is responsible for the obvious lack of water due to climate change and cannot wait for it to rain before making decisions,” he warned.
– The Adelante party leader has argued in a press conference that the situation requires urgent measures, among which he has proposed the closure of the 109 golf courses in the community, sports facilities that are “spending the same amount of water consumed by a million” of Andalucians, he said. According to the party, what Moreno has to do is to “take the side of the Andalucian population and not the golf courses and the companies that are operating them”. Source, Spanish: https://andaluciainformacion.es/andalucia/1460610/adelante-exige-a-moreno-el-cierre-de-los-campos-de-golf-de-andalucia-por-la-sequia/ 

AXARQUÍA

La Axarquía and the Costa del Sol only have six more months of water for the population if it does not rain: {Translation in full}
– The drought situation that is hitting the province of Málaga fiercely continues to worsen day by day as it awaits rainfall. A few weeks ago it was announced that the capital of Malaga had a year’s supply of water left for the population if it did not rain, but now it is known that for the Axarquia and the Costa del Sol there are only six months of water supply left. In order to try to cope with this situation, recourse is being made to regenerated and desalinated water. For this reason, the Junta de Andalucía and the Diputación de Málaga have signed a collaboration protocol to improve coordination between the administrations in order to speed up water projects and guarantee water to the province. Similarly, the Regional Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Carmen Crespo, explained that they are working with the Port of Malaga to ensure that the connection intakes are viable for bringing in water vessels.
– With the weather against them due to the high temperatures and lack of rainfall, the Minister of Agriculture, after signing the agreement with the Diputación, said that before having to resort to water boats, they want to expand the desalination plant in Marbella. Their main objective is to produce up to 20 cubic hectometres and to be able to carry out the work they have asked the Central Government for financial aid, but they are awaiting a response. They have also planned for an additional 10 hectometres in the future.
– The enlargement of the Rojas pumping station is also a priority project for the Andalusian regional government, which will be completed in a few weeks and will connect the whole province. Similarly, Crespo stressed that they are working to reactivate old wells that are in disuse, such as Tejera-Aljaima in the Axarquía and Fahala-Aljaima in the Guadalhorce, the wells of Coín and the Guadiaro river. On this point, he pointed out that in the Guadalmansa and Fuengirola boreholes they are going to act with desalination machines to eliminate the salinity of the resources due to marine intrusions.
– In the same way that regenerated water has been increased for the Axarquia region last year, the Junta is now working to increase it in the Guadalhorce region. To this end, it is seeking to increase the capacity of the Guadalhorce WWTP to 30 hectometres and is also working to obtain more water for the Aljaima weir and thus transfer these resources to the Atabal. With this, 20 hectometres more would be obtained by next summer and by the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, 50 hectometres would be reached.
*The Port of Malaga, viable to receive ships*
– “We are being foresighted, preparing ourselves for the worst scenario”, Crespo indicated, explaining that after the announcement of the president of the Junta to prepare the Andalusian ports to bring ships with water, in Malaga they are already getting ready. On this point, the councillor assured that they have spoken to the operators so that they begin to contact different vessels that can bring to Malaga ships of up to 100,000 cubic metres that will be injected into the Atabal WWTP or ships of 40,000 cubic metres of viable water that would go directly to the system of the province.
– The Port of Malaga is “capable” of receiving these vessels, if it is finally necessary to guarantee the supply. According to Crespo, the operators are currently checking “whether there is any dysfunction in the intake because it has not been used until now”, and improving them so that if these ships do end up arriving in 2024, everything will be in order and the water will reach all corners of the province.
*Water Agreement*
– In relation to the signing of the agreement, Francisco Salado, president of the Diputación de Málaga, pointed out that one of the immediate actions will be to tackle the problems of the presence of salty and brackish water in the sewage networks, which is damaging the quality of the tertiary treated water being used for agricultural irrigation or marine intrusion in the collectors. Therefore, the “urgent solution” will possibly consist of installing “desalination stations in the affected areas, mainly Vélez-Málaga and Algarrobo”. Likewise, with this protocol they will work not only to improve water quality, but also to prevent water losses by repairing leaks in the supply networks. The agreement will come into force from today, 11 December 2023, until 31 December 2026. Source, Spanish: https://www.malagahoy.es/malaga/Axarquia-Costa-Sol-disponen-poblacion_0_1856215689.html 

MALAGA PROVINCE

Turn of the weather in Malaga- from summer heat to cold from Wednesday: {Translation}
– Tuesday the maximum temperatures will reach 27 degrees Celsius in the Malaga capital. However, according to the forecast of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), the situation will take a turn from Wednesday with the entry of a new cold air front into the Peninsula.
– Thus, although the week has started with “very high” temperatures for this time of year – temperatures may even reach 30ºC in places in the southeast of the peninsula – the situation will change drastically from Wednesday 13 December when Meteorology expects the current “extraordinary” values to begin to “normalise” and the typical cold of December to return: a general drop in temperatures is expected, more noticeable on the Mediterranean coast. In the city of Malaga, for example, the 27ºC of Tuesday will drop to a maximum of 20ºC from Wednesday until the weekend. Source, Spanish: https://www.diariosur.es/malaga/giro-tiempo-malaga-calor-veraniero-frio-miercoles-20231211142244-nt.html

PRODUCT ALERT

List of brands of adulterated olive oil in Andalucia that Health Dept. suggests you avoid: {Translation, summary}
– The dismantled network had a warehouse in Mairena del Alcor where they mixed low-quality vegetable and olive oils in order to sell the adulterated product as genuine extra virgin olive oil.
– The Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs of the Government of Andalucia has now communicated which brands are affected and has recommended avoiding their consumption.
– Oleo L.U.X.E., aceite de oliva virgen extra
– Oliv, aceita de oliva suave
– Agricultor del valle, aceite de oliva virgen extra
– La Rama, aceite de sabor suave packaged by 16.006007/MA in Almargen
– Tesoro de Oliva, aceite virgen extra
– Tierra de Arbequino, aceite de oliva virgen extra
– Valle de Arbosana, aceite de oliva virgen extra
– Carrero, aceite de oliva virgen extra
– Esential, aceite de oliva suave
– Carro, aceite de oliva virgen extra
– Aciencia, aceite de oliva virgen extra
– Scudo, aceite de oliva virgen extra, packaged by Almazara la Ribera
Source, Spanish: https://www.malagahoy.es/andalucia/marcas-aceite-adulterado-Sanidad-evitar-consumir-video_0_1856214856.html

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Health alert for allergy sufferers following Toblerone labelling error: The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (Aesan) has issued a warning to people with allergies or intolerances to milk, almonds, soya and egg due to the distribution of a Toblerone brand product that contains these ingredients and which are not detailed on the labelling. Full article: https://www.surinenglish.com/spain/health-alert-for-allergy-sufferers-following-toblerone-20231208212951-nt.html 

Humour Section