The undisputed winner of the primaries of the Socialist Party (PS) of Portugal, Pedro Nuno Santos, who swept the internal elections on Friday and Saturday with 62% of the votes compared to 36% of the second, dreamed of leading the party and with
All posts by Carmen Gomaro
Open fronts, challenges and wounds to close in 2024
An all-powerful artificial intelligence, an unleashed polarization, the conflict in Ukraine, the Gaza war, the hornet's nest in the Sahel, natural disasters, victorious populisms at the polls…. When we are already in the death throes of 2023,
The US tries to protect its membership in NATO due to the fear that Trump will leave the organization if he wins in 2024
“The President shall not suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, made in Washington, DC on April 4, 1949, except with the advice and authorization of the Senate, provided that two-thirds of the members of that chamber vote in favor, or that there is an Act of Congress authorizing it.”
Lost among the 3,093 pages of the fiscal year 2024 Defense Authorization Act – that is, the Defense budget – that was approved Thursday, is that phrase. It is section 133b H of the legislative text, and its message is not so much institutional as political. His audience is one person: Donald Trump.
The message is clear: if Trump wins the elections in 2024 – which is probable today – and returns to the White House, he will not be able to remove the US from NATO. The section was proposed by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who was a vice presidential candidate with Hillary Clinton precisely in the elections that Trump won, and Republican Marco Rubio, although seven Democrats and another Republican later joined it.. Its inclusion in the text of the Law does not mean that the US membership in NATO is screwed forever.. The 2025 Defense Budget – or any year's, or another law – could change it, but that would require burning considerable political capital and would likely unleash a political storm.. A significant detail is that in 2018, a similar initiative did not prosper.
Now it has done so, perhaps because in Washington the fear that Trump will remove the US from NATO is widespread.. Already when he was president, that possibility was raised.. It was in November and December 2020, after Trump lost the election against Joe Biden and, as a result, fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.. According to ABC television journalist Jonathan Karl, in those weeks Trump signed a document signed by his collaborators Douglas Macgregor – one of the most prominent defenders of the Russian invasion of Ukraine – and Johny McEntee ordering the withdrawal of American soldiers from a series of countries, including several European ones.
The order did not meet legal or procedural requirements, and was blocked by acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller and the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley.. But it is a precedent. Even more so because McEntee, who is currently 33 years old, is the main candidate to serve as Secretary of Defense if Trump wins the elections, although his confirmation by the Senate does not seem clear given his gambling addiction, which has already caused his dismissal from office. the White House in 2018. His presence in the candidate's closest circle reflects the marginal and radical nature of Trump's team in these elections.. Compared to people like McEntee or Macgregor, NATO, with its convoluted rules and agreements, is a waste of time.
But the former president himself is radicalized, as revealed by his electoral program, which is called 'Agenda 47', and in which he states that “we have to finish the process begun under my Government of deeply reevaluating the mission and purpose of NATO. The establishment that directs our foreign policy continues to insist on dragging the world into a conflict with a Russia armed with atomic bombs, based on the lie that Russia represents our greatest threat.. But the greatest threat to Western civilization today is not Russia; “We are, probably, more than anyone else, ourselves.”. It is not a speech by Vladimir Putin, but the electoral program of the man who is ahead in the polls in the US.
The European embassies in Washington are also very aware that the threat is serious. According to the New York Times, the Finnish ambassador, Mikko Hautala, has contacted Trump directly to try to convince him of the advantages of NATO, an organization that that country joined as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, possibly before the fear that they would be the next to receive Putin's tanks.
The great uncertainty is Trump's personality. The former president and now candidate is a volatile character, and it is no exaggeration to say that he listens to the last person he talks to about a topic.. A good example of this was his decision to withdraw US soldiers from Syria in late December 2018 during a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.. On that occasion, what ruined the New Year's Eve for the European ambassadors in Washington was the fear that, after Syria, Trump would decide the same with the soldiers in Iraq, which would have meant the end of the war against the Islamic State. Finally, and in a new twist of the script, Trump reversed course in 2019 and did not leave Syria.
That makes it difficult to know what Trump is going to do.. The phrase on your campaign website can mean whatever you want.. It is also false: with him in the White House, the US did not reevaluate anything about NATO, although it did launch a series of more or less furious attacks on its European partners.. Trump repeated over and over again that the United States pays most of the Alliance's budget, which is also a lie, because it only has the financial resources to pay for the maintenance of its offices and officials and five radar planes.. Its total expenses are around 2,275 million euros, of which Germany pays as much as the US, that is, about 300 million..
But, although he has not articulated it in a coherent policy, Trump, as a good isolationist, is repulsed by multilateral alliances like NATO.. Already in 2000, in his book The America We Deserve, Trump defended the departure of the United States from the Atlantic Alliance in order to save costs.. Nineteen years later, in an interview given at the White House to television commentator Tucker Carlson – another defender of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, who has recently been in Spain interviewing the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal – he questioned Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. under which NATO was created, and which establishes the principle of mutual defense among the members of the organization. And he did so to accuse Montenegro, a country of 600,000 inhabitants (exactly the same number as Russia has soldiers fighting in Ukraine, according to Putin himself on Thursday) of planning an attack on Russia to provoke World War III. The key, for Trump, was that Montenegrins “are very strong and very aggressive.”
However, despite these verbal boasts, Trump maintained his commitment to NATO. What's more: it increased the military presence of the United States near the border with Russia, by assigning a detachment of a thousand soldiers to Poland and negotiating with Warsaw the opening of a permanent base for 4,500 soldiers that, with its proverbial modesty, asked to be named 'Strong Trump'. Now, it remains to be seen what can happen in 2024 if he wins the elections.
CCOO calls a strike in Madrid's hospitality industry in the middle of Christmas
Workers' Commissions (CCOO) of Madrid has called a strike in the hospitality industry in the middle of Christmas after the lack of agreement in the negotiation of the sector's collective agreement. The strikes are called for December 25 and 31 and January 1, 5 and 6.
From CCOO they call on the sector “to stop” on Christmas, New Year's Eve and Epiphany to agree on decent salary increases and end the precariousness of working conditions.
The union points out that, after holding four meetings at the Regional Institute of Mediation and Arbitration (IRMA) regarding the negotiation of the Collective Agreement for Hospitality and Tourist Activities of the Community of Madrid, they have decided to call these strikes given the position of the employers. which, according to what they denounce, has “enslaved” its workers.
“It shows that they do not care about the needs of working people who are the ones who, at the end of the day, move their businesses forward with their efforts,” criticizes CCOO.
The union denounces “the irresponsible and unfair attitude of the employers, which is allowing this situation to continue over time.”
For this reason, they propose a salary increase of 15% in three years -7% for 2023, 4% for 2024 and 4% for 2025-, the regulation of the permanent discontinuous part-time contract, the improvement in promotion criteria and the adaptation current labor regulations in the agreement.
Rato requests the annulment of all evidence on the first day of the trial in which Anticorruption asks him for 70 years in prison
Eight and a half years after his arrest, Rodrigo Rato has sat on the bench of the Provincial Court of Madrid to face a request for 70 years in prison for fifteen economic crimes..
The declaration as accused of the former vice president of the Government, former director of the IMF and former director of Bankia is not scheduled until April, but the first day of the trial has been completely occupied by his defense, which has demanded his acquittal without the need to hold the hearing. oral.
In the processing of preliminary issues, lawyer María Massó has maintained that the key to the entire accusation is the documentation obtained in records that the court must consider null, and do so before the interrogations begin.
“The entire accusatory story has been built on the basis of the seized documentation […] Without the order that led to the seizure there would be no accusatory writing and only free acquittal would be possible. The original evidence is the seized documentation, it is the one used for each and every one of the evidence that is intended to be asserted.. They all derive from that first one,” Rato's representation has maintained.
The fact that all subsequent actions are connected to the first one, which must be considered null, means that what jurisprudence calls a connection of illegality occurs and which means, according to the defense, that all the evidence has been contaminated and can no longer be used to to accuse.
The Anti-Corruption indictment attributes to Rato 11 tax crimes as well as a crime of money laundering, a crime of punishable insolvency, a crime of corruption in business and a continuing crime of falsification of official and commercial documents.. He estimates that his tax fraud amounted to 8.5 million.
In her intervention, the former popular politician's lawyer maintained that in 2015 there was no basis to order the records.. The judge who authorized them did not make the necessary critical judgment of the two elements that were presented to him: the complaint from the Prosecutor's Office and a risk report from the Tax Agency.
The Prosecutor's complaint “was mendacious”, something “easily verifiable” if the judge had stopped to detect the contradictions that his own text contained.. As for the risk report of the Onif (National Fraud Investigation Office), it was full of “generalities” and “hypotheses” without sufficient depth for an interference in the fundamental rights of the accused.. As an example, the lawyer has indicated that she placed Rato's assets in tax havens, without the specific countries – the United Kingdom, Luxembourg – being considered such.
The initial questioned searches were followed by another one by Onif days later at the headquarters of some servers that contained information and which was “an absolutely illegal action” that was not covered by the initial registration authorizations that the judge had issued.. Nor, therefore, could the nine million documents thus obtained be used in the prosecution.
“Documents were seized from 1980, that is, 35 years old, compared to the three years that the car covered. And relating to 100 natural and legal persons, despite the fact that the order referred to two. There was no filter or anything like that.. Everything was taken. […] They did not go after the crimes that were reported, but rather they took everything with the sole purpose of searching for the crime,” said the defense, which describes the entire investigation as “prospective.”
In its indictment, Anticorruption maintains that the former leader of the PP has maintained hidden assets from the Treasury since 1999 through various companies.. Using these entities, Rato would have carried out continuous financial investment activities through a multitude of bank accounts opened abroad, which would have involved tax fraud between 2005 and 2015.. The defense maintains that since 2010 everything would have been prescribed.
Along with Rato, 16 other defendants accused by prosecutor Elena Lorente sit on the bench.. The list includes his former secretary, Teresa Arellano, his former brother-in-law, Santiago Alarcó, the former Secretary of State for the Treasury José Manuel Fernández Norniella and the former Secretary General of Telefónica Ramiro Sánchez de Lerín.
In January, after a few days dedicated to raising preliminary questions to the court, the interrogation of witnesses will begin and the rest of the evidence will be addressed. Already in April the accused will be questioned, given that on this occasion the court has agreed to the possibility, increasingly frequent, of them making a statement once the evidence against them has been seen.
This is the third trial that Rato faces. The first two were held in the National Court. In the case of Bankia's IPO, he was – like all the accused – acquitted. But in the case of the use of black cards he received a sentence of four and a half years in prison, which he has already served.
The controversy frustrates the signing of Isabel Pardo de Vera as president of Asval, the rental housing lobby
Everything seemed on track for Isabel Pardo de Vera, former Secretary of State for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, and therefore, former number two in the ministry responsible for housing policies in the last legislature, to take over from Joan Clos in the presidency of Asval on December 20. Everything seemed on track until this Friday, when his signing ended up being frustrated before it took place.
The news of his appointment advanced by El Confidencial has precipitated the commotion over the possible conflict of interest. Asval is the Association of Rental Home Owners, the lobby of which large funds such as Blackstone and other 6,000 landlords in the country are part, and had been in talks with Pardo de Vera for about a month to prepare his candidacy.. The former number two in Transport was interested in the project and negotiations between both parties were advanced; Pardo de Vera, in fact, had already held meetings with partners of the organization to analyze some lines of work, waiting to receive the opinion of the Office of Conflicts of Interest, which is the governing body of the Ministry of Finance that is in charge of the legal control of the incompatibilities of senior officials and the rest of the Administration personnel. However, the commotion caused by the news of her possible candidacy has led her to rule out the option.. “He's not even going to wait for the ruling,” say close sources consulted by EL MUNDO.. However, sources close to the association assure this newspaper that the former president of Adif has received throughout the day a “negative verbal report” from said office that precipitated her step back.
Pardo de Vera was part of the socialist Ministry that negotiated and drafted, together with Unidas Podemos, the Housing Law that contemplates limiting the price of rentals in stressed areas, among other things.. Asval, for its part, was one of the voices in the real estate sector most critical of this rule, which is why the signing – now failed – generated misgivings.
Those who supported Pardo de Vera's candidacy allege his “worth”, his “technical profile” and his “extreme professional prestige” to represent “the legitimate interests” of the residential sector at a “very interesting” time for housing in our country.. They also assure that their role in the negotiations on the Housing Law was very discreet given that their position, “more pro-sector” and “very market-oriented”, was not in line with that of other socialist members who participated in the dialogue, and much less with that of the partners of Unidas Podemos.
For Asval it was also an opportunity to regain relevance at a time when the Government of Pedro Sánchez has given more prominence to housing policies, with the creation of its own ministry and the appointment of Isabel Rodríguez as the new head of the sector.. At his inauguration, Rodríguez promised to “protect the owners” and the appointment [now frustrated] of a woman linked to the party like Pardo de Vera allowed Asval to rebuild the bridges of institutional communication. Now he will have to do it with another representative whose candidacy will have to be accelerated in the coming days.
Profile
Before becoming Raquel Sánchez's number two, Pardo held the position of president of Adif, a company she joined in 2007 through a Public Employment Offer and after having worked in the private engineering and consulting sector. of railway and road infrastructure projects.
More than two and a half years after his appointment, Pardo presented his resignation, along with the then president of Renfe, Isaías Táboas, after the problem that arose over the dimensions and design of the Cercanías trains for Cantabria and Asturias.
After his resignation, Pardo pointed out, regarding his resignation after the controversy of this case, that he has “never” had “attachment to the position” or a problem with making his position available “as always” and assured that “trains have never been manufactured that They couldn't fit through tunnels and not a single euro has ever been wasted”.
The "no" to the amnesty wins in the autonomies: more than 620 regional parliamentarians vote against throughout Spain
«In the Congress of Deputies, on November 13, 2023. Patxi López, spokesperson for the Socialist Group». Five weeks ago, the PSOE registered the bill with the greatest political and legal tension of any it has brought to the Lower House in 45 years of democracy. The 23 pages of the document draw a new frontier on the political board. Or a “wall”, according to the expression that made a fortune at the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. Until then, no one had dared to go that far in the concessions to the leaders of the 1-O separatist attempt.. That is why the title of the law itself was already a justification: “Organic law of amnesty for political, institutional and social normalization in Catalonia.”
That day the script was consummated by a PSOE that had actively and passively denied the possibility of a preventive and general measure of pardon for all those involved in the process and that now resigned itself to “making necessity a virtue.”. But two months before the text was registered, the regional parliaments had already been voting on the possibility of wiping the slate clean for Carles Puigdemont and the rest of the possible amnestied people.
The first to vote were the attorneys of the Cortes of Castilla y León, on September 20, and the last were the deputies of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, this past Wednesday. In just under three months, the regional parliaments have debated and voted on a common initiative of the PP against the amnesty. The popular party had presented a proposal in each and every one of the regions to substantiate the preventive rejection of the erasure of the crimes of the process “in exchange for seven votes.”. But in two of them the “no” came with the bill already in Congress: Galicia and the Canary Islands.
And the final result is 14 votes in favor of the PP non-law proposal and four against. These figures give an idea of the enormous gain in power of the PP in the last regional elections, because it is exclusively the 12 communities and two autonomous cities governed by the popular ones that have voted against the amnesty: Andalusia, Madrid, Valencian Community, Galicia, Castilla and León, Aragón, Murcia, Extremadura, Balearic Islands, Cantabria, La Rioja, Canary Islands (where the PP has the vice presidency), Melilla and Ceuta.
Socialist vote against
The PP (453) and Vox (118) add 571 deputies and attorneys in the regional Parliaments. Plus the 19 from the Canarian Coalition, the 9 from Ciudadanos and those from other parties such as Foro Asturias, UPN, Unión del Pueblo Leonés and Soria Ya!, total just over 620 parliamentarians against the amnesty. PSOE, Sumar, Junts, ERC, PNV, Bildu, BNG, IU and other partners also total almost more than 600.
The difference in total votes is minimal, but the majorities lean clearly to the right. And the joint offensive of the PP autonomies will not stop there. Génova has created a working group in which Cuca Gamarra will coordinate all these communities to continue “responding” to Sánchez for the amnesty, for the verifier and, now, for “handing over” Pamplona to Bildu, with a motion of censure that will unseat to Cristina Ibarrola (UPN).
The 14 parliaments that have already rejected the amnesty represent 35.8 million Spaniards, 71% of the population. And 88% of the territory. On all occasions, the PSOE has voted against and Vox, in favor. The socialists have revolted against the PP's intention to “portray” their regional leaders, and have pressed the “no” button forcefully in each and every one of the autonomies. In all? No, there is one notable exception. The PSOE of Castilla-La Mancha is the only party in the regional government that has not allowed the institutional declaration to be debated in plenary.
Not in vain, this is a debate that does not exactly benefit Emiliano García-Page, regarding his party. Because? Because the Toledo baron is against the clean slate of the crimes of the process. Voting “yes” to the PP initiative would have been an affront to his party and voting “no” would have been incoherent. Between tripping Pedro Sánchez and self-tripping, Page chose tancredism: better not to move. Page believes that the vote was nothing more than a “trap” by the PP. “It bothers me that they use institutions to set up traps and to try to portray regional presidents,” he recently told this newspaper.
Diego Alonso, fired at Sevilla after the tough defeat against Getafe
“What makes you win is knowing why you are winning” can serve as an epitaph for Diego Alonso as coach of Sevilla FC. The phrase is yours. He spoke it a few days ago at a press conference. The team had just lost in Lens and was left out of the Champions League and the Europa League. “We have deserved to win most of the games we have played,” he added.
Getafe was already winning in the fourth minute at the Sánchez-Pizjuán. The result, 0-3, defined with goals from Borja Mayoral, Jaime Mata and Mason Greenwood, is the least important. The inability of the Sevillistas to stand up to those of Bordalás, to propose something more than boredom and disorder, to even show some football dignity, goes beyond the scoreboard. If Diego Alonso has not been out of Sevilla for a few weeks it is because the Board of Directors is surfing its own crisis, with Pepe Castro retiring and José María del Nido Carrasco warming up on the wing to assume, very soon, the presidency of the club. Sevilla's problem is metastatic. It affects offices and grass. And it has a difficult solution. Only goals could cover up the disaster, but goals are at the opposite end of this block.
The arrival of the Uruguayan coach was the first big decision of Sevilla's new sports director, Víctor Orta. Monchi's replacement told a press conference why he had noticed the coach: “I made a trip to Uruguay and we met at a barbecue.”. I was impressed by one thing he told me, that he knew he was going to be a soccer coach since he was 23 years old.. That day we talked about Luis Aragonés, Rafa Benítez and Héctor Cúper. Since then I always had it on my radar and watched how it evolved.. Now she has been my first choice to coach Sevilla and I thank the management committee for supporting her.”
Unaffordable figures
30,000 people were able to attend the Nervion tragedy. Diego Alonso's numbers are the following: in the Copa del Rey two victories, against CD. Quintanar and Astorga; in the Champions League four defeats; in the League, five draws and three defeats. These are unaffordable data for any club.. The Uruguayan barbecue raised expectations that have not materialized in the Andalusian capital. The team changes its approach every game, the players play without enthusiasm, there are no individualities, there is no manliness, only noise. A chaotic and faithless system. Victory is utopian.
«I'm not going to invent something that has been in the football Bible for so long. Sometimes happens. What affects the coaches and also the sports directors in the medium term are the results, and when you have been in this profession for so long, you cannot only want the beautiful,” said Víctor Orta when asked about Diego Alonso. The defeat against Getafe could be the final one. Granada and Atlético await this same week. If Cádiz beats Las Palmas, Sevilla would end the day in relegation positions.
The continuity of Diego Alonso would be an inexplicable decision for the fans. The stadium emptied in the 80th minute.. The footballers looked at the ground. “Segundazo” write some Sevillistas on their social networks, perhaps to scare away their own fears. A barbecue has never been so expensive.
Xavi's frustration: "We don't finish the games"
Xavi Hernández felt “frustrated and upset” after the 1-1 at Mestalla, where Barcelona had 16 shots and 64% of the possession. Aware of the importance of the match, which he himself had pointed out as a “final”, the Barça coach reiterated that his team's problem was “effectiveness”. “We have made differences in many moments and the summary of the season is this: we did not finish the games,” he analyzed.
“We cannot forgive like this. We had the game under control for 0-2 and we were able to finish. In defense there are individual errors, lack of concentration,” stressed Xavi, in reference to the lack of intensity of his defenders, who let a ball escape in the area before Hugo Guillamón connected with an impossible shot for Iñaki Peña. “A specific error”, in his opinion.
In any case, Barcelona has conceded eight goals in its last three games (Girona, Antwerp and Valencia), only one less than in its previous 12 games.. That defensive security that opened the doors to the title last season is far away.
“This way we will win a lot”
“It was a game to win well, easily, so the point is completely insufficient. The players have played well, I have to be positive and think that this way we will win many games,” added Xavi. According to OPTA data, Barça is the team in the five major leagues (Premier, Serie A, Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1) that wastes the most big chances, both in the first half (23) and after 90 minutes (41 ).
“When you forgive so much these things happen. We deserved the victory. We have been good, we have done everything to win. Enough opportunities have been generated, and very clear. The same thing happens to us from last week: effectiveness problems. “We have to be more forceful in the rival area,” commented the former Qatari Al Sadd coach.
However, nerves once again took their toll on some of their football players, such as Frenkie de Jong, who received a red card by throwing one of his boots on the grass.. A bad ending for the Dutch international, who demonstrated his excellent quality in the midfield. Thanks to him, Barça completed 480 passes, more than double that of Rubén Baraja's team.
Pedri: “We missed the goal”
Xavi's speech, without a hint of self-criticism, had obvious similarities with that of some figures in his dressing room. “Everything that wasn't three points was a tough blow.”. We have done many things well, but we lacked the goal,” Pedri said in the Movistar Plus microphones.
“We have improved a lot compared to Sunday against Girona. In the seasons there are bad moments, but we have to leave now because there are many points. We are with the mister, he is the first one who is screwed when we lose,” added the talented Canarian playmaker.
Luton captain Tom Lockyer suffers cardiac arrest and collapses in the middle of the match
Luton's captain, Tom Lockyer, collapsed in the middle of the match against Bournemouth, this Saturday on matchday 17 of the Premier League, prompting referee Simon Hooper to permanently stop the match.
The 29-year-old defender suffered “cardiac arrest” in the 59th minute of the match and fell to the grass.. A fact that has silenced the stadium when remembering a similar scene experienced at the end of last season.
The players returned to the locker room with a 1-1 tie on the scoreboard, while the player was treated by the medical services and waiting to see what would happen with the match, which has been suspended.
“Our medical staff have confirmed that the captain suffered cardiac arrest on the field, but was already responding when he was carried out on a stretcher.. “He received additional treatment inside the stadium, for which we once again thank the medical teams of both parties,” the entity explained in a statement.
“Tom has been taken to hospital, where we can assure his followers that he is stable and is currently undergoing further tests with his family at his bedside.”. “We would like to thank everyone for their support, concern and loving messages for Locks,” they add.
Lockyer had collapsed in May at Wembley in a duel between Luton and Coventry. After that he underwent cardiac intervention.