• The PSOE barons take positions in the Senate before the eventual internal reorganization
• The PP consolidates its chances of victory and of reaching the majority with Vox

Politics in Spain is based on a more complex structure than it may seem at first glance.. It is a great administrative architecture that goes from councilors and mayors in the town halls to presidents of autonomous communities and deputies.

One of these organisms and one that is of vital importance for the nation is the Senate.. Despite the fact that it is not very visible nor is it the center of too many conversations, it is nothing more and nothing less than the Upper Chamber of the Cortes Generales and its duties have to do with the Autonomous Communities, although some tasks are shared with the Congress of Deputies, belonging to the Lower Chamber, as registered in the Constitution.

Therefore, the Senate is responsible for reaching cooperation agreements between the different autonomous communities and for managing the Interterritorial Compensation Fund.. In turn, any adjacent situation of an autonomous community that has the capacity to affect the rest of Spain remains under its control, in addition to making them comply with their legal and constitutional obligations.. They are in charge of carrying the legislative power in their hands, together with the Congress of Deputies. Which means that any intervention of this nature goes through the judgment of both estates.

How do you vote for the Senate?

To decide who will be a member of the Upper House, elections are held, in which citizens are provided with an appropriate ballot paper, which is recognizable by its orange color.. This vote is usually carried out at the same time as those of the Congress of Deputies, so the citizen must pay attention to what they are choosing in each election..

the process is simple. For each province, four senators are elected on open lists. However, there are exceptions to some of them.. Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Mallorca select three members of the Senate. The autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla each have two, and Menorca, Formentera, Ibiza, La Gomera, Fuerteventura, El Hierro, La Palma and Lanzarote, a senator. All of them must add up to a total of 265 members, counting those elected in the autonomous communities.

Not all senators are chosen through this process. After the elections, each autonomous community appoints a senator and another is added for every million inhabitants in its territory.. This means that more senators will be selected from the autonomous communities with the largest population. Once everyone is chosen, the main bodies that make up the Senate begin to function, which are: The Presidency, The Table, The Board of Spokespersons, the Plenary and the Permanent Deputation. All of them play a fundamental role and are necessary for the proper functioning of this political body.

Martin Scorsese was not at his best personal and artistic moment when he shot Jo, what a night! (surreal translation of After Hours, 1985), seemingly minor comedy about a computer scientist who goes out for a drink after work, the night turns badly and his multiple attempts to return home end in fiasco, with all the urban tribes of the (still) wild eighties New York conspiring against him. One of the many geniuses of this black film is its ending, when the computer scientist (in a state of utter confusion) ends up deposited in his office a minute before it reopens in the morning.. Hectic round trip you will never forget.

Well then: the electoral campaign of Sánchez and Feijóo has been a Jo, what a night! of book.

If one looks at the poll averages, one observes a fascinating phenomenon: the day before the campaign began, the PSOE and the PP had very similar percentages of votes to what they are now..

Could we have saved all this? Do the campaigns not move anything? Something moves, and there have been some saw peaks, although nothing from the other Thursday. But if the polls have moved rather little, Sánchez and Feijóo are like Jo's computer scientist, what a night! after their craziest party, as if a hurricane had passed over them, dazed after not a few electoral tribulations.

The campaign has been an emotional roller coaster in which the two main candidates have had very good moments and very bad moments.. Given that the PSOE came from absolute despondency, it could be said that the campaign has gone well for it, except that Sánchez failed miserably at the decisive moment (the face to face)..

On the contrary, the PP started with highs of euphoria and lows of interest in a busy campaign, the hyperactive PSOE overwhelmed it at times and, although Feijóo came out of the debate like a shot, he ended up on the defensive, asking for the time and giving explanations for all the crimes committed and to be committed.

As in Jo, que noche!, both candidates have suffered all kinds of ambushes and incidents during their trip to the end of the night of Spanish democracy: accusations of lying more than talking, of waging a dirty war and even of cronyizing with drug traffickers.

The shit storm has been forceful, but, at the end of the road, we are as at the beginning, only much more exhausted. Catastrophic and exhausting draw.

Or as a waiter says to Scorsese's computer sufferer: “Would you like a drink? He looks like he needs it.”

In most developed societies, a phenomenon of population aging is taking place that will have notable consequences on the functioning of society and the economy.. Undoubtedly, this evolution entails obvious risks in terms of the sustainability of the pension system, the stress of the health systems or the general functioning of the welfare state.. However, it also offers new opportunities for economic activity and the growth of the territories around the development of the silver economy, that is, the set of opportunities in terms of the appearance of new markets and the transformation or expansion of others to satisfy the needs of a larger population that progressively increases its relative weight in the total.. The report of the Mesval Chair, The silver economy in the city of Valencia: current situation and future prospects, analyzes the situation in the Valencian case.

The data allows us to appreciate the magnitude of the demographic challenge we face. In the Valencian Community, life expectancy at birth has gone from 72.9 years in 1975 to 82.2 years in 2021. For its part, the crude birth rate has plummeted from values of 19.5 born per thousand inhabitants in 1975 to only 7.1 in 2021 and the global fertility rate (births per thousand women of childbearing age, between 15 and 49 years old) from 83 to 32.5.

The result is that in the Valencian Community the population aged 55 and over accounted for 33.3% of the total in 2021, 6.4 percentage points more than in 2003. In addition, the available population projections indicate that this weight will grow to 42.8% of the total population in 2035, with an increase concentrated especially in the most advanced ages, over 75 years of age..

All this is going to have a substantial impact on the economy given the greater and growing global spending capacity of silver households.. In the case of total family income (annual income), the concentration in the elderly is not as intense, but it is also substantial.. In short, most of the potential capacity to decide spending corresponds to people aged 55 and over.

The simulations carried out based on the current pattern of per capita consumption according to age and the population projections draw a 2035 horizon with a silver consumption that would represent 57.7% of the total private consumption of the residents of Valencia, an additional increase of 8.4 percentage points with respect to the current situation.. In this context, adapting to the specific needs of the elderly will be increasingly vital for the economic and social development of any territory..

Apart from the greater frequency of home ownership and the weight of imputed rents, food (and alcoholic beverages to a much lesser extent) and expenses associated with housing (maintenance and repair of the home, water supply and other services, electricity, gas and other services, goods and services for current household maintenance) have a greater weight in the consumption of this population group, along with medical products, devices and equipment, insurance and social protection.. On the contrary, the relative importance of housing rental payments, consumption of clothing and footwear, non-alcoholic beverages, the acquisition of vehicles and the expenses linked to the use of personal vehicles, education and restaurants and canteens decreased..

The consumption of Valencian silver households will mean a market increase in the vast majority of types of goods and services, with contributions in the 2035 horizon of between 9% and 10% of the current total market in groups of expenditure such as housing, health, furniture and household items, food and non-alcoholic beverages or goods and services not contemplated elsewhere.. But the contribution will also be positive in the rest of the goods and services, although in these it is not enough to offset the negative contribution of the youngest households. In short, in all areas of consumption the greatest boost to market growth would come from the silver economy.

All this allows us to anticipate a future scenario characterized by the relative expansion of the services sector.. It is foreseeable that this will happen in activities related to healthcare and health, physical care or emotional needs, aspects that are increasingly relevant as people age, but also in others linked to active leisure, such as culture, hotels or restaurants.. In these cases, success will come hand in hand with an adequate adjustment of the supply of these sectors to the particular needs and characteristics of this type of population..

Job opportunities will tend to be concentrated to a greater extent in the occupations associated with these activities, although the process will be conditioned by technological advances and the deployment of the digital economy and robotization. The opportunities will be of different types, since in some cases the associated qualification is relatively low (a large part of the hospitality industry, commerce or personal care) and in others, on the contrary, high (such as the health area)..

The available foresight exercises specify potential areas of opportunity linked to the silver economy: telemedicine, taking advantage of the use of communication technologies for remote medical care; robotics for the home; silver tourism; adult education; assistance at home or adapted transportation, among others.

In short, the development of the silver economy implies a notable transformation of social and economic conditions that poses problems and, at the same time, new opportunities..

*Lorenzo Serrano, Ivie researcher and professor at the University of Valencia

The chief judge of the Investigating Court 13 of Valencia has denied the filing of the Azud case for the three nieces of the former mayor of Valencia Rita Barberá, investigated in said case.

As confirmed by the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community, the judge has in effect issued an order denying the file of the case known as the Azud case for the three nieces of the former mayor and daughters of one of the main investigated, the lawyer José María Corbín.

The magistrate understands that the request of these three investigated to file the proceedings for them is premature at this procedural moment. At the moment, he adds, investigative proceedings are being carried out in relation to his father's winning lottery tickets.

The three women declared in April that part of their heritage comes from a Christmas lottery prize with which their father, lawyer José María Corbín, was awarded..

The three explained that the fact that they each have 16% of the Corbín Abogados company is due to the fact that the father was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009 and wanted to distribute the firm among his daughters, adding that the company has never distributed dividends..

The Investigating Court number 2 of Tuy (Pontevedra) has decided to extend the investigation of the case for the disappearance and death of Déborah Fernández-Cervera for another six months, whose lifeless body appeared in a ditch in O Rosal in 2002.

In an order dated July 19, the substitute magistrate of said court indicates that this extension is based on a report from the Public Prosecutor, who requested it in order to find out the result of the examination of the victim's mobile phone.

A terminal that appeared last year in a file “unknown to date” in a Madrid police station without a SIM card. In addition, this extension of deadlines was also requested to have the DNA tests of the investigated.

Despite everything, the lawyers for Déborah's family have appealed that order and have once again asked the judge that, if the Prosecutor's Office understands that there is no homicidal etiology, “what is the point of all this?”.

Precisely last week, the relatives of the deceased young woman “gave up” and requested the provisional dismissal of the case due to the “abuse” of justice, the Spanish State and the rule of law, after more than 20 years fighting to find the culprit of the death of the woman.

“We give up. It is difficult to knock down a wall with paper balls, no matter how many we throw. The relatives no longer want to put up with what they understand as mistreatment by the Administration of Justice, the Spanish State and the rule of law,” one of the family's lawyers, Ignacio Amoedo, told the media..

Now, after learning that the judge has extended the instruction, the family has criticized that the order does not even mention that the private prosecution withdrew from the DNA test on the accused (two others were already carried out in 2002 and 2010).. All this because the magistrate did not agree to the procedural representation of the family being present during the sampling.

The suspect of sexually assaulting and attempting to murder a minor under the age of 16 when leaving a nightclub in Igualada (Barcelona) at dawn on November 1, 2021 has accepted his right not to testify this Thursday before the judge investigating the case.

The lawyer for the public prosecution exercised by the City Council, Miquel Sàmper, explained in statements to journalists collected by Europa Press that the man “has practically not opened his mouth”.

Sàmper believes that in this attack there was “totally unbridled violence, it is miraculously alive”, he said regarding the slightest. “If a third person does not appear, it is that they would be dead,” he has also assured regarding the victim.

The Investigating Court 4 of Igualada, which is investigating the case, has prosecuted the suspect for the alleged crimes of sexual assault and attempted murder and believes that the man hit the minor on the head, sexually assaulted her and then left her lying on the ground, stealing her coat, dress and panties, all in about 20 minutes..

As evidence, the judge has the recordings of the security cameras in the area and the connection of the mobile phones of the suspect and the minor to the telephone antennas, which corroborate their location and at the same time rule out that other people participated in the attack..

In addition, the judge recalls that “the last link in this entire chain of evidence” is the DNA remains of the minor that the police found when searching the suspect's house, in various objects and clothes she was wearing that night..

The man has been in pretrial detention since he was arrested and given these indications the judge has decided to keep him there.

An 80-year-old man drowned this Thursday while bathing on the beach of Sant Gervasi in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona).

The emergency services received several calls from bathers at 12:20 p.m. warning that there was a man floating in the water, the Generalitat Civil Protection explained in a statement.

At that time there was a green flag and a lifeguard service, which carried out resuscitation maneuvers until the Sistema d'Emergències Mèdiques (SEM) arrived, which also failed to resuscitate the man.

The First Section of the Provincial Court of Zaragoza has sentenced a piano teacher to four years in prison for the crime of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 16 years of age.

In addition, he is sentenced to probation for five years, and sentences him to pay all legal costs, including those of the private prosecution.. As civil liability, the magistrates impose the obligation to compensate the minor with 2,000 euros for moral damages. The defendant touched her genitals once in almost every class, after which she continued as if nothing had happened..

These facts displeased the minor who did not understand their meaning, and caused him anxiety, not telling anyone or doing anything to put an end to this situation. He had been stagnant in piano classes for three years, and the defendant told him to leave the academy, and so did his father, but the minor liked to play the piano, according to the proven facts..

Later, in October 2020, he filed a complaint against his father, for mistreatment and because he wanted to go live with his mother.. Then he told his older brother what happened with the teacher, and then his mother, although it took him ten days to file the complaint because he did not want to harm the accused nor did he want to talk about those issues..

The court considers that there is a continuing crime since the defendant in May 2018 touched her for the first time and, “from then on he did the same to her.”.

Adif's lawyer has defended this Thursday the innocence of Andrés Cortabitarte, former head of security for the company in the Alvia train accident that in 2013 caused 80 deaths and 145 injuries on the outskirts of Santiago de Compostela, has shown its solidarity with the victims and has pointed to the train driver as the only culprit. In the presentation of the definitive conclusions, the representative of Adif has defended that in the public company they are not “neither insensitive, nor cynical nor liars” for defending the innocence of their workers nor do they intend to deceive the prosecutor or the judge and affirmed that it is “difficult to ask for forgiveness for something for which one does not feel responsible”.

In any case, after having listened to the victims in the civil part of the process, in which numerous testimonies have denounced that nobody contacted them and they felt “forgotten”, he regretted that the administration sometimes appears “distant and lacks empathy” and has made him understand that “something could have been done better”..

“I do not know if it is up to me to attribute the representation of the administration, but people feel that we did not show the sensitivity that the circumstances required,” said Adif's lawyer, who had previously shown all the solidarity of the railway sector with the victims.

During his speech, he defended Adif's theses during the trial, that is, Cortabitarte's innocence and the driver's sole responsibility for his “continuous inattention for more than one hundred seconds”, an “unpredictable” risk.

The Adif representative has affirmed that during the trial and before, “a social breeding ground” was generated with “simple” messages that penetrated with great ease among public opinion, such as that “the curve was dangerous”, “that not everything could depend on the driver” and others, with which they were intended to induce prior guilt..

In addition, according to his vision, during the trial it has been proven that there is no evidence against Cortabitarte or Adif, who complied with all the security and risk assessment protocols in force in 2011, the time to give the go-ahead for the commissioning of the road..

What has happened, he has interpreted, is that certain testimonies have tried to analyze with current knowledge and with the security measures in force at this time, which have been implemented, what happened more than a decade ago and which at that time were either not foreseen or their application was “in its infancy”..

And in any case, in addition, these issues would not have prevented the accident from occurring, since the only reason, he has insisted, was “the continuous inattention for more than one hundred seconds” of the driver.

In his speech, for about two and a half hours, Adif's lawyer has ensured that in the trial “the functionality of the Asfa system” of speed control has been accredited, a system on which there is “an unequivocal admitted technical consensus” that the driver is responsible for speed control and whose risks, detected, are “tolerable” and are resolved with “sufficient training of the drivers”.

He has also defended in his definitive conclusions that the curve where the accident occurred “is not unique” in Spain, but that “there are dozens of similar ones in which if the driver does not control the speed a catastrophe can occur” and he has also rejected that the risk at that point was “obvious”, since if it were so it would have been detected in the hundreds of trips in tests.

In his prosecution paper, he has also quantified the damage to the infrastructure caused by the “serious negligence” of the driver at 1.3 million euros.

The president of the Junta de Extremadura, the popular María Guardiola, abolishes the Ministry of Equality, although she maintains the nine portfolios that the regional government had, and places three men and six women in charge of them. The lawyer and rancher María del Camino Limia will be in charge of the Minister of Forest Management and Rural Environment, as a result of the agreement reached with Vox.

Guardiola, who will assume the Equality powers in first person, has revealed this Thursday at a press conference the names of the people who make up the new cabinet, who will take office tomorrow. “This is the starting point of a Government that will have loyalty, humility, illusion and work” as its key points of daily work, “always aware that the great challenge is the progress of Extremadura”, said the president.

Guardiola has had an impact on nine ministries to “materialize the policies of change”, who has outlined the ten great challenges of his new Government, including making Extremadura “an attractive region”, the development and completion of large infrastructure projects, and the digital transformation. The defense of farmers and ranchers, two “great” pacts for Health and Education, stopping depopulation and “achieving” full and effective equality “are other objectives.

The general secretary of the PP from Extremadura, Abel Bautista, assumes the Ministry of the Presidency, Interior and Dialogue, which also includes Cooperation policies, while the deputy secretary of Economy and Finance of the popular people of Extremadura, Elena Manzano, will lead the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration.

The graduate in Medicine and Surgery, and vice-secretary of the Official College of Physicians of Badajoz, Sara García Espadas, will direct the Ministry of Health and Social Services, and the former general director of Community Agrarian Policy (PAC) and vice-secretary of Agriculture of the PP of Extremadura, Mercedes Morán, will be in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Sustainable Development.

The Ministry of Economy, Employment and Digital Transformation will be headed by the senior engineer in Telecommunications and former director of Telefónica in Extremadura Guillermo Santamaría, and the doctor in Economic Sciences and president of the Economic and Social Council (CES) of Extremadura, Mercedes Vaquera, will be responsible for the Ministry of Education, Science and Vocational Training.

The director-manager of the Technological Institute of Ornamental Rocks and Construction Materials, and industrial engineer, Manuel Martín Castizo, will direct the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Housing, and the businesswoman of the tourism sector and head of the Federation of Rural Tourism Entrepreneurs of Extremadura (FEXTUR), Victoria Bazaga, will be the Minister of Culture, Tourism, Youth and Sports.

The lawyer specializing in Urban Planning, the Environment and Agrarian Law, president of the World Association for Sustainable Livestock Farming and livestock businesswoman, María del Camino Limia, who in 2002 confronted the Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, over the quality of the meat from macro-farms, will be in charge of the Ministry of Forestry and Rural Management by designation of Vox, within the framework of the government agreement with the PP. “I am proud of that team”, asserted Guardiola, who has insisted that the new government “will show its face” at all times and will maintain “a permanent listening and dialogue at ground level” with the “real Extremadura”.