Facing a vote of confidence on Thursday evening, the Mayor of Orihuela, Monserrate Guillén, lost the support of his government team, but with a dramatic and unpredictable way.

It was already considered likely that the 12 PP councillors would vote against the notion, which was indeed the case. The vote considered as a decider, that of councillor without post, Bob Houliston, also went against the Mayor, making 13 votes against. The entire 6 council members of the PSOE and the 3 of the Los Verdes groups all voted in favour of the Los Verdes head, as did 2 of the 3 members of the liberal CLr party. The final vote, that of Pedro Mancebo, not being registered as, although he had made a speech saying that his entire party supports the Mayor, he left the session early due to ill health, thus resulting in 13 votes against, 11 votes for and 1 vote unregistered.

Pedro Mancebo was taken to the Vega Baja hospital displaying symptoms of anxiety and tachycardia, which many feel may be as a direct result of the stresses of the post of councillor and the difficulties that the tri-party have suffered since taking the role of government. Mr Mancebo spent the weekend under the care of the hospital, where he underwent tests to ascertain the facts relating to his condition.

The future of Orihuela council is once again unclear, as it potentially paves the way for the removal of the mayor, whom the PP representatives pointed out received a particularly low number of public votes in the election anyway, and could well lead to a complete change of government very soon.

However, the unfortunate situation that Mr Mancebo found himself in at the time, now puts him in a somewhat unique position, as according to electoral law (Ley de Bases de Régimen Electoral General), once fully recovered, he will now find that he is the only one who is in a position to vote on the motion of censure raised by the Partido Popular evict the tri-party government. The rule states that "the councillors who voted in favour of the adoption of a case, to which it had linked a matter of trust, may not sign a motion of censure against the mayor for whom the matter was raised until after a period of six months from the date of that vote", while the term that opens after the issue of trust is one month.

Shares of Bankia, the Spanish bank that was partly nationalized last week, went into free fall on Thursday on reports of a run on the bank's deposits. At 1pm, the bank's shares were down 16.07% at 1.39 euro after having fallen 11.12% the previous session, finally closing at 1.42 euro, some 70% off their listing price in July of last year. The Ibex 35 was down 1.66% at 6,501.70 points, closing business at 6,591 points.

The Murcia Government is set to approve, "within days", a ruling which eliminates the need for municipal licenses for opening small business premises with an area less than 300 square meters, as announced on Thursday the Secretary of State for Trade, Jaime García-Legaz. The announcement came during an employment conference and was billed as a "huge step forward" for small businesses that, in his opinion, contribute to create employment and business fabric. The minister is also looking at plans to ease the restrictions on business opening hours.

Despite rushing through laws on censorship and piracy on the internet within days of taking office, during a speech on Internet, Telecommunications and Information Society Day, the President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, said that the Government of Spain will promote the Internet as a tool for communication, knowledge and transparency regarding decisions made in the public domain. He said that the Internet has become yet another tool for communication between people and public authorities, meaning that the Government's challenge is for everybody to know "what public authorities are doing, what they are investing taxpayers' money in, what decisions they take and why they take them". Spain is ranked 19 in the European Union chart of users connected to the Internet, with 64% of its inhabitants, behind Hungary and Malta, but ahead of Italy and Portugal, according to figures released in the bulletin of the National Statistics Institute.

A parent and student association in Madrid is calling for the National Government to follow that of the capital, and group holidays together, avoiding the need for frequent bridging days and simplifying the holiday system. Currently, many Spanish holidays fall mid week, which results in many people taking the day between the holiday and the weekend off work too, increasing the amount of time spent away from their jobs. The parents and students of the association feel that depriving children of so much time in school is potentially damaging to their education.

The National Court has ruled in favour of the airline Iberia, in its application filed against the flight attendants' union (Stavla) and declared the strike called by the organization for 27 days between February and May to protest against the creation of Iberia Express, illegal. The trial for the lawsuit filed against the pilots union will be held on June 5. Stavla called off the strikes after the matter was referred to the courts.

The Spanish El Pozo food company, part of the Grupo Fuertes, has announced that they have signed a collaboration agreement with a Russian meat company, which will see more than 100 million euro being invested in creating a turkey farm in the Tambov region, south of Moscow. The farm will be the largest in the area, churning out around 30,000 tons of turkey meat a year, but with capacity to grow to 50,000 tons , which is half of the annual consumption in Russia, which has seen turkey meat improve in popularity in recent years.

The Murcia provincial court has quashed the convictions of two people who were caught trying to steal garments from Primark in the Nueva Condomina shopping centre, because of a delay since sentencing. Doubt was shed on the case because the couple had been witnesses by CCTV appearing to try to conceal garments valued at 54 euro, but security guards had stopped them before they had actually left the premises, so the conviction of theft could not be guaranteed.

DEVELOPER ABANDONS TORREVIEJA WORK

The construction company Romymar, who were awarded the contract for the redevelopment of an area known as Nueva Torrevieja in the city, has abandoned the work, even though it is only 60% complete.

A spokesperson for the company explained that they have already invested 600,000 euro in the project, but has not received a single euro in payment for the work, despite submitting several certificates of work. The company also now face bankruptcy, due to the problems with receiving payment for the work carried out.

WEAPON STASH FOUND

The Guardia Civil in Torrevieja have seized 2,866 illegal switchblade knives which they found in a warehouse on the Casa Grande industrial estate in the city.

The batch of knives, with 6-centimetre, single sided, spring loaded blades, are classed as both prohibited and highly dangerous, as the blade can be fully opened and locked in a split second. Selling or distributing the weapons can carry a fine of up to 30,000 euro, a six month ban on trading and the closure of the business.

WATER PARK OPENING SOON

The Aquopolis water park in Torrevieja has announced that it will open its doors for the 2012 summer season on 4th June, slightly earlier than previous years4.

The parks enclosure was built in the mid-eighties and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city, set to become even more popular once the fair ground and market place are relocated nearby. The season will close on Thursday 13th September.

STAIR RACING IN BENIDORM

On Saturday, around 100 athletes will race to be the fastest to climb the 900 steps of the 52 floors of the Hotel Bali in Benidorm, in the ninth race to the top of the building that was Australian Paul Clarke claim a record of 4 minutes and 35 seconds in 2003.

This is the longest established race of its kind in Spain and the female record is held by Moroccan Wafiya Benali, scaling the heights in just 5 minutes and 44 seconds. This year, Spaniards Angel Llorens Zafra and Judith Corachán parten are considered to be the favourites and both hope to beat the respective records.

STAR SHINES IN TORREVIEJA

Popular Spanish singer Raphael will take to the stage at Torrevieja´s auditorium on Friday night, for what looks likely to be a sell out concert for the singer with piano accompaniment.

Miguel Rafael Martos Sánchez, born on the 5th May, 1943 in Linares, has become a bit of a hit worldwide, with his melodies of well known songs, but this time he will also be performing 12 which have never been heard before, which many of his fans have been eagerly waiting for.

A pioneer of modern Spanish music, he is considered a major influence in having opened the door and paving the way to the flood of Spanish singers that follow. His wide-range voice, added to his quality as showman, has entertained and engaged people worldwide for more than five decades.

The Spanish Ibex 35 closed business on Wednesday at 6611.5 points, maintaining the levels of 2003, with a drop of 1.33% over the previous day. However, the risk factor of Spain was looking slightly better at 484 basis points, having started the day at an all time high of 500.

There´s good news for motorists for a change this week, as well as good news for logistics, which in turn should spread into the retail sector over time, in that the Price of fuel seems to be maintaining a persistent drop, with the Price of a litre of both unleaded petrol and diesel dropping by 1.7% so far. A litre of diesel now costs 1.35 euro on average, a drop of 1.67% from last week. Unleaded is down to 1.414 per litre, down 1.53% compared to last week, which is a drop of 5.6% of the peak price of 1.498 in March.

The European Commission is to invest 3.2 million euro to help fund a study into the behaviour of bees. 205,000 of the money will be allocated to Spain, in the hope that the study can ascertain why the bee population has been suffering serious decline worldwide since 2009, with significant risks to the eco system posed by their absence.

A 33 year old Madrid traffic cop was killed on Wednesday in a freak accident alongside the M45 motorway. Two officers on motorbikes were making their way along a service road to prepare to carry out surveillance duties, when one of the officers failed to notice a chain across the road, which was being used to restrict access, riding into the obstruction and being killed instantly. An emergency ambulance attended the scene, along with a psychologist to treat the rider's partner who was considerably disturbed by the event.

The Spanish government has cancelled a trip by Queen Sofía of Spain to London, where she intended to help Queen Elizabeth with her anniversary celebrations, because of growing frictions between Spain and the UK over fishing rights off the coast of Gibraltar. Since an agreement was reached in 1999, Spanish fisherman had been permitted to fish in an area which the new governor of the Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, is now insisting on restricting. The Spanish government are supporting the fishermen.

Upon concluding an exhibition of human body parts which are on display at the Thader shopping centre in Murcia, an agreement has now been reached for the body parts to be donated to the University of Murcia to be used for educational and scientific reasons. The exhibition of 200 body parts, taking visitors on a real life journey of the human form, will be on display at the shopping centre until 14th October.

Two convicted thieves who were found in possession of various items of stolen goods in Murcia, have launched an appeal as they feel that their custodial sentence should have been much shorter than it was, due to the fact that the judge miscalculated the value of the stolen goods. They claim that the judge valued their booty at 441 euro, but he should have deducted the IVA, making the value of the goods less than 400 euro, which would have resulted in a jail term of a matter of weeks, rather than the 4 year term they were given. Although the idea may seem ridiculous at first, it has highlighted that the Spanish judicial system is flawed in so much as some courts do deduct the IVA, whereas others, such as the one in this case, do not. Therefore, there could be many more people who have suffered longer incarceration than somebody who was found to have stolen goods of a higher retail value, but at a lesser criminal rate.

ORIHUELA MAYOR HOPES FOR CONFIDENCE

The future of the municipality of Orihuela is now likely to lie in a vote of confidence in the mayor, Los Verdes green party politician Monserrate Guillén.

Following the decision by councillor Bob Houliston not to support the government team in implementing the 2012 budget, various options came to light which would enforce the plan, one being if the mayor wins the backing of a vote of confidence.

However, in the meantime, the mayor´s personal Facebook profile has disappeared and has been replaced by one calling for his resignation, which was quickly supported by a number of Partido Popular members.

SURGEONS COME TO TORREVIEJA

More than a hundred Orthopaedists and Orthopaedic Surgeons from across the Valencia region will descend on Torrevieja this weekend, attending a conference on trauma and orthopaedic Surgery.

The conference will provide a platform for specialists involved in three main areas of trauma, namely the shoulder, hand and foot.

The Surgical Director of the Department of Health in Torrevieja, José Antonio Velasco, said that the conference is, "a unique opportunity to exchange experiences with professionals and peers in the context of pioneering technological advances of the specialty of orthopaedic surgery and attend keynote presentations by specialists of international reputation in the specialty of orthopaedic and trauma surgery. "

ORIHUELA CELEBRATING MUSEUMS

Orihuela city is getting fully behind the International Museum Day which is celebrated on Friday, as well as the fairly new diversion of a Night at the Museum on Saturday night.

The department of culture has announced that they will be marking the event with activities such as street entertainers, guided tours and workshops and admission to the city´s museums will be free, including staying open until midnight on Saturday.

Full details of the event can be obtained at the tourist information office, and t is hoped that this will raise awareness of some of the most historic artefacts on display in the museums of the city.

LAZY DAYS FOR THE UNEMPLOYED

In a somewhat original initiative, the town hall of Santa Pola has announced that they will offer discounted beach sun loungers and parasols to unemployed bathers.

The aim is to improve accessibility to the beach for those who may find it financially difficult, without wanting to simply lie on the sand, and has received the full backing of the council. A discount scheme for the young and the elderly was already in place, but the councillor for beaches applauds the extension to the unemployed and the scheme will have an initial run until 15th June.

It was an even bleaker day in the stock market than yesterday, with the risk premium of Spain being set at 487 basis points, the main indicator of the Spanish market, the IBEX 35, has dropped 108.70 points, or 1.6%, to 6,700.70 points at Tuesday´s close, a level similar to that recorded on 30 September 2003. Annual losses increase to 21.78%.

As a result, obviously not wanting to take any responsibility themselves, the Spanish Economy Minister, Luis de Guindos, has blamed Greece for the increase in Spain´s risk factor, saying that the problems are, “more to do with the political crisis than with the economic and financial” situation. But he did acknowledge that the risk premium of Spain and Italy is “not sustainable,” but made significant reference to the fiscal consolidation and reforms carried out by the Spanish government. Greece looks likely to have another general election on June 17th, after the main parties failed to reach an agreement on forming a government. This is expected to keep the pressure on Spain's sovereign debt in the markets.

Some 2,000 people celebrated the birthday of the 15-M movement in Madrid on Tuesday, with the clattering of pots and pans, applauds and shouts, as even the intense heat couldn´t dampen the enthusiasm of those who have once again taken to the streets of the capital, and many other key locations around the country, in protest against the government, a year after they launched the campaign, protesting against the actions of the previous government.

Although protesting may not lead to change, one disgruntled evictee in Badajoz decided to take direct action against a government official who was involved in the eviction of a man and a woman from the illegal occupation of a property in the town of Gurugú. Seemingly unable to identify who was responsible, resulting in three arrests and subsequent release without charge, the official sustained minor injuries after he was hit in the face with a frying pan.

In the Basque region, where the government has already refused to implement many of the cuts and restrictions being enforced by the national government, and even done their own research in prescription co-payment, which they state will only generate one tenth of the amount the government claim, the minister of employment and social affairs, Gemma Zabaleta, announced that the Basque government will contribute 3.4 million euro to the Aernnova technology park, with the sole aim of training 100 young people as technicians, with a guaranteed placement for 70% of them upon completion of the course.

In other job prospect news, Swedish furniture chain Ikea has announced that they will invest 15.7 million euro in a new store to open in Tarragona in 2015, which will create around 400 long term jobs.

Spanish oil giant Repsol has announced that it has begun legal proceedings against the Argentine government, in a legal battle to claim compensation for the seizure of their operation in Argentina. The company has given Argentina six months to come up with a satisfactory compensation package before taking them to court for a settlement.

CALL TO CHARGE IBI TAX ON CHURCHES

Following on from revelations that the Catholic church in Spain are avoiding paying tax on their buildings due to a royal decree, one political party has come forward and is insisting that the church are charged in the same way as everybody else.

The Orihuela branch of the left wing Izquierda Unida party have put forward a call to the government team to insist on claiming the IBI property tax from the church, which is permissible at a local level. The group claim that the Catholic church successfully avoid paying around 3 billion euro in this particular tax each year, money which could be widely used to benefit the entire population irrespective of denomination.

POLICE CRACKING DOWN ON LOCAL SPEEDERS

The local police of Torrevieja have been given the use of a sophisticated speed and vehicle monitoring vehicle for a month, on loan from the DGT traffic department.

It is intended that the Citroën Autovelox car will be used to monitor speeding vehicles in the urbanisations surrounding the city, where the presence of the police is often rare, despite frequent reports of vehicles that cause both a danger to other road users and an anti-social problem due to noise.

LOS MONTESINOS PRIVATISES SCHOOL

The town hall of Los Montesinos have made a surprise move and, during an extraordinary plenary session, approved the privatisation of the Miguel Hernández nursery school.

The ruling PSOE government team have stated that they were given no choice, as they had been prevented from hiring more staff to work at the centre, to cover the 50 school places that were available for children up to the age of 3 years. Opposition parties have criticised the move, which will directly affect 5 workers at the school.

SWITCHING OFF TO SAVE JOBS

The city of Alicante has estimated that they will save a staggering 300,000 euro in power supply bills, simply by banning the use of air conditioning in municipal buildings until June 15th.

The deputy mayor of the city, Andrés Llorens, explained that this is just one of many practical cutbacks that are being implemented, which they hope will collectively save sufficient money to prevent getting rid of any of their staff. The air conditioning units will now be seated from use, opened up in June, then will be available until the 15th September, when they will once again be retired for the winter.

TEACHERS UNDECIDED ON STRIKE ACTION

Despite the announcement that teachers across the region were to hold three sets of two day strikes, then the subsequent rescheduling of one of the blocks to coincide with action that had already been planned, the industrial action planned by teachers is now in doubt due to lack of support.

Now, although the strike looks likely to continue on 16th and 17th of May, there is likely to be only one more day of action, probably on the 22nd. A number of teachers have claimed that they feel it inappropriate to strike, as this could damage the education of the students. They still want to draw attention to the government cut backs in the sector and are now investigating other means of doing this before the 4 month holiday period of summer starts next month.

Never ready to miss an opportunity for making money, budget airline Ryanair will continue to fine passengers who have failed to print off their boarding cards, even though they will be turning the facility off whilst their website undergoes an upgrade.

They have issued the warning on their website, the same website which will be switched off, stating that ryanair.com will be closed for upgrade maintenance between Friday 18th May and Sunday 20th May. They then shift the responsibility for not printing off documentation in time to the user, stating that “Passengers must ensure that they have booked tickets, checked in online and printed their boarding passes etc. prior to the below times”.

Online Check-in – will not be available from 16:00 hrs on Friday 18th May until 12:00 hrs on Sunday 20th May. Bookings cannot be made on Ryanair.com from 22:00 hrs on Friday 18th May until 22:00hrs on Saturday 19th May. Flight Changes cannot be made from 22:00 hrs on Friday 18th May until 22:00hrs on Saturday 19th May.

They also wish to apologise to all passengers who may be affected by our website closure which is unavoidable in order to upgrade the www.ryanair.com website.

Despite the fact that the work is their own doing, the airline will continue its usual policy of charging £60 per person, per flight, or 60€ for those outside the UK, to issue a boarding pass at the airport, even though you might not be able to print the document.

Various consumer associations in Spain are already taking action against Ryanair, to which this will no doubt be added to the growing list of what many consider to be outrageous abuses of the rights of consumers.

The Ibex 35 dropped 2.66% at the close of Monday, taking the index score below the golden 7,000 to just 6,800, but there were also drops across most of Europe. However, the risk premium in Spain has soared to 478 points. This risk factor is thought to be down to Friday´s announcement about the major restructuring of the banking and financial sector in Spain, especially Bankia, which has fallen by 9%.

The credit rating agency Fitch believes that the banking reform being implemented by the Spanish Government will significantly increase the likelihood of more bank mergers, especially as the smaller companies will not be able to meet the demands put on them. The agency believes that banks such as Santander and BBVA should not have difficulty meeting the new requirements later this year, accounting for only 20% and 43% of operating profit, respectively. However, for smaller entities additional reserves account for almost three times their operating profit.

Meanwhile, many of the protestors in Madrid have visited their branches of Bankia, demanding that their accounts are closed down and their money returned, as well as alleging fraud has taken place whilst demanding refunds on interest. On online campaign on Twitter quickly followed, with the hash tag #cierrabankia trending in the country.

Entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky, the founder of mobile telephone Jazztel, and now CEO of FON, has come up with his own business based plan to solve the financial crisis, lowering the risk level even further than Germany, by selling Spanish citizenship to all foreigners who buy 500,000 euro in fixed or variable bonds. The businessman refers to high earners members of society, who are fearful of investing too much in Spain, as their nationality remains their own, irrespective of where their business interests operate from. Of course, the Spanish government would have to vet every applicant, to ensure that members of criminal gangs were excluded from the scheme.

Other members of society are claiming that money could also be obtained in different ways, such as the suspension of the 1979 Patronage Act 49/2002, which states that the Catholic Church is "exempt" from paying property tax. A recent petition from Murcia presented 35,500 signatures supporting charging the church, but the notion lost steam as nobody seemed willing to support the move of asking one of the highest earning associations in the world to contribute to their local communities.

The minister for health in the Valencia community, Luis Rosado, has stated that there will be a slight delay of, “a few days”, in making the next payment to pharmacists across the area, but the government are doing everything they can to keep up with the agreed payment plan. The announcement came whilst the minister was announcing more changes in privatising sections of the health network, having signed a collaboration agreement with the mayor of Castellón, Alfonso Bataller, for the provision of ambulances.

Guardia Civil officers in Granada have arrested a 39 year old man on suspicion of the theft of eleven bee hives, which he then tried to sell back to the rightful owner. The arrest came following a complaint that a member of the public had suffered numerous bee stings and that a hive was seen too close to a road, within the 25 metre required distance. Upon checking the hives, the officers identified them as stolen and returned them to the owner, who then also identified the thief as being a person who had tried to sell him replacement, second hand hives.

GRAFFITI DENOUNCED ON MEDIEVAL WALL

The city of Orihuela is attempting to identify vandals who have painted graffiti on a site of cultural interest, the remains of a medieval wall surrounding the city. Located towards San Miguel, the wall is thought to date back to between the twelfth and fourteenth century and is all that is believed to be left of the castle of Orihuela.

A report has been commissioned by the City Council, who has put the matter to the attention of the Ministry of Culture to try to redress the damage as soon as possible.

DOG FOUND HANGING FROM TREE

A resident of Granja de Rocamora made a gruesome discovery whilst out walking her dogs along a country lane towards the town of Cox. The lady had spotted the corpse of a dog left hanging from a fig tree, with a bag over its jaw so as to render its mouth useless in any kind of defence.

The woman returned home in shock and alerted her husband, who then went to photograph the scene for evidence and report the matter to the authorities. Although it will be difficult to identify the perpetrator of the crime of abuse, locals are assisting the police to try to bring the callous killer to justice.

MOTORCYCLIST SERIOUSLY INJURED IN DOG CRASH

A 33 year old motorcyclist suffered serious injuries on Monday morning, having been in collision with a pack of dogs on the N340 road near Elche.

It is thought that the biker was continuing along the road normally, when the group of dogs invaded the highway and the rider was unable to avoid a collision. Although semi-conscious at the scene, he was taken to the Alicante hospital in a serious condition.

ONE DEAD, ONE INJURED AFTER PLAYA FLAMENCA CRASH

A 63 year old man died and a 74 year old woman was injured on Monday afternoon, in a vehicle crash at Playa Flamenca.

The 63 year old male was transferred by helicopter in a critical condition to the hospital at Manises, near Valencia, but was later confirmed to have died by the Local Police. The 74 year old woman suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene. The incident is currently being investigated.

PROPERTIES STILL SELLING

According to the latest figures released by the housing department of the regional government, 10,655 properties were sold to foreign buyers last year, despite the financial crisis, which also marks an increase of 42% on the previous year.

Although some of the sales were domestic, with many people choosing to move home, of that figure, around 1,700 were new sales to Russians, who have been snapping up bargain luxury properties being sold at 30% less than previous, as well as families buying property in the region of 55,000 euro. British buyers are still investing in property in the area, along with buyers from Sweden, Norway, France and Belgium, although in a much lower percentage.

A 78 year old British woman died on Sunday whilst hiking in Mogán on the island of Gran Canaria, six other hikers, all of them British, have also suffered due to the effects of high temperatures. Two of them, both women, have been evacuated in a critical condition.

The incident occurred in the San Andrés ravine shortly after midday, when the emergency coordination centre recorded a number of calls reporting that several hikers needed assistance due to problems related to heat.

Rescuers from the Guardia Civil, local police and members of the Protección Civil all attended, assisted by two ground ambulances and two helicopters.

The medical staff found that a walker was in cardiac arrest and attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but without results, so could only confirm her death. A 66 year old woman was recovered from respiratory failure and was evacuated in a critical condition by helicopter to the Hospital Universitario de Gran Canaria Doctor Negrín. A third walker, aged 61 years, was also rescued by helicopter and transferred to the hospital in a critical condition with respiratory failure.

The other hikers, a 61 year old woman and three men of 64, 65 and 69, were assisted by medical personnel at the scene, presenting heat related problems.

A number of weather warnings are in place for the Canary Islands, with temperatures expected to reach 38 degrees Celsius on Monday.

The Council of Ministers has approved two new decisions in line with the consolidation of the restructuring of the financial system approved last February. The main objective is, in the words of the Minister for Economic Affairs and Competition, Luis de Guindos, "to dissipate any kind of doubt or uncertainty regarding the balance sheets of the banks" and the assets included in these. The second measure, a Royal Decree Law, is "the second step in the restructuring process to endeavour to guarantee the solvency of banking institutions in Spain", said Luis de Guindos. To that end, the generic provision of the non-problematic real estate and asset credit portfolio of the banks is increased (123 billion euro), representing around 30 billion euro of new provisions that need to be made before 31 December 2012.

Another fundamental issue in the restructuring of the bank's real estate assets is the creation of asset management companies, the objective of which is to remove problematic physical real estate assets from the balance sheets of banks where they will be managed with the main aim of selling them off. The removal of these physical real estate assets from the rest of the banking business is obligatory for all financial entities.

The Minister for Public Works, Ana Pastor, declared that the Government is endeavouring to make this "a balanced law, providing greater legal security, more rental properties and greater flexibility, whilst always seeking a balance between landlord/tenant rights". The minister highlighted that the rental market in Spain is not an effective alternative to the homeowner market due to a lack of supply, a lack of competition as a result of the level of rents, a lack of both professionalism in the market and of a fair balance between the rights and interests of landlords and tenants. Ana Pastor stressed that the reform "will bring empty properties to the market, enhance access to these properties by the most vulnerable groups and result in greater mobility of workers".

The government also announced changes to the criminal code in relation to tax offenses. First was an increase in the criminal sentences in tax cases from four to 10 years. Sums owed to tax authorities may be settled while tax offence is being tried in court. Measures are adopted to increase flexibility in tax offences committed by criminal gangs or organisations, the most common offence being VAT fraud. As regards offences relating to employment and Social Security fraud, a reduction has been approved in the amounts that constitute the minimum limit to bring charges for employment fraud, thus enabling the black economy to be better detected and combated. The prescription of the most serious of these offences is also extended to up to 10 years.

AS protestors took to the streets once again, reigniting the 15m popular movement, the Interior Ministry has reported that nine of the 18 people arrested at dawn on Sunday in the Puerta del Sol resistance, for offenses of disobedience and violation of a law enforcement officer, will be released after giving statement the obligation to appear before the judge. In addition, Interior has detailed six of them had a history of similar activities.