Just as Spain seems about to embark on seeking a bailout of, some say 480 billion Euros (but don't call it a bailout as the Prime Minister doesn't like that word and said he wouldn't ask for one!), I thought to share some observations from my recent trip, to the country.
Employment
The unemployment statistics talk of a rate of 25% unemployment but I don't think that British readers will fully appreciate what this means because in Spain, it is the Spanish that work. The waiters in restaurants and hotels are Spanish, the street sweepers are Spanish as are all of the hotel and shop workers. These jobs are not filled by grateful East Europeans, as in Britain but by locals. Perhaps it is the far less generous Spanish welfare system that obliges the Spaniards to take jobs that are 'beneath' their unemployed UK counter-parts? Or maybe it is just that the Spaniards understand the dignity gained by working rather than just taking State hand-outs?
What I see as worrying though, for Spain, is that this means there is no 'slack' in the system that can be used to swap migrant labour for locals.
Construction
I have been traveling in the Alicante/Granada/Malaga triangle and apart from one or two road building projects (and I mean one or two) there seems to be next to no activity on the many unfinished construction sites that one sees. What activity there is, is essentially 'hand to mouth' where a property is finished simply so that funds can be obtained to keep things just ticking over.
Given that construction has been such a large employer in the past, it is easier to understand the unemployment numbers, when you see so many dormant building sites and idle crane gantries.
Talking of construction - what roads there are in Spain! Great carriageways that allow you to be transported distances at speed and in comfort. And what nice looking and modern, public buildings! I am supposing that the ten years of access to very cheap Euro money was used to finance these but have to wonder if that has been money well spent? We all hear of stories of un-visited 'cultural and arts centres' and airports where no planes land but I don't understand why nobody is called to account for this.
Loss of spirit
Not quite sure how to say this but on this trip (I have had the pleasure of visiting Spain on a number of occasions, before), I have noticed that the Spanish seem more subdued or resigned. Maybe it is because it is not the 'high season' for tourists or because we went off of the beaten tourist trail but that Spanish zest for life just didn't seem to be there. If you have visited Spain before you may know what I am getting at. That boisterousness and vitality seems to have been sucked out of the people - something that won't show up on any Euro-based study or statistic or ever be used to bolster the (failing) Euro project but a great shame, nevertheless.
I promise not to bore you with vacation snaps but this has been a mixed trip. Good from a personal perspective but worrying to see how a Franco-German obsession with a fatally-flawed and doomed project can bring once proud sovereign nations to their knees and just plain suck the life out of the place! What a shame!
Finally
One thing Spain might want to think about - the Siesta. Maybe it is time to end this? I know about this but it is still frustrating to have stores closed when you want to look around and maybe buy something. I know that there is more to life than retail but.................
Employment
The unemployment statistics talk of a rate of 25% unemployment but I don't think that British readers will fully appreciate what this means because in Spain, it is the Spanish that work. The waiters in restaurants and hotels are Spanish, the street sweepers are Spanish as are all of the hotel and shop workers. These jobs are not filled by grateful East Europeans, as in Britain but by locals. Perhaps it is the far less generous Spanish welfare system that obliges the Spaniards to take jobs that are 'beneath' their unemployed UK counter-parts? Or maybe it is just that the Spaniards understand the dignity gained by working rather than just taking State hand-outs?
What I see as worrying though, for Spain, is that this means there is no 'slack' in the system that can be used to swap migrant labour for locals.
Construction
I have been traveling in the Alicante/Granada/Malaga triangle and apart from one or two road building projects (and I mean one or two) there seems to be next to no activity on the many unfinished construction sites that one sees. What activity there is, is essentially 'hand to mouth' where a property is finished simply so that funds can be obtained to keep things just ticking over.
Given that construction has been such a large employer in the past, it is easier to understand the unemployment numbers, when you see so many dormant building sites and idle crane gantries.
Talking of construction - what roads there are in Spain! Great carriageways that allow you to be transported distances at speed and in comfort. And what nice looking and modern, public buildings! I am supposing that the ten years of access to very cheap Euro money was used to finance these but have to wonder if that has been money well spent? We all hear of stories of un-visited 'cultural and arts centres' and airports where no planes land but I don't understand why nobody is called to account for this.
Loss of spirit
Not quite sure how to say this but on this trip (I have had the pleasure of visiting Spain on a number of occasions, before), I have noticed that the Spanish seem more subdued or resigned. Maybe it is because it is not the 'high season' for tourists or because we went off of the beaten tourist trail but that Spanish zest for life just didn't seem to be there. If you have visited Spain before you may know what I am getting at. That boisterousness and vitality seems to have been sucked out of the people - something that won't show up on any Euro-based study or statistic or ever be used to bolster the (failing) Euro project but a great shame, nevertheless.
I promise not to bore you with vacation snaps but this has been a mixed trip. Good from a personal perspective but worrying to see how a Franco-German obsession with a fatally-flawed and doomed project can bring once proud sovereign nations to their knees and just plain suck the life out of the place! What a shame!
Finally
One thing Spain might want to think about - the Siesta. Maybe it is time to end this? I know about this but it is still frustrating to have stores closed when you want to look around and maybe buy something. I know that there is more to life than retail but.................
