HOW CORRUPT CAN YOU GET? SOMALIA

Transparency International has issued its world corruption league table for 2008 and Somalia comes bottom of the list. It will be no surprise to learn that Myanmar, Iraq, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe are close rivals for this dubious honour.

The least corrupt country is Denmark with the UK coming in at 16 and the USA at 18. Spain slips from 22 to 28 in its rankings sharing that spot with Qatar plus Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which sounds like a 50s pop group.

TI indicates that corruption is widespread in Spain. It affects most the political parties followed by the private sector, then Parliament, the media and lastly public employees and the legal system.

TI says its Global Corruption Report 2009: Corruption and the Private Sector (GCR) shows “how corrupt practices constitute a destructive force that undermines fair competition, stifles economic growth and ultimately undercuts a business’s own existence.”

In the case of Spain it is the town planning scandals that have seen its rating drop – a situation that will surprise few Spaniards or foreign residents living in the country. This was confirmed by Jesús Lizcano, TI’s president in Spain who singled out town planning as the principal cause of corruption in his country.

In presenting the document Lizcano said that some laws had been introduced to help in the fight against corruption but conceded there were still major deficiencies. He pointed to the 2007 law on the financing of political parties that had progressive measures prohibiting secret donations.

However he added that local parties were not sufficiently integrated in to the accounting system of the central organisations so illicit payments could still be made at that level.

In addition the law governing the issuing of contracts in the public sector had not yet incorporated the new directives laid down by the European Parliament and Council. Indeed the system of adjudicating contracts for works, services and supplies needed global reform in Spain.

It should be stressed that it was not all negative news. Towards the end of 2007 the Guardia Civil formed a special unit to tackle town planning crime and its investigations are bearing fruit. TI also recognised that Spain was improving its legal capacity to tackle corruption and this was largely due to international accords although it was noted that Spain had not yet ratified its civil and criminal conventions on corruption brought in by the Council of Europe.

To visit the TI website and to view the league table click here.

VIOLENCE AS USUAL

After a period of ‘internal reflection’ the Basque terrorist group ETA announced on Sunday that it is violence as usual – no surprise there then. It reaffirmed its use of violence to achieve its separatist aims but said it also remained open to a political solution.

In a statement released in the pro-independence Basque newspaper Gara, a usual mouthpiece for ETA, it declared: “We reaffirm our commitment to continue with arms in our hands while our enemies opt for repression and denial.”

It continued: “But at the same time we say that ETA’s desire has always been to find a political solution to the political conflict...desire and total readiness to take that path.”

In July ETA marked its 50th anniversary with a series of terror attacks in Spain. It has been blamed for the deaths of 828 people in its campaign for an independent Basque homeland in parts of northern Spain and south western France – a campaign that is rejected by the vast majority of people living in the region.

The news that it is violence as usual will surprise no one. In 2007 ETA called off a 15-month-old truce following a deadlock in tentative peace talks with the Spanish government. Since then Spain’s Socialist government has taken a hard line, repeatedly ruling out new negotiations. There have also been a series of successful operations by Spanish and French police that have weakened ETA by seizing key personnel and arms supplies.

The ETA statement came as security authorities in Northern Ireland warned of the serious threat posed by dissident republican groups there. This followed an upsurge in attacks in the province for which the Real IRA claimed the credit.

It is a chilling reminder that at a time when our political leaders point to Afghanistan as being the cradle of terrorism the most real threat to our safety is on our own doorstep and comes from our fellow countrymen.

THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST

I have been reading a report in the Gibraltar Chronicle on an interview the veteran leader of the GSLP Joe Bossano gave to Andalucía Información.

Now the 72-year-old politician had announced that the last election would be his swan song as leader so a new talent has to step forward. The Chronicle quotes him as saying that a future new leader of the GSLP will be responsible for the decisions that he takes, just as he himself is now, but points out that if at any moment that leader “takes a crazy decision, it will be good that there is somebody with experience to advise him.”

Well the most likely inheritor of Joe Bossano’s crown is the opposition big beast Fabian Picardo although Gilbert Lucadi and others may dispute that. However Joe Bossano’s remarks seem to conjure up the spectre of him hovering at his successor’s shoulder giving “helpful advice”.

I am of the school that believes that when a political leader leaves the stage he or she should not sneak off to the prompter’s booth or heckle from the stalls. Going should mean just that - going. The majority of Britain’s party leaders of the past half century managed the feat with the exception of Ted Heath who haunted Margaret Thatcher like the Ghost of Christmas Past to his dying day.

There is however a problem with the GSLP. Gibraltar’s socialist party is very much the personal fiefdom of Joe Boss, its founder. There is a large percentage of people on the Rock who would never vote for the GSLP because they cannot abide Bossano. Equally there is another chunk of the population that votes GSLP solely because he is the leader. The day he is taken out of the equation it is difficult to know which way the voters will jump.

It will help the next leader of the GSLP if him or her can win the general election and hence become chief minister. Although Joe Bossano led the government in the late 1980s and early 1990s he has lost four elections on the trot. If Picardo or others can snatch the Rock’s top job Joe Boss can be shoved in to the background. Fail and he will be at their shoulder till his dying day.

When I passed the GSLP HQ the other day I am sure I heard the faint rattle of chains.

SEEING RED OVER THE ROCK

I have been writing a weekly column on Gibraltar for around 16 years. I try my hardest to reflect matters relating to the Rock rather than any opinion of my own. I have only one mantra I believe in the right of the people of Gibraltar to self determine their own future be it British, Spanish, joint sovereignty, independent, some federation within the EU – whatever.

As a former British colony and now I presume a British territory I believe the people of Gibraltar should have the right to expect frequent visits from the Royal Family in the same way that the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa are visited by Spain’s Royal Family.

I have seen the Red Arrows numerous times, I first went to a Battle of Britain air show at Biggin Hill in 1956 when memories of the encounter were still fresh in people’s memories and I am proud to have served in the auxiliary wing of the Royal Air Force.

So why am I telling you all this. Simply because I was “uneasy” over the display by the Red Arrows and British military aircraft over the Rock last Saturday. Please note I was “uneasy” not disgusted, alarmed or appalled but just “uneasy”.

Now there has been plenty of air shows in recent weeks in Málaga and Cádiz and true I was not “uneasy” about them. But as I drove on the road above Torreguadiaro yesterday and looked towards the Rock and Europa Point I was left with an “uneasy” feeling about how the display must have been seen from nearby Spain.

I fully understand the jubilation in Gibraltar at both the Red Arrows and other military aircraft taking to the skies to celebrate the Battle of Britain. I appreciate the feeling of pride that seeing the red, white and blue smoke spread across the sky must have engendered in the people of the Rock, a people who are denied all too often the basic visits from British Royals that their history and loyalty deserves. None-the-less I was “uneasy” - but not disgusted, alarmed or appalled but just “uneasy”.

The air display generated a predictable response from José Ignacio Landaluce, the opposition Partido Popular MP for Cádiz which includes the border region with Gibraltar. He said the air show was a “warning” from Gibraltar adding “Gibraltar and the UK get together to make our country feel inferior, making it clear who gives the orders in the colony.” He also told the Spanish Parliament that Spain had to stand first against “the expansionist pretentions of Gibraltar”.

Señor Landaluce is an idiot.

However I was still “uneasy” - not disgusted, alarmed or appalled - but just “uneasy”.

Photo: Panorama – for Gibraltar’s online reports on the air display and other news click on “Panorama” in the links box.

¿HABLA SPANGLISH?

Words such as ‘sándwich’ and ‘nuggets’ have been accepted in to the Spanish language but when Spaniards want to hold a conversation in English in can easily result in Spanglish.

Or so says the Oxford University Press that has created http://www.100spanglish.es/ – a website where it is possible to view videos and practice English with the objective of avoiding the mistaken construction of sentences such as “I am very preoccupated” or “I have give a shower”.

According to the OUP Spain is at the tail in Europe in learning English with only 20 per cent of Spaniards capable of maintaining a conversation in a different language against the European average of 44 per cent.

In http://www.100spanglish.es/ there are videos of well known Spaniards such as José María Aznar, Emilo Botín and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero speaking in English albeit rather badly. OUP say users can vote for the most amusing with the rankings currently topped by Franco with “Aiguanmuviman” – although when I viewed he’d slipped to number 5.

The prize for the best users of Spanglish is an English course entitled “My Oxford English” which has been prepared on-line by Oxford University.

The OUP reports that only 9 per cent of Spaniards between 18 and 55 study English. They do so to travel (35 per cent), for work (50 per cent) and for personal satisfaction (15 per cent).

Twenty-nine per cent of this age group have never studied English and of the 71 per cent that have two out of three have attained a low or medium low level.

I believe the term Spanglish was coined in the USA for the language developing where the Spanish and English speaking communities coincide. Spanglish was later used for Spain especially in the coastal areas where the same mix takes place. I have read it could apply to Gibraltar – but that patois is Llanito which is a far more fluent mix of the two languages. Certainly the Spanish workers in La Línea who work on the Rock have created their own slang – Linense – using English or corrupted English words and phrases learnt from their work mates. I would also argue that the British community in Spain, which doesn’t speak Spanish per se, is also developing a patois by dropping English words and inserting basura, ayuntamiento and so on.

WILL BRITISH TERRITORIES HAVE TO BE BAILED OUT?

Even when I was young –and that was many moons ago – the British Empire was on the wane. There were plenty of red bits still on my school atlas but that could well have represented the bloodshed of some self-determination battles. For today’s younger generation The Empire is a cinema on Leicester Square but the cost of Britain’s former domains is still coming home to roost.

The Guardian recently ran an article stating that Britain could be forced to bail out one or more of its offshore tax havens at huge cost, according to a Treasury report. The document, still in draft form says the economic crisis has wrecked their finances.

In October off-shore expert Michael Foot will set out a number of options to government ministers. Britain already has a huge mountain of debt from fighting the financial crisis but there is anxiety over the health of Britain’s overseas territories and crown dependencies.

According to the Guardian the 1988 collapse of Barlow Clowes and the Spanish pensions problem prompted a select committee of the House of Commons to commission the National Audit Office to investigate contingent liabilities arising because of responsibilities for off-shore centres and territories whether from financial or even natural disasters.

The Guardian reports that early drafts of Foot’s report suggest that the government may need to make provisions for the financial failure of British tax havens. Experts suggest the failure of a major tax haven could potentially cost the UK tens, if not hundreds, of millions of pounds.

So how does this affect Gibraltar? When I first started writing my Gibraltar column in 1993 the finances of the Rock were still a hot topic. However times have moved on with a healthy financial centre and internet betting companies boosting its economy. There is apparently in the draft nothing to suggest that Gibraltar is at risk but had the Rock been defeated in the EU tax case that sought to deprive Gibraltar of its fiscal independence the situation could be different. Indeed there is concern as Spain is challenging that decision from the Luxembourg-based court.

I asked Fabian Picardo MP, who speaks on financial matters for Gibraltar’s Opposition in the Rock’s parliament what his party’s take on this issue was. He told me: “There are no circumstances in which the Opposition would wish to see Gibraltar once again have to rely on hand-outs from the UK; something the GSLP weaned us off in the late 80’s. The most basic economic management would now make such a scenario unnecessary. In any event, Gibraltar is quite different to the other offshore territories which are being referred to as we do have a tradition of personal and corporate tax payable by residents.”

However there could be a cloud on the Rock’s horizon. The Guardian suggests there is an ongoing government review of on-line gambling sites, such as those based in the Isle of Man and Gibraltar. London may seek to impose more stringent regulations on them, which could threaten their off-shore futures.

THE CRISIS THREATENS NOT SPAIN’S ECONOMY BUT ITS DEMOCRACY

The current world economic crisis has hit Spain hard. Like Britain it will probably be one of the late to emerge from recession, a recession which some believe is already over in France, Germany and Japan.

In Spain the economy has been smashed and there are lengthy dole queues. At some time the economy in the future will recover but it is the Spanish body politic that is in danger.

There is a lot of disquiet in the country over the socialist government of José Luis Zapatero Rodríguez. There are those who would argue that he is the worst “ruler” of the nation since Ferdinand VII who was basically a crook.

However it is not Zapatero that is the problem but the Partido Popular opposition of Mariano Rajoy. Whenever an election comes in Spain the voters can throw Zapatero and PSOE out on their ears – if they so wish. The only alternative government is the PP led by Rajoy. The Spanish opinion polls show the true extent of the problem where basically PSOE and the PP are running neck and neck despite the economic turmoil.

Contrast that to Britain where the discredited Labour government are and have been for months ten or more percentage points behind the Conservatives and have suffered humiliating by-election defeats. For Gordon Brown the writing is on the wall.

The PP is wracked with corruption scandals. What’s worse is that Rajoy and his party have willed that Spain is overcome by economic disaster as he and they see that as the most likely way to regain power. They promote the nation’s destruction rather than its salvation but the voters’ dissatisfaction with this ploy is plain to see as they haven’t rallied to the PP cause.

In recent days, Juan Rámon Quintás, the president of the nation’s savings banks, has said that unless an accord can be reached between the political and social sides then the best thing for the nation would be an immediate general election. Then the newly elected leader would have the required mandate to lead Spain out of the crisis. However it is not an economic but political crisis that faces Spain and the decisions facing the voters are tough because neither Zapatero nor Rajoy have won or deserve their trust.