Ruling party may need help from rightwing Vox to hold on to power after snap election in Castilla y León People in the Spanish region of Castilla y León vote on Sunday in a snap election that represents a massive gamble for the ruling conservative People’s party (PP). It could see a breakthrough by a new political platform campaigning on behalf of depopulated and underdeveloped parts of Spain The vote was called in December after the regional president kicked his partners in the centre-right Citizens party out of the coalition government claiming that he could no longer rely on their loyalty It follows a turbulent few weeks in Spanish politics that have included a row over the country’s meat industry and rightwing fury after the socialist-led central government managed to get its flagship labour reforms approved by parliament thanks to a PP MP accidentally voting against his party Buoyed by its performance in national polls – and by its strong result in the Madrid region last May – the PP had hoped to use the Castilla y León poll to win a majority there and to score an emphatic victory before a looming election in Andalucía and next year’s general election The socialists are predicted to finish not far behind the PP with Vox in third place and Citizens – already a party in its death throes across Spain – coming a distant fourth Casado has dragged his party rightwards and enthusiastically sought out culture wars and wedge issues Both the PP and Vox have seized on comments that the consumer affairs minister, Alberto Garzón, made in an interview with the Guardian last December Although the minister had renewed his calls for Spaniards to reduce their meat consumption for the sake of their health and the planet – and contrasted meat from traditional farming with meat from intensive megafarms – his words were twisted and presented as an attack on Spain’s meat industry Standing in front of a field of cows on a traditional farm near the small town of Las Navas del Marqués in the Ávila province of Castilla y León last month, Casado said the government was “insulting livestock farmers, insulting the Mediterranean diet and threatening Spain’s international image” He also said that megafarms were subject to strict legislation and that, as he saw it, “they don’t cause pollution”. Asked why some PP councils had campaigned to stop the construction of new megafarms, Casado said those were political decisions In recent days, Casado has also accused the Spanish government of attacking the country’s cheeses, beets, and of spending “a million euros on tourism for other races” Last week, he suggested that the socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, presided over a “Dracula coalition”, but went on to mix his metaphors by claiming that everyone Sánchez bit “turns into a zombie, like him” Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Pablo Casado Photograph: Oscar Gonzalez/NurPhoto/Rex/ShutterstockWith the PP’s fortunes in the traditionally conservative region suddenly in doubt who is widely seen as a possible rival to Casado because of her electoral clout and ability to appeal to Vox voters It did not take her long to stake her conservative credentials. Responding to questions about the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests in Spain, Ayuso said, “All institutions make mistakes” adding that few people wanted to talk about the church’s cultural legacy in Spain or about “the charity a political scientist at Madrid’s Carlos III University said things in Castilla y León were not going according to plan for Casado and his party “The problem is that when they called the elections they thought they’d do so well that they’d be able to govern alone “But all the polls point at things getting worse for them than they’d thought.” will come at a cost: “They’ll either have to depend on Vox with all that depending on a more radical parliamentary partner implies Either scenario is worse for the PP than how things were Simón also noted that the so-called España vaciada, or hollowed-out Spain platform could play a role in the shape of the new regional parliament as “there are nine provinces that are very different with local phenomena” Voters sick of 35 years of PP rule could decide to give their votes to these grassroots groups on Sunday A photograph from an exhibition on rural depopulation in Spain Photograph: Miguel Riopa/AFP/GettyThe people of Las Navas del Marqués are not holding their breath for an imminent improvement in their daily lives said locals were more worried about depopulation and basic services than the meat row from telecoms and internet to roads,” he said Given that most of the meat in the area was raised on traditional farms few people would take issue with Garzón’s words who was born in a house on the main square in Las Navas del Marqués 74 years ago didn’t hesitate when asked what the most pressing electoral issue was “People go where the work is and that’s how towns die A lot of people here have always felt left behind and abandoned by the authorities Castilla y León needs to be thought about a bit more It’s not just about Catalonia and the Basque country and Andalucía.” Spain — Forgotten Spain is making its presence felt With an election in the rural region of Castile and León on Sunday the nation’s attention has been firmly focused in recent weeks on the countryside which is hoping to make its voice heard after decades of underinvestment and depopulation it’s not a region like Catalonia or Andalusia which is dominating the national electoral calendar but one of the regions of forgotten Spain,” said political communications expert Verónica Fumanal.  The area she is referring to is more commonly known as La España vacía (“empty Spain”) or La España vaciada (“emptied Spain”) It encompasses agriculture-reliant regions in the vast interior of the country such as Castile and León These territories missed out on much of the speedy industrialization and development that larger cities and the tourist-friendly coast enjoyed from the latter years of the Franco dictatorship onward That disparity encouraged migration toward the cities further accentuating the rural-urban divide “A cultural idea took hold: that the progressive thing the innovative thing was to leave your town,” said Tomás Guitarte of Teruel Existe a small party in Aragón that has campaigned on this issue it’s the consequence of the disastrous socio-territorial policies of a wrong-headed developmental model.” Today, the statistics make for stark reading: 10 percent of Spain’s population inhabits 70 percent of the country Forty-two percent of towns are at risk of depopulation has seen its population drop by over 30 percent since 1975 while that of the Balearic Islands has doubled the state encouraged a development model whereby industry and services left rural hubs who is running as a candidate in the Castile and León election “And this is what we have been dealing with ever since.” is part of a political backlash against this trend It began two decades ago with a protest movement that highlighted the plight of the countryside by staging demonstrations in local capitals It made Spaniards aware of the problems in rural areas and La España vacía became a popular phrase in political debate and the media there was frustration that actual policies were not changing we have to be on the inside too,” said Ceña He pointed out that although Spain’s dominant political forces the Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and the conservative Popular Party (PP) have included demands of those who live in the countryside in their electoral manifestoes “We’ve decided to get into the institutions where decisions are made,” Ceña added “We want to get in there so we can influence the policies that affect this section of the population.” He called for incentives to repopulate rural areas and create jobs led by what he called the “strategic re-industrialization” of the countryside is one of several running in this election whose priority is to highlight the inequalities between rural and urban Spain others are running in the provinces of Burgos a nationwide umbrella organization that claims to have no specific loyalties on the political spectrum They have drawn inspiration from the success of Teruel Existe which won a seat in Congress in the 2019 general election The demands of the new parties have helped raise the stakes in Castile and León, where the PP has governed for the last 35 years. The campaign has been particularly fierce after the consumer minister, Alberto Garzón, criticized Spain’s industrial-scale intensive livestock farming for being unsustainable The PP and other parties have cast Garzón and the leftist coalition government of Pedro Sánchez as anti-farming On the campaign trail near the small town of Las Navas del Marqués, PP leader Pablo Casado, surrounded by cows, continued the theme by calling for “more livestock and less communism.” But not all locals were impressed they’ll go back to doing what they like,” said José Juan Pascual Ríos a retired chef who lives in Las Navas del Marqués and followed Casado’s visit on the news he welcomes the arrival of the new wave of rural parties “They’ll take votes from the left and the right and they’ll be listened to.” which presents itself as a protector of rural pursuits such as hunting and bullfighting Although it is competing with the upstart parties “We’re much worse off than in the early 70s in terms of depopulation with people going off to Madrid and the big cities,” said Sonsoles Miranda Polls suggest that the PP will win once again in Castile and León it could need the support of Vox to form a new government This vote is seen as providing potential insight into the outcome of the next general election which is slated for 2023 but could come earlier With the electoral system giving more parliamentary weight to sparsely populated areas of the country than to cities España Vaciada is optimistic about its potential.     polls also show that the new rural parties could win enough seats in Castile and León to play kingmaker they would have to get involved in the cut-and-thrust of party politics Sergio del Molino, an essayist who has written extensively about the plight of rural Spain, has warned that by entering the political fray the new parties are risking diluting an important debate “in a clamor of minuscule demands and low-level politics,” which could ultimately encourage the growth of “nationalist a reference to France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen.  who has already made the journey from rural protest to national parliament those that have never had the chance to express their predicament now have an opportunity to do so,” he said Corruption probes around the prime minister of Spain are coming to a head at a crucial moment for his fragile government With hundreds dead and Spaniards turning on their leaders parallels are being drawn with the 2004 Madrid train bombings Íñigo Errejón resigned and his former chief of staff was expelled in a snowballing scandal The Mossos d’Esquadra let the former Catalan leader slip through their hands in August See More News The ensemble's members also managed to tour historic sites between each concert and to spend a day experiencing the city of Toledo.  Wednesday they traveled to Barcelona for the Symposium where it presented four concerts.  The first concert was webcast world-wide by the town’s radio station The choir members were warmly embraced by the town which was once a center for textile mills.  At the conclusion of the concert director of the Federació Catalana d'Entitats Corals and the concert host presented the Choir and Joe Miller with an antique shuttle used in one of the mills.  After being called back for an encore and the Lutkin Benediction the audience turned the tables and sang a song for the choir a melody that traditionally closes the town’s music festival in the spring.  The hospitality continued with a post-concert reception that included delicious local pastries and fruit from the surrounding orchards.  Enric Genesca who is also a member of the World Symposium Planning Committee and instructed him in the appropriate drinking technique.  It was an evening all will remember included the premiere of Lux surgit Aurea by Spanish composer Bernat Vivancos commissioned for the symposium.  Presented in Barcelona’s L’Auditori it was hailed by an enthusiastic audience that leapt to its feet at the conclusion  Westminster alumna Susan McCreary Duprey wrote about the performance They nailed their performance tonight and experienced an instant standing ovation (from a very critical crowd too The Choir presented a lunch time concert in Barcelona before driving to the historic Abbey of Montserrat, where it performed a final concert of sacred music that was webcast world-wide by the Abbey.  A recording of the broadcast is on the Westminster Choir College YouTube channel The concert was a dramatic conclusion to the 2016-2017 season for the Westminster Choir.  Approximately half of its members have graduated and are moving on to the next phase in their professional lives enriched by the opportunity to share Westminster’s music on the world stage Information on rider.edu may be subject to change Mercedes-Benz has one of its main partners in Envision the Chinese producer of batteries for electric cars The German manufacturer of high-end vehicles has one of its main partners in the Chinese producer of batteries for electric cars. The future Envision gigafactory in Navalmoral de la Mata will receive an important order from Mercedes-Benz Envision is just one of the many electric car battery manufacturers that have already confirmed the construction of their own facilities on Spanish soil or at least have shown interest in doing so Volkswagen has already confirmed that it would make the Sagunto (Valencia) gigafactory a reality and others such as Stellantis, BYD or Tesla have also expressed their interest in following in the footsteps of the German giant. The same goes for Envision AESC  a major player in the Chinese battery market that dominates global production The eastern company has already confirmed that it will build a gigafactory in Cáceres  specifically Navalmoral de la Mata. And thanks to its partnership with Mercedes-Benz it will have an important task ahead when it begins production in late 2025 or early 2026 Envision already announced at the time that it planned to make an investment of 1,000 million euros in the Cáceres facility but that this would only become a reality if at least 400 million came from external investment as well as a loan of 100 million euros on favorable conditions In addition, in parallel with the battery gigafactory, a green hydrogen and electrolyzer production plant will be built in the town of Alcázar de San Juan as well as a wind turbine assembly plant in Las Navas del Marqués the total planned investment will be 3.8 billion euros  Envision is one of the technological partners of Mercedes-Benz which has a factory in Vitoria. This is part of the German firm’s strategic plan to reach a production capacity of 200 gigawatts/hour (GWh) by the end of this year  These and many other data make it clear that when it comes to electric mobility, and as much as the European Union dislikes it  China is the current reference and dominator of the market today it is not limited to producing in its own territory but is progressively expanding its capacity throughout Europe and the United States READ the latest Batteries News shaping the battery market Mercedes-Benz has one of its main partners in Envision, the Chinese producer of batteries for electric cars. source U Power Limited (NASDAQ:UCAR) Partners with Sumitomo Mitsui to Deliver Southeast Asia’s First Battery-Swapping Taxi Fleet in Phuket PHUKET 2025 /PRNewswire/ — U Power Limited (Nasdaq:.. Korean Battery Material Companies Seeking Chinese Partnerships to Penetrate European Market As Chinese battery companies rapidly expand in the European market Korean battery material firms are actively seeking.. Lithium Royalty Corp Announces Increased Price Range and Extension of Substantial Issuer Bid TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Lithium Royalty Corp (TSX: LIRC) (“LRC” or the “Company”).. COPYRIGHT POLICY DISCLAIMER TERMS & CONDITIONS PRIVACY POLICY We love meeting interesting people and making new friends asistió como alumno al curso de Zenobia Música sobre la música a triple coro de Victoria y Vivanco dirigido por Peter Phillips Aquí tenemos su comentario de su experiencia