Spain's burned towns face a dilemma: festivals and bullfights or fire prevention
Towns hit by wildfires spend on festivities and bullfights while cutting prevention; €846 million goes to other items, and blame ends up with the voter.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Festivals and bullfights cost more than fire prevention
While Spain's burned towns remain at the centre of the controversy, municipal budgets once again point to the usual story: festivals and bullfights take tens of thousands of euros, while fire prevention gets the leftovers. Then, when the fire arrives, the same town council that cut brush-clearing calls on the State through the UME (Military Emergency Unit). Many residents sum it up bluntly: those in charge only show up to hand out money, not to be held accountable.
Spain's Local Government Act (Ley de Bases de Régimen Local) adds nuance to the matter: responsibility for fighting fires is distributed according to the size of the municipality. Not all villages are required to maintain a firefighting service; in small ones, that responsibility falls to the provincial council. That absolves no one, but it explains why some town councils blame the "nanny State" when the hills burn.
The same exchange brings up figures that invite irony: while there is debate over whether a village spends on running of the bulls, there are multimillion-euro items for external contingencies that cause no such scandal. Over the past decade, European funding for external containment in Segarro exceeds 846 million euros, amounts that turn the festivals issue into an anecdote.
The phrase "things happen and there doesn't necessarily have to be accountability" has come to sum up the official narrative, and the citizens' response was not long in coming: it's the voters' fault for not demanding answers. Bullfighting defenders, for their part, argue that bullfights are not loss-making because the VAT on tickets returns the investment to public coffers, something other "sweetheart deals" cannot claim.
For now, the conclusion is that the balance between festive spending and prevention will remain unresolved. Until fire comes knocking at a town council's door again, budgets will keep looking the other way. And if not, time will tell.
While Spain's burned towns remain at the centre of the controversy, municipal budgets once again point to the usual story: festivals and bullfights take tens of thousands of euros, while fire prevention gets the leftovers. Then, when the fire arrives, the same town council that cut brush-clearing calls on the State through the UME (Military Emergency Unit). Many residents sum it up bluntly: those in charge only show up to hand out money, not to be held accountable.
Spain's Local Government Act (Ley de Bases de Régimen Local) adds nuance to the matter: responsibility for fighting fires is distributed according to the size of the municipality. Not all villages are required to maintain a firefighting service; in small ones, that responsibility falls to the provincial council. That absolves no one, but it explains why some town councils blame the "nanny State" when the hills burn.
The same exchange brings up figures that invite irony: while there is debate over whether a village spends on running of the bulls, there are multimillion-euro items for external contingencies that cause no such scandal. Over the past decade, European funding for external containment in Segarro exceeds 846 million euros, amounts that turn the festivals issue into an anecdote.
The phrase "things happen and there doesn't necessarily have to be accountability" has come to sum up the official narrative, and the citizens' response was not long in coming: it's the voters' fault for not demanding answers. Bullfighting defenders, for their part, argue that bullfights are not loss-making because the VAT on tickets returns the investment to public coffers, something other "sweetheart deals" cannot claim.
For now, the conclusion is that the balance between festive spending and prevention will remain unresolved. Until fire comes knocking at a town council's door again, budgets will keep looking the other way. And if not, time will tell.
Also available in: Deutsch
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (28 replies).
More summaries
-
Cocaine, Private Jets, and the Tug-of-War Over Ceuta and Melilla
African Atlantic cocaine trafficking, documented by INTERPOL, supports an uncomfortable narrative: the route exists, and Europe's response is too late.
-
Sánchez hits back at the EU amid the Ceuta crisis
Sánchez's letter to the EU amid the Ceuta crisis escalates the standoff: Italy, Finland and Denmark call for suspending Schengen access, while the Commission rules it out.
-
Morocco deploys missiles near Ceuta while Spain sells it arms
Morocco accelerates its military buildup near Ceuta with missiles capable of reaching Madrid. Meanwhile, Spain sells it arms for 8 million euros.
-
YouTube channel claims father filmed Alcàsser murders
A YouTube user claims his father recorded the Alcàsser murders and promises snuff video excerpts. No evidence provided, only narrative and technical analysis.
-
Flats at €60,000 in 2013, €800,000 now: the gap
80 m² flats that cost €60,000 in 2013 are now valued at €800,000 in Madrid: the bank bailout and SAREB are at the centre of the controversy over housing.
-
Vox fell from 15% to 12% in a month, according to a forum poster
A forum poster attributes Vox's drop from 15% to 12% in a month to voter abstention in July, not the campaign, and blames postal voting