Finance minister to explain budget plans, Spanish airport operator to present strategic plan, and King to honour oldest Spanish cavalry. Plus, Frankfurt is the centre of financial attention today.
Spanish News Headlines
The first vice president of the Government and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, will appear in the Senate today to
present the objectives of her department in this legislature, in a context of budget negotiation with the 2024 public accounts on the horizon.
At 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Montero will appear before the Finance Commission at the request of Izquierdas por la Independencia, the coalition formed by ERC and Bildu.
The minister will report on the general policy lines of her Ministry, as she already did in the Congress of Deputies in January. The appearance takes place at a time when budget negotiations are underway, as Montero has reiterated to the media on several occasions.
Spanish airport operator Aena will present the update of its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan today, a document that has already been approved by its board of directors and will maintain the dividend policy, as advanced by its president, Maurici Lucena.
Lucena also announced that he will have “more ambitious goals because those that have been in force since November 2022 have become obsolete sooner than we thought.”
Aena’s dividend policy establishes a ‘pay out’ of 80%. Therefore, it will propose to the Ordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting, which will be held on April 18, the distribution of a dividend of 7.66 gross euro per share charged to the results of the 2023 financial year.
King Felipe VI will preside over the event marking the
375th anniversary of the ‘Farnesio’ Cavalry Regiment No. 12 in Valladolid today, which will be held on the Central Paseo of Campo Grande.
The monarch will be accompanied by the Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, as well as other local and regional political representatives, in an event that will begin at 11:00 a.m.
The ‘Farnesio’ Cavalry Regiment No. 12, part of the ‘Galicia’ VII Brigade since November 2016, was founded on March 7, 1649, the date on which the Tercio de Hessen-Homburg was born, which is considered the embryo of the current unit, which is why it is considered the oldest Regiment of the Spanish Cavalry and “one of the oldest in the world.”
To read these articles in full, visit
SpainToday.news
Business, Markets and Statistics
All eyes turn this Thursday to Frankfurt, where the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) is holding its monetary policy meeting and will make public its estimate of the economic prospects for the eurozone, placing special emphasis on wages.
In Spain, the main macro reference will be the housing price index for the fourth quarter published by the INE. In addition, the Public Treasury returns to the markets with a long-term auction.
Things to Do Today
Musically, James Blunt is back in Alicante on 19 July, as is Tom Jones on 25. Other popular groups coming to Spain in the near future include AC/DC, Depeche Mode, and Simple Minds.
Down south, the Malaga Film Festival takes place from 1 to 10 March, where one of the stars is the Valencia Region, with the tourism department showcasing the area, followed by the Granada Tango Festival from 12 to 17 March.
Fallas season is on now across Valencia, culminating in the celebrations around the middle of March, not forgetting of course we have San Jose, Spanish Father’s Day, on 19 March, a big event in the Spanish cultural calendar. The main fallas event is around Valencia, where this year the calendar is from 25 February to 19 March.
We must also remember that Easter is earlier this year, Good Friday is 29 March, and one of the big draws is Elche, and in particular Palm Sunday, on account of the history of the city in relation to palm trees. A huge Palm Sunday procession takes place in the city each year.
For more local events, pick up
The Leader newspaper every Monday, and
This is Torrevieja for Torrevieja events.
Local Markets
Thursday markets are held in Alicante, Bigastro,
Campoamor (Orihuela Costa), El Altet (Elche),
Gran Alacant, Lo Pagan (San Pedro del Pinatar),
Rojales, and
San Fulgencio (La Marina).
The roads will of course be busy around those locations.
Traffic and Travel
The same as last week, the weekend is going to be busy on the roads particularly around winter leisure areas, which includes second homes, but mostly the mountainous regions for winter sports. We will have the full details of the busiest times in tomorrow’s bulletin.
For information and updates about driving in Spain, visit
N332.es
Official Websites for Travel Information
On This Day
1991, Spain’s Congress approves the creation of the Cervantes Institute.
1972, in Spain, Cardinal Vicente Enrique y Tarancón is named president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference.
1939, within the framework of the Spanish civil war, the coastal defences of Cartagena sank the merchant ship used as a troop transport Castillo de Olite, becoming the sinking of a single ship with more fatalities than the history of Spain; 1476 deaths.
