November 2012

Hello again. In the early years of the 20th century millions of people left behind hunger or discrimination in Europe and travelled to America. On the side of the Statue of Liberty is a poem by Emma Lazurus which includes the immortal lines “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore”. I am reminded of those lines this week as Mr Rajoy announces his latest wheeze to get the economy going.

Mr Rajoy plans to give automatic residence to non Europeans who come to Spain and buy a house with a value exceeding 160,000€ though they must spend at least 6 months and 1 day of each year in this country. The scheme is aimed mainly at Russians and Chinese and copies similar agreements being enacted in Portugal and Ireland. In my humble opinion, the scheme seems eminently sensible, Moscow has more billionaires than any other city on earth, China will soon be the largest economy in the world. Not only will it bring the cash for the house to Spain but also tax revenues and spending.

This is a far more positive move than tax hikes and it shows that Mr Rajoy is at least trying to get Spain moving again. But I have a message for him, even Russian oligarchs and industrial magnates from Shenzen will not buy illegal houses. If he were to grasp the nettle and make land grab illegal, create a bullet proof house registration system that meant a registered house was a legal house and if he were to guarantee that every house built with a licence was 100% legal then he would find that there were more than enough buyers from Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Finland and, indeed , the UK to satisfy Spain’s economic needs.

С Рождеством Христовым всех наших читателей or should I say Merry Christmas to all our readers!