We all know that there has been a lot of corruption in local councils and town halls over recent years – half of Marbella’s politicos are permanently in and out of prison these days… But things must be pretty bad when President Putin uses Spain’s woes to make Russia look good.
There is obviously no point in putting too much faith in his comparison, as one quick Google Battle easily proves!
Eline
23 Oct 06 at 3:39 pm
The country where corruption cases emerges daily, and where organized crime are revealed, may not be the country that has the most corruption and organized crime. It might be the complete oposite.
In Spain`s defense one can argue that it seems like they have a solid system for revealing corruption and for prosecuting offenders. And are in that way, a functioning democracy
Ben
23 Oct 06 at 5:47 pm
The serious point here is that Spain IS doing something about it. We have to do a podcast about this some day, because Spain really does have a wonderfully colourful history of political corruption. In the past if you wanted anything from a local counciler or politician you gave them a ham – people still talk about giving someone a ‘jamon’ today, though it tends to consist of bank notes!
Edith
23 Oct 06 at 10:53 pm
Corruption scandals notwithstanding, I don’t think Spain can be compared to Russia in any way. Russia has still got a bad human rights record, Moscow is fighting a very cruel war in Chechnya and the country is plagued by social contrasts unknown in modern Spain. Many ordinary people in Russia are eking out a meager existence while organized criminals enrich themselves at the expense of society. The collapse of the Soviet Union hasn’t brought prosperity and ecinomic development to the Russian people, on the contrary. Spain has been able to free itself of Franco’s political legacy and the country has evolved economically and socially as well. Putin himself – a former KGB agent who calls rapists ‘real men’- can hardly be called a democrat or a human rights advocate. So even though corruption may be rife in Spanish society, I don’t take his statements about Spain very seriously.
Ben
24 Oct 06 at 7:34 am
An excellent summary Edith, I couldn’t agree more. Spain and Russia are VERY different cases.
Tony
24 Oct 06 at 2:06 pm
Try the same battle but put UK corruption v Spain corruption and you will get a suprise!
Guess who wins!!
Graeme
24 Oct 06 at 2:19 pm
Unfortunately Spain isn’t doing enough about it, at least yet. I suspect the corruption scandals being uncovered in construction are just the tip of the iceberg and a judicial system which allows people to do more or less what they want for years before it creaks into action doesn’t help to solve the problem. But Putin is the last person who should complain, where is the Russian mafia going to invest if Spain cracks down on corruption?
Ben
24 Oct 06 at 10:42 pm
El Mundo special on corruption in Marbella