The Spanish President José Luis Rodgríguez Zapatero was planning to spend time in August at La Mareta in Costa Teguise, Lanzarote as per previous summers in 2005, 2006 and 2009. A press release confirmed today that this holiday has now been cancelled due to the economic crisis. Instead Zapatero will spend the summer at his residence in Madrid taking time out at the weekends to be with his family, he has a trip planned back to Leon where he grew up and Toledo. Additionally the President will take two trips to Majorca for the summer office with King Juan Carlos.
Francisco Martinez of the Asociación Insular de Empresarios de Hoteles y Apartamentos de Lanzarote said that it was bad news for the tourism promotion of Lanzarote. The island receives great press coverage when the president is staying in Lanzarote and this publicity is very important.
There hasn’t been a flurry of recent activity around the King’s house in Costa Teguise which gave some indication the holiday may have delayed or cancelled, it is good to understand that out of choice his destination was Lanzarote but work has kept him on the mainland. Zapatero's love for Lanzarote was recorded in a video released during his holiday in 2009.
The President will be working to be ready for the re-opening of Parliament in September and a review of the General State Budgets for 2011 so that they can be finalised.
Earlier this week the Banco de España announced the results from the Spanish banks stress test. The Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) confirm that the results show the Spanish banking system is sound. The stress test was conducted under the EU Ecofin Council, co-ordinated with the CEBS and in co-operation with the European Central Bank (ECB). Following the test the Banco de España urged the institutions to be more transparent and convey better quality information to the market.
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