Latest news with #SalvadorIlla
LeMonde
17-07-2025
- Climate
- LeMonde
Wildfire season arrives early and intense around the Mediterranean
"Today's fires are not those of the past." With these words, the president of Spain's Catalonia region, Salvador Illa, concluded his July 8 visit to the command center in Tortosa, Tarragona province, which had issued instructions, day and night, to the hundreds of firefighters mobilized to fight one of the summer's first major wildfires. Catalonia has been suffering from brushfires since early July, much like a major part of the Mediterranean basin and even northern Europe. Such an early onset of the fire season is unprecedented. In Catalonia, entire neighborhoods of the town of Tortosa (population 35,000) and neighboring villages were placed under lockdown for three days to allow residents to protect their homes from within, as it was too dangerous to evacuate them due to the fire being fanned by strong winds. Between the fire in Tarragona and another that broke out days before in the agricultural region of Torrefeta i Florejacs, in the center of the neighboring Lérida province, nearly 40,000 people were ordered to stay indoors.
Bloomberg
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Catalan Ally Becomes Stability Force in Spain as Sánchez Falters
As Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez faces the toughest political crisis of his tenure, rocked by corruption probes into two top aides, one of his most trusted allies is stepping up with a message of support: look ahead and march on. 'Apologies have been made and measures against corruption have been put on the table,' Salvador Illa, regional president of Catalonia, said in an interview with Bloomberg, speaking in his offices in a medieval palace overlooking Barcelona. 'Now the government needs to carry on with its road map.'
Euractiv
14-07-2025
- Business
- Euractiv
Spain weighs Catalonia's fiscal autonomy amid separatist pressure
A joint commission between the Spanish government and Catalonia's regional government is set to present a new 'unique' financing scheme on Monday, granting Barcelona full control over collecting, managing, and spending its taxes. The proposal, pushed by the pro-independence left-wing ERC party, would reform Spain's Organic Law on regional financing and remove Catalonia from the current centralised funding system that redistributes tax revenues collected by the central government to the autonomous regions. Catalonia's fiscal autonomy was a key condition for ERC's support of Socialist leader Salvador Illa (PSC), who became regional president in 2024. However, negotiations have stalled amid corruption scandals involving Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's PSOE, delaying the June 30 deadline. Facing criticism that Sánchez is trading political concessions for parliamentary support, Finance Minister María Jesús Montero rejected the claim that Catalonia is receiving preferential treatment on Friday. Nevertheless ERC president Oriol Junqueras insisted at the party's headquarters on Saturday that Catalonia 'cannot be subordinated to the State's Tax Agency' and warned that Sánchez's stance on financing 'will condition ERC's position on many issues.' Catalan separatists, including ERC, want Barcelona to gain a special tax status similar to that of the Basque Country and Navarre, which enjoy special fiscal arrangements based on historical rights. The opposition, and several socialist lawmakers, see Catalonia's potential fiscal autonomy as a political trade-off for Sánchez's corruption-plagued government to hold to power until the 2027 elections. In February, Madrid agreed to write off €17 billion of Catalan debt - part of a broader €83 billion package to ease regional debt burdens. Main opposition Popular Party labelled as a 'political payoff' to Sánchez's pro-independence partners in government. ( Inés Fernández/
France 24
08-07-2025
- Climate
- France 24
Thousands told to stay home as Spain forest fire rages
More than 450 firefighters backed by helicopters and planes were deployed across a hilly 30-kilometre (19-mile) front in the northeastern province of Tarragona, the Catalonia region's fire service said. The blaze had devoured an estimated 3,137 hectares (7,751 acres), with the protected Els Ports natural park representing about one-third of the total, according to Catalan rangers. An AFP journalist at the scene saw a helicopter swoop over burning vegetation and a house to drop water as grey smoke billowed from the green hills. The blaze had gutted an isolated hillside home, which stood surrounded by scorched trees, its roof collapsed. Firefighters said they were "cautiously optimistic" as they worked to stabilise the blaze and prevent it spreading further into the park. "The changing wind patterns in the area will determine the fire's progression," the service added in a statement. The emergency response could "begin a stabilisation phase in the final hours of the day", said the leader of Catalonia's regional authority, Salvador Illa. Catalonia's civil protection authority urged residents to shut their doors and windows and stay home, saying around 18,000 people were affected. Overnight gusts of up to 90 kilometres (56 miles) per hour had thwarted efforts to extinguish the fire, prompting reinforcements from the Spanish army's emergencies unit. Scientists say human-induced climate change is increasing the intensity, length and frequency of the extreme heat that fuels forest fires. Spain has in recent days sweltered through a heatwave that parched the land and heightened the risk of forest fires. National weather agency AEMET said last month was Spain's hottest June on record and that the frequency of extreme heat had tripled in the past 10 years. According to the European Forest Fire Information System, around 500 fires destroyed 300,000 hectares in Spain in 2022, a record for the continent. Around 21,000 hectares have burned so far this year.
1News
03-07-2025
- Climate
- 1News
Spanish wildfire kills two as parts of Europe face severe heat wave
Europe's continuing heat wave helped fuel a deadly wildfire in Spain while the European Union presented plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under scorching temperatures. The blaze that broke out late on Wednesday, created an enormous thick plume of ash and smoke that rose 1.4km into the sky, making it the largest registered by firefighters in Catalonia, a north-eastern region of Spain. Two farmers were killed while apparently trying to flee in a vehicle, local authorities said Wednesday. Firefighters said that the fire spread at 28km/h at one point as it consumed 6500ha mostly of grain fields. "Wildfires today are not like they were before," Salvador Illa, the regional president of Catalonia, said. 'These are extremely dangerous. From the very first moment, it was considered to be beyond the capacity of extinction. I mean that not even with two or three times the number of firefighters, they have told me, it would have been possible to put out." ADVERTISEMENT Firefighters credited a rainstorm later on Tuesday for having "quickly changed the situation and helped speed up getting the fire stabilised". Workers operate under the hot sun at a road construction site, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (Source: Associated Press) Two of the 500 firefighters who deployed needed treatment at a local hospital for their injuries. Some 14,000 residents were ordered to stay indoors for several hours on Tuesday night. More hot weather is expected on Thursday with temperatures in the Lleida region forecast to reach a high of 39C. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts said that it was closely monitoring the abnormally hot temperatures. Weather experts link the heat wave to climate change. Spain's seas heat up ADVERTISEMENT After Spain set a record for June air temperatures, its port authorities recorded the hottest ever water temperature readings for the month in the Mediterranean and the part of the Atlantic nearest to France. Experts say higher surface temperatures are bad for sea life and make for warmer nights on shore. "A much warmer sea around us contributes to the nights not cooling down, which is detrimental to people's rest," Manuel Vargas, researcher at the Oceanographic Centre of Malaga, told The Associated Press. In Spain's southern city of Malaga, the Red Cross set up an air-conditioned "climate refuge" to help residents and provided and "assisted bathing service" to help people with reduced mobility to cool down in waters at the beach. Türkiye battles blaze In Türkiye, authorities evacuated two neighbourhoods in the Aegean coastal town of Cesme after a fire that started on an agricultural field, spread to a forested area, threatening some holiday homes in the region. Turkey has been battling a series of wildfires stoked by strong winds, heat and low humidity. ADVERTISEMENT Italian government seeks to protect farm, construction workers Italy's labour ministry and union representatives signed a protocol Wednesday on protecting farm, construction and other workers who labour outdoors from heat exposure. The non-binding document contains best practices, including changing work shifts to avoid peak heat times of the day, and calls for access to unemployment benefits even for seasonal farm labour when working hours are reduced due to extreme heat. Italian media, meanwhile, reported two heat-related deaths on Sardinian beaches. Earlier in the week, a construction worker died while repaving a parking lot near Bologna. Heat alerts were issued for 17 Italian cities Wednesday. The corresponding surge in air conditioning has strained the electric grid and causing periodic blackouts, including in Florence. France remains under alert France's national weather agency kept four departments under red alert on Wednesday after temperatures exceeded 40C in many towns. The summit of Paris' iconic Eiffel Tower remained closed until Friday for "everyone's comfort and safety". ADVERTISEMENT Germany's homeless hit hardest In Berlin, the homeless feeling the brunt of the 36C sought respite at a city mission. "If you maybe lie down somewhere to rest and go to sleep in the sun, that can lead to death from heat exposure,"said Barbara Breuer of the Berlin City Mission. She estimated the German capital has between 8000-10,000 people without shelter. Switzerland protects river In Switzerland, one of the two reactors at the Beznau nuclear power plant was shut down as part of efforts to prevent excessive warming of the Aare River, so as not to further burden wildlife and the overall ecosystem in already hot weather, operator Axpo said. Water fight in the Netherlands Young people walk through the water installation "Hexagonal Water Pavilion" by Danish artist Jeppe Hein in front of the Neues Museum in Nuremberg, Germany. (Source: Associated Press) ADVERTISEMENT Hundreds of people in the central town of Soest cooled down on a baking-hot Tuesday night by taking on the local fire brigade in a water fight. Townsfolk were armed with water guns; the first responders with fire hoses. EU plan to cut emissions As much of Europe was scorched by torrid weather, the European Commission unveiled proposals to reduce emissions by 90% by 2040 as the 27-nation bloc aims to be fully carbon-neutral by 2050. "We are finally here on a very hot day, and some would call that very timely," Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told reporters in Brussels. The proposals include allowing businesses to use international carbon credits to offset their emissions. Under the plan, international carbon credits could be used — starting in 2036 and limited to 3% of benchmark 1990 EU emissions — to reach the 2040 emission reduction target. The proposals have to be approved by all member states. ADVERTISEMENT More than two-thirds of the severest heat waves in Europe registered since 1950 have occurred since 2000, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.
