Spain: Princess Cristina in court for historic fraud trial

January 11, 2016

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (AP) — Princess Cristina and her husband arrived at court Monday for the start of an historic trial that marks the first time a member of Spain's royal family has faced criminal charges since the monarchy was restored in 1975.

The 50-year-old Cristina is accused of two counts of tax fraud carrying a maximum prison sentence of eight years for allegedly failing to declare taxes on personal expenses paid by a real estate company she owned with her husband.

She will sit in the dock with 17 others including her husband, Olympic handball medalist turned businessman Inaki Urdangarin. He faces more serious charges of using his Duke of Palma title to embezzle about 6 million euros ($6.5 million) in public contracts through the nonprofit Noos Institute he ran with an associate.

The princess said nothing to dozens of reporters after arriving at a makeshift courtroom in Palma de Mallorca where the trial is being held. Security was tight around the building after thousands of anti-monarchy protesters in 2014 staged noisy demonstrations while Cristina answered questions about the case posed by a investigative judge.

Authorities Monday morning detained one protester with an anti-monarchy flag a short time before Cristina showed up at the court inside a sedan with dark tinted windows. There are so many defendants and lawyers plus reporters covering the case that judicial officials were forced to move the trial from a courthouse to a sprawling building complex on the outskirts of Palma de Mallorca normally used to hold mass training courses for public servants.

The case is being heard in the regional capital of Spain's Balearic Islands because many of Urdangarin's business deals were for the islands. The princess and her husband are not expected to utter a word during the first few days of the trial as judges read out the 89 alleged crimes committed by the suspects, and lawyers including Cristina's make arguments aimed at having their clients removed from the case.

She denied knowledge of her husband's activities during the 2014 closed door court appearance and a prosecutor recommended she should be fined. But a judge decided Cristina could be charged with tax fraud in 2007 and 2008 because Spanish law allows groups to file charges when state prosecutors don't.

Her case was driven forward by the anti-corruption group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands).

Clendenning reported from Madrid.

Portugal eyes political balance in presidential election

January 10, 2016

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — With an alliance of Socialists, communists and radicals holding power, Portuguese voters appear set to seek some balance by electing a center-right politician as their head of state.

A two-week official campaign period for the presidential election started Sunday, and the favorite is Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a former Social Democratic Party leader and law professor who until recently had a popular TV show.

Opinion polls suggest he could get more than 50 percent of votes in the Jan. 24 ballot against nine rivals, of which former Socialist minister Maria de Belem Roseira and the independent Antonio de Sampaio da Novoa are closest.

The most recent survey says that Rebelo de Sousa has 52.5 percent support, 34.4 percentage points ahead of second-place De Belem Roseira. The poll was conducted on Dec. 16-21, with 1,515 people interviewed by phone, and it had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. The survey was published Dec. 23 by Expresso newspaper and conducted by pollster Eurosondagem.

If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the first- and second-place candidates compete in a two-way runoff vote on Feb. 14. In Portugal, the president has no executive power, which is held by the government, but is an influential voice. If the head of state fears the country is going down the wrong path, he or she can fire the government and call a new election.

The election comes amid tension over whether to stick with austerity measures as Portugal battles to emerge from a financial crisis that tormented the 19 countries using the euro currency and forced Portugal to ask for a 78 billion-euro ($85 billion) bailout in 2011.

The center-left Socialist government which took power in November, supported by the Communist Party and Left Bloc, is reversing some of the money-saving cuts introduced by the previous center-right government despite warnings from European leaders that Portugal must reduce its huge debt burden.

With government debt still the third-highest in the 28-nation European Union at 130 percent of annual gross domestic product, some fear a return to reckless spending that could re-ignite market jitters over the eurozone.

Portugal's 9.7 million registered voters will choose a successor to Anibal Cavaco Silva, who has served the maximum of two consecutive five-year terms.

Harold Heckle in Madrid contributed to this report.

Pro-secession politician named new Catalan regional leader

January 12, 2016

MADRID (AP) — Pro-independence politician Carles Puigdemont has been confirmed as the new regional president of Spain's powerful northeastern region of Catalonia, keeping alive the local parliament's disputed drive to secede from Spain.

Puigdemont's appointment, signed by King Felipe VI and acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, was published Tuesday in the Official State Gazette. Puigdemont was voted in by pro-independence deputies in the Catalan parliament on Sunday after then-acting president Artur Mas failed to round up enough support.

A low-profile member of the ruling conservative Convergence party, Puigdemont pledges to continue Mas' initiative to lead the region to independence by 2017. His appointment comes as Spanish political parties opposed to independence struggle to make deals to form a new national government following an inconclusive Dec. 20 general election.

Catalan parliament votes in new leader amid secession drive

January 10, 2016

MADRID (AP) — Catalonia's parliament voted in a new leader for the powerful northeastern region late Sunday after hearing he would forge ahead with a drive to secede from Spain.

During a pre-vote debate, Carles Puigdemont said he would continue with his predecessor Artur Mas' initiative to push the region bordering France toward independence by 2017. Puigdemont was voted in as Catalonia's 130th president in a 70-63 vote, with two abstentions in the 135-seat chamber.

Puigdemont was selected Saturday to replace Mas as the "Together for Yes" alliance's candidate for leader, a decision that earned him the backing of the radical, anti-capitalist CUP party whose 10 seats were needed for a majority in the chamber.

The CUP refused to back Mas in his bid to retain the presidency. The Spanish government considers the secessionist initiative to be unconstitutional and has used the judiciary to challenge it. Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, whose Popular Party won the most votes in a Dec. 20 ballot but has so far failed to get a majority in parliament, said late Sunday that Spain wouldn't allow Catalan leaders to "grant themselves unlimited powers."

With the debate in the Catalan parliament still ongoing, Rajoy spoke on nationwide televison to say he had contacted most of Spain's main political parties and agreed with their leaders that secessionism wouldn't be tolerated.

"We have known how to set aside our differences to defend the unity of the nation," Rajoy said. Rajoy said Spain's courts had already ruled against Catalonia's pro-independence move, declaring it unlawful.

"I want to make it clear that the Spaniards can be calm," Rajoy said.

Spain: Parties in Catalonia agree on new leader

January 09, 2016

MADRID (AP) — Catalonia's pro-independence parties agreed Saturday to appoint a new leader to enable the creation of a regional coalition government and reinvigorate a push for independence from Spain by 2017.

Carles Puigdemont was selected to replace Artur Mas as the "Together for Yes" alliance's candidate for regional government leader. Mas announced the decision at a press conference late Saturday, ending months of negotiations.

The Spanish government, that considers the secessionist initiative to be unconstitutional and has used the judiciary to challenge it, appealed to Catalonia's leader to end the strategy of dividing and fracturing Catalan society.

"Dedicate your efforts to seeking solutions to your citizens' problems rather than to generating new tensions," it said in a statement. Polls show that most Catalans support a referendum on independence, but are roughly evenly divided over breaking from Spain.

Mas' ruling conservative Convergence party had joined forces with the Republican Left of Catalonia as "Together for Yes" to win 62 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament last September. However, Mas needed 10 seats held by the radical, anti-capitalist CUP party to form a majority, and its leaders insisted he was not acceptable to them as the region's leader.

The CUP had repeatedly rejected Mas' candidacy because of his past government's austerity policies and his party's links to corruption scandals, but said it would support another alliance candidate. Mas said he had agreed to "step aside" to allow the election of Puigdemont, a move he said "guarantees the parliamentary stability of Catalonia."

He added it was "beneficial and appropriate" in order to secure the secessionist "project." Puigdemont is the mayor of the city of Girona and a member of Mas' Convergence party. His appointment means new regional elections can be averted.

"New elections would have been the worst option for Catalonia," said Mas. He added he would not be retiring from politics, but was considering an ambassador-like role, taking the message that an independent Catalonia is a good idea overseas.

FM: Poland's democracy doing better than it seems outside

January 11, 2016

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The shape of Poland's democracy under the new right-wing government is better than some foreign commentators suggest, the foreign minister said Monday, inviting German politicians to visit and check.

The government that took power in November swiftly moved to change some legislation as it wants to introduce sweeping state and social reforms. Witold Waszczykowski spoke after meeting with German ambassador to Poland, Rolf Nikel, whom he had summoned to protest "anti-Polish" statements by some German politicians.

Nikel said that Polish-German relations are a "treasure that should be protected." Later Monday, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said that "Germans and Poles are neighbors, partners, friends, and we've never been so close in our history. This is precisely what we want to preserve, continue and where possible deepen."

Waszczykowski said there was a "problem in communicating with some German politicians" and invited his German counterpart, Frank Walter Steinmeier, and other politicians to visit and see that the "shape of Poland's democracy is not as bad as may seem from far away."

On Sunday, European Parliament President Martin Schulz likened Poland's current politics to those of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A member of Germany's conservative Christian Democrats Party, Volker Kauder, recently spoke in favor of sanctions against Poland if the country continues, in his view, to ignore the principles of the rule of law.

The comments were in reaction to new legislation that Poland's ruling Law and Justice party adopted on a constitutional court and on state media. The European Commission is to debate Poland's rule of law on Wednesday. The step could eventually result in the country losing its EU voting rights on matters that concern the entire 28-nation bloc. Poland joined the EU in 2004.

Seibert said it was "right and the usual European route" for the European Commission to ask questions of the new Polish government. The European Parliament is to debate Poland's politics on Jan.19.

Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this story

Poles hold another protest against right-wing government

January 09, 2016

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Thousands of opponents of Poland's new right-wing government held protests in Warsaw and other cities on Saturday against policies which they say threaten democracy and media freedom.

The street protests were organized by a new group calling itself the Committee for the Protection of Democracy that rallied tens of thousands of Poles last month against the ruling Law and Justice party. This time, thousands of people waving national white-and-red flags and European Union flags joined in the capital, as well as in the cities of Wroclaw, Krakow, Katowice, Lodz and elsewhere. They chanted "Free Poland, Free Media" and "Stop Spoiling Democracy." Some had lips sealed with tape, to suggest freedom of speech was threatened.

The protesters say that changes that the government made to bring a constitutional court and state broadcasters under the control of the ruling Law and Justice party threaten media freedom and democracy.

The new media law took effect Friday, cutting short the terms of the state radio and television heads and transferring the authority to appoint successors to the treasury minister, from a separate media commission that reports to the parliament. The minister immediately appointed right-wing politician and journalist Jacek Kurski to head state television.

Last month, the parliament changed legislation concerning the appointment of judges to the Constitutional Tribunal, a top court. The moves have also alarmed some European Union leaders and the European Commission will debate Poland's rule of law on Wednesday.

The government, which took power in November, argues it needs to reform some state bodies because they represent only the interests of the previous liberal ruling team.