The judicial battle between Catalonia and Aragon for the site of the sacred works of Sijena, since December again in Huesca, is one of the most mediatic cases that have recently taken place regarding the legitimate ownership of cultural property in Spain. There are, however, other open disputes that continue to generate controversy for decades .

Last November, for example, an investigation of more than twenty years was published about the doubtful obtaining by Francisco Franco del Pazo de Meirás and of other properties and heritage in Galicia. Meanwhile, in Barcelona, ​​the City Council has spent more than 25 years in litigation for the artistic legacy of businessman Julio Muñoz Ramonet, a valuable collection that left the city as an inheritance and that his descendants refuse to deliver in full.

Disputes between communities, expolios of the dictatorship and a long and hereditary process folletinesco . Three examples in Spanish territory of works of art and assets of disputed property. Obviously, they are not the only ones, nor the oldest ones. History is full of monuments, paintings and other cultural objects that have changed hands over thousands of years and are still being claimed today.

After the Second World War, several international conventions demanded the restitution of thousands of works looted during the war and the Nazi regime. But there are still many unresolved cases of that time, not to mention the pieces of classical or indigenous art that today fill the great museums around the world. Over the last few decades, some of them have returned to their place of origin, while others may never do so, either because of their fragility or because of the national demand in their current locations.

War booties, illegal excavations, robberies, coerced sales … Each case is a world, and in it we must take into account the intentions of a great variety of actors, both stales and individuals. We make below a list of 14 of the best known works of property disputed in the world.

Surely the most disputed work of all: the friezes of the Parthenon of Phidias. Part of them form one of the most prized collections, and also controversial, of the British Museum . Thomas Bruce, seventh Earl of Elgin, moved them to London at the beginning of the 19th century with the supposed intention of safeguarding them. There are many voices, however, that claim that the count sacked the Parthenon and took the pieces illegally. One of the first, Lord Byron, called the English “profane” and robbed the gods. The Hellenic government has been claiming its return since it became independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1830. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

“Beauty has come,” says her name. And in Germany it seems to stay. The polychrome bust of Akhenaton’s royal wife is the protagonist of the Neues Museum in Berlin. It was discovered by Ludwig Borchardt in 1912, who claimed to have reached an agreement with the Egyptian government to share the rights to his discoveries. From Egypt, however, it is claimed that the archaeologist lied about the value of the sculpture to bring it to Europe . There have already been several attempts to restore it, such as the former Egyptian Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass, who also unsuccessfully claimed other pieces of value such as the Rosetta stone. Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Philip Pikart / CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Basic Emancipation Income (RBE) continues to be something to talk about. Five years after it was repealed, it continues tormenting those young people who at some point modified their economic income upwards during their perception. On this occasion, the Ministry of Public Works has sent a certified letter to thousands of former beneficiaries, informing them of a requirement to return the amounts received outside the parameters established by the State.

Last year were the autonomous communities who addressed the same senders informing them that, at some point in the perception of the Basic Income of Emancipation, their annual gross income changed, which should have meant the interruption of the economic aid that Fomento offered to face the rent. After the letter, the injured mobilized and took the case to law firms, such as the Col·lectiu Ronda in Barcelona, ​​who processed allegations in this regard that allowed the Catalan Agency of the Habitatge to recognize that, in many cases, the right to claim was null by the public institutions having prescribed the right of the Administration to demand the amount, since more than four years passed since the last subsidy was received and the overture of the claim file was made known.

L’Agència Catalana de l’Habitatge, in Catalonia, considered the appeal filed by several affected and declared null the resolutions

In this sense, the director of l’Agència Catalana de l’Habitatge, in Catalonia, considered the appeal filed by several affected and declared void the resolutions that, only a year ago, had notified the interested parties. As stated in the letters he sent, the allegation would be accepted because it did not comply with the law, as the statute of limitations for the reinstatement action was assessed.

For Mariona Torra, lawyer specialized in Administrative Law of the Col·lectiu Ronda de Barcelona, ​​”would recommend to all those who receive the notification from the Ministry of Public Works to present allegations within 15 working days of receiving the letter, arguing that the Administration can not recognize or settle any refund having exceeded the term of four years since the last monthly grant of aid. In fact, this assumption is included in article 39 of Law 38/2003, of November 17, General of Grants that would regulate the Basic Income of Emancipation.

I would recommend to all those who receive the notification from the Ministry of Public Works to present allegations within 15 working days of receiving the letter

Mariona Torra Lawyer specializing in Administrative Law

For the lawyer, “the Administration can not act against its own acts”, so it must recognize all the allegations in the same way, without making distinctions, if all of them conform to the alleged parameters of the prescription. “It is a general principle of law that should be fulfilled,” adds the administrator.

The Basic Income of Emancipation has always been under the focus of controversy. Over the last two years, thousands of young people throughout Spain have received notifications warning them of the possibility of reimbursing part of the aid they received, because at some point they received more gross annual revenues than expected.

It was not until the crossing of data, which the Ministry of Development made with the Tax Agency, that the “incidence” was not detected

A former beneficiary of the RBE, Marta García, explained last year to this same newspaper that the company she worked for decided to renew her contract with a minimum salary increase, “which damaged my interests”, she said indignantly at La Vanguardia. In this way, their fiscal conditions increased and the aid had to be canceled, but, as in most cases, the subsidy continued to be entered into the current account of the beneficiaries. It was not until the crossing of data, which the Ministry of Public Works made with the Tax Agency, that the “incidence” was not detected.

La Vanguardia has contacted the communication office of l’Agència Catalana de l’Habitatge without obtaining, on this occasion, a response on the ministerial decision. Last March, the Catalan agency assessed aid as “disaster” and was “poorly managed from the beginning, since the calculations were made based on current revenues and not through the accounts of the previous year, which are always more accurate and reliable, “they explained. However, the Catalan agency, aware of the damage that could result from the application of these claims, requested in July 2013 the Government of the State, through a resolution of the Parliament (301 / X), to reconsider the decision of the Ministry of Promotion so as not to force those affected to return the money received “in cases that, during the same year, the economic situation of the beneficiary had improved due to having found a new job or having other help”. As they said then,

there was no response from the Government to the letter from the Catalan chamber.

The Basic Emancipation Income went into effect on January 1, 2008, motivated by the Ministry of Housing of the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, in order to satisfy the need of thousands of young people to become emancipated and thus contribute to overcome the difficulties economic to access a rental housing. The subsidy consisted of a monthly contribution of 210 euros for applicants who were between 22 and 30 years old, with a lease contract in their name and reported annual gross income of less than 22,000 euros, among other requirements. The aid was paid from the month following the request to a maximum of four years or until the beneficiary reached the age of 30.

At the beginning of 2012 the economic aid was repealed although it maintained access to it to those who had a recognized right or who had applied for it before December 31, 2011.

The current favorable macroeconomic and financial conditions give Portugal the opportunity to address its “persistent” imbalances, such as the high debt of the public and private sector and the rigidities of its economy, which influence potential growth in the medium term and leave the country vulnerable to a crisis.

The current favorable macroeconomic and financial conditions give Portugal the opportunity to address its “persistent” imbalances, such as the high debt of the public and private sector and the rigidities of its economy, which influence potential growth in the medium term and leave the country vulnerable to a crisis.

This is stated jointly by the European Commission (EC) and the European Central Bank (ECB) after the seventh post-surveillance visit to the financial rescue program, which also involved the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the Fund. International Monetary Fund (IMF).

As the institutions conclude, greater fiscal consolidation will be “important” to ensure a steady decline in the public debt figure, which is still at very high levels. “The current favorable cyclical conditions, together with the reduction of interest payments, should be used to boost the structural fiscal adjustment in order to guarantee a sustainable budgetary position in the medium term,” they explain in a press release.

They also warn that the currently planned structural adjustment runs the risk of deviating significantly from the requirements of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). This idea, as they assert, reinforces the argument to contain the growth of spending and take advantage of the benefits of lower interest spending to accelerate the reduction of public debt.

In this regard, Brussels ‘welcome’ the progress in expanding the spending review, even advise the consideration of more ambitious savings targets. Similarly, regarding the specific recommendations by country on the control of expenditures for state enterprises, the health sector and the pension system maintain that “they are still valid”.

As for the private sector, the EC and the ECB see it as crucial to address the obstacles to investment and further improve the business environment to strengthen potential growth. “The efforts of the authorities to improve the relatively low level of skills of the Portuguese workforce and to support innovation are well received,” says the document.

Likewise, they indicate that the gap between fixed and temporary contracts should be addressed, mainly by making the former more flexible instead of introducing restrictions in the latter.

BANKING SECTOR

The Portuguese financial system continues to recover, but the key vulnerabilities remain. “The short-term risks emanating from Portugal’s banking sector have fallen sharply compared to last year, as the main banks have managed to attract new capital,” he says.

However, entities continue to face significant challenges, including high delinquent loans, low profitability and weak capital reserves. In this sense, he asserts that the transition towards the new accounting and regulatory standards, mainly IFRS 9 and MREL, can exert even more pressure.

“Banks should improve profitability by, for example, further reducing their cost base: the platform for coordinating the management of unproductive loans, which banks are developing with the support of the authorities and the strengthened framework for restructuring of corporate debt are important initiatives in this regard “, underline the ECB and the EC.

Policy makers from the EC, the ECB, the ESM and the IMF were in Lisbon from November 28 to December 6 as part of the seventh post-rescue visit, which aims to assess the country’s ability to repay loans granted under the financial assistance program and, if necessary, recommend corrective measures.

MAIN RISKS

For its part, the IMF, which has also published its main conclusions independently, maintains that there are risks that could affect Portugal’s growth prospects, such as an increase in risk in global markets, a prolonged uncertainty in Spain and a insufficient progress in the reforms.

In the medium term, the most relevant risks to which the country could have to face are an increase in volatility in the European bond markets as the monetary accommodation gradually decreases in the euro zone and structural growth weak among the main trading partners.

Caracas, Jun 7 (EFE) .- The Venezuelan Government and the NGO Foro Penal (FP) continued today with their disagreements over how many of the 80 released in recent days related to “political violence” are “political prisoners” as described by the opposition.

While the ruling party said that all of the released, many with restrictions, were detained for participating in some way in the violent demonstrations that shook Venezuela between 2014 and 2017 the FP reduced the number to 52 people.

“So far 80 people have been benefited from these measures,” said the president of the ruling National Constituent Assembly (ANC), Delcy Rodríguez, on those released in recent days.

Releases requested days ago to the plenipotentiary ANC by the re-elected President Nicolás Maduro in “the sake of peace and dialogue” within the plan of rapprochement with the opposition announced by the Chief Executive.

Rodriguez made these statements today after meeting with the Committee of Victims of the Guarimba (violent protest) that shook the country in 2017 and that resulted in more than 150 deaths, according to independent estimates, and explained that of the 80 released, 95% did not He had been convicted and remained in “procedural status”.

He did not specify how many have enjoyed full liberty since last week and which ones have their release subject to a regime of presentation every 30 days, prohibition of leaving the country or making public statements.

The former foreign minister reiterated that the measures approved by the Supreme Court of Justice seek to avoid new “episodes of violence for the destabilization against the institutional order (and) against the peace of the Republic.”

He also recalled that the members of the security forces arrested in the face of the presumption of violating the human rights of the protesters during the protests “are excluded from the measures”.

Nor will these procedural benefits be those judged for homicide “or serious aggressions against the physical integrity of a Venezuelan or a Venezuelan,” he added.

The figures provided by the ANC were once again contested by the PF, an organization that is responsible for the defense of many of them and to those who consider, together with the opposition, “political prisoners”.

“With 5 new releases last night, after the Casa Amarilla events of June 1 and 2 we verified that 52 # Prisoners Political have been released so far,” said the executive director of this organization, Alfredo Romero in his Twitter account, who assured that “302 # Political Prisoners” are maintained.

Romero specified, in another message, that the released were “5 executives of Credicard, who had a release card from April 6, 2018”, an information still to be confirmed by the authorities.

The Executive has accused the Credicard Consortium, which operates the payment system with debit and credit cards of 22 banking entities in the country, of alleged complicity “in crimes against the Homeland through the inoperativeness of the platform”.

In a press conference a little earlier, Romero demanded the Executive the list of releases to check and verify names, surnames, time detained, causes that are followed and complaints and assured that since the FP “we are fully prepared to meet with the national government to deliver this list. “

He reported that in recent weeks there have been new incarcerations, a situation that he described as a “revolving door effect”, while people were released and he recalled that among the military personnel “only in May” were 26 detainees.

Among those released last week are a former mayor, an exconcejal, student leaders, minors, women and deputies Gilber Caro and Renzo Prieto, who joined the debates on Tuesday in the Parliament, with an opposition majority.

Human rights organizations continue to demand Maduro to release all “political prisoners” through full liberties and not with restrictive measures as has occurred so far with most of the beneficiaries of these measures.