Brussels denies Madrid more time to tackle air pollution

The European Commission has rejected Spain's request for Madrid to be granted another five years to comply with its maximum pollution limits.

EU legislation permits a maximum annual average of 40 micrograms of nitrogen dioxide per cubic meter. Madrid has failed to comply with the limit since 2010, when it was first introduced, and now faces sanctions.

"The Commission thinks that it is appropriate to make objections regarding the extension of the deadline for compliance with the annual and time value limit of nitrogen dioxide since the Spanish authorities have not shown the possibility of complying by 2014," reads the text of the decision, dated May 16, to which EL PAÍS has had access.

According to the time limit, maximum levels of nitrogen dioxide can only be exceeded 18 times a year. Madrid surpassed that at six monitoring stations in 2010 — one on 76 separate occasions.

And the winner is… Alcorcón!

And the winner is… Alcorcón! The Madrid dormitory town on Friday was officially named as the site for US billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s controversial 750-hectare Eurovegas mega-casino complex.

Sheldon’s Las Vegas Sands chose Madrid over Barcelona for the project in September, but the actual area where it was to be built had not been decided on. Alcorcón, to the south of the capital, was preferred over the other suburban locations of Valdecarros, Torrejón de Ardoz and Paracuellos del Jarama.

Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands group will begin work on the first of three phases of the project this year, with the second to begin 18 months after the completion of the first. The whole project is due to be finished in 2017 at an investment of 6.75 billion euros, of which the US firm will put up between 35 and 45 percent. The rest will be funded by banks, of which at least one is expected to be Spanish.

The announcement was made at a news conference by Madrid regional premier Ignacio González with directors of Las Vegas Sands. González said a tender to acquire the land for the project would be opened in the spring. The land earmarked for the project currently does not have the necessary zoning category, but the Madrid administration is sure it can overcome that problem, the premier added.

The first phase alone will create 40,000 direct jobs and 80,000, while the whole project could generate about a quarter of a million direct and indirect jobs, according to the regional government.

Las Vegas Sands’ chief operating officer and president, Michael Leven, said the first phase would involve the construction of four resorts, each with 3,000 rooms, as well as commercial, convention and leisure centers. He said the company hires 10,000 people directly at its Singapore complex. The vast majority of employees at the Eurovegas complex will be Spanish, he added.

Leven said that Adelson, who did not attend the news conference, had been dreaming of making this project in Madrid a reality for the past 12 years.

“This is a special and very important day for Madrid and Spain,” González told reporters. “This is an exciting and extraordinary project, the objective of which is to make Madrid the chief center for conventions in southern Europe.”

The Madrid assembly passed a special law in October of last year in order to meet a series of demands from Adelson, particularly in terms of tax treatment. The tax rate on winnings from gaming was reduced from 40 percent to 10 percent for the project, while there will be no limit on the height of the towers to be built on the site.

“From the tax point of view almost everything has been resolved apart from a few changes on the part of the central government,” González said. The premier said minors would continue to be barred from gambling, the proceeds from which he calculated would represent only 17 percent of the estimated revenues generated by the project.

Adelson has also asked for Spain’s blanket ban on smoking in public places to be lifted on the casino site. “The smoking issue is also the responsibility of the central government,” González said. “It will be working on the issue, which will be resolved in the next few months,” he said.

Madrid deputy mayor dismissed in wake of Arena tragedy

The Popular Party mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella, reshuffled her city cabinet on Wednesday in line with her interpretation of the Madrid Arena tragedy, throwing out her all-powerful number two, Miguel Ángel Villanueva.

The decision relegates Villanueva — who had been singled out for his alleged links to the promoter of the Halloween night party at the venue, where five young women died in a human crush — to the lowly position of councilor.

To salvage some honor, Villanueva had the removal rebranded as a voluntary move. “I hope my resignation contributes to providing some much-needed serenity in a moment such as this,” he explained in a news conference.

At the same time, Botella demoted security chief Fátima Núñez by just a single notch — she will now head up the Carabanchel district — while Núñez’s boss, environment department head Antonio de Guindos, effectively escaped unscathed.

Núñez had been responsible for the municipal police and Samur emergency medical service, one of the most-criticized aspects of the city government’s response to the tragedy.

Meanwhile, De Guindos has received calls for his resignation for his role in the tragedy from both Socialist opposition leader Jaime Lissavetzky and the families of the victims. The families have even gone so far as to demand an official investigation into him. The public prosecutor has not ruled this out, but says it is still “premature.”

De Guindos, who is brother of Economy Minister Luis de Guindos, was, however, stripped of his responsibility for security, which Botella had placed under the aegis of the environment department to save costs after she became mayor at the end of 2011.

Lissavetzky and Union, Progress and Democracy councilor David Ortega demanded Botella “clarify and explain” her motives for Villanueva’s “dismissal or resignation,” and called on her to resign.

Over 100 Madrid health chiefs threaten to resign in privatization protest

The directors of over 100 healthcare centers in Madrid are offering their resignations in a bid to pressure the regional government into giving up plans to privatize part of its health system.

At a meeting of representatives from the region's 270 health centers (above) - called to decide whether they should quit en masse as a protest measure - the management teams of 118 clinics on Thursday made their position clear by showing up with their resignation letters already signed.

The assembly at the Madrid Medical School decided that the letters should all be presented together on December 27, the day the regional parliament will vote on the bill which, together with the 2013 regional budget - approved by deputies on Thursday - establishes the privatization plans.

The Popular Party-run Madrid administration is proposing to turn the management of six hospitals and 27 health centers over to private companies.