Heatwave subsides but heat lingers in five regions, Spain proposes creating a tax on the world’s super-rich and more news on Thursday July 3rd.
Barcelona seeks to protect workers from heat after death
Barcelona adopted plans Wednesday to tighten safety rules to protect sanitation workers from heatwaves after a woman died in the searing temperatures that have hit Spain and much of Europe.
The woman, who was employed by a company providing cleaning services to the Mediterranean coastal city, died Saturday after working her shift in mid-heatwave.
The city’s four sanitation providers will now be required to activate heat protection protocols when temperatures reach the “yellow alert” level, 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 degrees Fahrenheit), instead of the previous requirement, which kicked in at “orange alert”, or 37C.
“Every year, we’re seeing a new face of climate change and the effects of increasing temperatures on our city. That means we need to update our protocols every year,” said first deputy mayor Laia Bonet after meeting with sanitation companies.
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Spain’s heatwave subsides but heat lingers in five regions
High temperatures will continue this Thursday in Spain even though the heatwave is now technically over. Five regions are on orange alert: Andalusia, Castile and León, Castile-La Mancha, Extremadura, and the Community of Madrid.
Spain’s central and southern interior will experience the highest temperatures, with 38C in Madrid, 42C in Seville and 40C in Extremadura.
The heat also puts Aragon, the Balearic Islands, Catalonia, and Galicia on yellow alert. In Asturias, Cantabria and La Rioja, the alert is yellow for rain.
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Spain proposes creating a tax on the world’s super-rich
Spain and Brazil have jointly presented an initiative to promote a tax on the super-rich at the UN Conference being held in Seville , the Ministry of Finance announced in a statement on Tuesday.
The goal is to redistribute wealth to reduce inequality. Spain’s Ministry of Finance noted in a statement that currently 1 percent of the population accumulates 95 percent of the wealth .
The proposal – spearheaded by First Vice President and Minister of Finance María Jesús Montero, Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo, and Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad – proposes redistributing wealth “through a progressive and fair tax system where those who have more pay more.”
They also pointed out that these high-net-worth individuals often enjoy lower tax rates than the average worker or citizen.
Spain to turn properties controlled by Spain’s ‘bad bank’ into affordable rentals
Spain’s Cabinet has approved the transfer of more than 40,000 properties of 2,400 plots of land from the country’s Asset Management Company from Bank Restructuring (Sareb) – known as the ‘bad bank’ – to the country’s Public Land Business Entity Sepes, the new state-owned housing company.
This could reportedly increase the public housing stock of affordable rentals by 55,000 properties.
“It’s an agreement that repairs the consequences of the previous crisis, whereby these homes were seized through evictions to pay for the financial bailout,” said Spain’s Minister of Housing Isabel Rodríguez, properties that in her opinion the State “should never have lost.”
READ ALSO: Sareb – What is Spain’s ‘bad bank’ and what does it do?
With additional reporting by AFP.
