Mark Nolan's Podcast Mark Nolan

Could This Week be Decisive of Divisive for Europe? This is The Week Ahead.  

As we build up the last leg of the run up to the European Elections, there will be a lot of focus on the candidates this week. There are also elections this week in Belgium, Switzerland, Cyprus, and Hungary.

I suppose, on the subject of elections, we cannon not mention the televised debate in the UK this week, although it will no doubt just end up like two pigeons showing their chests rather than actually proposing solutions.

We have arrived at the last week of May, before we embark on June at the weekend, a month that sees schools in Spain close for the summer, and one of the biggest celebrations across the Valencia region, which also means another Monday off for many, San Juan.

We will talk more about that next week, for now we will return to The Week Ahead. It is largely a quiet week for business, as it’s the end of the month, with little in the way of results or references, but there’s still a bit to keep us occupied.

Did somebody mention an election? Okay, we know that the UK will be dominated by campaigning for a while now, we will try not to mention it too much here, other than perhaps mentioning the deadlines, and of course we have the European elections before that, for those eligible to vote.

However, this week also sees another important election, which might go unnoticed, taking place in South Africa.

There could be #delays to flights between the UK and Spain this week, with Tuesday and Wednesday expected to be particularly affected.

Military exercises including live missile firing over the Bay of Biscay, industrial action, and other activities all coming together to cause potential flight delays.

This is The Week Ahead from Monday 20 May 2024, looking at what will be making the news in Spain, the UK, Europe and beyond.

A couple of dates for your diary that might interest you, in the Valencia region, schools finish for summer on 21 June, which means about 5 weeks now until the summer holidays.

More locally, in Torrevieja, those affected by the closure of the “wibbly, wobbly” road between the CV-905 and Auditorium area should be excited by the fact there is now only 2 weeks left on the closure notice, although there´s no sign of the road being ready yet.

Another thing to look out for however is that the work to connect the CV-905 with the new Lagoons Village urbanisation has now been marked out on the CV-905, so that main arterial road will soon be the scene of roadworks for the creation of the next new roundabout.

This week also sees a special day for recognising the importance of bees, and from my hometown of Manchester, the anniversary of the Manchester Arena bombing.

The beginning of the week will stand out for the absence of relevant macroeconomic references, although the climate will be a focus, if anyone actually takes notice, but the week will explode with figures on Tuesday and Wednesday, before retreating for a quieter end to the week.

It´s a big week for the workers in Spain as the national holiday of Labour Day is celebrated in the middle of the week, Wednesday, making various variations to the working week of 2 in, 1 off, 2 in, and some people taking a long weekend either side, and others taking the whole week off. As a result, the traffic situation will also be complicated on the roads.

Airplane buffs have also got the San Javier Air Show to look forward to this weekend.

In the UK, the Conservatives are going to have a great week and Labour will not do very well, or at least that is what we will no doubt be told, despite the evidence before our eyes, as local elections take place.

Also in the UK, the Rwanda Bill will… Checks notes… Wait, what? It was passed? Well, that’s the end of that story then, in a week where Ryanair has suggested they would be prepared to fly the refugees to Rwanda, in their aircraft which are not physically capable of reaching the destination city… You can insert your own joke about Ryanair flying to airports some considerable distance from the cities they advertise.

There will not be an update next week, I will return for 13 May 2024.

Let us look at The Week Ahead in Spain, the UK, Europe and beyond…