The Sunday Telegraph on the grim fiscal situation of Spain's municipalities

We can only agree with Harriet Alexander's account of the straits that Spanish town councils find themselves in after years of carefree spending ("The hilltop Spanish town overshadowed by a debt mountain", August 21, 2011). Our only reservation is that Catalan municipalities seem to be singled out, giving the impression that Catalonia is particularly at fault on this count. At least in Catalonia some of the mistakes of the past have been openly acknowledged and more responsible policies are already under way. As to the rest of the country, we shall have to wait until after the November parliamentary elections to find out about the real extent of the disaster.