Spain's new ruling party dogged by corruption

The corruption trial against Francisco Camps, ex-premier of the Spanish region of Valencia, and his party colleague Ricardo Costa begins in Valencia today, Monday. The investigation into the allegations of corruption won't do their party, the ruling People's Party (PP) any good at all, writes the left-liberal daily El País: "Even if this hearing is only about whether Camps and Costa accepted suits, watches and similar objects, the Gürtel case will have ramifications for other offences that have yet to be tried, such as the embezzlement of large sums of money destined to finance a papal visit to Valencia or for illegal funding of the [conservative] People's Party. ... The PP may be facing its first major crisis since its landslide victory in the general elections of November. Because the gifts that Camps and other PP politicians allegedly received are the subject only of this first trial."

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