Business over Tapas Nº 553

A digest of this week's Spanish financial, political and social news aimed primarily at Foreign Property Owners:

Prepared by Lenox Napier.  Consultant: José Antonio Sierra

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Editorial:

August has just about made its apologies and left, bringing us Welcome September – which is the best month of them all. The weather (should be) perfect, warm but not killer-hot. The sea will be just right and there’ll finally be some room on the beach.

The subject of la turismofobia will be dropped (at least until next year) and the children will all be back in school.

For journalists and hacks, there’s the renewed prospect of writing about Spanish politics – that effervescent mixture of insults, betrayals and some occasional improvements (or at least, changes) in our lives.

And then the autumn slowly creeps towards us, bringing a freshness to the air and the garden. We can go for walks once again in the campo or along the paseo marítimo. Maybe drop in somewhere for a beer, where the barman remembers our name and is once again pleased to see us.

September is a good moment to start new adventures, and maybe pause to see what the others are writing about:

So, here’s the intro over at that new costa magazine ‘Spain By Jingo’:

-  Welcome to our coolest month, September, where it’s blissfully hot and groovy.

We enjoyed the thrash during the summer, but now thankfully, they’ve all rushed home again, leaving us to enjoy the peace and pick up the pieces.

We hope you enjoyed our local fiesta last week. We had a go on the dodgem-cars, which reminded us a lot of the roundabout along the beach in front of the hotel.

Seriously though, here in Spain we drive on the right.

In this exciting edition, with some brand-new advertisers for you to meet, we have Beryl’s nail extensions on P.9 and also three and a half ways to cook a chicken with Gillie on the same page (Ok, Ok, the full-page advert from an offshore financial adviser that was going to go there fell through at the last moment – we think he got arrested. We pulled his article too, just in case…).

Peter Grubshall is back with the riveting story of his move to Spain with ‘From Gloucester to the Costa’.

With our fiendish quiz on P.14 (all about Your Favourite Country) and our guide to useful words in Spanish in the Back, we are sure you’ll have a fab month.

Andy and Lucía. 

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Housing: 

From El Periódico de España here: ‘The New York Times gives voice to those living in shacks in Ibiza: "We get water from the tap in a cemetery". The newspaper dedicates an extensive report to the housing problem in Ibiza, explaining that many essential workers live in inhumane conditions’. 

From Sur in English here: ‘National Police officer in Spain explains how squatters choose where they target so as not to fall foul of the law’. 

From El Periódico here: ‘The abandoned village of Bierzo in León “with its own microclimate” on sale for 420,000 euros. The specialized portal Aldeas Abandonadas sells the empty village with twelve houses, many of them ready to move in, even having electricity and water’. 

A fuss in Barcelona after an estate-agency advertises that it charges folk 10€ to view an apartment. Xataca has the story here. 

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Tourism: 

From El País in English here: ‘Mass tourism in Spain: What do the numbers reveal? The sector expects almost 95 million international tourists will visit the country in 2024, around 10% more than the previous year’. 

‘Huge anti-tourist protest in Spain declares island loved by Brits 'not for sale'. A number of protests have erupted in Spain over recent months from certain groups who believe the country is suffering from over-tourism’. Something here from The Express. Five hundred indignant Menorcans apparently. 

If you have a Spanish ID card (Documento Nacional de Identidad), then you can travel with it to 41 countries (the other 26 EU states, plus Albania, Andorra, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, San Marino, Vatican City, Serbia and Switzerland) says The Olive Press here. 

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Seniors: 

Infobae tells us how to get registered with the Imserso here. 

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Finance: 

From El Economista here: ‘Spain consolidates its position as Europe's driving force with GDP growth of 0.8% in June. Internationally, the OECD maintained a pace of expansion of 0.5% between April and June’. 

The Corner here says that ‘The Banco de España (BdE) published last week that the debt of the Public Administrations as a whole increased by 1.5% in June compared to May, an increase equivalent to €24,769 million, to a stunning €1,624,000 million, which is a new all-time record. According to the BdE, using nominal GDP for the last four quarters, the debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 108.2% by the end of June’. 

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Politics: 

From 20Minutos here: Pedro Sánchez is back from his vacation on the island of Lanzarote to face a return to activity with a multitude of open fronts. The migration crisis and the financing of Catalonia, but also the judicial investigation of his wife, Begoña Gómez, the situation in Venezuela after the disputed victory of Nicolás Maduro, the incessant tug-of-war with ERC and Junts (Puigdemont’s escape included) and the chaos with the railways this summer are the most relevant topics that will have to be addressed immediately…’ After a (no-doubt intense) meeting with ministers on Tuesday, Sánchez made a quick visit to Mauretania, Gambia and Senegal to discuss the immigration problem with those countries. 

The PP, Vox and Junts had hoped to call the President to face those subjects mentioned above, but were short by one vote. 

Aitor Esteban (PNV) to Miguel Tellado (PP) after being asked why his party won’t support the PP’s call to bring in Sánchez to explain his government’s stance on Venezuela: ‘You don't give a damn about Venezuela. You just use it to try to split the government. Maduro is a dictator but your request for Sánchez to appear does not contribute anything useful…’ 

As Sánchez returns (Thursday) from a tour of the three main African immigrant countries (less Morocco) with some solutions, or at least recommendations, to face the illegal traffic, El Mundo reports that ‘Sánchez plans to cover 250,000 jobs with regular migration to curb the boats and Feijóo accuses him of being "irresponsible" for "encouraging a call effect". The Government's aim is to promote "circular" and orderly flows of workers to weaken human trafficking’. Until Spaniards are ready to start work in the invernaderos and perform other menial tasks, there will always be a place for migrants – especially those who are paying into the social security system. 

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Catalonia: 

The PP is concerned by Xavier García-Albiol's xenophobic messages. "We must focus on the Government, not on the migrant" the party says, while privately recognising that the PP mayor of Badalona’s recent statements are unfortunate. El Huff Post has the story. 

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Gibraltar: 

A ten-minute video of interest at YouTube here: ‘Why the EU is About to Impose a Hard Border in Gibraltar’. The comments are also worth a look (Thanks Jake). 

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Courts: 

Not much about Ayuso’s boyfriend in the news, but… here’s Judge Peinado:

‘After his frustrating non-interview with Pedro Sánchez last month, Judge Peinado reckons that "conclusions" can be drawn from Pedro Sánchez's silence as a witness’ (and, yes, he has the video recording of the non-event locked in his strong-box). El Confidencial here.

‘"It doesn't make the slightest sense": a professor of Procedural Law dismantles Judge Peinado's arguments for granting public access to Sánchez's video. Pedro Sánchez invoked his right not to testify in his appearance at the Palacio de La Moncloa and the investigating judge argues that this video will end up being leaked’. Cadena Ser opinion here.

‘The judge refuses to veto the video of Pedro Sánchez's statement, as requested by the prosecutor in the Begoña case. He orders that the prosecution and defence have access to a copy because they can also draw "conclusions" from the president's silence’ ABC here.

"If he made Sánchez testify on video it was so that we could see him sitting in front of the judge". LaSexta opinion (with video) here.  

‘Judge Peinado intensifies the investigation into Begoña Gómez while still not clarifying what is the accusation against her. The magistrate takes statements from four witnesses after ordering the parties to be shown the video of Pedro Sánchez's failure to testify - against the opinion of the Prosecutor's Office’. elDiario.es here.

‘Judge Peinado is monumentally angry: the witnesses he summons won’t testify against Begoña Gómez either. A director of La Caixa, a director of Reale Seguro, an executive of Barrabés and the representative of Wakalua appear before the magistrate without providing solid evidence against the first lady, which unleashes his fury’. Diario16 here.

‘Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares says the investigation against Begoña Gómez is part of the campaign of "harassment of all kinds" against Sánchez. The minister says that if Sra. Gómez were not the president's wife "she would not be in this situation"’. 20Minutos here.

…

Opinion from a retired lawyer from the Constitutional Court: ‘There are those who believe that judges are the guardians of democracy against authoritarianism and the excesses of executive power. This is not true. Democracy is protected by the law. Judges must limit themselves to applying it. Nothing more. And nothing less.

This reflection comes from the glorification in some conservative circles of the judges who best serve their interests. Llarena, Marchena, García-Castellón or Peinado – among others – are presented as authentic heroes of the fight against separatism or the corruption of the socialist government…’  The article at Público then delves into the aberrant behaviour of Judge Peinado in the Begoña Gómez inquiry. 

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Media:

The recent murder of a child in Mocejón (Toledo) caused a flurry of xenophobic messages on social networks due to the false attribution of the crime to immigrants: hoaxes, lies and half-truths. The claims are similar to the one that took place in the United Kingdom a few weeks ago when extreme groups ended up setting fire to a building that housed foreigners and led to street riots after the spread of 'fake news' about a crime whose victims were children. From RTVE here: ‘Disinformation about the murder in Mocejón (Toledo) to spread racist hate speech’. It turned out that the suspect was a local boy. Indeed, bad luck for the racists. But, and cross fingers, maybe next time… elDiario.es says here: ‘“The PP supports the idea of ​​ending anonymity in social networks as a formula to prevent or limit hate campaigns on the Internet, such as the one produced after the murder of an 11-year-old boy in Mocejón” said the deputy spokesman of the party in the Senate, Antonio Silván, in a press conference after the prosecutor of the Chamber against Crimes of Hate and Discrimination, Miguel Ángel Aguilar, proposed to modify the Penal Code in this sense…’ 

From Diario Red here: ‘Numerous Spanish media – including such as elDiario.es, OkDiario, El País, El Español, El Economista, Diario As, VozPópuli, El HuffPost, La Razón and 20Minutos – published the same, practically identical Mercadona public report, on the same day last week, passing it off as news’ (Olive oil prices at Mercadona are down!). 

Those irritating telephone calls – looking to sell you a subscription or a service that, considered soberly, you really didn’t want. It appears that a lot of them, manned by Spaniards or Spanish-speakers at least, are located just over the border in Portugal, where the laws (and wages) are evidently different. El Confidencial has the story titled ‘The Call-centre paradise just eleven kilometres from Spain’. 

The Express, quoting The Sun (!) here: The Spanish have a rude word for Brits. It’s guiri (‘pronounced Guee-ree’). Who knew? Diario As also mentions The Sun’s bombshell. 

Sorry about the Spain by Jingo joke above. As readers know, there are some very thin expat advertising magazines and video-blogs about. Reader Jake sends me an example of the latter from Torrevieja. 

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Ecology:  

Water-looting in Spain, with Diario16 here: ‘WWF Spain asks the authorities to take strong action to improve the control of groundwater, to close all illegal extractions from aquifers and punish those who break the law by committing this ecological crime’. The main areas in this report (there are thought to be over a million illegal wells in all of Spain) are Las Tablas de Daimiel (Castilla La Mancha), Donaña (Andalucía), the Mar Menor (Murcia) and Arenales (Castilla y León). 

More on water-shortages in La Marina Alta (Costa Blanca): ‘Tap water in parts of this drought-stricken tourist hot-spot is now too salty to drink’ says CNN here. ‘The water crisis is suffocating the Marina Alta in Alicante. Teulada-Moraria, which multiplies its population by five in summer, distributes 20 litres of water per week to each resident’ says La Razón. 

From El Salto Diario here: The life of the labourers of the Mar de Plástico who feed Europe. The province of Almería has 33,000 hectares of greenhouses and 36% of its workers are migrants attracted by the ease of employment even though they have to endure job insecurity and live in slums’. (A local farmer I know reckons that this figure is wrong – since it hasn’t changed for 20 years. The likely real area covered by plastic in Almería is at least double the published figure). Some excellent and disturbing photos accompany the article. 

‘The Wild Boar Dilemma in Spain’: an interesting article at Eye on Spain here. 

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Various: 

From 20Minutos here: ‘On May 28, 2024, Spain took an important step on the international scene by officially recognizing the State of Palestine. However, this recognition does not extend to all territories aspiring to independence. Currently, there are six countries remaining that Spain refuses to recognize as States: Kosovo, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, Northern Cyprus and Somaliland’. 

Found at La Cadena Ser here: ‘The number of foreign prisoners in Spanish jails has fallen by 35% in the last 15 years, from 27,162 in 2009, the highest number ever, to 17,793 at the end of last year, while the number of Spanish prisoners has fallen by 20% to 39,005 ’. 

From El Economista here: ‘Southern Europe astonishes the Anglo-Saxon world: "Why do they live so many years if they are poorer?" Spain has the highest life expectancy in the entire European Union (84 years)’. The article quotes The Economist – ‘For years, experts and studies have highlighted the "Mediterranean diet" rich in fish, legumes, whole grains, fresh fruit, vegetables and olive oil as one of the keys. However, critics point out that diets differ widely, for example between Portugal and Greece. Moreover, researchers believe that in today's Mediterranean, eating does not adhere to that historical diet. The plazas of Spain are full of people munching on fried fish and salted ham, washed down with beer at hours that some might consider indecorous. Spaniards drink more alcohol and smoke slightly more than the European average, and besides, are among the biggest users of cocaine in Europe’. 

Following the popular vote and the declaration of the II República (wiki) in 1931, with the firm opposition of the Monarchists, the Carlists, the anarchists, the Church and the army, little has been written, says elDiario.es here, about the influence at that time of the judiciary. Their title: ‘Lawfare in the 1930s: the sabotage of the judges in the Second Republic’. The expert in History of Law Rubén Pérez Trujillano details in his book Jueces contra la República, published earlier this year, how the judiciary "decided not to accompany" the social reforms of the 1931 Constitution and actively contributed to "short-circuiting" the new regime. 

Mercadona is the fashionable place to find a companion, according to social media. We read at The Olive Press here: ‘According to a growing trend, the Spanish supermarket chain Mercadona has become an unlikely hotspot for singles looking for love. The idea gained traction after television personality Vivy Lin shared a TikTok video suggesting that many people visit Mercadona between 7pm and 8pm specifically to meet potential partners…’ The story is also at El País which asks ‘Is there really such a thing as supermarket dating?

Lots of good jokes (‘memes’) on the subject can be found with Público here, including ‘My parents named me Paris, because that’s where they met’. ‘Well mine called me Fish on Aisle Seven for the same reason’.  

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See Spain:

From Fascinating Spain here: ‘Moclín in Granada, the best-kept secret of Andalusia’.

(They obviously didn’t get my memo) 

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Letters: 

(Best-kept secrets, editorial BoT 552)

I enjoyed your witty and, I hope tongue-in-cheek, article. However, I must take issue with you over your slightly snide comments about two lovely pueblos blancos near where I live in the Serranía de Ronda.

Setenil de las Bodegas is delightful, like no other village I've been to anywhere in Spain. I agree that it is over-run with tourists (since Covid, I reckon), but we cannot begrudge visitors their right to come and look at beautiful locations.

The same applies to the blue village, Juzcar (which you didn't name, oddly). The decision of the village to allow the makers of the film about the Smurfs was a God-send.

The tourist dollars that have found their way into the pockets of the Juzcar people have been very welcome.

I think tourism is Spain's biggest industry. My strong view is that the residents of Barcelona, Valencia, Málaga, Cádiz, and the Balearics should stop demonstrating and be wary of what they wish for. Málaga without tourists, for example, would take a huge economic hit. Why bite the hand that feeds you?

Paul from Ronda. 

Tourism is fine - and we all have the right to go and visit places, but there comes a time when those places become resorts, and later (even) disney-villes. I spend my time half in Mojácar with all its businesses, souvenir-shops, buses, traffic jams, beach bars (with 'security' at the doors), hotels, Christian ladies offering bible-reading - as I saw yesterday, charity shops, menus only in English, pop-groups playing Knockin' on Heaven's Door and Blue Suede Shoes. And lots of journalists on expenses. The other half I spend in an ugly working-class beach suburb near the city - where the last bar closes around eight in the evening and the only other language spoken there is Arabic. The only time the newspapers talk about this place is when there's a marijuana bust in one of the invernaderos. Tourism, as the waiters living in vans will tell you in Ibiza, means money, lots of money: but only for the deserving few.

Lenox 

(On 1600€ renting out an apartment with Airbnb versus 800 for a long-term rent)

I would prefer the 800 during the twelve months of the year with a stable renter, than 1600 for three months with the possibility of unknown groups of various different people traipsing through and possibly trashing the apartment more than once. Peace of mind is priceless.

María 

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Finally: 

 Paco de Lucía & Al Di Meola - Mediterranean Sundance on YouTube here. Live versión.

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