Editorial:
Argentina is an interesting country. It was – and should be – immensely rich. Indeed, a hundred years ago, it was the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world. Today, it is bankrupt with inflation running at 280% annually.
This giant South American state has an interesting president who wants to reverse the economic collapse of his country. One can easily appreciate why that would be a good idea, but perhaps the self-styled anarcho-capitalist Javier Milei is not the best person for this mighty task. He wields a chain-saw in his campaigns – cut taxes and cut services, he says. If you can’t make it till the end of the month, that’s your problem he says. Social justice is immoral he says. Climate Change is a lie he says. Socialism is a cancer according to Milei, a message which goes down well with the right-wing opposition in Spain (and elsewhere).
Milei was here in May, invited by the Vox leader Santiago Abascal (‘a good friend when I was just a Nobody’, he says). It was a private visit – of sorts – and he didn’t check in with the Government, the foreign ministry or the Royal Palace. He did however remember to insult Pedro Sánchez and his government (and his wife) and it duly caused a diplomatic rift. The Spanish ambassador has been recalled from Buenos Aires and there things stand.
Then, just last week, Milei was back in Madrid to receive a prize from the regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso (who notably failed to invite Alberto Núñez Feijóo to the bun-fight). The occasion was a medal – the Medalla Internacional de la Comunidad de Madrid – very nice. Other past honourees of this medal include Esperanza Aguirre, motorcycle hero Ángel Nieto and the Movimiento Contra la Intolerancia.
This rather off-centre gesture was evidently another political swipe by Ayuso, who stands on the right of the Partido Popular – a potential candidate who is likely taking votes back from Vox and certainly a more attractive contender for eventual president of Spain than the grey Sr. Feijóo.
On the other hand, the Spanish media noted the behaviour of Ayuso as described by the conservative British Telegraph to be ‘deep disloyalty’ towards her country (and her party) and that she is ‘a far-right firebrand’. We also learn that a German newspaper, Der Freitag, once called her ‘A Spanish Marine le Pen’.
A prettier version, I grant you.
Regrettably, in an unfortunate example of friendly fire, Milei spoke to the gathered masses of the president’s companion being under investigation (he meant Pedro Sánchez’ wife, but, confusingly, Díaz Ayuso’s other half, Alberto González Amador, is also under investigation over a number of white-collar crimes).
Unlike Begoña Gómez, he’s probably guilty of all of them.
In short, with one thing and another, it’s all what the Spanish call un culebrón: a soap opera.
While Milei’s experiment with Argentina may turn out to be precisely the medicine that that country needs, unlikely as it may be, his fiddling with European matters of state are causing indignation – even among the core of the Partido Popular which now considers that it has had enough of Ayuso’s evident plotting.
Who else has she got up her sleeve? A genocidal president? A convicted felon?
They remember how she blew out the last PP leader Pablo Casado and they wonder if it could happen again.
‘She’s not just standing up to Pedro Sánchez’, says an opinion piece at LaSexta, ‘she also confronting Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who doesn’t appear to have either the power or the resolve to clip her wings’.
Housing:
From Spanish Property Insight here: ‘Foreign demand in the first quarter of 2024 is close to record levels’ We read that ‘The latest figures reveal that 159,324 home sales witnessed by notaries in Q1 of this year involved a foreign buyer, just 2% lower than the same time last year, and the third-best Q1 on record’.
From Idealista here: ‘Spain's most popular neighbourhoods and towns among foreigners.
Foreigners are most interested in buying on the Mediterranean and both archipelagos, exceeding 50% in more than 100 locations’.
Tourism:
Some cities plan to stop short-term tourist-rentals (known as VUT). Other not. Barcelona is to go ahead ‘over the next four years’. Seville has voted against the plan (perhaps temporarily). Santiago de Compostella has also voted against the idea. Madrid has increased inspections although they remain legal. In their favour, VUTs bring in some extra pin-money for those who own a spare apartment or two (or maybe several hundred…). The problem is that they take away income from the hotels (aww!), they effectively contribute to the scarcity of long-term apartments and they create social issues for the neighbours. Indeed, says El Mundo here, ‘The Government is working to prohibit tourist apartments in buildings with neighbours, the proposal being to modify the Horizontal Property Law to veto tourist apartments in blocks with communities of owners’.
…And well done Britain’s Express with this creepy title: ‘Spain may ban Brits from renting out second homes as holiday lets in tourist crackdown’.
The proliferation of souvenir shops in Barcelona has prompted the local government to seek regulation. The city council's economic commission has approved a motion by pro-independence party Esquerra to study a ban on "offensive" souvenirs. The measure is aimed specifically at tourist products with "homophobic or sexist" content that the party says "degrade the image" of the city…’ More at Catalan News here.
‘15% of Brits less likely to travel to the EU once Entry/Exit System comes into force’ says SVI here. Reading it again, it says ‘A new survey by the UK government has shown that one in seven Brits are less likely to travel to the bloc once the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) officially enters into force’.
If you need one – here are the hoops: ‘The Invitation letter. What you need to know. When planning a visit to Spain, particularly for non-EU citizens, it is often necessary to obtain a visa through the Spanish embassy or consulate. In many cases, along with the visa application, applicants are required to provide a carta de invitación (invitation letter)…’
(A commercial item from International Consultation and Support in Spain here)
The Olive Press says: ‘Travel expert Simon Calder says visitors to Spain could be turned away if they fail to show certain documents’.
Spaniards will be emptying their piggy banks to pay for their summer hols says 20Minutos here. The average spend will be 11% higher than last year, spent on evening meals, hotels and general travel costs.
From Málaga News here (possibly a propaganda piece): ‘The tourism sector of the Costa del Sol shows the weight of Tourism over other sectors and sends a powerful message against Turismofobia. The Costa del Sol registers an increase of 8.1% in the arrival of travellers in regulated establishments during the first four months of 2024. The campaign "Tourism is good for everyone, let's take care of it", aimed at schools of the province, has reached more than 2,500 students in nearly 40 municipalities’.
How to act responsibly as a tourist – some tips on good behaviour from The Olive Press.
Finance:
‘The average salary is 26,949 euros per year, although two thirds of workers earn 1,600 euros net or less per month’.
‘The decline of intermediate salaries: the minimum wage (SMI) has grown four times more than the average salary since 2018 and narrows the remuneration band’.
Two pieces from 20Minutos here and here.
‘One out of every four Asturian workers rejects the 35-hour week even though their wages would be the same’. The headline from La Voz de Asturias could also have been written as ‘Three out of every four workers in the Principality welcome being paid the same wage to work five hours less each week’. Who? Vox supporters apparently.
Politics:
Commentary from LaSexta on Ayuso hosting Javier Milei: ‘It’s clear that she has a long-term strategy’. As for Feijóo and the regional PP leaders (known as the barons in Spanish political slang), there’s been a ‘sepulchral silence over the entire event’. Here and here.
The renewal of the CGPJ (the government of the judges, as it were) was finally agreed after better than five years of wrangling. The PP had improperly held on to the body with its conservative majority since its mandate expired in December 2018. More in ‘Courts’ below. From elDiario.es, an opinion: ‘…In practice, the agreement also obliges the PP to finally admit to an uncomfortable reality: that there will be a socialist government for a while yet, no matter how much they insist that there won’t’.
Catalonia:
The Catalonian political impasse has not been resolved so far. From Catalan News here: ‘New elections on October 13 if no new Catalan president is named by August 26. No candidate’s name had been put forward for the first presidential investiture debate which was held this Wednesday’.
Gibraltar:
Gibraltar gets a black mark from the Spanish media. 20Minutos says ‘50 km of tunnels, weapons warehouse, an intelligence centre... "Gibraltar is in reality a city located inside a large military base"’. Regarding the airport, we read: ‘…It was during the Spanish Civil War, a "moment of great national weakness", when London built the Gibraltar airport on the land gained at the expense of Spain and which in 1966 it claimed as its own, although "the British have never ever been able to present a document with international legal validity, which guarantees that this isthmus is theirs"…’
Europe:
‘The negotiators of the three political families involved (popular, socialists and liberals) have closed an agreement in principle so that Ursula von der Leyen continues to head the European Commission and the former Portuguese prime minister, António Costa, presides over the European Council. Josep Borrell leaves his position as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in the hands of the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas, Putin's nemesis and much softer with Netanyahu…’ From elDiario.es here.
Alvise Pérez and his Se Acabó la Fiesta (three MEPs), the group that ‘does not have any electoral program to define its ideological lines and political proposals and only a simple slogan can be found on its website: “persecuting corrupt people, paedophiles and criminals”, will join the most extremist group in the European Parliament, led by whitewashers of Nazism’, says El Plural here. The Party is Over (translation) joins the AfD family, expelled by Le Pen and Salvini from their previous home for defending Hitler's SS’. The AfD and its friends are looking to start a new even-further-far-right group in the European Parliament – to be called The Sovereignists (here).
s the General Election in the United Kingdom approaches (July 4th), we wonder why no one dares say ‘Brexit!’ A Spanish view from Política&Prosa here.
Courts:
From The Corner here: ‘A judge calls for the BBVA and its former chairman to stand trial for hiring police commissioner to spy on rivals’. Expansión says that several major investors in BBVA, such as BlackRock, Capital Group, Vanguard and Norges, intend to disinvest from the bank.
Will Carles Puigdemont be tried for treason (if he ever shows his face in Spain)? – It’s about the only crime not covered by the amnesty.
From elDiario.es here: ‘Ayuso's partner recognizes that he falsified documents to deceive Hacienda. Alberto González Amador admits two tax frauds and forgery and accepts eight months in prison (non-servable), but the pre-agreement with the State Prosecutor's Office and the State Attorney's Office has not been signed because the popular accusations of PSOE and Más Madrid have called for further investigations into whether he committed five other crimes’.
Begoña Gómez is meant to testify in front of the judge Peinado next week but says that she still hasn’t been informed by the court as to what the investigation is about. It seems likely that he doesn’t know either.
‘Six pages, a conservative judge and a mere “plausible hypothesis” appear to be enough to resurrect the case against Mónica Oltra (Valencian councillor who resigned in 2022 when her ex-husband was accused of sexual misdemeanours - wiki). The order from the Provincial Court of Valencia maintains that “the commission of a criminal offense by the leader of Compromís cannot be ruled out in a clear manner.”’ elDiario.es has the story here.
I have to say – Spain’s conservative judges aren’t giving up without a struggle.
‘The trial of the ultra Cristina Seguí (the founder of Vox in Valencia), accused of disseminating images of child victims of rape: “It had devastating effects”’ says elDiario.es here. The prosecution is asking for four and a half years of prison.
Why the CGPJ needs to be refreshed (2000 days late): The Permanent (acting) Commission of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has refused to sanction Judge Manuel Ruiz de Lara, who called the President of the Government a “psychopath without ethical limits” and insulted other ministers and authorities through his social networks, as reported by the governing body of the judges in a statement’. Item from elDiario.es here.
*Then, on Tuesday, the agreement was finally made between Esteban González Pons (PP), Félix Bolaños (the PSOE Minister of Justice) and the Vice-president of the European Commission Věra Jourová. The CGPJ would be renewed, with a balance of ten conservative and ten progressive judges. La Cadena Ser has the story. This follows from Pedro Sánchez’ ultimatum to the PP to have the issue resolved before the end of the month.
60% of Spaniards do not trust the judiciary and believe that justice is exploited for political purposes according to a survey carried by Simple Logic as reported at elDiario.es here.
One of the more tendentious judges in recent years is Manuel García-Castellón (wiki). The news on Wednesday is that he has asked to put forward his retirement to the beginning of September.
Media:
Sad news from the Costa Blanca as we learn that the venerable Costa Blanca News is closing down – this Friday’s edition to be its last after 53 years in operation.
Brett Hetherington sends me this from Catalonia Today: ‘Twenty years of Catalonia in English. Catalonia Today began in 2004 as a free daily newspaper dealing with Catalan issues. Now a monthly magazine, it is still fulfilling its role’. The paper was begun by Carles Puigdemont (in 2004, before entering politics, he was a journalist). Brett has been a regular contributor to the paper.
Pedro Sánchez: “In July we will present (...) the modification of the organic law (wiki) to end the impunity of some pseudo-media largely financed by far-right coalition governments between the PP and Vox”, he said last week. He’s talking about institutional advertising. “Does it make sense that public bodies governed by the PP and Vox are giving pseudo-digital media more public funding than regular media outlets that are clearly better known to the public? Of course not. When we sign the European law, we will know both who the owners of these media are and their financing, and there will be an objective measurement made”. From elDiario.es here.
Fake-news websites in the US provide something called ‘pink slime’ (the American version of ‘bulos’) says The Guardian. A frightening place where all the far-right fake news meets up is Rapture Ready here.
‘The Coming Divorce’. I don't suppose that anybody cares much, but me and Facebook, Facebook and I, we are about to part company. Eye on Spain here.
Ecology:
From El Huff Post here: ‘From 2030, homeowners will not be able to sell or rent if they do not comply with the new requirement regarding the energy efficiency of homes and it will be necessary to obtain a rating of at least 'E' to be able to sell or rent from 2030’.
A warning from Xataca here: ‘Mass tourism has its days numbered in Spain thanks to a phenomenon beyond its control: extreme heat’. Tourists of course can always choose to go somewhere else next year – there’s evidently and understandably not much ‘loyalty’ – whereas residents must stay put (unless they can find a good buyer for their home).
The AEMET, the State Agency for Meteorology, is aggrieved that Vox has taken to claiming that their forecasts and warnings due to Climate Change are “manipulations to generate unnecessary fear about the climate crisis”. The agency says it now receives telephone calls and other communications full of threats and insults from a certain sector of the population.
Foro Coches Eléctricos in an editorial points out that there is a lot of imaginative stories and myths about the disadvantages of these vehicles. The title says: ‘The electric car is not straining the electrical grid, but rather it is saving us millions of euros’. This is because, with increased (night-time) charging for the vehicles, and increased profits for the electric companies, prices will come down. Renewable energy is the way to go, apparently. Huh!
From EuroNews here: ‘The greatest recovery of a cat species ever achieved: the Iberian Lynx is no longer on the brink of extinction. The population has more than tripled in two years thanks to conservation efforts’.
‘The thirteen kinds of snake that live in Spain’. I found this essay at Bird Watching HQ to help me identify a ladder snake I found in the garden.
Various:
Almost 50 years after the death of Franco, the Spanish government has announced that it will start the process of outlawing a foundation that not only honours his memory but also is the custodian of 30,000 documents from his personal archive – including letters from Hitler’, says The Olive Press here. ‘The end of half a century of the Franco Foundation: from exalting the dictator to promoting Vox’. elDiario.es rejoices here. From La Sexta, El Gran Wyoming announces on his TV show "Españoles, la Fundación Francisco Franco ha muerto" (with video) – playing on the original announcement on the radio and TV back in 1975 when Franco died (I have a copy of the newspaper of the day somewhere).
New safety rules for electric-scooter riders, cyclists, motorcyclists and disabled scooter-users. 20Minutos has the list from the DGT here. Who said anything about fun?
La Razón bring us the story of a peculiar tradition in San Felices de los Gallegos (Salamanca) which builds a temporary bullring each year made of farmer’s carts. The bullfights themselves, during the town’s fiestas in May, are free. Several interesting videos about the village are here. (Wiki).
Some forty-six people have been arrested in Murcia for employing illegal immigrants and providing fake worker’s papers. The story at La Opinión de Murcia here.
‘A US company sells soap with Franco's face’. The alarming story (and picture) comes from ECD here. Indeed ‘Dissident Soaps has taken to making hygiene products of fascists, Carlists, Nazis and anti-Semitic characters’. These charming bathroom products feature Oswald Mosely, Padre Charles Coughlin, Peter Kemp (a Brit who fought for the Nationalists in Spain) and others. The company has its webpage here (Friends, you can buy the Aristocrat Oswald Mosely Sage Coriander tallow bar soap for just eleven bucks).
‘From The Guardian here: ‘The refugees reviving rural Spain. Depopulation can be a serious problem – ultimately, a shrinking community can’t maintain its services. But asylum seekers are bringing ghost villages back to life’.
From Barrons here: ‘A community of nuns in a 15th century convent in northern Spain has split with the Roman Catholic Church because of a property dispute and doctrinal wrangling that has seen them join up with a renegade priest. The Church has threatened to excommunicate the 16 nuns who live in Belorado, a town of 1,800 on the popular Camino de Santiago, or Way of St. James, pilgrimage trail, near Burgos…’. Ten of the nuns were duly excommunicated earlier this week, poor things. The church wants the monastery back and considers them to be okupas.
IVA on Olive Oil has gone following an order from the Council of Ministers (it was at 5%).
I missed this one from El País in English last week: ‘Mallorca, the destination chosen by Mark Zuckerberg to debut his $300 million megayacht. The Facebook founder gifted himself the vessel, which has a tennis court and helicopter, for his 40th birthday. The businessman is now sailing through the waters of the Balearic island with his family to celebrate his father’s 70th’. He’s probably flown home by now.
See Spain:
From Go Nomad here: ‘Spain’s Extremadura: A Tale of Castles, Convents and Streets of Cobblestones’.
‘A Visit to the Sacromonte Caves Museum (Granada)’ with Mapping Spain here.
Letters:
Whatever you do, hang on to the geckos – their main diet is mosquitos.
Jake.
(I saw a chameleon in the garden today, Lenox)
Finally:
We are still in the Caribbean, with Leoni Torres performing Cubano on YouTube here.
(By the way, I use the Firefox web-browser, with Adblocker Ultimate, and get a smooth ride from YouTube without any commercial interruptions)
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