Business over Tapas

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: 

The previous king of Spain, who abdicated in 2014 to give way to Felipe VI, is to publish his memoirs – evidently with the idea of presenting his side of the story. “I get the feeling”, he says, “that they are trying to rob me of my own history”. The book is being ghost-written by a French journalist and will be published early next year with the title: Reconciliación.

“My father always advised me not to write my memoirs. Kings do not confess, and even less so publicly”, says Juanca (his nickname in progressive circles).

It may not be such a good idea. One should always consider the reputation of The Firm.

A second story about Juan Carlos had also hit the news-stands last week: photos in a Dutch magazine of His Royal Highness in a clinch with a companion of the female persuasion called Bárbara Rey. (El Rey kissing La Rey). The relationship had been considered until now by the Spanish media as an open secret.

The Bourbons (going back through the ages) have long enjoyed intrigues which have been quietly swept under the carpet: but Royalty is not as other people, and their peccadillos should be at best, unremembered. President Clinton might have got into hot water in his day for his extra-curricular activities, and then there was Donald Trump and his shenanigans (and we shake our heads in despair, even though some of us might have done the same, or worse), but our leaders, our shepherds, chosen as it were by God (or Franco maybe) must be kept to a higher standard.

Why, if it’s OK for His Nibs to cheat on his wife (and his subjects), then what about little me?

For this whole thing to work, the Royals must be revered by their subjects, since they are, and must be, an example to us all. One thinks of Elizabeth II or Spain’s Felipe VI and of course many others.

All said, it must be a strain – living such a virtuous life under the public eye at all times. One mistake or lapse in judgement, especially in these times of intrusive paparazzi, and one’s Royal reputation is in the dust.

Not that Juan Carlos didn’t have other reasons to upset the applecart – other lovers such as Corinne, other enthusiasms such as shooting elephants, and other vices including accepting bribes from foreign leaders. José Antonio Zarzalejos, former director of the ABC, once defined JC's behaviour with three words in the book about his son called ‘Felipe VI. Un rey en la adversidad’: greed, promiscuity and arrogance.

JC’s fortune is estimated by Forbes as running to 2,000 million euros. He is leaving it all to his two daughters Elena and Cristina – Felipe wants nothing to do with it.

El Emerito moved to Abu Dhabi a few years back to keep himself out of the public eye, however he sometimes briefly returns to participate in regattas in Sanxenxo (Pontevedra).

His son ignores him on these occasions.

For the institution of Royalty to survive, it has to be without blemish. Now that may be hard to do; but there are only two answers to that, and Spain has been careful not to ask the public in any of its many official surveys, which they would prefer: a monarchy or a republic. It is strange to think that the obligation for a country to elect a system with a head of state is like throwing a coin to choose between pot luck and naked ambition.    

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Housing: 

From Spanish Property Insight here: ‘Today’s Socialist-led government under Pedro Sanchéz has reintroduced rent controls under the Housing Law of 2023 that the Socialist government of Felipe González got rid of in 1985 for good reason. It’s worth remembering why Franco introduced rent controls in the first place, what the results were, and why the Socialists who followed him liberalised the market, because the current government appears to have forgotten the lessons of that period.

It should be noted that today’s government has not imposed rent controls country-wide like Franco did, rather given regional and local governments the power to impose rent controls in some areas under certain circumstances…’ 

Opinion from Nueva Tribuna here: ‘Too many houses and too many people without housing: that's just The Market’. We read: ‘According to the latest available data, there are 26.9 million homes in Spain. Since the number of households is 19.2 million, it turns out that there are almost 1.5 homes for each family or household. Among those aged between 20 and 30 (the population group with the highest percentage of concerns about homelessness), there are 4.9 million people and, at the same time, 3.8 million empty homes. And the Banco de España states that it is necessary to build another 600,000 homes when in 2023 there were 447,691 unused and empty homes in our country; that is, built, but without having found anyone to buy them…’ 

Javier Gil, writing on Twitter here, says that the price of homes, both freehold and rentals, has risen twice as fast as wages in the last decade. 

‘“We don't want cities that are a cardboard set for Walt Disney”. The XVII World Congress of the Organization of World Heritage Cities, held in Córdoba last week, addressed issues of mass tourism, sustainability and the habitability of historic centres’ at Cordópolis here. 

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Tourism:

The Olive Press says that ‘Spain’s so-called ‘Big Brother’ law (Ley de Registro de Viajeros) for tourists has been delayed following outcry from industry leaders across the country.

The legislation had been scheduled to come into force on October 1 but had to be pushed back because hotels and car hire companies were not prepared to implement the changes. Under the new law, all tourists must provide an exhaustive list of personal details to their hotel, campsite or any other type of accommodation complex, as well as car hire firms. This includes their full name, banking details, address, telephone number, email and their ID documents, including passport and/or driving licence. The law applies to whether the person is staying for one night or several weeks…’ The law will now be implemented, says El País here, from December 2nd. 

‘The Balearic government announced this morning that the rate of the tourist tax would increase next summer in one of their key policies to limit tourist overcrowding. Balearic President Marga Prohens did not say how much it would rise by but there has been speculation that it could double. Five star hotel guests already pay four euros per day per person…’ Item from The Majorca Daily Bulletin here. 

There are some places to stay in Madrid at just 25€ per night. We are talking bunks raised in some closed-down shops and banks. 

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Finance: 

From El Plural here: ‘The week has left a long list of positive economic news, with the upward revision of the macroeconomic picture, but among so many, one has gone unnoticed. Spain's International Investment Position, which addresses the country's debts with the outside world and vice versa, has fallen to 2003 levels. For more than twenty years, the ratio between foreign financial assets held by Spaniards and Spanish liabilities held by foreigners has not fallen below 50% and the milestone was reached this second quarter, with a figure of 48.1%...’

Certain foods which were free of IVA during the inflation crisis have now been returned to a super-reduced rate from this month. Oil, bread, veggies and milk went from 0% to 2%. The tax on pasta went from 5% to 7.5%. It will rise once again in the New Year (4% and 10%).

‘Why does Spain have so many unfilled jobs with three million people unemployed’, asks VoxPópuli here. Vacancies (jobs that companies cannot fill) are a growing problem in Spain. Economists warn that official figures are underestimated. A shortage of experienced workers, the increasing age of the population and unattractive working conditions are the prime reasons says the article, adding that immigrants are of great help in resolving some of these issues. 

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Politics: 

As Mexico celebrated its investiture of its new president Claudia Sheinbaum on October 1st, Spain’s Felipe VI was notably not invited to the event. This has caused a rift between the two countries. The reason is that the previous Mexican president López Obrador had asked the Spanish monarch in 2019 to publicly and officially recognise the grievances caused during la Conquista and that both countries would agree on "a shared story". The Royal Palace never answered this plea and the good people of Mexico, particularly those with native histories, are aggrieved. 

From El País here: ‘The PP supports regularising hundreds of thousands of immigrants if those with criminal records or repeat offenders are excluded. The groups are negotiating the final version of the law, which has been blocked for months. Promoting associations criticise the fact that the deadlines proposed by the PP could leave extraordinary regularisation “on paper” rather than in practice’. 

Vox admits to having received a loan of nine million euros from MBH, a Hungarian bank, claiming that Spanish banks don’t wish to finance the party says Europa Press here. It appears that the MBH bank has a tight relationship with Hungarian leader Victor Orban and the Party Financing Act prohibits any financing “by governments and foreign public bodies, entities or companies or by companies directly or indirectly related to them”. 

The PSOE’s 41st Congress is due in Seville at the end of October. Pedro Sánchez has most of the support to continue as party secretary, but there are two regional leaders say they won’t back him (because of the concessions to Catalonia). These are Emiliano García-Page (Castilla-La Mancha) and Javier Lambán (Aragón). 

‘Bring the children unto me’: an opinion piece regarding Feijóo’s current political movement from elDiario.es here. A taste: ‘…Being the main opposition party forces one to choose a weak point of the Government and to put pressure on it. There are issues that, due to their importance, can last weeks or months on the agenda. Indeed, the PP, not very fond of innovation, can spend years harping on about the same thing. The improvement of the economic situation since 2021 left it without the possibility of attacking that flank, so it was forced to focus on the same repertoire’ (the article says - Venezuela, ETA, Catalunya and the obsession that Pedro Sánchez is bad for democracy).

‘This Tuesday, its parliamentary group registered a conciliation bill in Congress and has not been stingy in praising itself. It is the “most ambitious law in democracy”. Among its measures, free nursery schools for children from zero to three years, the extension of paternity and maternity leave, the recognition of single-parent families and the extension of their leave, and bonuses for hiring caregivers for large and single-parent families…’

Many and varied reactions in Spain to the Israeli campaigns in Lebanon (and Gaza and elsewhere). Here’s one at 20Minutos: ‘José Maria Aznar's warning: "If Israel does not win, the next battle will be on the coasts of southern Europe"’. Sad to say, this may turn out to be an understatement.

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Europe: 

Some of our friends over at Bremain in Spain were present and visible at the anti-Brexit march in London this Saturday. El Mundo brings us the beguiling headline: ‘Hundreds of Britons join first anti-Brexit march of Starmer era’. 

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Courts: 

El País says that ‘Mariano Rajoy, together with his senior ministers Cospedal, Montoro and Sáenz de Santamaría are all summoned to a parliamentary investigation to testify over their part in the Operacíon Cataluña. The Congress has also summoned the former leader of the Catalan PP Sánchez-Camacho, Oriol Junqueras, Artur Mas, Xavier Trías and members of the 'patriotic police'’. La Operación Cataluña was a plan to create accusations, often based on falsehoods, against Catalan independence leaders allegedly orchestrated from 2012 onwards by the Ministry of the Interior when the PP was in power. 

‘The National Court's Prosecutor's Office is asking for an investigation into the financial club whose founder gave 100,000 euros in cash to the MEP Alvise Pérez for fraud. The Madeira Invest Club closed unexpectedly a few weeks ago, but before that it had appealed to thousands of investors with its claim of exorbitant returns’. From elDiario.es here. 

The remarkable situation regarding Begoña Gómez, the wife of Pedro Sánchez, was due to be wound up on Monday by the National Audience, but the crusading judge Peinado neglected to give the court all the necessary documents, thus delaying the process further (to the indignation of the PSOE and the nods and ‘told-you-sos’ from the right). El País says that ‘In private, very harsh words are used to describe the actions of this judge, who, according to the most widely held view in the Government, is committing prevarication because he has known for months that there is no material to pursue, as the Guardia Civil has told him on two occasions in separate reports, and yet he is dragging out the case, according to this view-point, with the sole interest of harming the president…’ 

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Media:  

The Spectator takes a dim view of us here: ‘Spain makes for an awful holiday. It’s the worst country in western Europe’. It notes ‘…The cities are dire – some of the least appealing on the continent, and not just Magaluf, Marbella, or Alicante. The classy ones are also weird and sad – the much-lauded Ronda depresses me, recalling the end of the world with its perilous chasm; my trips to Seville, Granada and Córdoba as a kid were marred by the stink of drains in every room we slept in. The baked, dull avenues of Madrid, the endless and fruitless quest for the best place for cured meat, the corporate flourishes. Barcelona, twice intended by me as a romantic break, is a bewildering tundra of tat and dive bars, dotted with the ugliest architecture on earth – that of Gaudi. It’s got a bang average beach, bang average buildings and overpriced food. Now it’s an anti-tourism war zone and you’ll get pickpocketed as a bonus…’ Evidently, one can’t win ’em all! 

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Ecology:

From Sur in English here: ‘Concerns raised as climate on Costa del Sol goes from 'hot to torrid' during summer months. Scientists are calling for more measures to reduce temperatures, especially in cities and large towns, with less asphalt and more green areas’. 

From El Periódico de la Energía here: ‘The United Kingdom on Monday eliminated coal from its electricity production by closing its last coal-fired power station, a milestone for the country that introduced the use of the fuel at the end of the 19th century. Spain would be the next country to abandon coal, along with Italy, Ireland and Israel, all having committed to closing their remaining coal plants in 2025’.

There are currently five coal plants operating in Spain, four on the Peninsula and one in Mallorca. All of them are expected to be shut down next year. 

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Various:

Almost a quarter of all foreigners living in Spain arrived here in the past two years says 20Minutos. 37% of all farm workers and 42% of domestics are foreigners. The INE gives us the painstakingly exact (and inevitably wrong) figure of foreigners living here as of a mere twenty-two months ago, when there were 8,204,206 of us. 

There are said to be some very serious videos of intimate relationships between King Juan Carlos. Not only with Bárbara Rey, but with other famous people. “There are also audios… the content is scandalous”, claims Colonel Amadeo Martínez in an article at El Plural here. 

Muy Interesante has a piece on ‘what the Spanish ate at the time of Columbus’. Some nice illustrations here. 

For those who wondered, the maximum number of coins you can legally use in any one transaction is fifty. 

Moriscos were those who were forcibly converted to Christianity and who often continued to secretly practice Islam from the end of the fifteenth century. Much earlier, Mozarabes (often descended from the Visigoths) was the term used for Christians living under Muslim rule. Thanks to those who played; a copy of The Last Morisco by Diego Ramos is winging its way to a reader in Madrid.  

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Letters:

It’s been a very slow couple of weeks with my Internet supplier Avatel, which says ‘We’ve noticed an issue with Internet provision in some towns. We are working to fix the problem. Thank you for your patience’. I don’t have a phone-line where I am and must therefore rely on a hotlink to my mobile. In the end, after a hard-to-understand conversation on Tuesday, they told me to adjust my mobile-phone from 4G to 3G, which seems to have resolved the problem.    Lenox 

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Finally: 

Rigoberta Bandini with Si Muriera Mañana on YouTube here. An oddity!

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