Business over Tapas Nº 559

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 Brits have returned the Chagos Islands – or all except one (Diego Garcia) – to Mauritius and to the people who used to live there, the Chagossians. Or more likely, since they were unceremoniously chucked out back in 1969, to their descendants.  

While this item may not have made a major impact on the lives of the good people who inhabit the United Kingdom, it certainly has here in Spain, with the suggestion that, well, since you’re in the mood, what about handing back Gibraltar (and, sure, maybe the Falklands too while you are at it)?

The Telegraph – a British newspaper that leans solidly to the right – says ‘Keir Starmer has refused to rule out ending British control of Gibraltar and the Falklands, amid an ongoing backlash over his Chagos Islands deal’. Yes, The Telegraph and its more conservative ‘The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire’ readers may well become excited about the Chagos Deal, and maybe for them it will become the Suez Crisis of the 21st Century.

Mind you, at a mean height of just four feet above sea-level, the Chagossians will need to roll up their trouser-legs, as it’ll likely all be underwater by 2050 thanks to Global Warming.

I’m vaguely fond of Gibraltar. I got married there to my American bride on the second attempt. Word had reached us as we were dickering with the judge that my father had suddenly died in Madrid, so we pleaded cause of absence and returned for another try a couple of weeks later. The judge, give him his due, let us have our wedding papers and sundry costs on his shilling, making our match one of the cheapest in history (one jolly night at the Holiday Inn). A year later, we went to Paris for the honeymoon.

Then, The Express brings us: ‘Gibraltar tries to calm fears it will be returned to Spain after UK and Chagos fiasco. The people of Gibraltar have been assured by their Government that Sir Keir Starmer's decision regarding the Chagos Island will not affect their future’.

I like Gibraltar. I mean, I don’t (it’s ghastly), but I like that it’s there. Some pink glitter for the map, a change of pace and the chance to see a British bobby talking in llanito. 

So, leave it alone. There are thirty four thousand Gibraltarians who want to remain British, but without going anywhere near the United Kingdom (ring any bells, Readers?). If the colony fell to Spain, then what would they do with the Gibraltarians?  Leave them there, but make them do this and that – or enjoin them to take out Tarjetas de Identidad Extranjera and deprive them of the vote? Maybe give the people living in nearby San Roque ‘back’ their properties. As a webpage called Gibraltar en la Corazón says (back in 1704, the British possession of Gibraltar would only be formalised nine years later at the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713), ‘…It is easy to imagine that column of men and women dragging their belongings: some children, others elderly, heads bowed, stripped... 5,000 people walking towards the hermitage of San Roque, located a few kilometres away…’

These days, it looks lovely.

Ah, decolonisation. Gibraltar is a British problem: let Whitehall build a nice camp on Salisbury Plain for them.

Some say, well why not just give the Rock to the Spanish and give Melilla and Ceuta to the Moroccans? Easy enough if you are living in somewhere like Albacete or Torquay.

There are of course, several differences. For one, there are 170,000 Spaniards in the two North African enclaves. Since they would likely not be treated favourably by the Moroccans, I doubt that they would want to stay and at the same time it would be hard to comfortably house 170,000 indignant colonos over here in Almería and Málaga.

The population of the Falkland Isles – whose inhabitants are even more British than the Gibraltarians (they’ve been there since the 1830s) – runs to about 3,700 souls. Wiki says that there are even a few llanitos living there. They probably would rather stay where they are, too (while we are on the subject, I wonder where the exiled malvineros are living).

It’s all well and good righting ancient wrongs, but for every victor on the one hand, there has to be an eviction on the other.

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Housing:

In Catalonia, where the rent limits proposed by the new housing law have been applied, prices have dropped by between 3% and 5% says elDiario.es. Another report however says something different: ‘Real estate portals contradict the Generalitat and assure that rent in Catalonia has risen after capping rents’ (Infobae here). What appears to be happening is that many owners have escaped from the usual system of rent controls by leasing out their apartments just for limited periods.

Mark Stücklin at Spanish Property Insight makes a fair point:  ‘Gentrification is a dirty word in Spain, but urban decay is worse’. He writes, ‘Gentrification, or gentrificación in Spanish, is a contentious topic in urban discussions. It refers to the process by which rundown city districts experience renewal and investment, often attracting wealthier residents and businesses, which in turn drives up property values…’

From Sur in English here: ‘The most expensive luxury development in Spain is on the Costa del Sol with properties costing over 20 million euros. With views of the Mediterranean, La Zagaleta in Benahavís is home to the most expensive property on the market in the whole of the country - at a staggering 29 million euros’.

From ‘The fearless journalism’ of GB News here: ‘Top 10 destinations for expats in Spain boast 'cost-effective housing' and '300 days of sun' per year’. (I wonder how much they pay)

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Tourism:

International visitors to Spain are apparently 11% up over 2023 says Xataca with 64.3 million in the first eight months.

This habit of opening late for dinner… From El País (paywall) here: ‘Regional President Isabel Ayuso wants restaurants to adapt their opening hours to its visitors: “Our battle cry is ‘Welcome Tourist’”. In the midst of the controversy over la turistificación of the city which is driving a demonstration on October 13, the baroness adapts (the previous mayor of Madrid) Manuela Carmena’s ‘Refugees Welcome’’’.

From 20Minutos here: ‘The Spanish beach that is the "best kept secret of the Costa Blanca", according to the 'Mirror'’. (Alas, no more). The beach is the Playa del Portet, in Moraira, Alicante (‘just half an hour from the city of Benidorm).

You wanted silly? Here’s The Express: ‘Panic in Spain as new stat shows anti-tourism protests have failed. Tourist hotspots in Spain are still very popular with British expats looking for a holiday home in the sun.

‘Despite anti-tourism protests throughout Spain over the last year and a tough post-Brexit environment for prospective expats, properties in the southern Mediterranean country are still very popular with British buyers. In the face of these factors, foreign buyers of Spanish properties fell by 0.1 percent in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the same time in 2023, according to property market data from Spain's Association of Registrars’.

(Note: 0.1% would be the same as a drop from 1,000 to just 999).

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Finance:

From elDiario.es here: ‘Hacienda uncovers 1,000 million euros in undeclared rentals in the past eight years. The Tax Agency sends out hundreds of thousands of notifications every year to those owners that it detects have rental income and estimates that since 2016 it has filed more than a million declarations “that include real estate income”. Around three million families count on extra income through rentals’.

From Europa Press here: ‘The Social Security Reserve Fund will close the year with nearly 9,300 million euros, 300 million more than initially planned, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration reported on Monday’.

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Politics:

The Economist (paywall) here: “We will move forward determinedly…with or without the help of the legislature,” Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister, told a meeting of his Socialist Party earlier last month. To his more excitable critics, this sounded like a declaration of dictatorship. In fact, it was a recognition of his embattled circumstances. In office since 2018, Mr Sánchez is the great survivor of European politics, a wily and ruthless tactician. But his minority coalition government rules at the pleasure of Catalan and Basque radical nationalists, and at a growing cost to the quality of Spain’s democracy and its institutions…’ 20Minutos reports on the article here. From Agenda Pública (in English) here: ‘The response to The Economist from the first Prince of Asturias Professor in the US: "your own research places Spain in a strong democratic position". For him, the danger to democracy does not come from Sánchez remaining in power, but from the fierce struggle between the government coalition and the opposition’.

‘The Government agrees with EH Bildu a reform of La Ley Mordaza (gag law) that prohibits rubber bullets and instant repatriations for foreign immigrants. The Basque separatists agree with the PSOE and Sumar over the drafting of a new law that will replace the most damaging aspects of the law that Mariano Rajoy's Government used to curtail the right to protest’. elDiario.es has the story.

An analysis of surveys reprinted at El Plural says that Alvise Pérez’s party Se Acabó la Fiesta has taken a hit after the revelations about the 100,000 cash boost to the MEP from a now-closed and under investigation crypto-investment agency. The party has fallen from 4.9 to 3.4% support in just a week. The PP leads in the same calculation at 34.1% over the PSOE (29.2%), with Vox at 11% and Sumar at 7.7%.

‘77% of Spaniards support the distribution of immigrant minors that the PP is blocking. According to the Simple Lógica survey prepared for elDiario.es, 7 out of 10 Spaniards support the transfer of minors. The majority of PP voters surveyed are also in favour’. Unfortunately, Spanish politicians are busy squabbling about what to do with the hundreds of immigrant minors currently stuck in the Canary Isles).

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Catalonia:

‘'Act against terrorism,' and denouncing 'genocide': How Jews and Palestinians in Catalonia see the conflict. Some mark first October 7 anniversary with prayers in synagogue, others with mass protest in Barcelona’. Item from Catalán News here.

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Europe:

The Guardian brings us: ‘‘Doesn’t feel fair’: young Britons struggle with losing right to work in the EU since Brexit. Once seen as a rite of passage, seasonal jobs in the rest of Europe are off limits for many – but some still make it work’.

Pedro Sanchez will have an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican this Friday. The government announced the meeting on Tuesday and the two leaders will discuss the situation in the Middle East. After Friday’s audience, Sánchez will travel to Cyprus to take part in the MED9 summit, bringing together the leaders of Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Slovenia and Croatia. The story comes from The Olive Press here.

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Health:

From RTVE here: ‘Congress debates the reduction of the maximum alcohol rate for drivers: what does it mean to go from 0.5 to 0.2 grams per litre?’ That’s not even one copa de cerveza. You know, it’s all very well when you live in the city with a bar downstairs and a restaurant across the street. Where you can take a bus or a metro to see your friends. Those of us in the country (where the nearest bar is a few kilometres away) may find we have to take a taxi, enjoy our beer (!) and then take another taxi home. An expensive night out!

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Corruption:

A new scam – as facturas from “Endesa” arrive advising you of a credit. If a message to this end arrives asking you to confirmar reembolso – then don’t – it’s a phishing scam.

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Courts:

The Director of elDiario.es looks at the apparent case of lawfare being carried out by Judge Peinado against the wife of the President of Spain – in the hope that something finally sticks (already, and evidently, the mere accusation of impropriety, created just a couple of days before the European elections – in the hope of shattering PSOE votes there – will and has stained the party). Although we still haven’t been told what her ‘crime’ might be, there is no evidence whatsoever of corruption, nor economic benefit (obviously, we aren’t talking about a third-world country here), nor traffic of influence. Ignacio Escolar writes: ‘It is one of the unwritten rules of lawfare: the final result of the judicial process – if there is a conviction – is not as important as the length of time you manage to extend the shadow of suspicion over the accused person. Accusations that, even when they come to nothing, are very difficult to erase’. Later (on Monday), the Madrid court (‘La Audiencia de Madrid’) ruled that Judge Peinado may continue in his investigations along some certain lines, but to drop other inquiries. It’s all enough to keep the PP on a war footing.  

From Diario Red here: ‘The Provincial Court of Madrid has filed the famous Caso Neurona against Podemos, which began in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and made headlines and received hours of television and radio coverage. The cases against the former head of communications for the left-wing party, Juanma del Olmo, against the party's treasurer, Daniel de Frutos, and against its founder Juan Carlos Monedero have also been filed.

From Público here: ‘The National Court judge, Santiago Pedraz, has summoned the former Secretary of State for Security, Francisco Martínez, the Deputy Director of Operations Eugenio Fernández Pino, and four other senior members of Mariano Rajoy's police force for alleged investigations without any type of judicial control into several Podemos officials in 2015 and 2016...’

The EU law regarding the maximum length of time one can be in prison is thirty years – whether served in Spain or in another European country. All in agreement. But wait, some ETA terrorists have now done their time and must be freed. The PP wants them to remain under lock and key inside. Nothing strange here – if it wasn’t for the fact that the PP and Vox had both voted in favour of the reform – apparently without thinking in through. Indeed, three deputies have offered their resignation over this opportunity lost to lambast the Government. ‘It’s like – in the end, the ones who voted Txapote were you lot’ says the ERC spokesperson Gabriel Rufían in the Cortes during the Wednesday debate.

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Media:

The corporate-owned ‘leftie TV channel’ LaSexta comes in for some ribbing here, as a post on Twitter makes the point that: after hours and hours of fabricated lies against Podemos, the TV news on Saturday dedicated no more than 20 seconds to the accusation of the previous Ministry of the Interior and its ‘Patriotic Police’.

Menéame (here) is a kind of Spanish Reddit – its readers post interesting news items from Spain and elsewhere. Worth a look. On Wednesday, we find a story from El Confidencial titled ‘The Israeli government calls Spain a "paradise for sowing hatred and inciting the destruction of Israel"’, regarding the strong disapproval of the Israeli government towards Spain for its (I would say, balanced) position regarding the war going on in the Middle East. The items immediately below, or previous, as posted by Menéame readers, note the ‘Anniversary of one year of genocide’ and similar material… Meanwhile, Felipe VI was in Jordan over the weekend, fruitlessly calling for peace in the Middle East.

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Ecology:

‘Scientists in Doñana consider the park's permanent lagoons to now be extinct. The CSIC certifies that the largest of these water areas has dried up for the third consecutive year due to drought and overexploitation of the aquifer, and considers that we can now only speak of temporary wetlands’. Item from El País here.

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Various:

The colonel who revealed information about Juan Carlos (here) now ‘denounces the complicit role of Felipe González in the scandals of the emeritus king’. El Plural here. A couple of other past Royal girlfriends are revealed here and here. Praise for the comportment of La Reina Sofía through all this can be found in an article here.

MEP Alvise Pérez has asked his first question in the European Parliament.  He wished to know as to whether fellow MEP Irene Montoro (Podemos) ‘intends to kill women herself or regularize Africans so that they can kill them instead’. Serious question. 800,000 idiots voted for this buffoon. Video at Twitter here.

Público has an article about the improper financing of both Vox and Se Acabó la Fiesta.

From Mundo Deportivo here: ‘A world ranking (‘Global Fire Power’) says that Spain has a powerful army. We are close to Israel and far ahead of Morocco. Spain has just earned the 20th place among the most powerful armies on the planet. The podium goes to the United States, Russia and China, in that order’. The article compares Spain’s military might to Morocco (in 61st place).

Item from CadenaSer here: ‘77% of Spaniards say they do not have children due to lack of financial means, according to the CIS. 58% of those surveyed who do not have children would have liked to have them’.

Electomanía (in English) here ‘shows the results of a survey conducted by EM-Analytics on October 4th on the preference between Monarchy and Republic in Spain. According to the data: 54,1% of those surveyed opt for the Republic and 42,5% prefer the Monarchy’.

I had mentioned to the historian Diego Ramos that each nationality has its own version of history, and the British and the Spanish (for example) have a very different view of Sir Francis Drake. VozPópuli is glad to bring this historic figure into perspective (through a Spanish filter) here: ‘Francis Drake, the English privateer who stole tons of gold and silver from the Spanish Empire’. We read that he was described as ‘That English heretic, ocean plunderer and dishonourable pirate. A shadow that disturbed the sleep of sailors and would provoke an uncontrollable desire to spit on the ground when pronouncing his name: "El Draque" or "El Dragón"’. The quotes come from a book called ‘Francis Drake, El Corsario que Desafió a un Imperio’ by David Salomoni.

Another book of interest: ‘Living the Dream - Expat life stripped bare’ by various authors.

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Letters:

Friends – I’m taking some time off later this month. I’ll be in Oklahoma in November during the US elections (will try and get a selfie with some Trumpers).

Next week October 17th Nº560 will come out as normal, then back on December 12th.

I may run a story or two from America (on Spanish Shilling).

Lenox 

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Finally:

Luna de Xelajú – Guatemala performers Gaby Moreno & Oscar Isaac on YouTube here.

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