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 Business over Tapas:
This seems like a good time to write about Brexit, which finally came to pass five years ago this February 1st. No doubt, like the majority of Brits living in Europe at the time (many of us without the vote on this considerably important topic), or in Gibraltar, I was decidedly against it.
My passport used to say that I was a European citizen; and now, it doesn’t.
But let’s start with the British opinion on the Brexit, where a far from thunderous 52% of those who voted back in June 2016 wanted out of the EU.
The Telegraph says: ‘Brexit wasn’t a failure. It liberated us from the declining, dictatorial EU’ (the right-wing organ introduces the above with the slightly inelegant ‘The Telegraph is publishing a series of essays on How to Save Brexit from expert commentators…’).
To which I say ‘indeed’.
We might as well do The Express (the low-brow right-wing newspaper): ‘Has Brexit failed? It’s the patently stupid question that people won’t stop asking’. Answers on a postcard.
John Redwood writes the Conservative line: ‘The voters were right about Brexit. We now need a government to use the freedoms we have gained’.
The BBC brings us a cautious ‘Brexit has some benefits, No 10 says on anniversary’.
There’s Adam Bolton over at Sky News writing ‘Most people think leaving the EU was a mistake – but don’t expect politicians to reopen the Brexit question. Five years on, even many of those who still champion Brexit, including Nigel Farage, concede that it has «failed» – so why are the main parties afraid to tell voters they got it wrong?’
The Guardian also wonders whether there’s a light in the tunnel: ‘Hope mixes with anger on Brexit’s fifth anniversary’.
The European press (unless they are supporters of the AfD or Geert Wilders) are worried that any fresh departure from the EU could only weaken the rest – and we all know that there are some dangerous creatures out there circling the wigwams (or was it the wagons?).
To turn to the Spanish media, we find El País with ‘55% of Britons regret the EU exit as the British government cautiously approaches Brussels. Keir Starmer is quietly seeking greater cooperation with Brussels to revive the UK economy’. elDiario.es, reporting from Oxford, has ‘Five years of Brexit, the reverse that has slowly sunk the United Kingdom amid popular disappointment. Only 11% of adults now believe that leaving the European Union has been a success while the country suffers the obstacles of the self-imposed border to buy tomatoes, sign footballers or sell sandwiches in its supermarkets outside the island’. Sandwiches always were a problem, that and bendy bananas.
The ABC assures its readers that ‘57% of the Brits would vote to re-join’. 62% of the Brits, says another Spanish paper doubling-down, think that ‘the Brexit was a fiasco’.
A local Brit blogger calls it ‘The worst day in modern British history’.
There is some question about whether the UK should look to shelter under the wings of the EU or grasp the US nettle held by Donald Trump. None of the Spanish media appear sanguine about the UK going it alone, but accept that there won’t be a cautious Return to the European Union for a long time, although, as a pundit tells 20Minutos, the two powers evidently need each other.
How’s business here down the line? Todotransporte says ‘After five years, Brexit has not been so bad (por España)’. It says that Spanish exports to the Sceptred Isle are actually up by 25% over 2020 with Spain enjoying an annual surplus of 12,500 million euros.
To return to those Brits who have a connection or a sympathy towards Spain, we have the (apparent) future issue of the 100% tax on non-EU citizens buying a home here, and the ongoing one of those who own a place, but don’t have residence and thus fall under the 90/180 day issue, obliging them to leave the Schengen Area – and indeed their Spanish home – for lengthy and unnecessary periods. This second issue, of course, wouldn’t be fully resolved by the UK re-joining the EU – it would have to sign into the Schengen Treaty.
Which, ‘like Breturn itself’, is a non-starter.
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Housing:
‘Palma de Mallorca approves an ordinance to fine up to 1,500 euros those who live in caravans. The municipal regulation, supported by PP and Vox, prohibits living in this type of vehicle, which has proliferated due to the lack of housing. The opposition calls the measure a direct attack against the poorer citizens’. El País has the story. A different slant on this story comes from The Majorca Daily Bulletin, which says that the issue is both political and indeed minor.
Idealista brings us the areas most in demand by foreigners looking for luxury properties in Spain. These exclusive districts and towns spread across the provinces of the Balearic Islands, Alicante, Málaga and Gerona register foreign demand of over 60% (half of the thirty areas listed in the article are in Mallorca).
From Schengen News here: ‘End of Golden Visa Program won’t discourage foreigners from buying luxury homes in Spain, experts say’.
The Non-Lucrative Visa is relatively easy to obtain says the Majorca Daily Bulletin here.
The Corner says that ‘In Spain, in 2024, a total of 717,338 homes were put up for rent. The figure alone doesn’t say much. The comparison with previous years does. That’s 96,512 fewer properties than were rented a year earlier’. Their conclusions: okupas, rent-controls, tenants in arrears…
The chief of economics affairs at La Cadena Ser Javier Ruiz explains why Spaniards believe that the problem of squatting (okupas) is almost 1000 times bigger than it really is. He points to those responsible for establishing this perception: the alarm companies and those wishing to make a political point. Okupas currently account for 0.057% of homes – or 15,289 out of 26,600,000 Spanish dwellings.
From the iNews here on the 90/180 day rule: ‘“The fact is that there are no extenuating circumstances for people who own property in Spain and are treated like tourists. I rent out my flat, I employ local people and when I am there, I am using the local restaurants. I pay a year’s worth of tax [on the property] but can only be there for half a year”’.
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Tourism:
Some numbers from El País here: ‘Record tourist numbers: arrivals from the UK exceeded 18.4 million last year (19.6% of all foreign visitors to Spain)’, while spending from foreign tourism grew by over 16% compared with 2023’. The article breaks down the numbers of visitors and their holiday spending. Following the FITUR fair in Madrid, El Periódico also looks at the figures: ‘Tourism is confirmed as the country’s great economic driver’.
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Finance:
From elDiario.es here: ‘The economy grew by 3.2% in 2024 and reaffirms Spain as the driving force of Europe. The Government has already announced that in 2025 the GDP growth will exceed 2.5%. Once again, beating all expectations’. One of the reasons (says the paper) why the conservative opposition has to fight back with convoluted polemics or cultural battles is because the macroeconomic data in Spain is unquestionably good. So good that the growth and the amount of foreign investment that we receive are higher than those of Germany, Italy or France.
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Politics:
How much of the PP’s activities are aimed at improving the life of Spaniards? An opinion piece at the left-wing Público is here. Following from the PP’s (surprise!) turnaround agreement to support the rise in pensions, the Vox leader Santiago Abascal seeks to establish himself as the only opposition to the Government against Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who is, he says, “an accomplice of Sánchez”. ‘The far-right party asks the PP to at least “step aside and not get in the way” to allow the leader of Vox to be “the real alternative” to “this corrupt and criminal Government”’. The story at elDiario.es here.
From El Mundo here: ‘Pedro Sánchez launches the PSOE regional campaign in Madrid against what he calls Ayuso’s «far-right multinational occupation». He says, «They have put the community up for sale and we already know who gets the commission». Sánchez also says that Feijóo is not asking Ayuso to resign despite having arguments as big as «a penthouse» (sic) because «he does not want to end up like Casado»’ (Pablo Casado famously lost his job in 2022 after attacking his fellow politician Ayuso). On Sunday, Sánchez had introduced the new Madrid candidate Óscar López to party supporters. The day before, says 20Minutos here, Sánchez was in Valencia with the PSOE regional leader Diana Morant. Sánchez called for the (disgraced?) regional president Carlos Mazón to ‘go home’.
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Europe:
‘Sánchez defends a “comprehensive European vision” against terrorism, drug trafficking, cyber-attacks and disinformation. The EU moves towards military autonomy with proposals to reduce dependence and strengthen defence industry’. The Diplomat in Spain reports.
Trump’s suggestion (plan?) to turf out the Gazans and make the area ‘the Riviera of the Middle East’ met with opposition on Wednesday from, well, everybody. 20Minutos says ‘…In Spain, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has once again insisted that «Gaza is the land of the Palestinians of Gaza and they must remain in Gaza,» while he wanted to make it clear that «Gaza is part of the future Palestinian State»’.
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Courts:
The sentimental companion of Isabel Díaz Ayuso has been called to declare in front of the judge – this, the fifth time – for February 24th. If he doesn’t find yet another reason to put off the meeting (the first one was called for June last year, but postponed due to fresh court depositions), the whole pack of cards could finally begin to tumble. The summons is part of the proceedings in which he is being investigated for the alleged commission of two tax fraud crimes and one crime of forgery of a commercial document in relation to an alleged tax fraud attributed to him by the Madrid Prosecutor’s Office. Some other issues regarding Alberto González Amador are also under investigation.
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Media:
Opìnion at Sur in English here: ‘Whatever happened to Airbnb? Big business and bureaucracy have finally got the better of me, and I have closed mine, writes Liz Parry.
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Ecology:
The 543 square kilometre Doñana National Park in Huelva ‘…is famous for its area of marshes, shallow streams, and sand dunes in Las Marismas, the delta where the Guadalquivir River flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It was established as a nature reserve in 1969 when the World Wildlife Fund joined with the Spanish government and purchased a section of marshes to protect it’ says Wiki here. We further read that ‘…The eco-system has been under constant threat by the draining of the marshes, the use of river water to boost agricultural production by irrigating land along the coast, water pollution by upriver mining, and the expansion of tourist facilities’. It is of course best known for its visiting bird population. From Novaciencia here: ‘Doñana is on the edge: these are the threats that could permanently damage its surroundings’. We read of Global Warming, that less migratory birds visited this January than ever before, that the water levels are dangerously low and of the arrival of certain invasive plant species. Thus, if the park needs help and care, the illegal extraction of large amounts of water for agricultural purposes would be another issue. elDiario.es reports on the ‘Hidden wells and doors closed to the Guardia Civil: how the Casa de Alba concealed the theft of water near Doñana. The agents recount in their first report how the eight illegal infrastructures (more than 30 metres deep) were in locations that made it difficult to locate them even with aerial images, and that when they went to seal them they were not allowed access to the property’. A separate article looks at ‘the possibly permanent and irreversible damage’ to the national park. The Olive Press notes that, ‘The Doñana Biodiversity Report shows that the first month of 2024 registered the lowest number of birds since records began in 1973. Low rainfall and high temperatures are to blame for the decline, with just 43,989 birds visiting the park in the first month of 2024. January is historically the busiest month for the park, but last year it marked an all-time low for the first month of the year…’ From Wiki again: ‘…Another environmental problem is water withdrawals for irrigation, many of them illegal, which have doubled since the late 1980s to maintain water-intensive crops such as cotton, rice and more recently strawberries. The latter are grown in greenhouses, with an estimated area under plastic of between 4,500 and 6,000 hectares in the Doñana area, producing over 90% of the Spanish strawberry crop. The boring of illegal wells to draw irrigation water from underground aquifers has apparently proliferated, while the water demands of nearby residential complexes and inappropriate usage of the water resources of nearby rivers may also affect the hydrology of the park…’
A local agency in Valencia called La Unió Llauradora has organised direct agricultural sales to homes in the region, thus cutting out the middle man. Valencia Fruits has the story.
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Various:
The Hispanicist Paul Preston reveals in his book Perfidious Albion about the real policy of the British government towards the Spanish Civil War – a policy designed to quietly support Franco. El Confidencial has ‘The Sherry-folk, Jesuits and aristocrats: this is how they decided in London that Franco would win the war’. The Times Literary Supplement examines the book here: ‘The theme running through the seven essays of Perfidious Albion is the contrast between the heroism of anti-fascist volunteers in the Spanish Civil War (1936–9) and the “institutionalised hypocrisy” of the Conservative British government, which publically promoted “non-intervention” despite knowing that Hitler and Mussolini were supporting the military rebels, led by General Franco, with arms and soldiers. This policy, Paul Preston argues, is what squeezed to death the democratically elected Republican government…’
From EuropaSur here: ‘Cave paintings in Laja Alta (Jimena de la Frontera, Cádiz) are confirmed to be the oldest in the Mediterranean and they reveal the first sailing ships. A team of researchers from the University of Granada confirms that the depictions of ships in the Los Alcornocales shelter date back to the 4th and 3rd millennium BC’.
From Wildside Holidays here: ‘Lost Heritage: Cochineal and the Endangered Prickly Pear in Spain. In recent years, the uncontrolled spread of the Cochineal insect, Dactylopius coccus (Cochinilla del Carmin in Spanish) has led to the near disappearance of the prickly pear (higo chumbo) here in Spain’. The article examines the use of both cochineal and the endangered prickly pear.
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See Spain:
Cuéllar is the most beautiful town in Castilla y León, according to España Turismo.
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Letters:
There’s one facet of tourism missing from the article that we experience in our region – the ‘snowbird’ motorhome population. Attracting tourists for a one-two week holiday, who stay in hotels, mostly eat out, buy souvenirs etc. is a no-brainer for a local economy. I’m not sure I’d say the same about the deluge of monster motorhomes that arrive every December from Northern European countries and stay for 4-5 months in large groups on every square metre of beachside car-park they can find. Palamores (Almería) has in excess of 100 motorhomes parked up in large camps on the beach and they congregate in the Cabo de Gata, despite it being illegal. My casual observations are that this brand of tourist are more interested in stocking up in Lidl and Mercadona once a week and having the odd beer out, than they are in seriously contributing to the local economy via ‘normal’ tourist spending activities. Before anyone gets feathers ruffled, I’m by no means anti-motorhome (my husband and I have one), BUT it’s very clear that the growing numbers on the costas every winter are causing issues and, it seems to me, that in places like Mojácar there’s a lost opportunity to capture some more tourist Euros by creating large municipal sites that are cheap and cheerful and cracking down more on the illegal wild camping on the beach-sides. Certainly the small aire on the outskirts of Vera has been crammed for over a month now.
Emma
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Finally:
The Benidorm Fest is the place to choose Spain’s contestant for the Eurovision. The prize was duly won by Melody with her Esa Diva here on YouTube.
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