BoT 575
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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March 20 2025 Nº 575
Editorial:
I’m surprised we don’t have an identity. There are 307,000 Brits living in Spain and perhaps a million stretched across the whole of EU (nobody seems to know how many). Then there are all those EU nationals who live in another EU country than their own, plus all those who came from somewhere else – South America, Northern Africa, China, The Ukraine and Timbuctoo.
How many is that?
Begging the question, who are they?
Broadly speaking – we foreigners have come here either to work or to retire.
The workers may be those poor folk who arrived here through economic necessity, sometimes risking their very life for the chance of a better future, or maybe they flew here with just a good job-offer in their pocket.
The retired folk, perhaps because we live better over here (I’m thinking of – oh my Lord: it’s the PIGS countries with their good food, friendly neighbours and warm winters!).
But all of us, we do rather pass without much notice from the local people. There are a few wealthy Hollywood or sporting (probably football) types who grace the pages of the gossip magazines, as we wander through their palatial homes in Mallorca or Majadahonda, accompanied by some bearer of purple-prose; then there are a handful of tame foreigners who have been accepted by the local population (in Spain, we have James Rhodes, Ian Gibson, Viggo Mortensen and the late Michael Robinson); the odd homage for standout political leaders (there’s no Churchill Square but Madrid does have its sublime Plaza de Margaret Thatcher). A few other foreigners from an earlier time are remembered – the various sherry families and the Dr Fleming barrio also in Madrid (he discovered penicillin).
There’s no Glorieta de Francis Drake though… There’s someone who needs a publicist.
Wouldn’t it be fun, if one of our current number became known for his or her literary or musical endeavours, or because he (we!) invented a cure for cancer.
That would make all of us ghosts walk a little taller.
The largely invisible foreigners: whether expats, immigrants, guiris, émigrés, piratas, hijos de la Pérfida Albión or those people who for various reasons find themselves on the run – are all living a better life while admittedly suffering from certain absences; whether family, traditions or a decent pot of Scottish marmalade in the fridge.
What do you miss, the social media sometimes asks.
Me? Nothing, I’ve been here too long.
A useful page to help get through the bureaucracy here in Spain is one called Brexpats in Spain International. The name probably came about thanks to the Brexit (which affected us EU Brits far more than it did you UK Brits). The other day, this worthy organisation decided to change its name to Expat Support in Spain – and were strongly criticised for doing so by many of its supporters. The Facebook announcement quickly got 203 comments before being turned off. The first one said: ‘Whilst I understand that the group no longer fit its previous name, Expat is not a good catch-all either, I and many others are NOT expats, we are immigrants and proud to be so!’
It seems that the Brits have put their foot down – no longer merely indignant about bullfights and uncastrated feral cats, they now have a new bugbear – being called an expat.
The word comes from expatriate, which means ‘a person who lives outside their native country’. An immigrant means something similar, without being as specific. The Brexpat people serve, from their page on Facebook, the northern Europeans (that’s to say, pretty much the Brits, since no doubt the Swedes have their own page) and we all understand the meaning of the word. An immigrant – usually one who moves for economic reasons – will probably be aiming for a passport from his host country, will certainly aim to speak the language, and will most probably be working in some menial position, such as in the plastic farms or on a building site.
In short, we know what the word ‘expat’ means when we hear it.
But what do the Spanish think? Are we guiris immigrants and nothing wrong with that?
I asked a few journalist friends.
·‘It sounds inappropriate. The concept of immigrant in Spain is associated with ethnicity, culture, and, above all, integration. The English, as Europeans, don't consider themselves to be immigrants’. José María (note here he uses another name for the British: los ingleses).
·‘The English who consider themselves immigrants are right, because they've migrated from their country to settle here. That's what immigration is. Coming from one country to settle in another. But you're right too. For a Spaniard, it sounds strange to call a Western European an immigrant, because we have a subconscious understanding that immigration is linked to poverty, to flight, to leaving developing countries to come to more developed ones. So, technically, an immigrant is both a Moroccan and an English person, but in everyday language, an English person isn't called an immigrant, but a Moroccan is’. Miguel Ángel.
·‘I'd laugh. I often defend the English. As you know, some Spaniards are prejudiced against the English. It's also true that they don't usually make much of an effort to integrate’. Says José Antonio.
·‘The meaning of "immigrant" is another’. From Ángel.
·‘No, the term is correct, from the perspective that they are immigrants in Spain and emigrants from the United Kingdom, although they are not strictly emigrants in the economic sense. Nowadays, the word "expat" has become fashionable to differentiate economic immigrants from those who aren't’. Writes Diego.
Why we must label ourselves as anything at all is another question – unless they happened to be handing out a new passport.
…...
Housing:
InSpain News brings ‘Record number of foreign buyers
snap up Spanish homes’. It says: ‘The Spanish real estate market is more
popular than ever among foreign buyers. In 2024, nearly 93,000 properties were
purchased by non-Spaniards. Hence, they were good for 14.6% of all real estate
transactions in the country. According to data from Spain’s Registradores
and Idealista, this is a record number...’
From EuroNews here: ‘Europe's housing crisis is worsening, and young people in Spain are struggling to get on the ladder as prices soar. A lack of affordable housing has become one of the main concerns for citizens in the EU, especially in Spain where residents of cities like Barcelona and Madrid say they are being priced out of the property market. In the bloc's biggest cities, one in 10 households spend more than 40% of their income on rent, according to the latest data from Eurostat. In rural areas, this figure drops to 7%. In this context, soaring prices, a lack of supply and the rise of tourist rentals are hindering access to decent housing in the bloc, especially for young people...’
…...
Tourism:
A few articles about
‘Tourists Go Home!’ are appearing here
and there
in the media: a bit like the visitors themselves, there will soon be many more
of them.
An expert warns of a bubble that should be of more concern than housing:
"The day it bursts, it will wipe out everything". Sergio Gutiérrez, a
real estate investment advisor, says that no one can control the excessive rise
in tourism sector figures. Infobae reports that ‘In 2024, Spanish tourism
once again broke records for the total number of foreign visitors, with 93.8
million international travelers, according to data from the National
Institute of Statistics for the entire year. Total spending by non-resident
tourists in Spain during the same period was €126,282 million, another historic
figure for the sector...’ Then, the prices go up, along with the rents.
Furthermore, there’s the inconvenience for residents. Indeed, there’s something
to be said for choosing an ugly pueblo over a chocolate-box pretty
one.
From the Ministerio de Industria y Turismo here: ‘Employment in the tourist industry increased by more than 100,000 in February, exceeding 2.68 million workers’.
…...
Finance:
Infolibre says that ‘The Spanish economy is growing, driven by employment’. Quoting the Banco de España, it noters that ‘The Spanish economy is set to grow more than expected in 2025, thus continuing a highly expansive economic cycle that places our country at the forefront of growth among European Union countries. While figures for most countries are being revised downward, Spain is set to grow more than initially estimated...’
Cadena Ser says that ‘The Financial Times (here, paywall) celebrates the Spanish miracle and explains why Spain is already a "new economic star.". The newspaper highlights the work of Pedro Sánchez and his team’.
‘Hacienda’s focus in 2025: cash payments or those with a high
standard of living who barely file taxes. The Treasury has set as one of its
main lines of action in 2025 the focus on individuals with a high standard of
living "in clear discrepancy" with their declared income and assets.
This is one of the guidelines of the Tax Control Plan’ says El País here.
From 20Minutos here: ‘30% of Spanish families believe
their household finances will worsen in 2025. This is reflected in the family
solvency study published by the OCU consumers organisation’.
‘The OCU consumers agency reports that the price of eggs has risen
by up to 25.2% in the last two weeks, an increase that is affecting the
cheapest categories the most. They say that the final price in supermarkets
reflects, in part, an increase in prices at source "that cannot be clearly
explained by an increase in production costs, and that could reflect
speculative activity due to the difficulties facing the market in the United
States"’. EuropaPress here.
"We have a communist government that has raised the minimum wage by 61%". Miguel López Abad, the president of Croem, the Murcian business confederation, warns that the level set by the government "is not social assistance" and has grown faster than company profits. The story at La Opinión de Murcia here. The SMI is currently 1,184€ per month.
…...
Politics:
The
CIS pollster maintains
the PSOE's five-point lead over the PP and reports a decline for Vox. Both the
Socialists and Partido Popular rise in the March barometer, which also shows a
recovery for Sumar, which has been declining for three months. A majority
supports the EU increasing its "defence capacity". PSOE 34.5%, PP
29.2%, Vox 11.7% Sumar 7.6%.
‘Santa
Bárbara is the armoured-vehicle manufacturer that José María Aznar sold for
five million euros and that the government now wants to recover through Indra
(the Spanish publicly-owned defence and telecommunications agency). Ángel
Escribano, the new president of Indra, has confirmed that the company
plans to buy the former public arms company. Its current owner is the American
giant General Dynamics’. From Infobae here.
A
strong title from El Huff Post here:
‘The US betrayal leaves the Spanish army reeling. The army needs more troops,
but increasing military spending to 2% of GDP remains up in the air’. Pedro
Sánchez says he’ll
somehow find the money without withdrawing ‘a single cent’ from social
services. Carlos Cuerpo, Minister for the Economy, is
sanguine: “Economic growth allows for a combination of increased military
spending and the strengthening of social security”. From El
Confidencial
here:
‘"What's at stake isn't simply a war or an invasion. There's something
much deeper, beyond this, which would already be important enough, and that is
the World Order itself. It's an order based on rules, on principles established
in the United Nations Charter, such as respect for the territorial integrity of
peoples, respect for and the right of peoples to exist, to freely decide what
they want to be," – Pedro Sánchez speaking on Sunday at the closing
ceremony of the PSOE Congress in Cantabria’. InSpain News reports that: ‘A
large majority of Spaniards believe that the European Union should strengthen
its defence capacity. A recent survey by the sociological research centre CIS
reveals that 75% of respondents are concerned about the geopolitical situation
and believe that Europe must arm itself militarily. Two out of three Spaniards
even support the creation of a joint European army’.
I
mentioned this (as a mixture between a forecast and a joke) a few weeks back. ‘Spain's forceful response
to the US if it decides to recognize Ceuta and Melilla as Moroccan cities. "To
date, absolutely nothing has happened to make us doubt our Spanish
identity", says a senior official from Melilla’. Item from El Huff Post here.
Morocco has now
installed military-quality jamming equipment on its side of the frontiers
with the two enclaves.
Not
only does Feijóo fail in English – here’s Isabel Díaz Ayuso
(who spent
nine months in Dublin in 2002), on YouTube (thanks Jake). Spanish
Revolution
takes the piss here.
…...
Valencia:
From elDiario.es here: ‘Feijóo rectifies and returns the European People's Party (PP) congress to Valencia’. Last week, the conservative leader has said that he would move the congress to Madrid, apparently concerned about the current judicial investigations into Mazón regarding the October floods.
Perhaps
what worries the PP right now is that Mazón has become indefensible. And
although the absolute priority in the Partido Popular’s headquarters in Calle
Génova, Madrid, is to not lose the Generalitat, the regional legislature (and
the ongoing DANA trial) could be very long for Feijóo, who has begun to
respond to journalists with any other improvised topic that comes to mind, or
with silence, when asked about Carlos Mazón.
To hold on, and obtain approval for his 2025 budget, Carlos Mazón must strike a deal with Vox (a party which has ceased its relations with the PP in other regions). Vox insists on a number of conditions, including less aid for NGOs, less support for the Valencian language, the end of the ‘Green Pact’ (climate neutrality), abandoning ‘la memoria historica’ (digging up relics and bones from Franco’s times) and the refusal of receive underage migrants (the ones who wash up on the shores of the Canary Islands). Furthermore (and alarmingly), a cut in the Emergency Budget is one of the objectives of Carlos Mazón and Vox.
From El Huff Post here:
‘Mazón says "I'm not leaving, I'm staying" and here’s the reason why
Vox wants to keep him in office. Santiago Abascal's party is aware that giving
the president of the Generalitat oxygen will deepen the PP's internal crisis…’
And that can only be good for the far-right.
From EPE here:
‘The Aemet (State Weather Bureau) issued nine bulletins and called the
emergency number 112 no less than twenty-one times on the day of the DANA’.
…...
Europe:
From
elDiario.es here:
‘Portugal will hold elections on May 18 after the fall of the conservative
government a year after voting’.
From
EUReporter here:
‘The failure of Brexit and its damage to the UK’.
If,
like me, you are concerned about the US turn towards something beyond what we
call ‘the far-right’, you may wish to
read DeSmog’s ‘The Heritage Foundation and its Allies Discuss Dismantling the EU. The
group behind the radical Project 2025 agenda is increasingly turning its
attention to Europe’.
…...
Health:
From La Cope here: ‘This is the free card you can
apply for in 2025 that will cover all your medical expenses when you travel in
Europe. The Tarjeta Sanitaria Europea guarantees
you access to public healthcare in the European Economic Area countries (plus
the UK and Switzerland) on an equal footing with residents of each country.
Applying for it is simple, just using your ID. We'll tell you how’ (It
didn’t work for me, sigh!).
…...
Courts:
‘The Court summons Ayuso's
boyfriend to testify as a defendant for corruption and unfair administration. The
judge is advancing the separate case against Alberto González Amador and
summons him as a defendant on April 10 for acquiring a shell company from the
wife of the president of Quirón Prevención to allegedly underreport to
the Treasury. Furthermore, the judge, contrary to the opinion of Ayuso's
boyfriend, has approved the appearance of the popular accusations from the PSOE
and Más Madrid in the case’. From Cadena Ser here.
This will be the sixth summons by the courts for the ‘boyfriend’. Should
Ayuso resign on the strength of having a dodgy boyfriend asks El Plural?
78% say ‘Sí’.
…...
Corruption:
A post in Facebook:
‘I’ll be going to the Guardia sometime this week to make a denuncia regarding
Iberian Funerals. If anyone is in the same position and wants to come
with me, you are welcome’. The Olive Press leads
with ‘The Iberian Funeral Plans (their webpage here) scandal is a disgraceful
betrayal of the British expat community in Spain’. The company abruptly closed
last week following the death of its owner. The other partners were unavailable
for comment and the head office is said to be closed. Who are they? We find a gusher
from The Euro Weekly News back in 2022: ‘Funeral Plans in Spain and
Portugal: Look after your loved ones with an Iberian Funeral Plan’. However,
their latest edition has this:
‘Recent reports indicate that Iberian Funeral Plans may have stopped
operating, leaving many individuals uncertain about what will happen to their
prepaid funeral arrangements’. The company Facebook page ‘is unavailable’. The company
registry for Iberian Funeral Plans (and for Iberian Services
Funerarios SL), both based in Alhaurin el Grande, Málaga, is here. Citizen
Advice Spain has ‘An Advisory for Affected Individuals of Iberian
Funeral Plans’ here.
A later post from CAS reads:
‘Following further investigation, it has been confirmed that Stephen George
Nelson, the sole owner of Iberian Funeral Plans, passed away
approximately two weeks ago. For the moment, it appears that there is no
indication of any wrongdoing or intent to mislead those who hold funeral plans…’
Various threads on Facebook regarding IFP are here.
‘The police have uncovered a
massive cryptocurrency pyramid scheme that has left eight people arrested and some
3,600 victims. The network, led by a computer scientist from Málaga, may have
defrauded victims in up to 36 different countries of more than 35 million euros’.
Infolibre has the story here.
…...
Media:
An amusing essay from The Guardian here about how many Brits like to place
their bets in the Cheltenham Horse Races down in Benidorm.
TV viewers were glued to their sets last week watching the ‘7921’ documentary about the refusal of medical attention for seniors in residences during the Covid crisis in Madrid. You can see the video here.
‘I’m the daughter of one of the 7,291 victims of the 'Protocols of Shame'
says Mercedes at Público with some pardonable hyperbole here.
El Español is the most read digital newspaper (to
my surprise) followed by 20Minutos, La Vanguardia and El
Huff Post.
…...
Ecology:
‘Despite these extraordinary rains, drought will return to Spain and will
become increasingly severe due to climate change. A report warns that Spain has
experienced the most frequent periods of severe water shortage in the 21st
century in the last 150 years and warns that they will become increasingly
severe and frequent’. El País (paywall) reporting.
The Guardian brings us ‘‘Global weirding’: climate
whiplash hitting world’s biggest cities, study reveals. Swings between drought
and floods striking from Dallas to Shanghai, while Madrid and Cairo are among
cities whose climate has flipped. Climate whiplash is already hitting major
cities around the world, bringing deadly swings between extreme wet and dry
weather as the climate crisis intensifies, a report has revealed’.
‘The value of a road. Logically, if road infrastructure were improved, more
people could revitalise these small towns, where housing is infinitely cheaper,
as is food’. Thoughts on the storm-damaged road-closure between Ronda and the
coast at Sur in English here.
The wild boar are getting to be a menace. From Jara y Sedal (the
hunters’ magazine) here, a video of a boar attacking a
young goat, while its mother tries to defend it.
…...
Various:
El Español brings us the story of ‘José Miñones, the
Galician whom Franco ordered to be shot to seize his businesses. The story of a
forgotten innovative Galician businessman who was executed at the beginning of
the Civil War’.
The Guardian has: ‘Closing the circles of pain’:
Franco victims finally come home as the 50th anniversary of the dictator’s
death looms. Spain’s largest mass grave (the Valley of the Fallen in Madrid
province, now known as el Valle de Cuelgamuros) holds the remains of some
33,800 people from both the Nationalist and Republican sides, their bones
crammed together under the basilica’s gargantuan cross in a hollow attempt at
postwar reconciliation’.
Business over Tapas is proud to be read at all centres of the Instituto
Cervantes (wiki). ‘The Cervantes Institute
is the largest organization in the world responsible for promoting the study
and the teaching of Spanish language and culture’. Their page is here.
BoT’s consultent José Antonio Sierra (he spent many years in the centre
in Dublin, and helped set it up) makes sure that they receive our weekly
news-letter. Here the Instituto brings us an
exhaustive list of Spanish refranes: popular wisdom.
The local PSOE is calling for the dismissal of the PP
councilor who abruptly stopped the performance of the classic play 'Lysistrata'
by Aristophenes in Linares (Jaén), deeming it "inappropriate".
The Guardian brings us ‘How a tiny village in a deserted part of Spain became a centre for gay weddings’. The village is Campillo de Ranas in Guadalajara. We read that ‘Since 2005, the village has hosted more than 1,000 ceremonies, with gay couples coming from as far afield as Japan, Iceland and the US to tie the knot’.
…...
See Spain:
From Eye on Spain here: ‘The Most Beautiful Villages in Navarra. Navarra has some of the most beautiful villages in the country, not often a region that foreigners really think of visiting, but it really must be considered as there is so much to see. Here are ten of the most beautiful villages worth visiting...’
…...
Letters:
Hi Lenox,
It’s pouring here (Madrid),
how is the weather down there? I’ve sent you a song to cheer you up.
Jake.
Raining fit to bust. I’ve
been isolated now for the last three weeks. Send food and whisky! Thanks for
the song – Leapy Lee with ‘Here Comes the Rain’. Lenox
…...
Finally:
On YouTube here, The Doors with Spanish Caravan, live at the Hollywood Bowl 1968.
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