BoT 624

 

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

For Subscriptions and Tip Jar, go here.

email:  lenox@businessovertapas.com  

***Now with Facebook Page (Like!)***

Business over Tapas and its writers are not responsible for unauthorised copying or other improper use of this material.

Subscription and e-mail information in our archives is never released to third parties.

 

 

March 19 2026            Nº 624          

 

Editorial:

Relations between Spain and the USA appear to be having a tough moment as the ineffable Yankee president lowers the tone to bar-room talk.

Trump calls Spain a ‘loser’ and warns the United States will not be a ‘team player’.

“Spain? I think they've been very bad” US President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House on March 11.

“I’m not learning your damn language, I don’t have time”, Trump telling the Latin American presidents (an anecdote that made its way to Spain).

Then there was Spanish-speaking Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl (“an affront to the United States”).

All in all, one might be forgiven for considering the MAGAts to be dumb (in the American meaning of the word) and most Europeans tend to take that line.

The USA is not easily comparable to Europe – Spain for example, a large European country, is 35% smaller than Texas. Over there, you can go a long way in your automobile and still be in the same country, eating the same food and watching the same television.

But not all Americans are Republicans, and even less these days are Trump supporters. Perhaps Trump just needs to enjoy a vacation along with a decent paella and to sit on the beach in Marbella for a few days. Hey, the girls there often go topless.

There are of course, many Americans who love Spain – a country that has long been a favoured destination for American intellectuals. I can think offhand of Orson Welles, James Mitchener, Ernest Hemingway, Washington Irving, Barack Obama, Ava Gardner, Richard Gere, Michael Douglas, Gino Hollander and my old friend and neighbour the late Ric Polansky – who would never knowingly miss a bullfight.

Spain/US relations have been a case of love and hate. Spain after all was long there before the USA was even a glimmer in the eye of George Washington.

Puerto Rico, Florida, California, Texas and so on were all once held by Madrid.

The big break-up was when the Americans backed Cuba after it revolted against its overlords in 1898 leading to the Spanish–American War which soon cost Spain most of its remaining empire: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and The Philippines.

Washington supported the Nationalists during the Francoist uprising, with the later comment from Madrid: ‘without American petroleum and American trucks, and American credit, we could never have won the Civil War’.

But that was then, now we are all happily united as Western partners under the Nato flag.  

Donald Trump evidently has a grim view of Spain, as do (and must) his toadies. Lindsey Graham thinks that they should withdraw their two military bases in Seville and Cádiz and another, the foreign policy analyst Michael Rubin, suggests American support for Morocco to annex Melilla and Ceuta (with their combined population of 170,000).

While we are on the subject, there was even a plan, back in the 1890s, to invade and occupy the Canary Islands. Maybe somebody in the Pentagon could dust that one off.

Political pressure comes these days from the US embassy, warning its citizens to avoid Spain’s upcoming protests over ‘recent events in the Middle East’. On a happier note, the Madrid leader (and arch-conservative) Isabel Díaz Ayuso says she intends to celebrate the coming 250th anniversary of American independence on the 4th of July.

It certainly sounds fun.

Donald Trump evidently supports Spain’s far-right parties and receives homage from them in return. This may not be doing them a favour, as the Iran mission is far from popular here.

President Sánchez says: ‘¡No a la Guerra!’. Over in Hollywood, Javier Bardem echoed the sentiment at the Oscars: ‘No to War and Free Palestine’, earning ‘a huge round of applause’.

In Spain, they know a dictator when they see one. Giving in to one, whichever one, is out of the question. 

…...

Housing: 

Idealista looks at ‘From second home to main residence – residential tourism shifts in Spain’. We read that ‘We are witnessing a structural change in residential tourism. Foreign buyers no longer follow a seasonal or holiday pattern but instead choose Spain as a place to live for a significant part of the year…’ 

Business Insider has: ‘We moved our family of four from the US to Spain. Looking back, there are five things I really wish we'd done before we left’.

Eye on Spain on a similar point: ‘The Digital Revolution: Why Settling in Spain Just Got Easier for Expats. For years, the dream of moving to Spain came with a well-known caveat: the "mañana" culture. While we love the relaxed pace of a three-hour lunch, the paperwork involved in setting up a new life—banking, utilities, and residency—often felt like a relic of a different century’. 

From LaSexta here: ‘The ordeal of residents harassed by a vulture fund to force them to abandon their homes: "Some are leaving because they can't withstand the pressure". The details: It hasn't been a peaceful weekend for many residents being harassed by a vulture fund. The fund is causing anxiety and sadness for dozens of families in various parts of Spain’. Without identifying the particular avis necrophagus, we read: ‘…Meanwhile, the fund maintains its modus operandi: buying entire buildings and then reselling them at a higher price without even bothering to renovate them’. 

From El Salto Diario here: ‘A crackdown on tourist-oriented properties disables 450 locks in Valencia neighbourhoods. In numerous parts of the city, residents' associations are denouncing the gradual displacement of long-time residents due to investment projects involving residential buildings’. 

…...

Tourism: 

From The Guardian here: ‘War prompts Europeans to switch holidays away from eastern Mediterranean. Summer holidaymakers opting for ‘more familiar, easy-to-reach locations’ as travel industry counts cost of Middle East conflict’. It looks like that target of a hundred million overseas visitors is in the bag this year. 

‘Your holiday and the Iran conflict: everything UK travellers need to know. The short version: most holidays are unaffected. Here's the full picture – your rights, your costs, your options, and why there's more reason to travel than you might think’. From Holiday Extras. 

Opinion from La Revista El Observador here: Málaga wants to win the "Champions League of Tourism"... but at what price? Tourism generates economic activity, but it also reveals significant labour imbalances: involuntary part-time contracts, low wages, excessive workloads, and, in many cases, non-compliance with collective bargaining agreements…’ 

Idealista has: ‘Spanish region ranked among the world’s most welcoming in 2026. Discover a northern Spanish region named one of the world’s most welcoming in Booking.com’s 2026 awards’. The headline refers to Navarra (Pamplona and the surrounding province). 

A PSOE councillor: ‘José Luis Sánchez Teruel: “The ‘no to war’ campaign is one of the best promotional campaigns for our country in the world.” The PSOE parliamentarian from Almería called for measures to address the Middle East crisis in the tourism committee while praising the promotional impact of Spain’s foreign policy…’ Diario de Almería here. 

‘Benidorm, One of Spain’s busiest beach resorts, has agreed on a plan to settle €350 million in compensation to land owners who were shortchanged during a real estate boom in the early 2000s. Benidorm will make an initial €60 million payment before year-end and instalments both in cash and land over many years, according to a plan approved in a city council vote on Tuesday. That will ease the impact of an obligation worth more than double the city’s annual budget and help it avert insolvency…’. From Bloomberg here. 

…...

Finance: 

From EuroNews here: ‘Spain’s renewables revolution will keep energy bills low even as gas prices soar. Spain spent the last six years investing heavily in wind and solar energy, leading to some of the cheapest power prices in Europe…’ 

Fact-check from Newtral here: ‘The government doesn't "keep" half of what you pay for gasoline, as the PP spokesperson Ester Muñoz says’. 

‘Limehouse’. From El Español here: ‘Cesar and Josef, the Germans who own an empire of 3,400 tourist apartments across 20 cities in Spain’. "We have 70 percent tourists and 30 percent business travellers”, a Limehouse employee tells the journalist. 

Sur in English says that ‘Spain's tax authorities do not tax wedding gifts despite claims and law ambiguity. According to the law, any gift is subject to gift tax, but in practice the tax authority does not audit it unless the amounts are extraordinarily high’. 

…...

Politics: 

The Castilla y León elections last Sunday (42 seats to win) returned the expected results: The PP won with 33 seats (an increase of two), the PSOE came in second with 30 (also two seats more than before) and Vox came in third with one extra seat at 14. (The smaller parties – Podemos and Ciudadanos disappeared). In short, like the Extremadura and Aragón results, the PP needs an increasingly confident Vox to form coalition governments in those three regions. The Partido Popular (no surprise) needs Vox far more than Vox needs the PP, thus ‘The PP softens its tone and hopes to form a coalition government with Vox in Extremadura, Aragón, and Castilla y León before the Andalusian elections in mid-June’. Another headline reads: ‘Abascal says Vox will give way to form regional governments but at the same time warns the PP that they will demand concrete measures’. 

Politico says: ‘Sánchez’s Socialists defy the polls to finish strong second in regional vote. Spain’s governing party unexpectedly gained seats in Castilla y León elections following anti-war — and anti-Trump — messaging’. 

As we saw in BoT 623, Vox has been expelling several senior members from the party (including Ortega Smith). Another one (as it happens party member Nº 001) Ignacio Ansaldo, was also fired this week. As Santiago Abascal knows – there can be only one! ‘Keep this up, Vox will turn into a private pension plan for Abascal’ says an ejected Voxxer. Later, from El Mundo here: ‘Espinosa, Ortega Smith, and a dozen other former Vox leaders are calling for an extraordinary party congress. They are demanding an "open debate on leadership, organization, political orientation, and government strategy" that gives the rank and file a voice’. 

Argentina’s eccentric president Javier Milei was once again in Madrid this weekend, meeting first with Santiago Abascal and then speaking at the Madrid Economic Forum, ‘a forum of economists, businessmen and far-right politicians, where he shouted his catch-phrase “Viva la libertad, carajo” (Long live freedom, God damn it) to which the public responded by chanting insults towards Pedro Sánchez’. 

A new torpedo has struck the heart of energy transition. The PP, Vox, and Junts have garnered 177 votes against the ratification of the so-called Social Shield, concerning "urgent measures" to address "situations of social vulnerability" (measures against evictions of vulnerable families and for reducing electricity bills) and "tax-related measures" (tax breaks for families and businesses that install solar panels for self-consumption and for individuals and businesses that purchase electric vehicles). Item from Energías Renovables here. 

…...

War: 

From The Tribune here: ‘Spain's PM calls for end to United Nations Security Council veto power, criticises US over global conflicts. The prime minister said it was "curious" that Russia and the United States remained permanent members of the Security Council while, in his view, both countries were "bringing a lot of instability to the world with the wars in Ukraine and also in Iran". Pedro Sanchez also urges reforms to the United Nations system’. 

From RTVE Noticias here: ‘Thousands of people demonstrated across Spain last Saturday, demanding an end to the war in Iran. The initiative, supported by more than 200 organizations, was held under the slogan "The war in the Middle East must stop. Don't forget Gaza." The PararLaGuerra (Stop the War) platform, which organized the demonstrations, emphasized that the protests, held in more than 150 cities, "are entirely peaceful" and that none of them took place in front of embassies or consulate’. 

The Olive Press says: ‘Spain to release 11.5 million barrels of oil reserves in attempt to mitigate impact of Strait of Hormuz closure’. 

…...

Corruption: 

elDiario.es has: ‘The PP's political brigade called for €300,000 to pay the author of the hoax about Pablo Iglesias's Caribbean bank account back in 2016. Internal Affairs has uncovered how a police commander under investigation for the smear campaign against Podemos was involved in the fundraising for Venezuelan national Carlos Alberto Arias, who later confessed before a notary to authoring the document about Iglesias that turned out to be a fabrication’. 

From The European Correspondent here: ‘Working at your abuser's home. While migrant domestic workers keep millions of European homes running, the widespread harassment they face is largely ignored. We spoke to them to learn more about their experience’. Beyond the cases of sexual abuse or domestic violence, a line catches my attention: ‘Of the estimated eight million (mostly foreign) domestic workers in the EU, over 70% work undeclared, meaning they're hired privately by clients without formal employment status and benefits’. (Thanks to Brett) 

…...

Courts: 

‘David Hatchwell, co-founder and leader of Action and Communication on the Middle East (ACOM), is following in the footsteps of the conservative wing of Spanish politics in its persecution of various figures in Spanish journalism critical of the right wing. Considered outside of Spain to be the "mentor of Isabel Díaz Ayuso," Hatchwell has filed lawsuits against journalists such as Silvia Intxaurrondo and Antonio Maestre. ACOM announced this on its Twitter account: "Action and Communication on the Middle East reports the legal actions filed by its co-founder, David Hatchwell Altaras, businessman, philanthropist, and prominent figure in the Spanish Jewish community, before four civil courts in the Community of Madrid for the crime of defamation, as defined in Articles 208 of the Penal Code."…’ More at El Plural under the headline: ‘The Zionist lobby launches a legal attack against TVE personalities and left-wing journalists’.

EFE says that ‘A trial has been opened against comedian Quequé for harassment of the president of Abogados Cristianos (a far-right pressure group)’. 

…...

Media: 

From Reuters here: ‘Spain will launch a tool to measure hate speech on digital platforms as ​part of a broader strategy to increase ‌oversight of social media companies, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said last week. The country announced a wider plan last ​month to regulate social media, including a ​ban on its use for younger teenagers ⁠and measures to hold platform executives accountable ​for illegal or hateful content hosted on their ​services. 

From AlterNet here: ‘US President Donald Trump late Sunday floated “treason” charges against media outlets that he accused of reporting false information about the Iran war as the human and economic costs of his illegal military assault continued to mount’. I wonder, would President Santiago Abascal do the same thing? 

I’m not one for podcasts (being a trifle deaf), but here’s one from The Guardian: ‘El Guapo: The Spanish PM standing up to Trump’. 

…...

Various: 

The Guardian has: ‘Billionaire Zara founder Amancio Ortega to receive €3,230 million (3.23bn) dividend. Payment for Inditex founder, the world’s fifteenth richest person, tops last year’s dividend of €3,100 million (an extra 8.5m per day should help with the bills)’. 

Reuters here has: ‘China's Leapmotor expects mass production in October from assembly project in Spain’. Mobility Portal says that ‘At least two more Chinese manufacturers will soon produce cars in Spain’. 

‘Spain will send food, hygiene kits and solar panels to Cuba’ says CiberCuba here, as Trump says it will be a great honour to take Cuba, because “I can do what I want with it”, says El País here.  

‘The Spanish far right has lashed out at King Felipe VI following his remarks on the conquest of the Americas. On Monday, the King visited an exhibition on Mexican history, where he acknowledged that Spain had committed “many abuses” during the colonization of Mexican territory and admitted to “moral and ethical controversies” during that period. These statements have not gone down well with Vox party members and the far right in general, who have criticized Felipe VI for years because, they believe, his pronouncements do not align with the more conservative interests of the Crown…’ More at elDiario.es here. 

‘The Spanish scientist who almost eradicated malaria but was executed by the Franco regime. Sadí de Buen Lozano spearheaded a pioneering plan that prevented thousands of infections in Spain using a small fish (that ate mosquito larvae) brought from the United States’ says Público here. We read that the eminent parasitologist had managed to almost eradicate malaria in Spain, but his feat was cut short on September 3, 1936, when he was shot by Franco's troops in Córdoba. Malaria was rife in Spain in those times, particularly in Extremadura. 

From The History Blog here: ‘A Carthaginian coin used to pay bus fare is donated to Leeds. A 2,000-year-old coin that was used to pay a bus fare in the 1950s has been donated to the Leeds Museums and Galleries. The rare bronze coin was struck in the Carthaginian city of Gadir, modern-day Cádiz, Spain, in the 1st century BC’.  

From NatGeo here: ‘Gods and goddesses of Hispania before the arrival of Christianity. The peoples of pre-Roman Iberia possessed powerful deities whose worship continued during the Roman Empire’. 

I write up a piece at Spanish Shilling here – why are there suddenly so many döner kebab joints in Spain? 

A video on YouTube features José Antonio Sierra (BoT consultant) regarding his proposal to twin the two neighbourhoods of  Huelin (Málaga) with Sandymount (Dublin), and his suggestion to name a roundabout in Málaga after the Irish artist George (Jorge) Campbell. 

…...

Letters:

 

Twenty Years Later, and Something Has Changed. (Last week’s editorial)

Words of common sense and wisdom Lenox. I and my hubby agree with Sanchez too. Trump needs people to stand up to him. Moira 

I don’t blame the Spanish Government for stepping aside. The country experienced 36 years of Franco's political repression, of which generations still survive - along with their memories. Rowan 

Chaucer’s Canary Wine (item from last week)

Geoffrey Chaucer earned a gallon jug of Canary wine every day from King Edward III. By 1630, this was expanded to a tierce for Ben Johnson, the poet laureate of the day. A tierce is 159 litres (He probably sold it on to customers from out of his back door). The tierce is the equivalent of today's barrel of oil! Chaucer’s Pardoner’s Tale has a piece about the dangers of drinking too much Spanish wine (specifically, ‘the white wine grown at Lepe’). John

…...

Finally: 

Here’s another cracker from Cuba: Septeto Santiaguero - Esa Familia a mi no me conviene. On YouTube here.