BoT 630

 

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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April 29 2026            Nº 630          

 

*The next bulletin, BoT 631, will be dated May 14th.

 

Editorial: 

Andalucía was always ‘Red’ right up until recent times.

Up to, and after the Civil War, the enormous estates that made up the fertile part of the region was under the thumb of the latifundistas, the absent landlords from Madrid and elsewhere.

During the War, or at least until the fascists regained control, the land was run (no doubt ineptly) by the colectivos. The worker soviets. The cities were impoverished, and many people – those that could – had moved to Catalonia, Algeria, France, Germany and where possible, Mexico and South America. A figure given suggests 2,700,000 emigrated in search of a better life elsewhere. Many others who remained spent years in jail or interned at workers’ camps.

The huge majority of the andaluces in those difficult times were lefties – perhaps understandably – and when Franco eventually went to His Reward in 1975, Spain soon threw forth a progressive leader from Seville – Felipe González and the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, the PSOE.

Spain took off, under the new democracy, but Andalucía, always poor and forgotten by Madrid, continued to lag far behind. Its regional government, based in Seville and held by PSOE figures, was noted for its corruption.

Seville: not only the capital of Andalucía’s eight provinces, but also its wealthiest. They say that the money came in – but it never left to be distributed in the satellite provinces (particularly Almería, at almost seven hours by train).

Poor leadership: Manuel Chaves and José Antonio Griñán caught in the ERE scandal; Susana Díaz, inept and then the one after her… (you know, I’m not even going to bother to look him up).

Now, in 2026, those people are all gone – some with prison sentences, others deserving of them. Even Felipe González, Seville’s most famous son, is now under a cloud.

The Junta de Andalucía, the regional authority, is currently in the hands of a conservative. He’s Juanma Moreno, perhaps the third or fourth in importance in the whole of the PP. Elections are to be held on May 17th and he’ll no doubt get in again.

How did the voters come to switch their allegiances?

For one thing, they discovered a social class below them: the immigrants.

Second, as above, they saw the corruption and graft in the socialist camp.

Thirdly, simply voting conservative gives one, at least and if nothing else, the sensation of having joined the middle classes.

And life goes on. Only, it doesn’t if you get ill.

Juanma Moreno, like Isabel Díaz Ayuso in Madrid, has been supporting the private health sector at the expense of the public one. Ayuso is stained with the unnecessary deaths of the 7,291 elderly folk in the residencias during the Covid, Juanma has the problem of the lost breast cancer results which affected several thousand women. They have both been seen to be dismantling their regional public health systems.

The PSOE-A only has the one shot at the moment in its electioneering (despite having a senior ex-Government minister as their candidate), and that’s the state of the Servicio Andaluz de Sanidad. The public health service is clearly underfunded and being drained by the private sector – and there are many who don’t have the funds for private insurance.

The elections in Andalucía will probably run as expected, but supposing Moreno has to come to a deal with Vox. Will their ‘national priority’ put me back at the far end of the waiting list, in a public hospital that is sorely underfinanced?

…...

Housing: 

From Europa Press here: ‘According to a report by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, 61% of rental properties are owned by individuals with two or more rental properties, legal entities, and public bodies, while the remainder belong to small landlords who own only one property for rent’. El Huff Post has a similar message: ‘The "myth of the ordinary small landlord" is just that, a legend now debunked by a study from the Consumer Affairs Department and the CSIC (Spanish National Research Council). Fewer than four out of ten homes in the regular rental market belong to small landlords who have only one property rented out. The majority of the rental market is in the hands of multiple landlords…’ Gazette Lanzarote says: ‘Nearly 65% of landlords in Canary Island capitals own multiple properties. New data released by Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs, in collaboration with the CSIC, reveals that the two Canary Island capitals have the highest concentration of multi‑property landlords in the country’. In short, the idea of the simple owner renting out his spare dwelling for some extra income is something of a chimera. 

Opinion from Meneame here: ‘The Mirage of the Metropolis: Why Spain's City Model Is a Pressure Cooker. In Spain in 2026, the housing debate has become stuck in an endless loop: build more or limit prices. However, both solutions are mere band-aids for a much deeper wound: suffocating centralization and the neglect of many areas, forcing thousands of graduates and specialists to cram into just two cities, Madrid and Barcelona, ​​in order to practice their professions. This trend, to a lesser extent but with equally aggressive pricing, is already being replicated in hubs like Málaga, Valencia, San Sebastián, Bilbao, etc., stifling the options of the working class across almost the entire Mediterranean coast and the north. While other countries have understood that a nation's health lies in its network, Spain insists on being a bottleneck…’ 

‘Spain's government last week approved a sweeping plan to alleviate the country's housing problem, one of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez ’s main political vulnerabilities ahead of elections next year. Rising rental and housing costs are pricing many Spaniards out of the market, despite a recent economic boom. Incomes have failed to keep up. Analysts say tourism and population growth in cities driven by immigration have further strained supply. The new plan, worth 7,000 million euros ($8.23 billion), triples government investment in public housing over the next four years. It ensures that subsidized housing cannot be reclassified after a few years. It also includes help for young renters and home buyers…’ Item at Henry Herald here. 

From Eye on Spain here: ‘Spain’s €7,000 million Housing Plan: what it means for the expat market. The Spanish government has officially greenlit a massive €7,000 million housing initiative, the largest in the country's recent history. Aimed at curbing soaring rents and tackling a national housing deficit of nearly 800,000 homes, the State Housing Plan 2026-2030 is set to reshape the landscape of the Spanish property market…’ 

…...

Seniors: 

From 65 y Más here: ‘The number of Spaniards living abroad continues to grow. According to the latest data from the Padrón de Españoles Residentes en el Extranjero (PERE), the number of registered individuals has increased by more than one million people in the last decade, reaching 3.2 million at the beginning of 2026. Of this total, a significant group is that of people over 65, who now number 704,560 spread across the globe’. Three quarters of these expatriate Spaniards live in Latin America – Argentina leading followed by Cuba and Venezuela. By the way, expatriate Spaniards still have the vote in local, regional and national elections – in some cases, they can even change the results of the people here. 

From the I Paper here: ‘I voted for Brexit. Now I face a red tape nightmare to retire in Spain. Gone are the days when any Brit could leave their old life behind in the UK and head for the Spanish sun’. (Yes, I know…) 

…...

Finance:

From El País here: ‘Are wages rising? Not really. They’ve been stagnant for 30 years. The average real wage in Spain has barely increased by 5% since 1995, compared to the OECD average of 31%. And taxes on labour are at record highs’. 

From elDiario.es here: ‘The Chinese giant SAIC (the maker of MG cars) chooses Spain to open its first factory in Europe to produce electric cars. According to Bloomberg, the decision is not yet final and details regarding investment size, production capacity, and timelines still need to be ironed out, all of which are subject to change’. 

From Sur in English here. ‘Rents on Málaga's Calle Larios hit new record: 30,000 euros per month for 100 square metres. Rents have risen another 10% over the last year, yet occupancy remains at 98%’. 

…...

Politics: 

Vox brings overt racism to politics. The Vox-proposed ‘Prioridad Nacional’ (sometimes unkindly rendered as ‘Prioridad Nazional’ with a z) is raising all kinds of criticism. The thrust is that anyone, ideally, with a Spanish father and Spanish mother should come first, before all those foreigners. So far and in order to hold on to their crowns, the PP has accepted this ugly piece of Vox dogma in both Extremadura and Aragón. 

Opinion from elDiario.es: ‘Prioridad Nacional: a moral downfall. The investiture of María Guardiola this week has highlighted how the Partido Popular, far from distancing itself from Vox's racist and xenophobic positions, is adopting them as part of its ideology. Including national priority as a basis for potential aid constitutes, in addition to a breach of the principle of equality and non-discrimination, a true moral failing because it allows for distinctions between people when it comes to receiving basic state services…’ 

Opinion from Público: ‘Don't say "national priority", say "discrimination based on origin": the concept the far right is trying to push’.

LaSexta here: ‘"National priority" throughout Spain, Abascal's objective for his racist measure (so far) are agreed with the PP in both Extremadura and Aragon’. 

LaSexta here: ‘Vox's Secretary General, Ignacio Garriga (whose father was an Equatoguinean), on Friday labelled as a "mistake" the statements made by Vox's spokesperson in Catalonia, Joan Garriga (no relation), regarding what it means to be Spanish. Thus, after weeks of emphasizing "La Prioridad Nacional”, or national priority, Vox has shown that they cannot even agree on a definition of what it means to be Spanish’.

The Guardian sums it up here: ‘Hard line on immigration adopted by the Partido Popular as the right seeks to overthrow the socialist government in 2027’. 

Among various conclusions, we hear that King Felipe has a Greek mother and that several Voxxers, including their spokesperson, have a foreign parent. Even the Catholic Church takes a view. From El Mundo here: ‘The Church rejects national priority: "We don't operate at the level of slogans." The spokesman for the Episcopal Conference says. ‘"Our focus and our priority is the Gospel, and our presence in public life is based on two principles: the dignity of the human person is inviolable, inalienable, and cannot be diminished, and the common good of all society."’.  From Infobae here: ‘Former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero reaffirmed this Saturday that the national priority established in the PP and Vox government agreement in Extremadura and Aragon "is not compatible with legality" and that it also sends "an anti-coexistence message"’.

In short, the basic concept – whether expanded or not – goes that Spaniards should be first and immigrants should be at the back of the queue for health and other services. 

Yet (surprisingly) here’s Isabel Díaz Ayuso on the subject: "no foreigner leaves any Spaniard out of absolutely anything" Ayuso tells Vox at El Español. 

From Cordópolis here: ‘Sánchez responds to the PP-Vox pacts: “The true ‘national priority’ for Spain is peace, employment, and guaranteed public services” he says. In a pre-campaign rally for the Andalusian elections, the President contrasted his vision for the country with the agreements of the right and far right, accusing them of “violating” a “sacred principle of the Constitution: non-discrimination”’. 

Sánchez is una mierda and Interior Minister Marlaska is a rat says Abascal. We learn from El Español that the leader of Vox ‘blames them for the political harassment he suffers at his rallies in Andalucía’. Abascal also insults Juanma Moreno as ‘Juanma Moruno’ (moruno means ‘coloured’) for his support towards immigrant workers in Andalucía, or rather, ‘his promotion of the invasion of Andalucía’. And the campaign hasn’t officially started yet. 

… 

From El País here: Mónica García announces her return to the Community of Madrid: “I want Ayuso to leave”. The current Minister of Health will run in the Más Madrid primaries (facing the rather more acceptable Emilio Delgado) to return to the regional parliament. For now, she remains at the Ministry of Health’. 

…...

Europe: 

The Olive Press has ‘The Pentagon suggests suspending Spain from NATO and dropping support for Britain in Falkland Islands dispute as US goes on warpath against allies’. 

‘Israel manoeuvres to support Morocco's claims to sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla. Tel Aviv and the Trump administration intensify pressure on the Spanish government in the favour of Rabat amid the crisis with NATO’. Diario Socialista has the story here. 

…...

Health: 

‘1,000 deaths per year are reported in Spain due to pseudo-therapies’ says a blog here. 

El País looks at waiting lists across Spain. Andalucía comes out in last place for operations (173 days). 

Opinion from the ABC here: ‘Many people from Almería feel like they're Andalusians abroad, needing to know about the privileged Andalucía when dealing with administrative matters or emergencies, and not just medical ones. You go to them, the Andalusians of Almería, and they welcome you as if you've arrived at a sister tribe, isolated more by time than by distance…’ In short, Almería is a long way away from the headquarters of its regional government in Seville.

My local hospital is in Huercal Overa – the farthest you can get from Seville without leaving the region entirely. It’s 423kms by road. It’s an easy place to forget when you are a bureaucrat with a nice view of the Guadalquivir from your office window.

I used to go – now and then as one does – to the old very run-down hospital that would do service for Northern Almería. The waiting room had different chairs in it, scavenged from offices, homes and even old cars. A friend of mine was waiting once for her turn, and a glass lamp suddenly detached itself from the ceiling and landed on her head. ‘I’d better deal with that first’, said the doctor as he came through the door. 

Manuel Chaves opened the new hospital back in 1999. I have a photo somewhere.

It was pretty good – modern, close-by and with a decent bar downstairs (at least on the doctors’ side). It may not have served brandy like the old one did (you often needed a shot after seeing the doc in those days), but it had a good cafeteria and, I think it still does – although there’s no booze served anymore. Doctors’ orders.

For some reason, the doctors at the Huercal Overa hospital have temporary assignments (or so they tell me). Many an occasion, a whole consultancy is closed down. A recent report says that some specialists there have not been paid overtime since August last year. As for extended waiting times, I’m still waiting for a test ordered last June.

The SAS (Andalusian health authority) is now sending patients to a private hospital up the road in Lorca (Murcia) for operations as the Huercal Overa hospital can’t handle them.

I know, I could go private… 

The Partido Popular held a meeting in Mojácar last week to celebrate the Andalusian health system without mentioning our nearest hospital, the ailing La Inmaculada in Huercal Overa. 

…...

Corruption:

A developer has created a script that calls spam numbers back and traps them in an endless loop. The computer calls the registered spam numbers repeatedly, automatically playing Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up", until the spammer blocks the developer's number. Video in English. Has it arrived, this miracle invention in Spain? Not yet… (Writing this – I got another spam call on the phone: that’s three so far today). 

…...

Courts: 

From Wiki here: ‘Jordi Pujol, born 9 June 1930, is a retired Catalan politician who was the leader of the party Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) from 1974 to 2003, and President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1980 to 2003. He was tried in 2025 for corruption, suspected of having received illegal commissions worth hundreds of million euros in exchange for political favours during his terms in office. Several of his children, who became businesspeople, are also said to have become considerably wealthy alongside him…’ He was tried, says Wiki, twenty-two years after he left office. The story was that he allegedly had a little black book with all the goods on other senior figures in the Spanish hierarchy. Now, he has been released from his trial, due to his advanced age and mental condition. From elDiario.es here: ‘The National Court exempts Jordi Pujol from the trial regarding his hidden fortune due to his cognitive decline’. The poor guy is 95 years old (and his secrets are safe)… Pujol’s seven children still remain in court however, with his eldest son under cross-examination this Monday. Meanwhile, there’s a giant fortune stashed away in an Andorran bank. 

Some Twitter jokes about M. Rajoy and his amiable treatment in the Kitchen Case. 

Both the Caso Kitchen (the previous PP Government) and the Caso Mascarillas (the ex-minister José Luis Ábalos, Koldo García and Víctor de Aldama) continue… There’s no word on the Caso Novio de Ayuso, as the UCO specialised police unit continue to dither over their findings (after 300 days). 

‘Ten graffiti artists arrested for causing €377,000 worth of damage to trains and subways in Catalonia’, says 20Minutos here. 

…...

Media:

La Toga Nostra is a new and unkind name for our learned friends on The Bench. From InfoLibre here: ‘A few days ago I woke up and turned on the radio and heard that Judge Peinado—a judge appointed not through competitive examination but through the now-defunct merit-based system—had finally closed the investigation into the Begoña Gómez "non-case." The magistrate, who happens to be the father of a PP councilwoman in Pozuelo, decided to send her to trial for four crimes after years of speculative investigation and several rebukes from higher courts for having weighed prejudices rather than evidence in the balance of justice. … Justice being blind is one thing, but it's quite another for some judges to proceed blindly. Because they always seem to stumble in the same direction’. 

From The Telegraph here: ‘Spain’s rebel leader breaks ranks with Europe to let migrants in. Pedro Sánchez aims to boost growth with an amnesty that will turn black-market workers into taxpayers’. We read that ‘Mr Sánchez wants to turn hundreds of thousands of black-market workers into legitimate taxpayers and boost growth, which in Spain already outstrips that of Germany, France and the UK’. 

From El Plural here (with photos): ‘A PP-run town council uses AI to make Spanish detainees appear as foreigners. The Benalmádena (Málaga) council sent the media a photograph of the detainees with Arabic images and signs on a street where none exist’. 

…...

Various: 

The Two Andalucías. An essay from El Topo looks at the region, divided into two – the Seville provinces and the Granada provinces. West and East. Never the twain shall meet! 

From The Olive Press here: ‘Popular ‘Marbella Se Queja’ Instagram page rages at expats who’ve “lived on the Costa del Sol for years and can’t even say hola”’. There’s a photo of the influencer in question, Diego Escalona Gomez, leaning against his Porsche. 

…...

Finally: 

Los Benders with Oye Gato on YouTube here.