BoT 637
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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June 25 2026 Nº 637
Editorial:
Aren’t we lucky speaking, reading and writing in English? We either managed to be born in an English-speaking region, or we learnt it as a child (easily) or as an adult (more difficult). There are those who don’t speak the language and they doubtless will have found themselves at a disadvantage as they go through life in the West.
Like Alberto Núñez Feijóo, Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Santiago Abascal for example.
English has become the lingua franca, the common tongue, even though it’s not a first official language in any country of the EU-27: and then only in Eire and Malta, which make up between them just 1.3% of the European Union’s total population. Nevertheless, around 43% of the EU speaks English, led (after the aforementioned Eire and Malta), by the Netherlands, Croatia and Austria.
Probably using subtitles rather than dubbing on the films and TV shows is a useful aid.
Disappointingly, around 77% of Spaniards, says the INE, speak no English whatsoever. Yes, despite the tourism.
General Franco didn’t help, banning all languages to be spoken other than Spanish (hence the subtitles). This included Catalan, Euskera, Galego and even signing for the deaf.
English of course does better elsewhere, thanks to the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada, and a host of other countries around the world. If you are thinking of going into business, the hospitality sector or politics, it’s a vital tool to acquire.
Which brings us back to Alberto Núñez Feijóo (not an easy name, and I say this in sorrow, for English-speakers to remember on indeed pronounce).
Feijóo
was on a TV chat show the other day – on one of the commercial channels:
needless to say, he won’t go on the national RTVE. He told Pablo Motos on ‘El
Hormiguero’ that he doesn’t speak English at all (he blames his childhood school
rather than Franco) but he says that he can always translate something, when necessary,
on his handy mobile phone.
The lack of English in (most) Spanish politicians came to light back in 2013 with Ana Botella, the mayoress of Madrid (by chance José María Aznar’s wife) and her promotion for Spain’s capital city with a: “Relaxing cup of café con leche in Plaza Mayor (sic.)”.
Today, with the departure of Alberto Casado from the PP, no one in that party particularly speaks what the Spanish fondly like to call ‘the Language of Shakespeare’ (not many of us do either, but that’s another story). Over at Vox, Feijóo’s putative partner Santiago Abascal speaks a little broken French (apparently), but that’s as far as it goes.
And so on (Thanks to Google AI for the foregoing).
Returning to Feijóo, who won’t remain the leader of the Partido Popular for much longer (says El País), we can look at the two leading rivals for his position.
The president of the Madrid Region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso speaks some English (she worked as an intern on a radio station in Dublin), but she has acute political problems with her boyfriend now finally coming to roost. The other is Juanma Moreno from Andalucía, who says he is currently taking lessons from ‘a native teacher’.
Thus, once again, the difference in professionalism between the current government and the competing PP/Vox politicians is evident.
…...
Housing:
‘The number of homes in Spain grew by 94,791 homes in 2025, according to statistics published last week by the Ministry of Housing. This represents a decrease of approximately 7,500 units compared to 2024. Thus, despite high demand and public concern surrounding this issue, the growth rate has slowed to 0.35% in 2025’. From RTVE here.
‘One in three homes in Spain could be single-person households by 2041’ says an article at InSpain.News here.
Following its absence from Government agenda and debates, The Majorca Daily Bulletin surmises that ‘the Spanish government's plan to slap a 100 percent sales tax on non-European Union, non-residents home buyers in Spain has been quietly forgotten and it is very unlikely that it will be mentioned again…’ The same source also has: ‘Scrapping the 90-day rule would lead to a surge in demand for Spanish properties, say experts’. Indeed!
From The European Business Magazine here: ‘The Spanish Coast Gold Rush: How British Buyers Are Driving Out Locals’. We read: ‘Spanish property prices rose 14.3% over the past year, according to valuation firm TINSA, with coastal markets significantly outpacing the national average. In Málaga province — the heart of the Costa del Sol — some 2025 datasets show price growth running as high as 19-20% year-on-year. Forecasts for 2026 point to continued increases of 5-9% in the most sought-after locations, with the very best micro-markets pushing 7-9% above the broader national trend…’
‘When renting out your Spanish property becomes a nightmare’. Sometimes things can go very wrong as we learn in this tale from Spanish Property Insight.
In ‘Hogar, Dulce Negocio’ (Institució Alfons el Magnànim, 2026), the Valencian journalist Gonzalo Sánchez dissects the arrival in Spain of large foreign investment funds, the so-called Vulture Funds. An interview with Sánchez at El Salto Diario here.
In the opinion of the far-left Diario-Octubre here, ‘Housing can no longer be a business. Housing must be a right, not a mere commodity. This seems like a simple statement, almost common sense. However, we live in a society where something as basic as having a roof over our heads has become a commodity subject to the laws of the market, speculation, and the greed of a few. Therein lies the root of the problem…’
From Registro, how much is my apartment worth? Maybe this will help.
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Tourism:
VN Express has: ‘Spain, the world's second most visited country after France, saw a 3.4% year-on-year increase in foreign arrivals to 26.5 million in the first four months of the year amid global uncertainty triggered by the Middle East war. The country welcomed 9.1 million international tourists in April, a 5.2% increase compared to the same period of last year, according to data published this week by the National Statistics Institute.
‘Beyond the beach: Spain pushes offbeat regions as tourist numbers nudge 100m. The tourism minister says another likely record year of visitor growth is not a worry amid move to welcome tourists out of season and to market less frequented areas’. The Guardian article is here. The charming Spanish tourist video campaign, ‘You think You Know Spain’ is here.
…...
Seniors:
From RTVE here: ‘Pedro Sánchez has announced "the largest investment in long-term care in the history of Spanish democracy," amounting to more than €2,200 million in additional funding. This investment aims to "provide better and more comprehensive care for those who need it most." It entails the central government funding 50% of the long-term care system, bringing the total to over €7,200 million by 2027. This will be implemented through a royal decree-law approved this Tuesday by the Council of Ministers.
Sánchez emphasized that this investment nearly quintuples the state funding for long-term care since 2018 and represents "a decisive step towards consolidating a much stronger, more humane, and fairer system."’.
Reuters has a story called ‘In Spain, elderly UK expats struggle for care post-Brexit’. It’s to do with the 90/180 day visits that are causing problems for family members hoping to arrange live-in care for their elderly relatives, resident in Spain.
…...
Politics:
The Wednesday presentation by Pedro Sánchez in the Cortes was mainly about corruption. Sánchez saying that the few cases had been dealt with immediately by the party, while the opposition howled for a resignation (Junts per Catalunya) or a call for fresh elections. We shall keep going, says Sánchez, until next year. Feijóo and Abascal can’t find enough support for a moción de censura and they are left ‘attempting to lower the prestige of the Spanish political system itself’. One riposte that stood out (from elDiario.es here): ‘Sánchez criticizes Feijóo for his support of Ayuso's partner: “You harass my wife for earning zero euros at her job and protect a guy who is becoming a millionaire at the expense of privatizing citizens' health.”’.
Sánchez’ wife, Begoña Gómez, handed in her passport to Judge Peinado at his court at 6.00pm Wednesday. Just in time for the summer holidays.
From Público here: Alberto Núñez Feijóo (his nickname in Spain, by the way, is Frijolito) on the El Hormiguero show on TV regarding Vox and its leader Santiago Abascal: ‘"We will sit down and form a coalition government". The PP leader refuses to "demonize" Vox and opens the door to a government with the far-right leader as vice president, in which he will impose six "red lines"’. Which are…? ‘These limits, which he later listed, are respect for the Spanish Constitution; respect for the Spain of the autonomous communities; equality policies, gender policies and LGTBI policies; the balance of public accounts; the prosperity of Spaniards "above all," and "an orderly and rational immigration policy."’.
…...
Europe:
From The Guardian’s ‘Brexit Ten Years On’ here: ‘Michel Barnier on Boris Johnson, Brexit and the EU’s future. The former negotiator believes in an unstable world, it is ‘perfectly possible’ the UK can rejoin the EU with old opt-outs’.
From El Español here: ‘The British citizens in Spain "forgotten" by Brexit: "The government promised our rights would be protected, but it has failed to look after us." A decade after the referendum, thousands of British homeowners in Spain complain of being left out of the protections negotiated between London and Brussels and demand a solution that would allow them to spend more time in the country’.
From Nueva Revolución here: ‘The mobilizations and regular strikes by the Portuguese working class have achieved the withdrawal of the Government’s labour reform’. It says, ‘…The conservative government has had to withdraw the controversial labour reform it intended to impose, a package of measures that threatened to add to precarious working conditions, to facilitate dismissals, extend temporary contracts, deregulate working hours and cut rights won over decades’.
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Trial and Punishment:
Some cases take a little longer than others. One that is now beginning to flower is the case against ‘the boyfriend’ – as Ayuso’s companion Alberto González Amador is known. From elDiario.es here: ‘Ayuso's partner saw his income from Quirón Salud (a major private health company) increase sevenfold after beginning his relationship with the Madrid president. Alberto González Amador's career took off with a suspicious two-million-euro commission; he then committed tax fraud while in the president's relationship and never returned to his previous income level thanks to contracts with the company that receives a whopping one thousand million euros annually from the Community of Madrid’.
The eccentric judge Peinado has now called to take away Begoña Gomez’ passport and has told her she can’t leave Spain. The plan is a trial by jury (try and find anyone in Spain that doesn’t have a preconception on this burning issue of ‘innocence’ or ‘guilt’), and the private accusers are asking for 24 years clink. What for? Now there’s a mystery. The Public Prosecution says it would have dropped the whole thing. The Moncloa says that Judge Peinado's order to send Begoña Gómez to trial and confiscate her passport confirms his "persecution and obsession". The anomalous private accusation system – here Vox, Partido Popular, Manos Limpias, Hazte Oir (etc) – is unknown in other countries, but oddly, still operates in Spain. On Saturday, Judge Peinado warned that Begoña’s police escort might look the other way as she hopped onto a slow boat to China. The Police syndicate Jupol lodged a complaint against the eccentric judge who has now (Monday) been disciplined by the CGPJ. Opinion from Iñigo Saenz de Ugarte: ‘Everything in this case is regrettable, with no evidence to support the cascade of crimes hanging over Begoña Gómez, and it is a stain that will not be easily erased from the image of Justice in Spain’.
But an even odder case of justice, as the ex-minister José Luis Ábalos and his henchman Koldo García are served with 24 and 17 years prison from the Supreme Court for their activities selling bootleg mascarillas during the Covid. Their other partner, one Victor de Aldama, turned courts’ evidence and got just 4.5 years prison which he won’t have to serve, and he also gets to keep his share of the money (3,700,000€). Aldama appears to be an interesting sort – he’s active in the PP, and as we read at Infobae, ‘figures largely in another inquiry: leading a scheme that defrauded €182.5 million in IVA and transferred €74 million "of criminal origin" to Portugal, China, and Colombia. The National Court is still investigating him for money laundering, bribery, tax fraud, and influence peddling in a case of fraud in the hydrocarbon sector’.
And then, there’s this from Infobae here: ‘The Audiencia Nacional (National Court) authorizes the Gürtel corruption ringleader Francisco Correa to coordinate the sale of 44 of his properties instead of putting them up for public auction: “It’s putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.” The court rules that Correa can negotiate with companies that have expressed interest in acquiring his villas in Ibiza, Cádiz, and Madrid’.
For fake news stories revealed, Maldita is a useful site.
Most Spaniards question the impartiality of the justice system. 31.8% of citizens say that the courts act “more harshly” against the left, compared to 16% who say they are harsher against the right, while 34.9% believe that the justice system acts the same way and 17% did not express an opinion, according to a survey by Ateneo del Dato for elDiario.es here.
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Ecology:
‘This is what the scorching summer of 2026 will be like in Spain: the Aemet (the State Meteorological Agency) warns of extreme heat and rising temperatures in the coming months. The Aemet is forecasting an extremely hot summer in Spain, with up to a 70% probability of experiencing above-normal temperatures, coinciding with an imminent and dangerous heat wave’. This cheery story comes from El Confidencial here. We also read from El Confidencial that: ‘Anomalies of up to 5°C. Europe measures the Mediterranean's temperature and makes it clear: we have a ticking time bomb on our hands heading into autumn. The Mediterranean reaches June with anomalous temperatures and an early marine heatwave. This excess heat alone does not predict extreme rainfall in autumn, but it does increase the risk’.
Apparently, it’s the high night temperatures which are affecting us.
‘Besides being a good indicator of the environmental quality of cities and towns, where swifts, swallows, and house martins are present, the environment is healthier for people. These are very beneficial animals that consume a large number of flying insects…’
‘Bee-eaters and frogs, unexpected allies in halting the spread of the Asian hornet in Doñana. A project by the El Burrito Feliz association demonstrates how nature can build its own defences against an invasive species’.
From El País in English here: ‘Chameleons are spreading across Spain as experts urge people not to take them home. A new distribution map confirms stable populations beyond Andalucía, including Murcia, Alicante and Valencia’.
‘Concern over the increase in ticks in Spain: "They are always a risk, and it is true that they have moved from the countryside to the cities"’. Probably thanks in part to the wild boar.
From ABC here: The Rules dam (Granada) releases up to 30,000 litres of water per second into the sea because it lacks a distribution network for consumption. The water has no other use because there are no channels available for irrigation and supply’. The water is fed (still!) by snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada. (Thanks Jake)
Feral Pigs (wild boar): a (comic) look at them from John Oliver at This Week Tonight. Personally, I get rid of these pests by shaking out some cayenne powder on my land.
…...
Various:
From Eye on Spain here: ‘The 50 Million Strain: Why Spain’s Infrastructure is Nearing Its Breaking Point. For anyone who has recently spent an hour hunting for an appointment at a local medical centre, watched a commuter train delayed on a major regional line, or felt the sting of rising rental prices in a coastal town, the feeling is becoming hard to shake: Spain is getting crowded’.
From elDiario.es here: ‘Two-thirds of the 900,000 migrants who have already applied for regularization are Latin American, mostly Colombian. Colombian citizens account for 30% of all applications registered to date. They are followed by Moroccans (14%), Venezuelans (10%), and Peruvians’.
(We’ve always wondered...) ‘The beauty of the useless: Spain’s super-thin restaurant napkins are throwaway art treasures. Forever flimsy and ineffective at cleaning greasy fingers, the servilletas of the Iberian Peninsula resist the relentless ‘optimisation’ of our age. A new photo book recognises them as cultural treasures in miniature’ From The Guardian here.
The Olive Press has ‘Spain overhauls driving laws with strict new rules for scooters, bikes and motorists’.
From Sin Permiso here: ‘Unlike Italian fascism or German Nazism, the rebel faction lacked a political organization model alternative to the republican one, one accepted by all its members. Its internal cohesion stemmed from a negative definition: the fierce reaction against republican democracy and its legislation. In 1936, Franco assumed “all the powers of the new State,” and in 1937, all anti-republican political forces were unified under his command in the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS.
In the early years of the dictatorship, the purge of judges and prosecutors genuinely loyal to the Second Republic was completed, and the jury system was abolished…’
In short, for forty years, to be a judge was to be a Francoist. Now things are easing in the Judiciary…
The Spanish call them Campos de Concentración. From Cadena Ser here: ‘The eleven concentration camps that Franco created in Galicia: the story of forgotten hells’.
Michael Portillo’s Andalucía – a video from British television.
‘Football as a bridge between cultures, languages and generations. Football is much more than a sport. It's a cultural phenomenon capable of uniting people, fostering languages, promoting geographical knowledge, and creating bonds between people from different countries. Over the last few decades, this cultural dimension of football has served to build bridges between communities and transform a simple ball into an invaluable educational tool’. From an article by José Antonio Sierra for Euro Mundo Global.
UD Almería 1 – Málaga CF 2. ‘Málaga CF did it again. The team secured promotion this Saturday in Almería, their sixth promotion since adopting their current name. And this is no ordinary achievement. It's a return to La Liga, a place Málaga fans have watched with longing, patience, and a faith tested far too often’. More at La Opinión de Málaga here.
From Facebook, a short talk from Pedro Sánchez on the World Cup: ¡Vamos los Rojos!
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Finally:
A clip from my favourite Spanish film: Carlos Saura - Carmen (1983) with the habanera scene featuring Antonio Gades and Cristina Hoyos.
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