BoT 638
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.
July 2 2026 Nº 638
Editorial:
I may have given the impression over this long and normally enjoyable life that I was a little distrait with my family, my friends, my immediate circle and (now that I come to think of it) with that nice policeman who wanted to breathalyse me the other day: at seven in the morning on the way to the airport.
The thing is, like many people over the age of, let us say fifty, I am stone deaf.
And thus, like many a slightly vague senior, I eventually gave up and admitted to myself that I am a trifle hard of hearing – a bit like the Twelve Steps:
‘My name is Lenox, and I’m deaf’.
‘Speak up, we can’t hear you’, they shouted back.
I happen to have a Spanish connection. These are very common between our hosts, but quite rare for Johnny Foreigner. There will normally be a sister-in-law who is a judge, a brother who works in the city hospital, a school friend who is now a Guardia Civil and so on. Almost everybody has a useful contact either through the extended family or by happenchance. They like to say: ‘It’s not what you learnt at school, it’s who you sat next to’.
A very fine system it is too. In Spain, everyone is in with a chance.
For we foreigners, this is a lot harder, but I’ve been here for a long time: almost sixty years (cough cough!) and, anyway, where I’m going with this is I know someone in the hearing aid business, or rather I did as she has since moved to Tenerife. Long story short, I got some staggeringly expensive pinganillos for a song. Fifty percent off the listed price.
Spain is very noisy, and one may be tempted to soldier on without a listening device (sorry, that’s the best the Thesaurus could come up with apart from ‘a vacuum-tube hearing aid’). The ambient noise, the drills, the shouts, the tricked-out mopeds, the horns and sirens. It’s not so bad when you’re deaf, for sure, but then you need to hear what your darling says too.
The main drawback to my hearing aids is that they faithfully pick up all kinds of noise that I would rather not hear – the folk at the next table, the coffee-grinder behind the counter, the television and the waiter shouting ‘dos cañas y una Fanta limón’ to the woman working the bar. I can always take one out of my ear, unplug myself on one side as it were, to better hear what’s going on the other side where my neighbour is seated. Unless it’s not interesting, in which case I can more or less manage what my grandmother used to do with her ear trumpet, which was to point it the other way.
Spain is the second-noisiest country in the world, only behind Japan – and that’s because they have paper walls (useful in an earthquake) whereas ours are made of machimbrado: thin brick and plaster. The sound travels through them, and once it has arrived, it bounces off the tiled floor and naked walls.
Which is why I like a carpet and a painting or two in my quarters.
Hearing aids are not as easy to remember as glasses. I will have reached for my specs right from the start, while clambering out of my pit, but I may be behind the steering wheel before I remember the hearing aids, blast them.
Still, I probably won’t need them just to do the shopping and to have a beer and a tapa afterwards. Deaf people are very good at saying ‘fancy that’ and ‘well, I never’ when they can’t hear you.
I’m feeling better now. Barman, bring me another caña!
…...
Housing:
A notice from The Ministry of Housing here: ‘The Spanish Government has a clear objective: to consolidate housing as the fifth pillar of the Welfare State. To this end, it has promoted the first Housing Law (Ley de Vivienda) of the Spanish democracy. This law directly addresses Article 47 of the Spanish Constitution, which states that "all Spaniards have the right to enjoy decent and adequate housing" and that "the public authorities shall promote the necessary conditions and establish the relevant regulations to make this right effective." How? Through three lines of action: more housing, better regulation, and greater support. In other words, by building a public housing stock capable of influencing the private market while regulating that market through a series of measures aimed at guaranteeing the right to housing over speculation and private profit; and at the same time, establishing a broad safety net to ensure no one is left behind…’
Housing construction in Andalucía has plummeted by 95% in two decades according to the Diario de Almería here: ‘The relationship between the Andalusian and the Spanish Governments regarding public housing planning has become strained, and it is highly likely that the Constitutional Court will ultimately resolve the disagreements over a possible overreach of authority, which the regional administration accuses the central government of committing. The controversy surrounds the 2026-2030 National Housing Plan. The Sectoral Conference on Housing was held in May for its approval. At that time, the Andalusian Government joined in its widespread approval, although its endorsement was limited to the distribution criteria, but even then, it left open the possibility of appealing. Now, the Regional Government Council has just approved a request for a declaration of lack of jurisdiction, a preliminary step towards a positive conflict of powers…’ Presumably, one can read that for most regions.
From La Cope here: ‘Spain has almost 4,000,000 empty homes, half of them in rural areas, as population growth in major cities continues to put increasing pressure on the rental market. The Spanish real estate market is experiencing a great paradox: thousands of homes are deteriorating in rural areas while in cities, rental prices keep rising’.
From Idealista here: ‘Where the wealthiest buyers are quietly buying in Spain this year. Luxury homes over €1m were the only segment to grow in Spain in early 2026, with Bilbao leading demand as Madrid and Málaga saw declines’.
From elDiario.es here: ‘A French vulture fund that evicted residents from two buildings and a nursery school in El barrio del Botànico in Valencia has begun work to convert them into a hotel. The company has started clearing trees in the interior courtyards of the buildings that will one day be an 80-room boutique hotel, where dozens of families previously lived’.
…...
Tourism:
‘The Green and Cultural Pivot to Save Spain from Overtourism’. From Eye on Spain here: ‘Spain is hurtling toward a jaw-dropping demographic milestone. Driven by a massive postwar travel boom and a shifting geopolitical climate that has seen vacationers pivot away from the Middle East, the country is on track to welcome 100 million international visitors in a single year for the first time in history. Yet, while these soaring figures look phenomenal on paper—generating billions of euros for the national treasury—the reality on the ground has reached a tipping point. Massive anti-tourism protests, soaring local rents, and intense strain on local resources have made it clear that the "old formulas" of mass, unchecked coastal tourism are fundamentally broken.
From The Olive Press here: ‘The 250,000-tonne Legend of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship with a capacity of up to 7,600 passengers, departs Málaga to a fireworks display with Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca on the current itinerary – but will it be welcome everywhere it goes?’
…...
Finance:
From Spain in English here: ‘The Spanish government on Monday raised its economic growth forecast for 2026 to 2.6%, up from its previous estimate of 2.2%, arguing that the country’s economy is well placed to withstand the impact of the Middle East conflict and wider global uncertainty. The revised forecast forms part of the government’s new macroeconomic framework, which will accompany the draft 2027 General State Budget and outlines expectations for economic growth above 2% through to 2029…’
From Euronews here: ‘Spain removes Gibraltar from its tax haven list after 35 years, adds Russia’.
…...
Politics:
From Diario Sabemos here, ‘Feijóo's vicious attacks on Sánchez could revive a segment of the left. Within the Partido Popular, there is concern that the legal and media offensive against the Prime Minister is not translating into votes’. Put another way, the more unfair the judges have become, the more assumed ‘Lawfare’ or the more the ‘pseudomedia’ cranks out fake news and manipulations, the more support comes to the PSOE from the public. The article says: ‘Society's fear of the return of an unapologetic and ruthless Francoism is what keeps Sánchez still standing’.
As the window for seeking residence papers for the immigrants closed earlier this week (with over a million petitions, no less), ‘Sánchez announces a €500 million integration plan and defends regularization: “Spain will be a better country”, says elDiario.es here. Sánchez added: “Regularization is a success in migration management, a key step in bringing hundreds of thousands of people out of invisibility. And the integration plan transforms that first step into a life project.”
Feijóo wants Sánchez to call for elections – which Sánchez refuses to do. Perhaps the answer is a motion of confidence, but Feijóo would need both Vox (no problem there) and the conservative independentist party Junts per Catalunya which has seven seats in the Cortes Generales, the Spanish parliament. The Catalonian independents don’t like the Partido Popular but, we read at Público here: ‘From "coup plotters" to "democratic" party: the PP resets its perception of Junts to attract it to the 'anti-Sanchez' cause’. It’s not going to be easy’ (especially with the Vox hard-line nationalists lurking in the background). As we have seen, Junts had earlier suggested Feijóo to drop by Carles Puigdemont’s roost in Belgium for a friendly chat. Looking up on Google AI, it seems that 39% of Catalans want independence from Spain – with just 21% feeling the same way in Euskadi (thanks Jake).
‘The atmosphere isn't exactly conducive to laughter in the government, but last Thursday the Socialists decided to treat themselves to a bit of mischief in Congress. A motion from the Partido Popular, supported by Vox and Junts, passed, calling on Pedro Sánchez to "consider the possibility of calling a vote of confidence" (Not the same as a ‘moción de censura’) and, while they were at it, demanding his resignation. It was approved by 178 votes to 171. Following this result, Sánchez and his deputies rose to applaud, a way of showing that it was just a meaningless spectacle’. Opinion from Iñigo Sáenz de Ugarte.
In Seville, the putative president Juanma Moreno (he’s only two seats away from an absolute majority) was reading his premiership speech on Monday and hoping that Vox would support him, only to be told during his speel that, from Madrid, the word had come down: Niet! Without Vox’s flagship policy, the elitest Prioridad Nacional, there was no dice. He will try again on Thursday looking for a simple majority.
Vox has diverted almost thirteen million euros to the Disenso Foundation chaired by Abascal in the last six years. Cadena SER has had access to the party's accounts, which were submitted for approval by members last Saturday at the Ordinary General Assembly, and which reflect a payment of 2 million euros more to the Disenso Foundation last year’.
Vox's Family Spokesperson: “When we have an absolute majority, we won't leave a single comma of the Abortion Law unchanged”. Ainhoa García sat down with El Pueblo to discuss abortion, sex education, euthanasia, work-life balance, and the “urgent” need to “have more children”’.
Another day, another political party. From elDiario.es here: ‘Miriam González registers a political party and moves forward with her plan to run in the general elections. The lawyer and businesswoman is the wife of former British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and she calls her nascent party Democracia 21’. It appears to be another Ciudadanos…
…...
Europe:
From The Guardian here: ‘EU nationals based permanently in the UK have expressed alarm over a Reform UK plan to target their rights to accommodation and employment, saying the policy is a betrayal of promises made in the Brexit referendum 10 years ago. Under updated migration policies, Nigel Farage’s party would evict all overseas nationals from social housing and make it notably more expensive for companies to employ them, with both policies also affecting EU nationals who have settled status…’ And what about the 1,200,000 Brits living in the EU-27? Could Brussels lose its temper and send us all back to Blighty? Where would we stay – in Nissen Huts hastily erected on Salisbury Plain?
‘A sad inevitability: after decades of climate warnings, why is Europe so unprepared for rising heat? The scorching summer of 2003 triggered first efforts to deal with the problem, but heatwaves still have devastating impact’ says The Guardian here.
…...
Venezuela:
Two terrible earthquakes in Caracas, one right after the other on June 24th have caused so far (Wednesday) 2,000 deaths confirmed plus another 43,000 unaccounted for. The tragedy includes 26 Spaniards and another 161 disappeared or known to be under the rubble. From 20Minutos here: ‘Spain would suffer similar devastation in its seismic risk zones with earthquakes occurring like those in Venezuela: "Our regulations are outdated."’. The Guardian on Tuesday says: ‘Tonnes of rubble: 58,000 buildings estimated destroyed in Venezuela earthquakes’.
…...
Crime and Punishment:
For whatever reason, all of Zapatero’s private letters, posts, messages and emails have been released to the media: even his appointments with his barber. This is rather damaging to the judge who firstly shared all this information, and secondly now says he will head up an investigation into the leak.
From Público here: ‘Sánchez's five "irrefutable facts" about the cases against his family. "I'm not going to use the podium to claim my family's innocence. They will do so in court," the Prime Minister stated in Congress regarding his wife Begoña Gómez and his brother David Sánchez’. He then explained the five reasons for their innocence.
Judge Peinado has confiscated Begoña Gomez’ passport and is considering a request from her to attend the graduation ceremony of one of her daughters at a school in London.
Opinion from Público here: ‘Is justice equal for the right and the left? The perception of a double standard is gaining ground. Spain ranks at the bottom of the list of European countries where citizens appreciate less judicial independence, as reflected in Eurobarometer statistics. "Extravagances and overreactions do a lot of damage to the judicial process," asserted the JJpD (Justice for Democracy) when asked about Judge Peinado's handling of the Begoña Gómez case. "Judges cannot be presented as political allies or adversaries," lamented the APM (Association of Magistrates)’. Eight out of ten Spaniards doubt judicial impartiality says the article.
On the other side of the street, El Plural writes of ‘The Partido Popular in the dock: 31 cases to be heard between 2026 and 2030, plus six pending sentences. Major figures from various national and regional governments are nearing trial’.
From The Olive Press here: ‘Marbella mayor’s stepson Joakim Peter Broberg is jailed for nine years in massive drug trafficking and money laundering case. The stepson of Marbella’s mayor Angeles Muñoz has been sentenced to nine years in prison and a €4.9 million fine on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering’.
From Sur in English here: ‘Three lawyers arrested over foreign inheritance scam in Nerja. The Guardia Civil has seized 200,000 euros, jewellery and documents belonging to deceased foreign residents during seven searches in the eastern Costa del Sol town and Almuñécar on Granada province's Costa Tropical’.
…...
Media:
The privately-owned media, TVs, radio and print, is understandably in business for the profit, and will thus tune in to the concerns of the advertisers, big business and even, where useful, foreign interference. La vida es así, or as Rodrigo Rato once said, ‘Es el mercado, amigo’. Thus, an item from El Plural regarding the move to the right by Cadena Ser: ‘The Cadena Ser newsroom rebels against management's censorship of Ayuso's stories. A new order from Fran Llorente, Content Director, that any Ayuso mention must be checked previously with him has further strained the atmosphere in the station's newsroom’. Word from the top: More criticism of Sánchez and less of Ayuso.
An indignant Infobae reports that ‘A man infiltrated the newsroom of Infobae Spain and stole key equipment used for news coverage. These types of attacks against the media are also a threat to freedom of expression. When journalism cannot operate safely, society itself loses’. They have a photograph of the thief, so maybe it will be resolved.
…...
Ecology:
Climate.us launches independent website for trusted climate information.
From Spanish Revolution here: ‘The intense heat is no longer a seasonal nuisance. It's a social boundary. And while cities fill up with air-con machines hanging from façades, expelling hot air into increasingly uninhabitable streets, we continue to treat trees as decoration, parks as an expense, and shade as if it were a whim of sensitive urban planners’.
…...
Various:
Sinister news from the traffic police: La Razón says ‘This is how the DGT's speed cameras work to penalize those who brake before a camera and those who accelerate after. More than a hundred unmarked speed cameras are already issuing fines to drivers across the country’.
From El País here: Los Fabuladores, by José Ignacio Carnero, is a moving and splendid novel based on true events that reconstructs an epic episode and the subsequent adventures of its protagonists. ‘In Caracas in 1961, an opponent of the Portuguese dictatorship, along with two Spanish exiles, fantasized about leading a revolutionary act to bring down both Salazar and Franco. Their plan involved hijacking the ocean liner Santa María, altering its route through the Caribbean, sailing to Guinea or the Portuguese colonies in Africa, and provoking a major political crisis’. From Wiki here: ‘The Santa Maria hijacking was carried out on 22 January 1961 when Portuguese and Spanish political rebels seized control of a Portuguese passenger ship, aiming to force political change in Portugal. The action was also known as Operacíon Dulcineia, the code name given by its chief architect and leader, Portuguese military officer, writer and politician Henrique Galvão, who had been exiled in Caracas, Venezuela since 1959. After a United States naval intervention, the ship arrived in Brazil, and the hijacking ended on 2 February when the rebels were given political asylum there’. (The New York Times obits 1970, ‘Henrique Galvão, seized ship in 1961’).
El País also has this story: ‘An expert from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas uncovers a “historiographical cataclysm” by discovering that the Visigothic treasure of Recópolis is a fake. A study reveals that archaeologist Juan Cabré buried ninety gold coins in the city in 1945 to prove he had found the Visigothic palatine capital’. Wiki says: ‘Recópolis is an ancient city of supposed Visigothic origin located in the municipality of Zorita de los Canes (Guadalajara)’.
Thirsty? ‘Here’s ‘How to make Tinto de Verano: Spain’s favourite summer drink’. This comes from Noemí’s Blog. (I add a splash of red vermouth to mine).
Karethe Linaae and ‘A stroll around town with the mayor of Genalguacil, Málaga’.
…...
Finally:
Two this week!
This AI-generated art video is huge fun: El Mambo de Stendhal.
Returning to Carlos Saura, this time from ‘El Amor Brujo’, Antonio Gades and Cristina Hoyos dancers on La Danza del Fuego Fatuo on YouTube here.
Comments
Post a Comment