Business over Tapas Nº 650

Editorial: 

In Spain, "Una familia, una casa" has become a prominent political slogan and debate topic spearheaded by left-wing politicians, most notably Gabriel Rufián. The thrust, backed (more or less) by the Spanish Constitution, is that every family should have a home. This, many would argue, should come before profit, especially in the guise of the ‘Vulture Funds’ – who tend to buy entire blocks of apartments in their endless search for a buck.

The Vulture Funds (often but not always foreign hedge-funds like Morgan Stanley) may aim to increase rental-prices or add some slap-dash repairs and seek fresh tenants. They might plan to remove their existing tenants (known in the trade as ‘las cucarachas’) or perhaps leave the building entirely empty waiting for higher property values or maybe turn the apartments into short-term tourist lets or even a hotel. Who knows, and perish the thought, these scavengers might even enlist the help of a city councillor to expedite matters.

Circling just behind these birdies – who are just as happy investing in houses as in anything else with good opportunities – we have los grandes tenedores – landlords that own either ten or more homes or over 1,500m constructed. It can be a great business, especially if you divide the apartments into various rooms-for-rent, demand being what it is.

Then there’re the banks, whose mortgages sometimes turn out to be a little too rich. 

So Maricarmen. Article 47 of the Spanish Constitution establishes that all Spaniards have the right to enjoy decent and adequate housing, ‘though it is categorized as a guiding principle of social and economic policy rather than an absolute fundamental right’ (says Google AI properly), but housing isn’t just in the hands of the state, but rather under the control of the regional (and city) governments. As The Guardian notes: ‘Spain’s highly decentralised system, with power divided at a local, regional and national level, is once again the perfect cover for politicians to do the minimum and blame each other while individuals suffer’.

Maricarmen Abascal was a victim of this mess. She had been living in the same apartment since Franco’s times (when prices were cheap, there were firm rent-controls and not everyone dreamt of being a capitalista). Her parents moved in along with Maricarmen back in 1957 and until recently (as the only survivor) she was paying 500€ a month. A Spanish investment company bought the whole building a few years ago and suggested that she should be paying a more reasonable rent – like 2,650€ a month. Long story short, the 85-year-old was evicted last week and carted off to hospital. Serves her right, eh?

Not everyone would agree, and there have been protests – a sit-in began in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol on Saturday which soon turned itself into a tent-city.

Not that she was the only one – evictions in Spain (whether vulture-related, foreclosures, rent-in-arears or squatters) are numerous. Indeed, says Público, there’s an average of 44 evictions taking place daily in Spain. Not that you’ll see any flag-wavers or right-wing banners amongst the protestors.

The story has gone worldwide. ‘The dramatic eviction of Maricarmen has put Spain’s worsening housing crisis back in focus, amid rising rents, limited affordable homes and a political fight over tenant protections’, says an Asian source.

The Government had tried to resolve this issue back in April this year but were shorted by the contrary votes of… well, the usual suspects. It’s now trying once again.

Meanwhile, Urbagestión, the investment fund that evicted Maricarmen, feeling hurt by the negative press, on Monday relented and said she could have her old place back again.

Building more homes is all very well, and very necessary, but with the law of the jungle, where the new homes are picked up by the wealthy for speculative purposes, more attention needs to be placed on building rent-controlled council-homes, an expense which has fallen by 43% since 2002.

An item in Marca notes that Canada, faced with a similar issue, found the solution by stopping foreign venture-capital from entering the residential housing market.

Spain’s minority government has now proposed (once again) rent-controls, a halt on all evictions until 2030, and banning the purchase of housing by investment firms.

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Housing:

The Olive Press says: ‘Spain’s shocking housing shortage is set to break the one million homes barrier by 2028’.

El Confidencial says: ‘The collapse of public investment in housing in Spain over the last 20 years. Public spending on housing as a share of GDP has been cut in half over the past two decades, leaving the country at the bottom of the Eurozone rankings in this category’.

Can’t afford an apartment, or even a room? How about a nice hallway?  Diario Crítico has just the deal for you here. Then, there’s the feature of a cagaducha (a toilet inside the shower to save room) in a 14m2 apartment with no windows on offer in Poblenou, Barcelona for just 850€ a month. More on this particular gem at Catalunya Press here.

‘Vulture funds accused of evicting vulnerable elderly people in Palma. "They only gave me 24 hours' notice that I had to leave."’: item from Majorca Daily Bulletin here.

From Majorca Daily Bulletin here: ‘The Health Minister Monica Garcia said on Tuesday that the ruling Socialists had reached ⁠an agreement with junior partners Sumar for a decree with new measures including rolling over contracts ​until 2028 and banning so-called vulture funds from the housing market, though the minority government faces an uphill battle ​to secure support...’ A parliamentary vote must live or die on these measures within a maximum of thirty days (although a vote will probably be held on Friday). "It's ‌time ​to intervene in the speculative housing market and ​begin to rebalance the scales between ⁠citizens ​and vulture funds," ​Garcia, who belongs ​to the ‌leftist government's junior coalition partner Sumar, ​wrote ⁠in a post on ⁠X’ says Deutsche Welle here. ‘With support from the PP and Vox ruled out, attention is focused on Junts, the PNV, and Podemos, which seek to include very different—and in some cases, mutually incompatible—measures’, concludes LaSexta here. Right now, protests over housing are sprouting all over Spain under the motto of ‘Techo por Derecho’ (the right to a roof).

From Eye on Spain here: ‘The 90-Day Rule Back on the Table: Spain and Britain Hold Talks on Post-Brexit Travel Limits. For hundreds of thousands of British second-home owners and long-term "snowbirds", no single consequence of Brexit has stung quite as sharply as the post-EU travel restrictions. For over five years, non-resident Britons have had to navigate the rigid 90/180-day Schengen rule—meticulously tallying days on calendars to avoid overstaying their welcome in holiday homes they bought and paid for…’

From Majorca Daily Bulletin here: ‘Spain 90-day rule: British homeowners renew calls for six-month stay compromise. Supporters of the proposal say it would not necessarily increase the overall amount of time available, but would simply give homeowners more freedom over when they use it’.

‘Half of all British residents in Spain have the "wrong paperwork". Green certificate still in use despite introduction of new cards’. The story here.

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Finance:

‘Spain on Sunday reached the symbolic milestone of 1,000 days without a new national budget, the main tool for steering the country’s economic policy and setting priorities for public spending. The Spanish Ministry of Finance insists that a budget will soon be put forward for 2027. "We are confident it will be approved and we are not contemplating any other scenario," sources told Euronews’.

From Spanish Property Insight here: ‘Mortgage foreclosures are rising in Spain, pointing to increasing financial stress among some homeowners. But the numbers are still nowhere near the levels seen after the property crash that began in 2008. Spain recorded 9,596 mortgage foreclosures on homes in the first half of 2026, up 27% year-on-year and the highest H1 figure since 2022. The increase varies significantly by region. Foreclosures rose 58% in Madrid, 41% in Murcia, 35% in Andalucía, 29% in the Canaries and 23% in Catalonia. The Valencian region was up just 5%, whilst the Balearics fell 6%...’

Video (en castellano) from Reddit here: ‘How does an electric car worth €17,500 in China end up costing over €38,000 in Spain? I broke down the costs to the last cent: between the 10% tariff on foreign vehicles, the 21% anti-subsidy duty, transport costs, and 21% VAT, more than €12,400 goes straight to taxes. We are being required to switch to electric vehicles while a fiscal wall is erected to protect the lack of innovation among European giants—at your expense…’ Or, as we see below – build them here.

From El Mundo here: ‘China’s Gotion acquires a 49% stake in Volkswagen’s Sagunto gigafactory for €1.100 million. This new joint venture follows closely on the heels of the one signed by Ford and fellow Chinese company Geely to operate in Almussafes’.

elDiario.es reports: ‘From capping gas prices to electricity IVA: new aid measures addressing the energy crisis caused by the war in Iran. Costing the public coffers €12,000 million, this is the third decree prompted by the conflict; it extends several existing measures and introduces new ones’.

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Politics:

From 20Minutos here: ‘Feijóo accuses the government of using Maricarmen to "play politics" and promises the construction of one million homes’ (when and if he becomes president).

The Government has proposed two housing decrees, which will probably be voted on by Friday. The question is whether Junts per Catalunya will vote for either of them or join the PP and Vox in denial. We read at elDiario.es here: ‘Junts expresses disappointment and concern regarding the housing decrees but states it will analyse them before deciding how to vote. Spokesperson Míriam Nogueras calls for more decisive action to prevent vulture funds from purchasing homes, as well as technical changes to “protect families.”’.

El Mundo says that ‘José María Figaredo leaves major business leaders "perplexed" with Vox's proposal: to deport immigrants in order to obtain lower housing costs. At a private lunch with executives from Ibex companies and the real estate sector, Abascal’s economic spokesperson advocated reducing demand to lower apartment prices and asked for "ideas" on "deregulation."’.

Sumar (plus some other lefty groups – but not Podemos) have started over, this time to be called Frente Amplio, says El Salto Diario here. In a few weeks, they hope to have candidates and other details about the coalition.

Público has ‘Outrage over Feijóo's proposal for mutual insurance companies to discharge workers on sick leave as part of the PP’s proposals against workplace absenteeism and alleged fraud regarding malingerers. "It's like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse."’.

The Telegraph here: ‘‘Madrid’s Thatcher’ falls from grace over apartment scandal. Isabel Díaz Ayuso is facing calls to resign following her controversial use of a flat in an upmarket area of the capital’.

‘The City Hall of Lérida bans the use of the burqa and the niqab in public spaces with votes from the PSC, Junts, and Vox’. Some of those that must wear them when they go out will be forced by their family to stay home, others will perhaps be pleased to discard these outfits – sometimes worn (per the Koran) for modesty rather than merely religious obligation. Mind, a survey for 20Minutos concludes with 95% saying that ‘the face should not be covered’.

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Pedro Sánchez at the United Nations:

(Mariana Hernández on Facebook): Pedro Sánchez walked up to that podium holding a little blue booklet and held it up so the room could see it. It's the Charter of the United Nations. The thing every country in that hall signed. You can buy it for a few dollars in the gift shop downstairs, and most of the men in that room haven't opened it in years.

He says: They didn't ask us to keep it in a display case. They asked us to comply with it.

Then he explained how they challenged it: how it's done, step by step, no names.

First, they question the rules. Then they break them, knowing nobody will dare hold them accountable. They cut their contributions to the institutions. They go after its leaders and its staff. They block its ability to act, and then they call it a useless thing we can do without.

No need to point at them, he said. We all know who they are.

He said the demolition stands on three pillars.

Selfishness, the absurd belief that the world is a zero-sum game.

Ignorance, colossal and shameless, that despises science and assumes some countries are powerful enough to abuse everybody else.

And cruelty, the worst one. A cruelty that doesn't even flinch anymore at the ribs of a starving child or a hospital turned to rubble.

“Egoísmo, ignorancia y crueldad”, and a lot of that room knew he was talking about them.

Then he spoke about genocide, about Gaza.

He listed what Spain has done.

Opposed every war of aggression, Ukraine, Lebanon, Iran. An arms embargo on Israel. Refused to raise military spending to 5%. Refused to let Spanish territory be used to launch an attack that breaks international law.

And, against the chainsaw that cut almost a third of the world's development aid in just two years, Spain doubled its cooperation budget and raised its multilateral contribution by 60%.

The chainsaw: la motosierra. Milei carried a real one on stage in Argentina, and Washington took the symbol for its own cuts, including what they did to USAID.

Sánchez never said either name. He didn't have to.

And then the line I can't put down, which only works in Spanish: la humanidad tardó siglos en sustituir el derecho del más fuerte por la fuerza del derecho. Y no podemos ser la generación que recorra ese camino en sentido contrario. And we can't be the generation that walks that road backwards.

On Tuesday, from that same spot, the President of the United States said that to the victor belong the spoils.

Two sentences, forty-eight hours apart, same podium. Pick one.

He closed saying that in a few years the next generations will study this decade and ask us what we did when some countries started breaking the rules and the rest decided to look away.

On Pedro Sánchez’ brief visit to New York last week, he also spoke with Mayor Mamdani, Jon Stewart, Governor Newsom and students at Harvard. In English.

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Gibraltar:

From Europa Sur here: ‘The Government admits its inability to stop illegal land reclamation by Gibraltar in Spanish waters. The Ministry for Ecological Transition has confirmed that construction work is continuing at Eastside, whose waters are located within the Eastern Strait Special Area of ​​Conservation, while a complaint remains stalled and the Guardia Civil are unable to access the maritime zone’.

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Morocco:

From Al Jazeera here: ‘Morocco’s King Mohammed VI appoints first woman prime minister. Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri becomes only the second woman to serve as prime minister in the Arab world’.

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Crime and Punishment:

From 20Minutos here: ‘The Official State Gazette (BOE) publishes the mandatory retirement of Judge Peinado due to age’, and I think we can all celebrate his well-anticipated departure from the Front Page.

20Minutos says: ‘Nine citizens will judge Begoña Gómez: they will remain sequestered to deliberate and will be paid 70 euros a day’. How they hope to find nine citizens without preconceptions regarding the trial defeats me. In fact – they will use a lottery system. Maybe they should just see if she floats when they dunk her in a pond.

Público has a video here: ‘Do judges enjoy impunity when launching attacks against left-wing leaders and governments? In this video, we present ten cases in which Spanish magistrates have made public statements, hurled insults, and directed attacks at members of the executive branch and progressive forces. Such conduct has gone unpunished or has been dismissed by the relevant oversight bodies, such as the General Council of the Judiciary or the Inspectorate of the State Attorney General's Office’.

The always litigious Manos Limpias have filed a complaint against the Government representative for Madrid regarding the tent-city in the Puerta del Sol, which, as we read in The Guardian (Tuesday morning), ‘keeps growing’.

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Media:

Nueva Tribuna warns of how this could all end badly. They write: ‘After the right-wing parties—firmly convinced they would sweep into power—discovered the reality of the 2023 election results, they set about devising a plan to reverse the situation as quickly as possible. They began with a fierce media campaign designed to discredit the progressive coalition government and cast doubt on its democratic legitimacy—specifically by highlighting its reliance on pro-independence forces, some of which the right-wing claimed were heirs to ETA. The prospect of a government led by Feijóo—with Abascal as his right-hand man, Figaredo as Interior Minister overseeing the RTVE, Ayuso at Foreign Affairs, and Tellado at Culture—is no longer just a summer nightmare.

When that phase failed, their ultimate guru, José María Aznar, issued a terrifying call for social insurrection with his now-infamous rallying cry: "Whoever can act, let them act." Since then, many of those "able to act" have indeed been acting—from the judiciary and the "real powers" (influential interest groups) to major business associations and, notably, the previously dormant far-right groups…’

‘"The housing problem can only be solved by building more than a million new homes. Only then can we lower housing prices," says Alberto Núñez Feijóo. This is false—or perhaps merely an excuse to wait in hope for the problem to resolve itself. Between the late 1990s and the 2008 crisis, four and a half million apartments were built. During that period, housing prices tripled.

Many other factors come into play: where those apartments are built, at what price points, and the prevailing inflation rates at the time. If housing serves merely as a vehicle for profit or for accommodating tourists in cities, simply having more apartments will only boost the earnings of those who use them to make money…’ Opinion at elDiario.es here.

From El Huff Post here: ‘A scathing article on housing in Spain has been published in Germany: "Many right-wing politicians are directly involved in the speculation business."

"Decisive measures are needed."’ The article says:  The German newspaper Die Tageszeitung—popularly known as Taz—has published a hard-hitting article on Spain's real estate market, prompted by a protest camp set up by dozens of people at Madrid's Puerta del Sol. They are demanding a new housing decree—dubbed the "Maricarmen decree" after the octogenarian evicted in Madrid last Wednesday—that would provide measures to guarantee the right to housing. Taz warns that "only drastic measures can combat skyrocketing rents" and highlights that "no social problem is as urgent as the issue of unaffordable housing." "Rent caps are a partial solution, at least where they are implemented. However, Spanish regions governed by conservative or far-right administrations do not apply them. In Spain, housing policy is the responsibility of the regions," states Taz, criticizing the fact that, in doing so, "they protect the market—as they call it—rather than the tenants."…’

From The Corner here: ‘Do you have a problem with a camp? Well, you set up another one, and that way you have two, successfully distracting everyone—a perfect diversion tactic. Until last week, Spain was focused on one camp: the one Moroccans set up on the beaches of Ceuta, a camp that embarrasses the government, which admitted to having suffered an “invasion.” Since yesterday, however, another camp has been dominating Spanish news. Dozens of people have set up camp in central Madrid, at Puerta del Sol, to demand an urgent solution to the housing problem from the government…’

From Meneame here: ‘Luis de Guindos and Spain: A European Haven for Real Estate Speculation. Every problem has a root cause that sets it in motion; and without identifying it, the problem cannot be solved. And the root cause of the current speculative housing disaster in Spain has a name: Luis de Guindos, the former Minister of Economy under the PP government. The PP government, with Luis de Guindos at the helm of the Ministry of Economy, created the two legislative instruments between 2012 and 2013 that lie at the heart of Spain's current speculative housing problem: the reform of SOCIMIs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) and the reform of the Urban Leases Act…’

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Ecology:

Reuters reports that ‘Spain, Portugal, ‌and Luxembourg have urged the European Union to set a 2040 target to expand renewable energy, setting up a clash with other EU countries who want the goal to ​include nuclear power.

The European Commission is preparing a raft of new EU energy policies ​to steer the bloc's energy strategy after 2030. The EU has a target ⁠to increase the share of renewable sources in its overall energy consumption by 2030 to ​42.5%, but currently no 2040 goal…’

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Various:

From The Olive Press here: ‘Inside Tommy Robinson’s empire of dodgy fundraising and questionable crypto schemes that fund his luxury lifestyle in Spain’. It says: ‘He’s one of Britain’s most controversial figures and a borderline enemy of the state. A firebrand who claims he’s going to stoke a revolution. That’s why Tommy Robinson has spent years telling his army of far-right supporters that he is broke after being locked out of the banking system by a corrupt liberal establishment in the UK.

Yet despite these travails, the self-proclaimed journalist and activist has managed to build an incredibly enviable life for himself in the Iberian sun. From luxury villas on the Costa Blanca to frequent stays at five-star resorts in the Algarve, none of it quite adds up…’ The notorious racist has an Irish passport, so he can move freely within the European Union.

‘Spain’s new traffic rules start this Thursday: 12 changes drivers need to know. From electric scooter age limits and compulsory helmets to new rules for motorbikes and cyclists, Spain is changing the way millions use the roads’. Item found at Majorca Daily Bulletin.

Ah, the Spain Happy Index from Sonneil is here. In cities, Málaga leads followed by Almería and Ibiza. For towns, Santa Pola (90.62 points) is the best. Mojácar scores 81.89.

‘La bola negra, also known as The Black Ball, is a 2026 drama film directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (known in Spain as ‘Los Javis’), from a screenplay they co-wrote with Alberto Conejero. A gay epic inspired by the unfinished work of the same name by Federico García Lorca and Conejero's play La piedra oscura…’ (Wiki). ‘The true story behind 'La bola negra': How Los Javis created their film from four handwritten pages by Federico García Lorca…’ says Espinof here, adding here: "La bola negra" is the most ambitious film in Spanish cinema. An absolute triumph for Los Javis, featuring an explosive narrative that has already made history. A resounding work that could win Spain an Oscar.

Spain needed to rebuild after the Civil War – and nowhere more than in accessible housing. From Pax Agusta here, an outline of events under the Franco Régime: ‘Spain had endured a devastating civil war that destroyed much housing stock and necessitated the construction of new neighbourhoods for rural migrants flocking to cities in search of better jobs. The Franco dictatorship implemented a subsidized or social housing scheme based on regulations such as the 1954 Limited-Rent Housing Act, the 1964 Urban Leases Act, and an earlier 1939 measure that established the National Housing Institute to oversee construction under the "Official Protection Housing" régime…’

An interesting article at Crónica del Henares here: ‘The Spanish Armada and its legacy in relations with Ireland’. It says: ‘From the 1588 shipwreck to the Armada commemorations at Streedagh: how the "Invincible" fleet forged ties between Spain and Ireland in the 20th and 21st centuries. Four centuries after some twenty ships of the Spanish Armada were wrecked off its coast, Ireland has transformed that catastrophe into a bond with Spain—encompassing shared archaeology, annual commemorations with the Spanish Navy, and even a university award…’

The Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival returns for its 13th Edition. The Cervantes Chair at the University of Edinburgh is delighted to share the programme for October 1 - 19. The 13th edition brings together films from Spain and Latin America, alongside discussions and cultural events celebrating the diversity of the Spanish-speaking world, with events taking place across Edinburgh, Stirling, Tranent, Glasgow, Manchester and Ayr. Details are here.

I’ve been noting a few mistakes – probably from a lack of schooling – in the written Spanish that sometimes appears on my feed on Facebook. This comes down to breaking – or perhaps not knowing – a few simple rules. For example, using ‘ll’ (the double L used to have its own section in the dictionary) for a ‘y’. An example I saw this week: Está cerca a la plalla (shudder!). Then there’s the common use of an ‘h’ where there never meant to be one haber si te entiendes. (rather than: a ver). And our favourite, a ‘b’ for a ‘v’ or vice versa. Bamos a Varcelona as it were… Then there’s el lambdacismo, the confusion some citizens have between an ‘l’ and a final ‘r’: calol for calor, amol for amor and so on. And that’s before we foreigners take the chance to mash the language…

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Finally:

Diana Navarro is good stuff – a genuine tonadillera – here with Sola on YouTube.

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