Category Archives: Spain

Diplomatic row deepens after Javier Milei calls wife of Spanish PM ‘corrupt’

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Spain recalls its Buenos Aires ambassador and demands apology from Argentina’s populist president

The Spanish government has recalled its ambassador from Buenos Aires and repeated its calls for Argentina’s populist president, Javier Milei, to apologise after he reopened a festering diplomatic row by suggesting that the wife of Spain’s prime minister was “corrupt”.

Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist” and sworn enemy of socialism, infuriated Spain’s centre-left government when he used a speech at a summit of international far-right leaders in Madrid on Sunday to revive allegations that Pedro Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, had engaged in corruption and influence-peddling.

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Spain denies port of call to ship carrying arms to Israel

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Foreign ministry says it will reject all such stopovers because ‘the Middle East does not need more weapons, it needs more peace’

Spain has refused permission for a ship carrying arms to Israel to dock at a Spanish port, its foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said on Thursday.

“This is the first time we have done this because it is the first time we have detected a ship carrying a shipment of arms to Israel that wants to call at a Spanish port,” he told reporters in Brussels.

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Post-Brexit deal on border between Gibraltar and Spain remains unresolved

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European Commission vice president, Maroš Šefčovič, cites progress on trade and economy for territory but not border checks

Talks on a post-Brexit deal to govern the border between Gibraltar and Spain have broken up without an agreement, although both sides insisted a deal was “getting closer”.

David Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, met the European Commission vice president, Maroš Šefčovič, in Brussels to discuss the British overseas territory on the Iberian peninsula, which has been in limbo since Britain left the EU.

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EU condemns ‘intimidation, threats and physical assaults’ by authorities in Georgia – as it happened

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Josep Borrell reiterates concern about situation in Georgia, where pro-western protesters have continued to face a violent crackdown

Amid all the noise over the Socialist (PSC) victory and the mooted end of “el procés”, it’s worth looking at the performance of the Citizens party, which was once the great hope of the centre-right.

Although it finished first in the snap election that followed the independence crisis in December 2017, Citizens lost all its six seats last night and the party is now on the verge of extinction.

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Catalonia goes to polls in vote that will gauge support for independence

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Regional election will also indicate whether Spanish prime minister’s conciliatory approach has paid off

Voters in Catalonia are heading to the polls on Sunday to cast their ballots in a snap regional election that will gauge the strength of the waning independence movement and indicate whether the conciliatory approach of Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has paid off.

The election was called in March by the Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, a member of the moderate pro-independence Catalan Republican Left party (ERC), after opposition parties voted down the budget proposed by his minority government.

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Catalan election gives voters chance to leave ‘lost decade’, says Salvador Illa

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Socialist frontrunner says region ready to unite, rather than focus on divisive politics that has plunged country into crisis

Catalonia’s imminent election offers voters a chance to leave behind a “lost decade” of unstable and divisive rule by pro-independence parties and instead choose a government that will focus on unity and improving “neglected” public services in the wealthy north-eastern Spanish region, according to the socialist frontrunner.

Salvador Illa, a former central government health minister who leads the Catalan branch of Spain’s ruling socialist party, said the region was ready for change almost seven years after the failed, unilateral bid to secede plunged the country into political crisis.

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Spanish investigation into Shakira’s alleged tax evasion dropped

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Court says irregularities in Colombian singer’s 2018 tax return did not indicate intent to defraud

A Spanish court has shelved an investigation into an alleged tax fraud by the Colombian pop star Shakira, putting an end to her legal woes in the country where she once lived.

Prosecutors had opened the case in July, alleging she had used a network of companies, some in tax havens, to cheat the tax office out of €6.6m (£5.7m) in 2018.

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Students across Europe hold Gaza war protests in run-up to UN vote on Palestinian statehood

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Police arrested dozens of people in Amsterdam, with university occupations continuing in Netherlands, Belgium and Spain

Thirty-two people were arrested as Dutch police broke up a Gaza war protest at the University of Amsterdam, in a second day of unrest over the conflict. Police said the offences included public violence, vandalism and assault.

Video captured by Reuters appeared to show officers in riot gear striking protesters and police knocking down makeshift barricades of desks, bricks and wooden pallets that seemingly had been used to set off fire extinguishers in hopes of pushing them back. The footage appeared to also show police dragging several students away as hundreds shouted: “Shame on you!”

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Bullfighting firm in Seville to give free tickets to under-eights

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Company says move is best way to introduce tradition but critic claims it could psychologically damage young children

A firm managing bullfights at Seville’s bullring is to give free tickets to children under eight, adding to a national debate about the controversial Spanish tradition.

The company, Pages, said adult spectators with a ticket for the “novilladas” – practice bullfights involving younger bulls – at Seville’s Maestranza may be accompanied by a child free of charge, which it said was “the best way to introduce the little ones” to the world of bullfighting.

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Extra virgin olive oil prices tipped to top £16 a litre next month

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Price rise for mass-market types expected as global production falls to lowest level in more than 10 years

Olive oil prices are set to climb further this year – heading to more than £16 a litre for a bottle of extra virgin – amid a drop in global production to the lowest level in more than a decade.

Lower production in Greece, Morocco and Turkey as part of the natural cycle of olive growth is expected to offset an improving situation in Spain and Italy, where trees have suffered from extreme heat and drought in recent years as the climate crisis wreaks havoc on harvests.

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Spain rejects Argentinian claim its PM is causing ‘poverty and death’

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Diplomatic spat began when Spanish minister suggested Javier Milei had taken ‘substances’ while campaigning

Spain has denounced comments by Argentina’s presidency that accused the Spanish government of bringing “poverty and death” to its own people.

The office of the Argentinian president, Javier Milei, had published a statement on X, accusing the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, of damaging Spain’s economy and stability.

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Dutch woman arrested over shooting of Spanish former politician

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Woman detained in Netherlands for alleged role in non-fatal shooting of Alejo Vidal-Quadras in Madrid last year

A Dutch woman has been arrested in the Netherlands in relation to the shooting of a Spanish former politician in Madrid last year.

Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a founder of Spain’s far-right Vox party, was shot in the face near his home in the wealthy Salamanca neighbourhood on 9 November by a motorcycle passenger.

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At least 50 people feared drowned after boat from Senegal sinks off Canary island

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Nine people rescued from boat sailing perilous Atlantic route that reportedly left Senegal with 60 people onboard nine days ago

At least 50 people are feared to have drowned after a boat sailing the perilous Atlantic route from west Africa to Europe began to sink 60 miles south of the Canary island of El Hierro.

Nine people were rescued from the craft early on Monday after a passing bulk carrier alerted Spain’s Salvamento Marítimo rescue service, which dispatched a fast boat and a helicopter from its base in Tenerife.

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Spanish opposition step up Sánchez attacks as PM decides on his future

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PP leader accuses prime minister of navel-gazing, while Sánchez’s supporters rally in Madrid

Spanish opposition parties have stepped up their attacks on the socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, as he prepares to announce whether he will resign because of what he describes as a “harassment and bullying operation” being waged against him and his wife by his political and media enemies.

Sánchez shocked Spain on Wednesday night when he published a letter announcing that he would abandon his public duties for five days while he weighed up whether to step down, adding that he would reveal his decision on Monday.

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Spain’s PM Sánchez could quit after far-right attacks on wife and bid to ‘politically kill’ him

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Socialist prime minister poised to decide on his future, but some say it’s ploy to survive

On Monday, Pedro Sánchez, the great and unpredictable survivor of Spanish politics, and a leader who has seen off more than his fair share of rivals, critics and adversaries, will reveal whether or not he intends to carry on as prime minister.

The announcement will come five days after the socialist prime minister shocked Spain by posting a four-page cri de coeur on social media in which he said that the continuing “harassment and bullying operation” being waged against him and his wife by his political and media opponents had led him to cancel his public duties for the rest of the week while he reflected on his future.

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‘Massive and exciting impact’: show celebrates Spain’s first abstract art museum

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Exhibition explores how a Spanish-Filipino artist in 1966 opened a trailblazing cultural outpost in Cuenca’s ‘hanging houses’

In July 1966, as the Beatles were preparing to release Revolver and Spain was approaching the 30th anniversary of the coup that birthed the Franco dictatorship, a Spanish-Filipino artist called Fernando Zóbel threw open the doors of an improbable but visionary cultural outpost.

Based in a clutch of 15th-century houses overhanging a precipitous gorge in the small city of Cuenca, the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, or Museum of Spanish Abstract Art, had a simple if daunting mission. As Manuel Fontán del Junco, the director of museums and exhibitions at the Juan March Foundation in Madrid and one of the curators of a new exhibition about the institution, puts it, “it was a museum for artists in a country of artists without museums”.

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Madrid prosecutors ask judge to shelve investigation into Spanish PM’s wife

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Pressure group accusing Begoña Gómez of corruption admits media reports allegations were based on may not be true

Prosecutors in Madrid have asked a judge to throw out a preliminary corruption investigation against the wife of Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, as the pressure group behind the complaint admitted its allegations may be based on incorrect media reports.

Sánchez, whose socialist party has governed Spain since 2018, shocked the country on Wednesday night by announcing that he was considering resigning over what he termed a baseless “harassment and bullying operation” being waged against him and his wife by his political and media opponents.

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Spanish PM considers resigning, blaming political ‘harassment’ of wife

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Pedro Sánchez halts public duties, hitting out at opponents after court launches inquiry into alleged corruption by Begoña Gómez

Spain’s socialist prime minister has cancelled his public duties for the rest of the week and said he is considering resigning, blaming a “harassment and bullying operation” by his political and media opponents for a court’s decision to launch an investigation into his wife for alleged influence-peddling and corruption.

Pedro Sánchez, who has led Spain since 2018, said the “seriousness of the attacks” he and his wife, Begoña Gómez, were experiencing had led him to re-evaluate his position, adding that he would reveal his decision on Monday.

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Cava firm Freixenet to furlough 80% of its workers in Catalonia due to drought

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Spanish-German company announces layoffs as conditions in north-eastern Spain hit grape production

The Spanish-German cava giant Freixenet, known for its distinctive black glass bottles of sparkling wine, is to furlough 80% of its workers in Catalonia as the north-eastern Spanish region struggles with a drought that has lasted more than three years and severely affected grape production.

In a statement released this week, Freixenet said the temporary layoff – which will apply to as many as 615 of the 778 people it employs in Catalonia – would begin in May.

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Tens of thousands protest against Canary Islands’ ‘unsustainable’ tourism model

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Organisers say 50,000 turn out to call for limit on tourist numbers, saying model makes life unaffordable and puts strain on resources

Tens of thousands of people are protesting across the Canary Islands to call for an urgent rethink of the Spanish archipelago’s tourism strategy and a freeze on visitor numbers, arguing that the decades-old model has made life unaffordable and environmentally unsustainable for residents.

The protests, which are taking place under the banner “Canarias tiene un límite” – The Canaries have a limit – are backed by environmental groups including Greenpeace, WWF, Ecologists in Action, Friends of the Earth and SEO/Birdlife.

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