Category Archives: Spain

Rally held in Madrid against Catalan amnesty after Sánchez sworn in as Spanish PM

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About 170,000 people demonstrate in capital over socialist party leader’s deal enabling second term in office

At least 170,000 people gathered in central Madrid for another large protest against the controversial Catalan amnesty law that has allowed Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, to secure a second term in office.

Sánchez was sworn in on Friday after winning an investiture vote the previous day that came almost four months after July’s inconclusive snap general election. Although the conservative People’s party (PP) narrowly beat Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers party (PSOE) in the election, it was unable to secure the parliamentary support to form a government even with the backing of the far-right Vox party and other smaller groupings.

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Sánchez prepares for fraught second term as PM after Catalan amnesty

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Spanish leader’s deal with Catalan separatists has sparked huge protests and outrage from rightwing parties

Pedro Sánchez is preparing for a fraught and turbulent second term as Spain’s prime minister after his socialist party regained power by agreeing to a deeply controversial amnesty for Catalan separatists that has infuriated rightwing parties and led to huge protests across the country.

The investiture vote on Thursday came almost four months after an inconclusive snap election in July in which Sánchez’s governing Spanish Socialist Workers party (PSOE), was narrowly defeated by its conservative rivals in the People’s party (PP).

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‘Spanish-dominated’ Latin Grammys’ move to Seville provokes controversy

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The prestigious awards are being held in Europe for the first time. But does this ‘landmark moment for Spain’ neglect the musicians at the forefront of Latin music innovation?

Hordes of fans wait anxiously along fenced barriers clutching their phones, itching to catch a shot of some of the world’s most famous musicians. Some scream in excitement as cars with blacked-out windows roll up outside the glitzy venues, eagerly anticipating the arrival of artists such as Shakira, Maluma, Camilo and Karol G in the run up to the ceremony on Thursday night (16 November). This is the Latin Grammys, the most prominent event recognising artists in the Latin music world – but this year, it’s far from its usual lavish Las Vegas home. Instead, the awards are taking place in the Spanish city of Seville, the first time outside the United States in its 24-year history.

The move is the result of a three-year sponsorship deal with Andalucía’s regional government, which has allocated €22,748,000 to the ceremony and its satellite concerts. The president of the regional government, Juan Manuel Moreno, has said that the Latin Grammys in Seville presents a “landmark moment for Spain, and for Europe”.

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Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez wins new term as Spanish PM following election gamble – as it happened

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MPs vote Sánchez in for second term by 179 votes to 171 but People’s Party says result comes after ‘huge assault on the rule of law’

The conservative People’s party (PP) is continuing its criticism of Pedro Sánchez inside and outside congress, hammering him for his deals with Junts and the ERC.

This is what the PP’s secretary general, Cuca Gamarra, just told the COPE radio station:

The problem our country has is called Pedro Sánchez. Pedro Sánchez is the problem because we’re talking about a politician who is capable of doing anything in his own interest and in order to remain in government in Spain. To get the seven votes he needed after losing the [general] election, he’s gone as far as signing and saying he’s going to deliver an impunity law in return for his investiture. There’s no doubt whatsoever that the danger Spain and our coexistence is facing is called Pedro Sánchez. That’s what we’re talking about.

The investiture isn’t happening today or yesterday – it’s already a done deal that was agreed outside Spain, in Waterloo.

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Spain’s People’s party urges EU to intervene over Catalan amnesty law

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PP says clemency offer for separatists demands similar action to that taken over rule-of-law concerns elsewhere in the bloc

Spain’s conservative People’s party (PP) has urged the EU to weigh in on the controversial Catalan amnesty law tabled by the ruling socialists, claiming it demands the kind of action the bloc has previously taken when concerns over the rule of law have arisen in Poland, Hungary and Romania.

The Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE), which was narrowly beaten by the PP in July’s inconclusive general election, agreed to the amnesty after the two main Catalan pro-independence parties made it a condition for supporting the formation of a new, socialist-led government with the support of a majority in parliament.

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Fresh protests held across Spain over amnesty deal for Catalan separatists

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Tens of thousands of people rally against government offer of clemency to those who made illegal push for independence in 2017

Tens of thousands of people have gathered across Spain to protest against the acting government’s plans to secure another term in office by offering an amnesty to those who took part in the illegal and failed push for Catalan independence six years ago.

The proposed amnesty law, which would apply to hundreds of people who participated in the unilateral effort to secede from Spain, has already led to a series of violent protests outside the Madrid headquarters of the governing Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE).

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Spanish police investigate possible Iran link to shooting of former politician

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Alejandro Vidal-Quadras told police from hospital bed of his links to exiled Iranian opposition, source says

The Spanish rightwing former politician Alejandro Vidal-Quadras is recovering in hospital after being shot in the face on a central Madrid street.

Police said they were not ruling out any theories for the attack on Thursday afternoon, including a possible link to the former European lawmaker’s ties with the Iranian opposition.

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Spanish PM Sánchez set to stay in power with controversial Catalan amnesty deal

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Socialist party wins separatist support with offer that has provoked furious opposition, protests and questions from Brussels

Spain’s acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, is on the verge of securing another term in office after his socialist party won the support of Catalan separatists by offering a deeply controversial amnesty for those who took part in the illegal and failed push for regional independence six years ago.

The deal between the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) and the centre-right Junts (Together) comes after a week of tense negotiations and amid widespread concerns over the amnesty, which have led to street protests, dire warnings from conservative judges and questions from Brussels.

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Carles Puigdemont: from self-exile to unlikely kingmaker of Spanish politics

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Architect of Catalonia’s illegal referendum of 2017 has signed deal to support Spain’s socialists in return for amnesty

Despite the fast-moving, wildly unpredictable and frequently improbable turns Spanish politics has taken of late, very few pundits could have predicted the scenes that played out in Belgium on Thursday.

A little after 2pm, a 60-year-old Catalan politician and fugitive from Spanish justice addressed a packed conference at the Brussels press club. As reporters brimmed with questions that would go unanswered, Carles Puigdemont appeared to be relishing his moment.

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Rightwing politician shot in Madrid after Spain’s Pedro Sánchez strikes controversial deal with Catalan separatists – as it happened

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“Today we live in a democracy worse than yesterday,” the conservative People’s party deputy secretary Miguel Tellado wrote following news of an agreement between the socialists and Junts.

Spain’s socialist party and Catalan separatist party Junts have confirmed that they have reached a deal for Junts to support a Socialist-led government, Reuters reported.

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Spanish rightwing politician shot in face in Madrid

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Alejo Vidal-Quadras, formerly of PP and Vox, reportedly in stable condition after attack by masked gunman

A Spanish rightwing politician and former vice-president of the European parliament is reported to be in a stable condition in hospital after being shot in the face by a masked gunman in a wealthy Madrid neighbourhood.

Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a former leader of the conservative People’s party (PP) in Catalonia who joined the far-right Vox party in 2014, was shot on a street in the Salamanca district of the Spanish capital at about 1.30pm local time on Thursday.

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Dozens injured in protests at Spanish socialist party’s Madrid headquarters

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About 7,000 demonstrated against deal plan for Catalan separatists with 30 police and others hurt in violence

Thirty-nine people, including 30 police officers, have been injured outside the Madrid headquarters of Spain’s ruling socialist party amid angry demonstrations against the party’s plans to offer an agreement deal to Catalan separatists to help it secure another term in government.

About 7,000 people gathered outside the offices of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) on Calle de Ferraz on Tuesday night to protest against the proposed agreement. The demonstration, which was attended by members of the far-right Vox party and by fascist and neo-fascist groups, led to skirmishes between protesters and riot police, who responded with teargas and baton charges.

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Concerns over Europe economy as poll finds almost 23% of Spaniards have anxiety over cost of living – Europe live

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Respondents to survey for El País and SER also saw inflation as a bigger global threat than wars, energy, terrorism and climate change

22.6% of Spaniards have experienced “anxiety or depression” due to the rise in the cost of living, according to a new opinion poll conducted for El País and SER.

A further 57.7% feel discouragement or pessimism due to inflation.

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Socialist party members in Spain back Catalan amnesty to secure PM new term

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Members of Pedro Sánchez’s party vote 87% in favour of proposal to form government backed by smaller parties

Members of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) have backed plans to secure another term as prime minister for the party’s leader, Pedro Sánchez, in return for granting a hugely controversial amnesty to people involved in the illegal and unilateral bid for Catalan independence six years ago.

Spain has been in the hands of Sánchez’s caretaker government since July’s inconclusive snap general election, in which the PSOE was narrowly beaten by the conservative People’s party (PP). Although the PP won the most seats, it fell short of a parliamentary majority and has proved unable to form a government, even with the support of the far-right Vox party and other, smaller political groupings.

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Large-scale warfare occurred in Europe ‘1,000 years earlier than previously thought’

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Reanalysis of skeletal remains in Spain suggests conflicts took place about 5,000 years ago in neolithic period, say researchers

The earliest period of warfare in Europe might have occurred more than 1,000 years before what was previously thought to be the first large-scale conflict in the region, researchers have suggested.

Reanalysis of more than 300 sets of skeletal remains uncovered in Spain – radiocarbon dated to between 5,400 and 5,000 years ago – indicates that conflicts took place long before powerful states formed in the region.

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Spain’s Princess Leonor swears oath as republican ministers boycott ceremony

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Heir to throne pledges allegiance to constitution at congress in Madrid on her 18th birthday

Princess Leonor, the heir to the Spanish throne, has pledged her allegiance to the constitution in a ceremony that was boycotted by republican government ministers and Catalan and Basque nationalist MPs.

Leonor swore the oath in Spain’s congress as she turned 18 on Tuesday, and was accompanied by her parents, King Felipe and Queen Letizia, her sister, Sofía, and Spain’s acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez. Her grandfather Juan Carlos, the self-exiled former king, was absent.

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Antisemitism is deeply ingrained in European society, says EU official

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Remarks by rights chief come as civil society groups warn of a rise in antisemitism amid Israel-Hamas war

Antisemitism is a “deeply ingrained racism in European society” that poses an existential threat to the continent’s Jewish community and the fundamental aims of the European Union, an EU official has warned.

Michael O’Flaherty, the director of the bloc’s agency for fundamental rights, said it was worrying that only a third of the general population considered antisemitism a big problem, when there was no doubt “dramatic moments in our societies trigger antisemitic responses”.

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Mario Vargas Llosa says latest novel will be his last

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Nobel prize-winning Peruvian author still plans to write an essay on Sartre that ‘will be the last thing I write’

Peru’s best-known living writer, the Nobel prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa, has announced that his seven-decade literary career is coming to an end and that his latest novel will be his last.

In a postscript to the new book, Le dedico mi silencio (I Give You My Silence), the 87-year-old novelist writes: “I think I’ve finished this book. I’d now like to write an essay on [Jean-Paul] Sartre, who was my teacher as a young man. It will be the last thing I write.”

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Young Europeans more likely to quit driving and have fewer children to save planet

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Exclusive: Poll shows young people willing to make big lifestyle changes but baulk at smaller gestures

They are willing to have smaller families, stop using cars and – albeit in smaller numbers – go vegan for the planet, but abandoning single-use plastics and growing a few more plants could be a step too far.

Across Europe, according to a seven-country survey, it seems young people are more willing than older generations to make big lifestyle changes that would help combat the climate crisis – but are less convinced by smaller gestures.

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‘Pervasive and relentless’ racism on the rise in Europe, survey finds

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Poll of 6,752 people of African descent in 13 countries finds almost half have experienced discrimination

Racism is “pervasive and relentless” and on the rise in Europe, with nearly half of black people in member states surveyed by the EU reporting discrimination, from the verbal abuse of their children to being blocked by landlords from renting homes.

In every walk of life, from schools to the job market, housing and health, a survey by the EU’s rights agency of people of African descent found high levels of discrimination, with some of the worst results recorded in Austria and Germany, where far-right parties have been on the rise.

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