Category Archives: Spain

Spain heads into election unknown as Sánchez runs out of road

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Political landscape fragmented amid Catalan secession crisis and re-emergence of far-right

Spain is heading into what could be months of political uncertainty after its Socialist prime minister called a snap general election for April – the country’s third in less than four years – against the backdrop of a continuing Catalan secession crisis.

It was always improbable that Pedro Sánchez, whose administration will be the shortest in Spain’s modern democratic history, would last long. He came to power in June only because his predecessor, the conservative Mariano Rajoy, lost a no-confidence vote after a string of corruption revelations about his People’s Party (PP).

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Spain’s PM calls snap general election for 28 April

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Country’s third general election in less than four years comes after national budget rejected

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has called a snap election for 28 April.

The country’s third general election in less than four years was seen as an inevitability after Catalan secessionists joined rightwing parties in rejecting the socialist government’s national budget on Wednesday.

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Former Catalan vice-president tells trial he is political prisoner

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Oriol Junqueras refuses to recognise Madrid court trying 12 people for independence bid

The chief defendant in the trial of Catalan independence leaders declared himself a political prisoner as he took the stand on Thursday in the Madrid court where he and 11 others face charges over the 2017 bid to break away from Spain.

Oriol Junqueras, the former Catalan vice-president, effectively refused to recognise the court, agreeing only to take questions from his defence lawyer and not the prosecution. “This is a political trial and I refuse to answer to my accusers,” he said. “I am a political prisoner and I am on trial for my ideas.”

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Spanish PM may call snap general election if budget rejected

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Catalan secessionists likely to join right against Pedro Sánchez’s government

Spain’s socialist government could be forced to call a snap general election if rightwing parties and Catalan secessionists make good on their threats to reject the national budget in a key vote on Wednesday.

The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, faces an uphill battle to secure approval for the budget in the face of opposition from critics of his minority government.

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Catalan leaders’ lawyer attacks ‘vaudeville’ case as trial begins

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Madrid trial of separatists seen as the most important since Spain’s return to democracy

A little less than 16 months ago, the nine men and three women sitting on the plush burgundy benches of Madrid’s supreme court were ministers in the Catalan regional government and high-profile civic leaders.

On Tuesday morning, however, they stepped out of prison vans to take their places as the defendants in landmark proceedings variously described as the trial of the century, a “stress test for Spanish democracy”, and the single most important judicial event the country has seen since the end of the Franco dictatorship.

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Protesters in Madrid call for their prime minister to resign – video

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Tens of thousands of people gathered in Madrid on Sunday to protest against the government’s handling of the Catalan question, as the country braced for the landmark trial of 12 separatist leaders this week. About 45,000 people joined the rally in Colón square to vent their fury at what they see as the overly conciliatory stance adopted by the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and to demand a snap general election.


Thousands protest in Madrid before trial of Catalan separatists

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Thousands protest in Madrid before trial of Catalan separatists

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Protesters denounce what they see as PM’s overly conciliatory stance on Catalan issue

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Madrid on Sunday to protest against the government’s handling of the Catalan question, as the country braced for the landmark trial of 12 separatist leaders this week.

About 45,000 people joined the rally in Colón square to vent their fury at what they see as the overly conciliatory stance adopted by the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and to demand a snap general election.

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Siesta no more? Why Spanish sleeping habits are under strain

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Spaniards eat later and stay up longer than their European neighbours because of the siesta. But now that’s under threat

Midweek in Madrid on a summer’s evening, it’s 25C and at 10pm the bars, cafes and squares are full of Madrileños, chatting and drinking. They’re still there at midnight, only now some are eating too. Not until 2am do the bars start to close as the crowd thins out. Most of these people will have to go to work in the morning, so the question is: when do they sleep?

The answer is, later. According to Eurostat, the average Spaniard’s day starts 90 minutes later than a German’s. When the Spaniard eats lunch the German has been back at work for two hours and when the German knocks off at 4.30pm, the Spaniard is heading back to work for another three hours. And finally, when the German is in bed at 10pm, the Spaniard is having supper before hitting the sack some time between midnight and 1am.

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Fear and anger stalk thousands of Britons living on Costa del Sol

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For 300,000 UK citizens in Spain, which does not allow dual citizenship, pension and healthcare worries are hard to resolve

A couple of years ago, Michael Soffe seemed to have a charmed life. A gourmet tour guide and wedding planner, he’d made a home and built a business in sun-soaked Málaga, the increasingly hip city at the heart of Spain’s southern coast.

Now he fears that everything he’s worked for is hanging in the balance as heedless politicians push Brexit negotiations to the brink. His biggest worry is that his partner, a two-time cancer survivor still in treatment, could lose his right to public healthcare.

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Brexit: Gibraltar ‘colony’ row flares as EU makes travel visa-free for Britons

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Footnote attached to EU regulation on insistence of Spain

A straightforward change in EU law guaranteeing visa-free travel for Britons in Europe after Brexit has sparked a diplomatic row after Brussels described Gibraltar as “a colony of the British Crown” in its no-deal legislation.

The footnote containing the contentious description of the Rock has been attached to the EU’s regulation on the insistence of Spain, with whom the UK has been in dispute over Gibraltar for three centuries.

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Huge cocaine shipment swapped with salt to catch traffickers

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Largest drugs haul in Italy in 25 years comes after sting operation involving Colombia and Spain

Italian police have taken possession of more than two tonnes of cocaine in the largest drugs seizure in the country in 25 years, after a sting operation involving three other nations across two continents.

The drugs, discovered in 60 bags in a cargo container at the Port of Genoa, have a total value of €500m (£436m) and were found with the help of the British, Colombian and Spanish police.

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Country diary: visions of Wales’s tumultuous geological past

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Comins Coch, Aberystwyth: Remnants of ancient volcanoes still dominate the skyline, though much less sharply than in La Palma’s younger landscape

The path up to the old quarry was wet and bordered by clumps of coarse grass, droplets of dew still hanging on to each blade. Beyond the line of trees that marks the edge of the field, dark and skeletal in their winter stasis, the sky was mottled with cloud that looked distinctly untrustworthy, with the stillness to the air that often presages showers.

Exposed on the steep back wall, grey and tarnished with flecks of iron, the ancient mudstones are too soft and easily fractured for fine building work, but the quarry served as a useful source of stone for local roads. Now abandoned, it has been out of use for long enough that mature oak trees have grown from the rounded heaps of spoil, banks of gorse – already in flower – adding bright yellow highlights.

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US asks world to ‘pick a side’ on Venezuela as UK calls for fair elections

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Mike Pompeo urged countries to disconnect from Maduro’s government financially as Britain issued eight-day ultimatum

Britain has issued the embattled Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, a stark ultimatum, warning him it would throw its weight behind the country’s self-declared interim leader unless he called an election within the next eight days – as the US government called on the world to “pick a side” in the crisis.

Echoing calls from Berlin, Paris and Madrid, Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, said on Saturday it was clear Maduro was no longer the legitimate leader of the Latin American country after last year’s “deeply flawed” election.

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Rescuers find body of toddler who fell down Spanish well

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Two-year-old Julen Rosseló fell down 100-metre borehole near Málaga 13 days ago

Specialist teams have found the body of the two-year-old boy whose fall down a 100-metre borehole in southern Spain 13 days ago prompted a major rescue operation that has transfixed the country.

Julen Rosseló was having lunch with his family in the countryside on 13 January when he fell down the 25cm-wide hole in Totalán, near Málaga.

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In the digital age, how much longer can Spain’s street kiosks survive?

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As newsprint sales fall and tourists demand keychains, the city of Barcelona is trying to keep alive the old social culture that revolves around street kiosks

For generations, the day in Spain has begun with picking up the paper from the newspaper kiosk and then reading it over breakfast in a bar. These two urban institutions – the kiosk and the bar – have been the twin pillars of any barrio, or neighbourhood.

“You have a close relationship with your clients,” says Máximo Frutos, who owns a kiosk and is vice-president of the city’s news vendors association. “I have copies of the house keys for around 15 people in the barrio, in case they lose theirs. It’s not like any other business.”

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Ronaldo agrees to pay €19m fine to settle tax fraud case

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Juventus footballer pleads guilty after agreeing to fine and suspended sentence in Madrid court

The Portugal and Juventus footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted committing tax fraud while playing for Real Madrid and agreed to pay an €18.8m (£16.5m) fine after striking a deal with prosecutors and tax authorities in return for a 23-month suspended prison sentence.

Ronaldo, 33, had been accused of defrauding the authorities of €14.8m (£12.9m) in unpaid taxes between 2011 and 2014.

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Satanic tourism fears dismissed over statue of devil in Segovia

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Judge dismisses complaint from local group and councillor says installation can go ahead in Spanish city

The Prince of Darkness is set to add a small corner of the Spanish city of Segovia to his temporal portfolio after a judge rejected complaints that a proposed statue of the devil was an affront to religious sensibilities that could make the city a focus of satanic worship.

The local council commissioned the statue to celebrate the legend that its Roman aqueduct was built by the devil in a single night – and to get tourists into less-visited neighbourhoods.

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Rescuers search for toddler who fell into 110-metre well in Spain

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Firefighters, police officers and rescuers search for boy who fell down borehole on Sunday

More than 100 Spanish firefighters, police officers and rescuers are searching for a two-year-old boy who fell down a deep borehole in Málaga province on Sunday afternoon.

The boy, named Yulen, was out walking with his family when he fell down the hole, which is 110 metres deep and 25cm wide.

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Spanish far-right party to back rightwing coalition in Andalucía

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Vox supports regional government after dropping demands including expulsion of migrants

The far-right Spanish political party Vox has agreed to support a new, rightwing Andalucían regional government after dropping its demands for the expulsion of 52,000 “illegal immigrants” and the repeal of laws on domestic violence and gender equality.

Vox, which secured its first parliamentary seats in December’s Andalucían election, had also called for Spain’s autonomous regional governments to surrender the responsibilities for education, health and public order that they were handed after the end of the Franco dictatorship.

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