Category Archives: Spain

Fresh scandal hits Spain’s ruling party as official quits over sexual harassment claims

Posted on by

Pressure grows on Pedro Sánchez to call snap election as latest resignation adds to corruption allegations

Pedro Sánchez’s efforts to reset Spain’s ruling socialist party after damaging corruption allegations that threatened to topple his coalition government have suffered a severe setback after a party official resigned over accusations of sexual harassment.

The prime minister had hoped this weekend’s meeting of the federal committee of his Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) would help the party move past weeks of scandals that have undermined the ethical and anti-corruption pledges on which it came to power seven years ago.

Continue reading...

Spain rejects Nato plan for member states to spend 5% of GDP on defence

Posted on by

PM Pedro Sánchez says he wants a ‘more flexible formula’ that would make target optional or allow Madrid to opt out

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has rejected Nato’s proposal for member states to increase their defence spending to 5% of their GDP, saying the idea would “not only be unreasonable but also counterproductive”.

Sánchez said that he was not seeking to complicate next week’s Nato summit in The Hague, but he wanted there to be a “more flexible formula” that would either make the target optional or allow Spain to opt out.

Continue reading...

Spanish PM rejects Nato’s ‘unreasonable’ 5% GDP target for defence spending – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed, you can read more of our European news coverage here

Earlier today, I cheekily suggested that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is probably wondering how to persuade US president Donald Trump to stay at the Nato summit in The Hague next week long enough to get to discussions on Ukraine and Russia – and not leave early, as he did at the G7 summit.

Well, looks like this issue may have actually influenced the planning.

“Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest Pride march on 28 June as a city event. Period.”

Continue reading...

Spanish minister rules out cyber-attack as cause of April blackout, after expert report

Posted on by

System failure caused by network’s inability to control grid voltage said to be behind outage in Spain and Portugal

The unprecedented blackout that brought the Iberian peninsula to a standstill at the end of April was caused by surging voltages triggering “a chain reaction of disconnections” that shut down the power network, an expert report commissioned by the Spanish government has found.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday afternoon, the country’s environment minister, Sara Aagesen, ruled out a cyber-attack as the cause of the outage on 28 April, saying it had been down to a “multifactorial” system failure caused by the network’s inability to control grid voltage.

Continue reading...

Campaigners mount coordinated protests across Europe against ‘touristification’

Posted on by

Protesters take to streets in a dozen cities to march against an industry they say is wrecking communities

Campaigners in at least a dozen tourist hotspots across southern Europe have taken to the streets to protest against “touristification”.

It is the most widespread joint action to date against what they see as the steady reshaping of their cities to meet the needs of tourists rather than people who live and work there.

Continue reading...

Weather tracker: Europe and China in midst of record-breaking heat

Posted on by

Temperatures over 40C recorded in Portugal and Spain, while China endures heatwave conditions in high 40s

Temperature records for early June are being broken across large parts of Europe, with the mercury reaching 40.5C (104.9F) in Mértola, Portugal, on Sunday. On the same day, several weather stations in Spain recorded temperatures in excess of 42C, with dozens of sites at record levels for early summer. Across the Balkans, temperatures reached 37C. On Monday, 37.6C was recorded in Tirana, Albania, while in Greece night-time minimum temperatures have stayed mostly over 30C for much of this week.

Hot conditions are to intensify across central and western Europe over the next few days, with temperatures across large parts of France, Benelux, Italy and west Germany expected to reach the low to mid 30s celsius. Highs of up to 35C are expected in Paris on Friday, with up to 38C forecast in Rome. Conditions will ease somewhat, but a heatwave will soon develop across Iberia, with Madrid expected to reach the high-30s celsius each day next week.

Continue reading...

Gibraltar agrees 15% sales tax on goods in post-Brexit settlement with Spain

Posted on by

Transaction tax ‘acceptable’ to EU is part of deal to allow greater freedom of movement and link with customs union

Gibraltar will apply a 15% sales tax on goods to avoid unfair competition with Spain, as a result of the agreement on the post-Brexit future of the British overseas territory, it has emerged.

The territory has agreed to ensure a 15% minimum “transaction tax” on goods within three years of the ratification of the agreement, according to a senior European official.

Continue reading...

Spanish PM apologises to voters after MP resigns over corruption allegations

Posted on by

Pressure grows for snap election as judge finds ‘firm evidence’ of Santos Cerdán’s possible role in kickbacks

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has apologised to voters but ruled out a snap election after a senior member of his Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) resigned hours after a supreme court judge found “firm evidence” of his possible involvement in taking kickbacks on public construction contracts.

Sánchez, who became prime minister in 2018 after using a motion of no confidence to turf the corruption-mired conservative People’s party (PP) out of government, is already contending with a series of graft investigations relating to his wife, his brother, his former transport minister, and one of that minister’s aides. All deny any wrongdoing. A former PSOE member was recently implicated in an alleged smear campaign against the Guardia Civil police unit investigating the corruption allegations.

Continue reading...

Thousands protest in Madrid against Pedro Sánchez’s government

Posted on by

Ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ party has faced series of corruption allegations over past year

Tens of thousands of people have gathered in central Madrid to protest against the government of Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and to demand an early general election, as his party, his administration and his family continue to be beset by a succession of corruption allegations.

Sunday’s protest, called by the opposition conservative People’s party (PP) under the slogan “mafia or democracy”, attracted between 45,000 and 50,000 people, according to the central government’s delegation to the region. Organisers put the attendance at 100,000.

Continue reading...

Four women and three girls die as migrant boat capsizes off Canary Islands

Posted on by

Rescue service said movement of estimated 150 people onboard caused boat to tip as it approached port

Four women and three girls have died after a boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized as it approached a port on one of Spain’s Canary Islands.

Spain’s maritime rescue service said the boat, believed to be carrying about 150 people, was spotted 6 miles off La Restinga harbour on the island of El Hierro on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

World’s oldest fingerprint may be a clue that Neanderthals created art

Posted on by

A man 43,000 years ago dipped a finger in red pigment and made a nose on a face-like pebble in Spain, scientists say

One day around 43,000 years ago, a Neanderthal man in what is now central Spain came across a large granite pebble whose pleasing contours and indentations snagged his eye.

Something in the shape of that quartz-rich stone – perhaps its odd resemblance to an elongated face – may have compelled him to pick it up, study it and, eventually, to dip one of his fingers in red pigment and press it against the pebble’s edge, exactly where the nose on that face would have been.

Continue reading...

Five Valladolid fans given suspended prison sentences for Vinícius Júnior hate crime

Posted on by

  • Insults were directed towards Brazilian in December 2022

  • La Liga hails judgment as ‘unprecedented milestone’

  • Luka Modric to leave Real Madrid after Club World Cup

Five Valladolid fans who abused the Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior have been given suspended prison sentences, in what La Liga described as a landmark ruling that condemned racist insults hurled in a football stadium as a hate crime.

The case goes back to Madrid’s 2-0 win in December 2022 at Real Valladolid’s José Zorrilla Stadium, during which several fans hurled racist abuse at the Brazilian. The individuals were later identified using images and videos published on social media.

Continue reading...

Gran Canaria migrant centre closed after allegations of child abuse

Posted on by

Court asks police to raid centre on outskirts of Las Palmas after ‘extensive evidence and testimony’ of alleged crimes

A court in the Canary Islands has ordered the closure of a centre for unaccompanied migrant children, citing allegations that include physical abuse, hate crimes and threats.

Police entered the centre on the outskirts of Las Palmas on Monday where 43 children were being housed. A court on the island – the first in Spain to specialise in violence against children and adolescents – said it had asked police to carry out the raid “in light of the extensive evidence and testimony” of alleged crimes taking place in the centre.

Continue reading...

Centre-right party wins Portuguese election as far right makes record gains

Posted on by

Incumbent Democratic Alliance, led by caretaker prime minister Luís Montenegro, falls well short of majority

Portugal’s incumbent, centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) has won the country’s third snap general election in three years – but once again fallen well short of a majority – as the underperforming socialists were left vying for second place with the far-right Chega party, which took a record 22% of the vote.

By midnight on Sunday, with 99% of the votes counted, the AD – led by the prime minister, Luís Montenegro – had won 32.1% of the vote and taken 86 seats in Portugal’s 230-seat assembly, leaving it far shy of the 116 needed for a majority. The Socialist party (PS) had taken 23.4% of the vote t0 Chega’s 22.6%, and the two were tied on 58 seats each.

Continue reading...

Denmark rethinking 40-year nuclear power ban amid Europe-wide shift

Posted on by

Government to analyse potential benefits of new generation of reactors

Denmark is reconsidering its 40-year ban on nuclear power in a major policy shift for the renewables-heavy country.

The Danish government will analyse the potential benefits of a new generation of nuclear power technologies after banning traditional nuclear reactors in 1985, its energy minister said.

Continue reading...

Toxic chlorine cloud near Barcelona confines more than 160,000 indoors

Posted on by

Fire at warehouse storing pool cleaning products sends cloud over wide area around Vilanova i la Geltrú

Spanish authorities have told more than 160,000 people near Barcelona to stay indoors after a fire at an industrial warehouse released a toxic cloud of chlorine over a wide area.

The blaze, in the coastal city of Vilanova i la Geltrú, south of Barcelona, started at dawn on Saturday in a warehouse storing pool cleaning products, the regional fire service said.

Continue reading...

Israel committing genocide in Gaza, says EU’s former top diplomat

Posted on by

Josep Borrell also criticises EU response to what he calls largest ethnic cleansing operation since second world war

The former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has launched a blistering attack on Israel, accusing its government of committing genocide in Gaza and “carrying out the largest ethnic-cleansing operation since the end of the second world war in order to create a splendid holiday destination”.

Borrell, a former Spanish foreign minister who served as the EU’s top diplomat from 2019 to 2024, and president of the European parliament from 2004 to 2007, also criticised the bloc’s failure to use all the means at its disposal to influence Israel, saying expressions of regret were simply not enough.

Continue reading...

Many in US and western Europe think ‘third world war likely within five to 10 years’

Posted on by

Exclusive: Poll before 80th anniversary of VE Day finds tensions with Russia seen as most probable cause

Eighty years after the second world war, polling shows many Americans and western Europeans believe an even more devastating third global conflict could break out within a decade, with tensions with Russia seen as the most probable cause.

As Europe prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the YouGov polling also showed large majorities felt that events during and before the second world war were relevant today and must continue to be taught to younger generations.

Continue reading...

Spain: cable theft that caused rail chaos was ‘act of sabotage’, says minister

Posted on by

Signalling cable taken from four locations, delaying high-speed services between Madrid and Seville, week after massive power cut

Spain’s transport minister has said the country’s rail network suffered “an act of serious sabotage” after vital signalling cable was stolen over the busy bank holiday weekend, bringing severe delays to high-speed services between Madrid and Seville that affected more than 10,000 travellers.

Government sources said the problems on the line between the capital and the southern region of Andalucía had been caused by the theft of copper cable from five different locations in the Toledo area, south of Madrid, late on Sunday.

Continue reading...

‘Blackouts can happen anywhere’: how power systems worldwide can collapse

Posted on by

After Europe’s biggest blackout in over 20 years, experts warn that while such incidents are rare, no grid is infallible

Europe’s biggest blackout in over 20 years on the Iberian peninsula unleashed hours of chaos for people in Spain, Portugal and parts of France earlier this week. But in the aftermath it has raised a common question for governments across the continent: could the same happen here?

Europe’s political leaders and energy system operators have given assurances that such blackouts are extraordinarily rare, and that European power grids are some of the most stable in the world.

Continue reading...