Record-breaking numbers of tourists to visit Spain – but locals aren't happy
Spain 's Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo acknowledges the challenges posed by record tourism numbers, with 94 million international visitors last year and projections of 100 million this year.
A housing crisis, marked by skyrocketing home and rental costs in cities like Madrid and Barcelona, is fueling frustration over the increase of short-term rentals.
The Spanish government is cracking down on illegal Airbnb listings in response to protests demanding action on housing affordability.
The Bank of Spain reports a deficit of 450,000 homes, with Minister Cuerpo emphasizing the need to build more public housing to address the issue.
Minister Cuerpo also addressed potential US tariffs on EU goods, stating the EU aims to strengthen economic ties with the US but will protect its firms and industries if necessary.
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Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Telegraph
Spain's Socialist PM begs for forgiveness over corruption
Spain's Left-wing prime minister has apologised for a series of corruption scandals within his Socialist party. Pedro Sanchez's expression of regret came hours after a close ally was implicated in a bribery scandal. 'I apologise to citizens and Socialist party members and activists,' the prime minister said in a press conference at the party's headquarters in Madrid, on Thursday. Two hours earlier, Santos Cerdán, the party secretary, resigned when Spanish press reported that the police had evidence linking him with a scheme in which companies were charged in return for government contracts. Mr Sánchez admitted to being 'mistaken' in placing his trust in Mr Cerdán, one of his closest aides for a decade, but ruled out resigning or calling a snap election before the scheduled date in 2027. He said he had asked Mr Cerdán to step down and promised an audit of the party's finances, given the suspicion that the former secretary may have been gathering funds for political campaigns. 'Zero corruption is impossible but we must show zero tolerance when it occurs,' Mr Sánchez said. Legislative standstill In a letter announcing his resignation from his party post and as an MP, Mr Cerdán denied committing any illegal acts and said he would fight to clear his name. The allegations stem from an an ongoing police investigation into José Luis Ábalos, Mr Cerdán's predecessor, who is suspected of taking bribes from business owners in exchange for public contracts during his four-year spell as transport and infrastructure minister. The report contains transcripts of conversations involving Mr Ábalos, his advisor and Mr Cerdán, in which the latter is described as 'managing' the receipt of more than €600,000 in payments from a construction company. The Socialists came second to the conservative People's Party (PP) in 2023, but narrowly held onto power by forming a minority Left-wing coalition. Since then, the increasingly beleaguered Mr Sánchez has seen his wife and brother, as well as party officials, placed under investigation for alleged corruption offences.
The Independent
9 hours ago
- The Independent
What changes with the Gibraltar ‘fluid border' deal?
Get Brexit Done' was the Tory general election slogan in 2019 but the truth is that, even after Britain formally completed the process and left the European Union on 31 January 2020, there was still substantial unfinished business. One of the more intractable problems was Gibraltar, a British overseas territory but also inside the EU. Talks on its future status have dragged on until now, with the conclusion of the 'political agreement' on clearing up the details and the signing of the Gibraltar section of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. But not everyone is happy. Why was there a Gibraltar problem? As with Northern Ireland and Ireland, it was agreed in principle that there should be no 'hard border ' between Gibraltar, which now finds itself outside the EU, and Spain. But how to control movement of goods and people without checks? Tobacco smuggling was a particular source of arguments. The additional complication was that Spain is a member of the Schengen Area, which has no passport controls at all at borders with other members. Important military facilities on Gibraltar also need to be protected, as do reasonable relations between two Nato member states. As with Ireland and Northern Ireland in the more distant past, there is also the awkward fact that Spain did not accept British sovereignty over Gibraltar – unfairly ceded in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, according to Madrid. This constitutional issue had poisoned British-Spanish relations for decades. Why has Gibraltar taken so long to fix? Early in the Brexit talks, in 2017, the EU granted Spain 'special status' over Gibraltar, in effect a national veto over whatever the EU and UK negotiating teams came up with. British, Spanish, and indeed Gibraltarian sensitivities proved irreconcilable, but, unlike Northern Ireland, the problem was small enough to shelve. Now it has been ingeniously settled. (The great historical irony is that, when the UK was an EU member state and Spain was seeking to join in 1984, the British were able to extract concessions from Madrid about an open border, the Spanish having previously sealed it to undermine Gibraltar). Is Gibraltar still British? Yes, but with full internal self-government and, as with the Falklands (but arguably not the Chagos Islands) the UK has given the government of Gibraltar the effective right to say no to any deal. The main change is that there will additionally be Spanish border officials operating at the seaport and at Gibraltar International airport, and there are extra restrictions on entering Gibraltar if a British passport holder has already spent 90 days in the Schengen zone over a 180-day period. But this can be treated as a rule imposed by the autonomous administration of Gibraltar. It is analogous to the uncontroversial presence of French border officers at St Pancras International. Has Spain given up its claim to Gibraltar? No, but the British government says that there will be 'a clause agreed by all sides which makes explicitly clear that the final treaty does not impact sovereignty'. What do the Gibraltarians want? To have their cake and eat it. The last referendum on their relationship with Spain was in 2002, when the Blair government wanted a much stronger bond with Spain for geopolitical purposes and sought to remove this obstacle. Asked if they approved of the principle that Britain and Spain should share sovereignty over Gibraltar, they rejected the idea by 99 per cent. On the other hand, in the 2016 Brexit referendum they voted Remain by 96 per cent to 4 per cent. So they know their minds, sort of. Are the Gibraltarians happy now? Very. The chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, declared: 'I'm delighted we have finalised a conclusive political agreement which will bring legal certainty to the people of Gibraltar, its businesses and to those across the region who rely on stability at the frontier.' Who is unhappy with the Gibraltar agreement? The usual suspects, and even then not radically so. Nigel Farage, who once wanted Gibraltar to become part of the territorial UK itself (and contrary to the Treaty of Utrecht), now expresses mild disappointment that it is 'a little bit less British'. Even Priti Patel, that most vociferous defender of the British Empire and currently shadow foreign secretary, merely confines herself to warning: 'Gibraltar is British, and given Labour's record of surrendering our territory and paying for the privilege, we will be reviewing carefully all the details of any agreement that is reached." Does Gibraltar's status matter? Much more than it might seem. As part of a steady process of rebuilding relations, resolving problems and achieving a mutually advantageous Brexit 'reset', Starmer's government, including the foreign secretary David Lammy, has proved astonishingly successful. The prize is a European defence partnership, with British participation at every level, including industrial and procurement. A couple of Spanish border guards at Gibraltar seems a small sacrifice to make for the security of Britain's base and indeed the whole continent; and Spain needs to be encouraged to contribute more to Nato and collective European security.
BBC News
9 hours ago
- BBC News
Spain's Pedro Sánchez sorry after top aide resigns in corruption scandal
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has apologised to the Spanish people after an escalating corruption scandal brought down a senior Socialist party colleague.Sánchez, who has led Spain since 2018, said there was no such thing as "zero corruption", adding he was wrong to trust Santos Cerdán, the secretary of his party and close political colleague. Cerdán has been asked to testify in court after a judge suggested he may have acted with former party officials in improperly awarding public contracts in exchange for said on Thursday he was stepping down to defend himself in the Supreme Court on 25 June, maintaining he had "never committed a crime nor have I been complicit one". Amid mounting speculation over his own future, the prime minister called a news conference in a bid to distance himself from the creeping scandal. He said he knew absolutely nothing about the corruption affair and instead pledged to restructure the leadership of his Socialist PSOE rejected calls for early elections, insisting the next national vote would not take place until 2027 and his government would continue its "political project"."This is not about me, and it's not about the Socialist party," he his seven years in power, Sánchez heads a shaky coalition, secured after the conservative Popular Party won 2023 elections but failed to form a government. While the opposition demanded answers on Thursday, deputy prime minister Yolanda Díaz from left-wing coalition partner Sumar said she also wanted explanations. It was Sánchez's first appearance answering media questions since a national power outage that hit Spain in from Socialist party (PSOE) headquarters in Madrid, the prime minister said he had until Thursday morning been persuaded of Santos Cerdán's integrity and wanted to apologise to Spanish citizens."There is no such thing as zero corruption," he said. "We shouldn't have trusted him."Sanchez said that like many others he had his faults and asked the Spanish people for went on to accuse the conservatives of besieging his government on a multitude of issues.Sánchez has faced repeated political crises and in April 2024 threatened to stand took five days to decide on his future in April 2024, when a court decided to open preliminary proceedings against his wife over allegations surrounding her business too he called a televised news conference, and in a moment of high drama announced he had decided to stay on in the job.
