A digest of this week's Spanish financial, political and social news aimed primarily
at Foreign Property Owners:
Prepared by Lenox Napier. Consultant: José Antonio Sierra
More information on Business over Tapas
February 26 2026 Nº 621
Editorial:
Come Thursdays, and my email fills with unwanted spam. Last week I got a couple from Norton Security sent from two different sites reminding me its time to pay their annual subscription (I have never in my life used Norton). The kosher version of this company functions in real life precisely as a spam-buster. Their messages also say at the bottom that I 'can unsubscribe' by clicking on something or other; thank you, most kind, I think not.
Microsoft also reaches out, again twice, from two different and rather odd sounding addresses, neither of which appear on their proper webpage - no doubt an oversight on their part. Again, I block them ('submit as Spam'), but they will return (probably next Thursday I wonder, possibly this day has an extra significance in Albania?).
Then there was a special deal on a memory-foam pillow. I'm retired. I already have a fucking pillow.
I got a too-good-to-refuse offer on my auto-insurance, an Omaha Steak gourmet sampler box (no charge), a free mystery parcel from the American post office (!), a cure for Alzheimers from Bill Gates and a message which assures me that my wife says Ive never had sex like this.
Again, I can unsubscribe, but well, maybe I should go and get married first.
This is all designed to catch out the unwary.
What I do, what we all do, is mark it as Spam and then wait for the next one.
Whatever happened to those exiled Nigerian princes who would kindly offer you half of their five million shillings if they could just borrow your bank account for a few days?
Also on Thursday last week what a day it was! a message arrived that very evening from my caja to tell me that it was going to pay on my behalf to another bank which I have never dealt with the unlikely sum of 1,982.44 within the hour and could I ring this number if I wasnt in agreement
No, I could not.
The next day, the lady at the caja told me that it hadnt come from them. Theres a surprise.
I got several bothersome phone calls on Thursday as well. No one rings any more they send you a WhatsApp instead. Now these calls, and Ive blocked loads of them, come from Madrid or Valladolid or Myanmar and they want to sell me something. Hola, they say, buenas tardes. Mi nombre es-, but by then Ive already hung up the phone.
All this, and Im on the Lista Robinson (created precisely to stop these calls) and besides, the Government has just made those call-centres illegal.
Maybe the word hasnt got through yet.
These days, one is always doing something more rewarding than waiting for a phone call. In my case it was driving (try and get the phone out of your trouser pocket while wearing a seat-belt) or having a siesta and dreaming about how I was going to surprise my future wife.
A useful site called Maldita keeps an eye out on scams. I was reading about how somebody sends you a message on WhatsApp about an earthquake and how you should link to such and such a page which, says the item, will clear out your phone in under ten seconds!
On Facebook last
yes dammit, it was also on Thursday
a series of adverts appeared with the Spanish king trying to sell me a get-rich-quick scheme. Then one from the head of the Banco de Santander, then another with both of them. I wrote to the Facebook poohbahs and said it was a scam and they thanked me for my nice letter, but that the adverts were fine and dandy. Old Mark Chuckleburg must need the money.
I remember last summer there was another Fb scam, where you and nine others received a message about a car-crash and an Oh The Horror! Click here for details.
I checked with Google AI and got: Spam bypasses filters because spammers constantly evolve tacticsusing new domains, rotating IP addresses, and embedding text within images to evade detection. Filters cannot be perfectly restrictive without blocking legitimate emails, and sophisticated spam often masks itself as legitimate, personalized, or "important" content to bypass automated AI-based filters.
It was almost a relief to hear from a poor French-woman today who was caught by one of those hugger-muggers (Eastern Europeans who wisely avoid stealing from Spaniards). She lost her thief-proof Cartier watch in a tris-tras which, the husband told me, he himself couldnt have removed from her wrist in less than a minute.
And thus we continue, one eye on our purse, as the world turns.
Whats that? Trumps dead? Click on this link.
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Housing:
The Majorca Daily Bulletin has: Ban on home purchases by non-residents in the Balearics goes to parliament; could be the first law in Spain.
Idealista says The Housing Minister Pablo Bustinduy advocates extending the restriction on speculative housing purchases to all of Spain. We read that The minister insisted that housing is the main factor of poverty and social exclusion in Spain, and therefore, according to him, the market must be regulated and the current example of Catalonia followed by "prohibiting and restricting speculative purchases by large property owners to neutralize the logic of upward spiralling speculation"
From The Guardian here: Psychological torture: Spanish tenants fight back against housing harassment. Court in Madrid will soon decide whether developers are using construction to force people out of their homes. It says: when an apartment block was sold to an investment fund two years ago, a local tenants union swiftly warned what to expect. First the tenants would be told that none of their rental contracts regardless of their expiry date would be renewed, the union said. Then, as the fifty or so families in the building grapple with what to do next, a series of construction projects would be launched in the building to ramp up pressure on them to leave
Which of course is what happened.
From Idealista here with information from Larraín Nesbitt Abogados: The Spanish government is going out of its way, for electoral reasons and calculated political gain, to discourage foreign landlords from engaging holiday rentals. To that end, it has entered into a legislative frenzy approving law after law, which adds more red tape, overlaps requirements and even duplicates administrative procedures. In plain English, the government is purposely creating a convoluted mess. Quoting the UKs rock group Genesis, Spain has become the land of confusion. As stated, the ultimate goal is to disincentivise landlords, particularly foreign ones, from renting out in Spain
Looking for a lifestyle full of sun, sandy beaches and good food? New research has revealed the best spots in Spain for Brits to move to. From MSN here.
From Gov.UK here: Guidance. Living in Spain. Information about moving to, living or retiring in Spain including visas, working, healthcare and driving (Thanks to Jake).
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Tourism:
The Corner says that Spain received a total of 6.7 million international passengers in January, representing an annual growth of 5.2%, according to data from Turespaña. The report highlights that 54.5% of travellers opted for low-cost airlines, an increase of 3.8%, while the remaining 45.5% used traditional airlines, a segment that recorded a higher increase of 6.9%... (as to how many arrived by rail, sea or car
thats another story).
Something odd about dual nationalities from The Guardian here: British dual-nationals risk imminent refusal of travel to UK, Home Office affirms. Government ignores pleas for a grace period before new rules came into force yesterday.
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Finance:
From Motor here: Spain wants to be the electric vehicle manufacturing hub of Europe: Volkswagen, Stellantis, Renault, and the Chinese car manufacturers are already betting on "Made in Spain." Our country could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the transition to electric vehicles taking place in Europe. Spain will be a key hub for electric cars, with many brands manufacturing here.
Inside the greenhouses that serve as Europes vegetable garden. The plastic city that feeds five hundred million people. The Economist is in Almería
(My thanks to Jake for this).
From 20Minutos here: Fedea (an economics foundation) estimates that the regularization of migrants could bring to light up to half a million hidden jobs, mostly held by women.
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Politics:
Gabriel Rufían (ERC) and Emilio Delgado (Más Madrid) trying to get the gigantic range of the far-left together is, as a reader reminds me, like attempting to herd cats. On the other hand, to get the far-right together, says the comic Miguel Charisteas here, you just need someone to open a kebab joint in your barrio. Gabriel and Emilio called a public meeting last week saying that the left need to work together, doesnt matter which party, province by province. Podemos was firmly against the idea (but they are getting smaller each time theres an election). Then, three days later, on Saturday, another far-left current called a meeting: La Alianza de las Izquierdas IU, Más Madrid, Comuns and the Movimiento Sumar. Neither Rufián, Yolanda Díaz or Podemos attended. Following this (non-event?) The Podemos EU leader Irene Montero said bravely that the alliances will collapse under their own weight. The PP was dismissive of course.
Rufián's proposal for a united left-wing front threatens the absolute majority of the PP and Vox. A joint candidacy of Sumar, Podemos, ERC, EH Bildu, and BNG would almost tie with Vox for third place, according to a poll conducted by Ateneo del Dato for elDiario.es.
Yolanda Díaz, the leader of Sumar, announced on Wednesday that she will withdraw from running in the next general elections. The story at 20Minutos here.
Pope León XIV has warned the bishops that his biggest concern in Spain is the far right trying to "instrumentalise the Church". In other words - the Vatican is worried that the la Iglesia Católica is being taken over by the right-wing media, politicians, influencers and assorted banditry. The story is in El País here.
Right now, talks between the PP and Vox in both Extremadura and Aragón appear to be deadlocked and there are fears of fresh regional elections down the line. So much so, the head offices of both of the parties have now taken control of the discussions. Feijóo has offered some concessions in a framework document (Climate Change is a fiction, immigrants are bad and so on), but Santiago Abascal is not giving anything away so far.
The third regional elections Castilla y León are upon us. From La Sexta here: Sánchez, is convinced that the elections in Castilla y León will be the "final point" of the PP-Vox tandem. The Prime Minister expressed his conviction that on March 15th he will halt the advance of the far right precisely in the same region where the first PP-Vox coalition government was formed. The PP president, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, certainly lost popular support following his mismanagement of the forest fires last summer.
From Público here: Sánchez lashes out at US techno-oligarchs: "We're going to keep their grubby hands off our children's health." Sánchez explained that the government has asked the Attorney General's Office to investigate the "techno-oligarchs and their platforms" for content such as AI-manipulated pornography that affects both children and women.
The Government has released the files on the frustrated coup detat of February 23rd 1981. Readers may remember the Guardia Civil Lieutenant-Colonel Antonio Tejero with his group of Guardias with their machine guns and Tejero firing his pistol into the ceiling of the Cortes in Madrid. Another of the plotters, the lieutenant-general Jaime Milans del Bosch, called out the army that day with its tanks in Valencia. Naturally, the PP and Vox are against the release of these documents (We should be concerned with the future, not the past, etc).
El Plural has a list of artists, musicians and writers who were pencilled in by the plotters for prison or execution including Delibes, Gala, Marsé, Aute, Miguel Ríos, Ana Belén, Bardem, Pilar Miró, Sacristán, Forges, Milá
The files (as we wait for next week for reactions) are here.
A good article from The Olive Press here: Tejero, the man who tried to make himself dictator of Spain, now lives in quiet retirement on the Costa del Sol.
Late News: Tejero died this Wednesday evening!
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Gibraltar:
Pedro Sánchez to mark demolition of Gibraltar Border Fence. Vice President Montero announces that Sánchez will soon visit La Línea to celebrate the end of decades of physical separation and the start of a new post-Brexit era. From Spanish News Today.
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Europe:
U.S. President Donald Trumps threats to annex Greenland were the epiphany moment for Europes six largest economies to club together and speed up financial market reform, Spanish Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo tells Politico here. The new group, dubbed E6 in Brussels, is an exclusive club among the EUs six largest economies France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland designed to break political deadlocks that have hamstrung efforts to create a U.S.-style financial market over the last decade
On Sunday the head of the international trade committee in the European Parliament, Bernd Lange, posted: Pure tariff chaos on the part of the US government. No one can make any sense of it anymorejust open questions and growing uncertainty for the European Union and other US trading partners. Lange noted that it is unclear if the United States will adhere to its trade deals, or even be able to at all. He proposed pausing the process of approving the EUs trade deal with the US until we have a comprehensive legal assessment and clear commitments from the US side. On Monday, the European Parliament agreed
From Heather Cox Richardson here.
From 20Minutos here: Feijóo speaks by phone with Marco Rubio to pledge that Spain will be a "reliable" country for his allies if he comes to power.
From Middle East Monitor here: Spain calls EU Commissions attendance at Board of Peace meeting mistake. Although the EU declined to join the initiative, it sent Mediterranean Commissioner Dubravka Suica to attend the portion of the meeting dedicated to Gaza. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares later said that the Spanish government had declined the invitation to participate because the Palestinians were not included and the peace plan devised by the US raises serious doubts about its compatibility with international law.
From West Country Voices here: Brexit: the £240bn (275,000 million euros) mistake we cant afford to keep making. The article has the numbers.
From The Leader here: The UKs EU Relations Minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds, has made his first official visit to Madrid, placing the needs of British expats firmly at the centre of talks aimed at strengthening UKSpain relations. With more than 400,000 UK citizens living in Spain and over 19 million British visits recorded in 2025, the two-day visit focused heavily on easing everyday problems faced by the UK community...
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Health:
El Plural notes that Mortality in Andalucía is 11.6% higher than the national average, putting Moreno Bonilla's healthcare management under intense scrutiny. When there is a shortage of doctors in health centres and nurses in hospitals, reinforcing public-private partnerships and allocating thousands of millions to private healthcare does not solve the structural problem.
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Corruption:
An exclusive from El Constitucional here (or here): Ayuso's first husband and mentor made a killing with the Community of Madrid: he pocketed 93,958.90, which allowed him to plug the financial holes in the system. The Madrid PP has tried for years, and continues to try, to cover up this information, due to the obvious political repercussions it could have for Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
The hidden documents of Madrid Network are beginning to come to light: 111 million euros, PP officials, members of the nobility, and even pseudo-journalists. The Partido Popular had managed to hide the information for 15 years. El Plural says that the original eighty million euros came from the Government to fund research and development, but was squandered on other hitherto unreported beneficiaries.
The four main hackers of the 'Anonymous Fénix' group have been arrested for carrying out cyberattacks against public bodies. They attacked the websites of ministries, political parties, and institutions, reaching their peak activity after the Valencia DANA, in order to blame the government. The story comes from El Mundo here.
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Courts:
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office detected income exceeding 35 million euros in the accounts of Equipo Económico, the firm directed by Cristóbal Montoro, which is at the centre of the investigation against Mariano Rajoy's finance minister. Despite this information, and despite the Tax Agency's request to the Tarragona judge presiding over the case, the Civil Guard's Central Operational Unit (UCO) has yet to request access to Montoro's bank accounts, the main defendant in the scheme
Lots more at El Plural here.
The Madrid Provincial Court overturns Judge Peinado's attempt to bring Begoña Gómez before a jury trial. The judges of the higher court again criticized the judge for failing to provide justification for his decisions, considering that he violated the defendants' right to effective judicial protection, and returned the proceedings to the stage prior to the jury trial.
From El Mundo here: The Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the Spanish national police has tendered his resignation following a complaint that he had raped a subordinate.
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Media:
The London Economic has: Billionaires are hating on Spains prime minister: He must be doing something right. Elon Musks outrage is a reliable signal that workers are starting to win. We read that The Sánchez government has built Europe's boom economy; hiked the minimum wage from 736 to 1221; cut insecure work from c.30% to c.13%; regularised rather than demonised migrants; has stood up for human rights and has refused to humiliate itself before Trump. No wonder Musk hates it. Hell also hate the new plan to prohibit social media for the under-sixteens.
The Spanish media relies to a smaller or larger extent on institutional advertising (Eat Andalusian Oranges for example). All good stuff and helpful in keeping the Fourth Estate in pencils. However, some authorities tend to favour one group over another, and shower large quantities of funding into certain fringe magazines, web pages and radio broadcasters (who, in return, will allow the approved propaganda to fill their pages and airwaves). To offset this, The Government will approve limiting institutional advertising in the media to a maximum of 35% says La Vanguardia here.
Daniel Lacalle is a conservative economist. On his blogsite he writes: Inflation, bloating GDP with public spending and immigration and hidden unemployment are the ingredients of the so-called economic miracle of the Sánchez administration. Spain closes 2025 with the consumer price index (CPI) rate above the euro area average and higher than all the large economies in Europe
At The Objective (far-right news-page) we read: Daniel Lacalle: "Socialism always fails because it is a system based on theft".
*In a Google-search, I find LaCalle in a number of rightist newspapers ABC, La Razón, OKDiario, El Debate and La Cope. Nothing much about him in the webpages from the left.
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Various:
Popular both with Trump and Voxs Santiago Abascal, Argentina's Congress approves labour reform that increases the workday to twelve hours says RTVE here.
From The Chorizo Chronicles here: Saint Ignatius of Loyola the life of Spains Spiritual Warrior. Iñigo (later Ignatius) is best remembered as the founder of the Jesuits. Ignatius died in 1556, at the age of 65, and was canonized in 1622, along with his old friend Xavier and two other notable Spaniards: Isidro of Madrid and Teresa de Ávila.
A joyful day: final piece of Sagrada Familias central tower put in place. Completion of glass cross brings Antoni Gaudís church to maximum final height of 172.5m, 144 years after work began. From The Guardian here.
From Coches here: Although it may seem unbelievable at this point, many drivers don't care much about the vehicle inspection (ITV). This mandatory inspection aims to ensure road safety by detecting potential problems and determining whether a vehicle is roadworthy. However, an increasingly widespread problem has been identified: drivers are not taking their cars to the inspection for fear of failing. This practice is yet another reason for the high rate of non-compliance in Spain and reveals what was an open secret. Our country has an increasingly older and poorly maintained vehicle fleet. Thus, many choose to turn a blind eye and continue driving illegally, fearing their vehicle will fail the ITV
We read that as much as 33% of cars who should have their inspection fail to do so.
Therians (people who identify with animals, wear furry suits and generally act like idiots) are rare enough, but a panic appears to have risen about them fuelled by the far-right. Stories here, here and at El País, here. And another one from Diario Sur here. This last one refers to a Therian meeting in Málaga, where there werent any to be gawped at; and as someone says: coming to see some idiots, it turned out the idiots were us.
Ten Spain Geography Facts That Sound Fake (But 100% Real) on YouTube here.
All the castles in Spain with Wikidatas interactive map here.
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See Spain:
A wintery trip to Ávila with The Chorizo Chronicles.
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Finally:
Santana, La Flaca ft. Juanes on YouTube here.
