đ§ This Week in Spain: The Far-Right is Coming (to Town)
Also: Barcelona officially quits X (sorta), Ryanair is mad at the government and Benidorm Fest stuff.
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | January 30, 2025 | Madrid | Issue #87
đ Welcome to The Tapa, an English-language, weekly newsletter about all things Spain!
đ„ This Week in a Nutshell: So far Spain seems to be a secondary priority to the Trump White House (which probably explains why Elon Musk still hasnât come out to explicitly support Vox). But that doesnât mean that the European far-right isnât trying to make itself at home here, as evidenced by the Patriots summit taking place in Madrid in a few days.
đ Remember that if this email gets truncated at the bottom because itâs too long, just click here to read the rest on Substack.
đ One more thing for new subscribers: we are offering paid subscriptions, and weâd be thrilled if you purchased one to help build this enterprise weâve had so much fun creating. (And to those of you who have already subscribed, thanks for the love đ„°.)
đșIf you havenât subscribed yet, please do so by clicking on the button below.
𫶠And if you already have, please send this newsletter around to your friends and family and help us keep growing.
Those were the days
đ Itâs a Trump World. Spainâs Just Living in It
We know what PM Pedro SĂĄnchez must be thinking right now: âOh, how quickly things change.â Seriously, one day youâre the darling of the European left, Mr. Handsome, walking the streets with Finnish PM Sanna Marin like socialismâs Barbie and Ken dream date, and the next your every move depends on the permission of a separatist leader with a bad Beatles mop-top, and far-right leaders Viktor OrbĂĄn and Marine Le Pen are invading your city with a rally namedâseriouslyââMake Europe Great Again.â Pedro, we feel for you.
It had already been a tough stretch for SĂĄnchezâand the rest of the European leftâbefore Donald Trump took office. The EU started turning right as Italy brought in Giorgia Meloni as PM (from the Brothers of Italy, no less!), leftist buddy AntĂłnio Costa was turfed out as Portuguese PM in a dubious corruption scandal, Finlandâs Marin was replaced by a man from the liberal-conservatives⊠The winds of change were really shifting.
But Trump's ascension to the American throne last week drove it home. Suddenly Spainâs government wasnât just an outlier, but it was increasingly out of step with a world moving hard right. The new American government, and the European right-wing leaders it emboldened, are hostile to most of what SĂĄnchez holds dear. Let us count the ways that things are changingâŠ
MEGA. The newly created EU far-right party Patriots for Europe, designed by OrbĂĄn, was founded after the 2024 elections to make the new right a powerbase in Brussels, and it already holds 86 of the EU parliamentâs 720 seats. That makes it the third biggest group, and it counts Spainâs Vox as a member. Now itâs ready to throw its weight around with a major Trump-inspired rally in Madrid on Feb. 8. Remember when Argentine President Javier Milei came to town and insulted SĂĄnchez at a far-right rally in May? Well, that will look tiny compared to this show of hard-right strength.
Programming note: We would like to remind the MEGA posse that this is Spain. First, the rally should be done by 2 p.m., so everyone can get to lunch. And, two, it should have a name in Spanish. (We suggest a manly oneâHaz Europa Grande Otra Vez, or HEGOV. Youâre welcome).
Bombs and stuff. The Netherlandsâ old liberal PM Mark Rutte was in Madrid this week in his new role as NATO head. Now, in the past Spain would have said something like it was âdeeply committedâ to NATO and then moved on without spending much on weapons because, hey, itâs a peaceful country and whoâs gonna invadeâAndorra? Which explains why Spain is at the back of the line with defense spending, at 1.29% of GDP. But now with Trump suggesting European countries spend not just the 2% on defense as NATO countries agreed back in 2006, but 3% or even 5%, well, thatâs not with the times. Still, when Rutte came, SĂĄnchez said Spain would definitely get to 2%âŠin 2029. That might get a semi-pass from Rutte, but when Trump next throws a NATO defense spending tantrum, Spain is sure to be in the crosshairs.
Snappy sloganeering. While OrbĂĄn et al want to âMake Europe Great Againâ, SĂĄnchez continues his own efforts to devise catchy slogans that make for great headlines and antagonize Trump and his techno-bro financiers. Last week in Davos he unveiled his content moderation-heavy plans to âMake Social Media Great Againâ (MaSoMeGA?) and dissed the âtecno-castaâ (Read: Musk et al), while this week, he had a direct riposte to the âDrill, baby, drillâ promise Donald Trump made in his inaugural speech.
Still pushing the green? Yup. Speaking at a clean energy event in Madrid, the PM said that Spainâs leadership in green hydrogen and renewable energy is turning this country into âgreen, baby, greenâ. While Trump may push for fossil fuels, he says Spain is betting its future on green energy (56% of electricity already comes from renewables). Though weâd like to point out the âgreenâ is not really a verb.
Crickets. đŠ At the end of the day, despite Pedro SĂĄnchezâs recent attempts to antagonize Trump, it looks like the White House is simply ignoring Spain altogetherâat least when Trumpsâs not mistaking Spain for a member of the BRICS economic bloc.
Hello? Hello? As El Mundo explains, in the new U.S. administrationâs initial round of diplomatic contacts, neither Trump nor any of his cabinet members have talked to their Spanish counterparts (such as Foreign Minister JosĂ© Manuel Albares, whose short stature in no way means he should be ignored).
What makes them so cool? Here in Europe, Hungary, Poland, and Italyâcountries all governed by Trump-friendly leadersâhave been contacted by the White House. Same with France and Germany, which are big. Heck, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has even already spoken to his counterparts in Morocco and Rwanda. Maybe he lost Albaresâs number?
Donât worry, Spain will get targeted soon enough. The obvious ideological divide between Trump and SĂĄnchez is certain to complicate bilateral relations further. Their very different worldviews have contributed to a lack of alignment on all sorts of international issues and considering the PMâs positioning lately, a clash between the two is now not a matter of if but of when. Likely first clash? Weâre guessing that 1.29%.
More news below. đđ
đ But First, A Message From Our Sponsor
Bucólico Café is a project of connection that was born as a specialty coffee shop.
We value time and understand that it represents both a cycle and an instantâchronology and nostalgia. BucĂłlico is a space that connects oneâs soul with the purity, lightness and beauty of the countrysideâwhile being in the city. Via a cup of coffee, a piece of cake or a songâŠ
Located on Calle de Barbieri 4 â a few blocks from Plaza Chueca â BucĂłlico reassures the soul with a feeling of home.
Follow Bucólico Café on Instagram.
đŹ Five things to discuss at dinner parties this week
1. đ Barcelona says goodbye to Twitter/X (almost)
The Barcelona City Council announced this week that it was leaving Twitter / X because it no longer ensures the right to âtruthful and honest informationâ. Mayor Jaume Collboni, from the PSC Catalan socialists, is signing a decree that makes the closure official on Jan. 31.
Bad Elon! Collboni says that the platform has become trapped in âa spiral of disinformation and intransigence that directly threatens democracyâ so they are closing the cityâs nearly 80 official accounts. Back in September, he deleted his personal account.
But⊠The only account to remain open will be @bcn_ajuntament, used for emergency alerts (such as weather updates, etc.). So, not totally leaving. ButâŠclose.
They love some moderation. Barcelonaâs Deputy Mayor, MarĂa Eugenia Gay, also said that Twitterâs drastic reduction in content moderation (or âcensorshipâ as Tesla Boy would say) was one of the reasons they decided to go.
Weâll always have LinkedIn. The city said it would continue providing information to the public through Facebook, LinkedIn, Telegram, and YouTube.
Weâre #1! With this decision, Barcelona becomes Spainâs first major city to leave Elon Muskâs social media platform, following local institutions such as the University of Barcelona and the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities, and government leaders like Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda DĂaz, who last week announced she was abandoning Twitter/X and moving to BlueSky (though, really, no one noticed).
Not everyone is happy about this. The announcement has angered pretty much everyone in the opposition (surprise!). For one thing, the decision to stop posting on official city Twitter accounts (with their massive audiences) affects everything from the Barcelonaâs Fire Department to its municipal archive and the archaeology service.
The leader of the center-right PP on Barcelonaâs City Council, Daniel Sirera, called it a âmistakeâ and said they have a mayor âwho finds it easier to shut down Twitter than to close down drug dens in Barcelonaâ. Troll-tastic!
The lefty separatist party ERC also appeared to be surprised by the fact that the mayor had not discussed this with anyone before announcing the decision and asked for a clear exit plan.
Center-right national separatist Junts accused the mayor of not consulting with the City Council beforehand. Councilman Jordi MartĂ said the X account is âan institutional tool, not a government assetâ, and questioned why Barcelona is leaving X while staying on Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram (which is a fair point, considering they just got rid of their fact-checking program).
And last but not least Vox councilman Gonzalo de Oro called the move âauthoritarian and absurdâ because the City Councilâs social media accounts âdo not belong to Collboni and the Socialist Partyâ
Sleepy, not dead. Now, while De Oro is technically correct, the city government will not delete the official accounts but rather leave them inactive, so whenever political winds change, the accounts could be reactivated.
2. đą Happy econ stats week for SĂĄnchez!
Embattled PM Pedro SĂĄnchez has a statistics week to die for. His government may be unable to pass any legislation (except by decree) and he may be wildly unpopular among large swathes of the population (including in his own party), but at least the economy is rockinâ, right?
Seriously, it is, especially compared to the rest of the EU today. Two important stats tell the story.
Employment and unemployment. National employment figures for 2024, published Tuesday, showed the unemployment rate dropped to 10.6%âthe first time under 11% since the 2008 financial crisis (Really? Yes. As they say, âNothing to be proud ofâ)âand the number of employed people hit a record 21,857,900, a rise of 468,100 for the year.
GDP (or PIB, if you prefer it in Spanish). Spainâs economy grew 0.8% in the last three months of 2024 and 3.2% for the year, according to stats published Wednesday, which puts it (editor checks stats for accurate description) waaaay crazy ahead of the rest of the eurozone, which is expected to grow 0.8% for the whole year.
Enhorabuena, Pedro et al. Really, itâs only fair to give some credit to the government that was in office when this happened. Indeed, the economic advisors of Americaâs Big Orange President have pointed to 3% as the annual GDP growth they are aiming for, soâŠcongrats. But positive economic stats donât win elections (just ask Kamala Harris), so letâs dig into the âYes, butsâŠâ of these numbers.
Tourism. While the job numbers were super-fab, nine of every ten new jobs were in services, driven especially by the hospitality industry (i.e. tourism), which was up more than 140,000. Similarly, GDP growth was driven by services, which grew 3.9%, propelled by tourism. Now, you canât laugh at tourism in Spainâit accounts for 13% of GDP and a record 94 million tourists came to Spain last yearâbut you know how itâs gotten super-unpopular recently, right?
Wages. There are a lot more jobs, but the payâs not great. Monthly wages are up about 15-20% since 2020 but inflation is upâŠabout 20% too.
So Spain has tourism dependency and wage problems? We hear you: tell us something new. So letâs just revel in the good numbers, and be thankful for immigration: almost 90% of the new job growth (and a good bit of the GDP expansion) was due to immigrants.
3. đ· 37.5-hour workweek is 1 step closerâbut still far away
Yolanda DĂaz can say she notched a win on Monday. Thatâs when DĂaz, the Labor Minister (and Second Deputy Prime Minister), won her long squabble with Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo (can we make âCarl Bodyâ a thing?) over reducing Spainâs work week from 40 to 37.5 hours. Her draft law (anteproyecto de ley)â2.5 hours less per week but for the same pay!âwill be voted on, and inevitably passed, during next Tuesdayâs cabinet meeting.
Slow walking. You may recall that we wrote about this a few weeks ago when she went to the press with her complaints that Cuerpo was slow-walking her proposal because the PSOE didnât want to pass it (she is of the far-left Sumar, and the PSOE is in theory slightly more business-friendly).
âBad person.â During her media rant, DĂaz trashed Cuerpo on Telecinco, where she said Cuerpo was âvetoingâ the bill and lying when he said he wanted to pass the law: âI find this very serious because it is a commitment of the Government of Spain.â She also called Cuerpo a âbad personâ! đš
But now sheâs happy. In a press swing this week, DĂaz told RNE public radio, that âthe PSOE had a different position regarding the reduction of the working day, but the debate is settled and the Government is going to approve this reduction."
So thatâs it, right? Wrong. Cuerpo and the PSOE may just be giving DĂaz a pacifier to sell to voters, knowing that thereâs a big chance it will not come to fruition. After a draft law like this is passed by the cabinet it still has to be approved by the full parliament, which can modify the proposal or trash it. The bill is expected to be presented in parliament in April or May. And, well, approval is far from definite.
DĂaz herself sorta admitted it. In her interview with RNE, she said, âLet's see if politicians do the same as they did with the labor reformâ â which got 'no' votes from the PP, Junts, ERC and the PNV, among others â âor if they side with the Spanish men and women."
Business not on board. If even one of those nationalist partiesâJunts, ERC and the PNVâvote ânoâ along with the PP and Vox, it wonât pass. And the fact that the business lobby wasnât involved in writing the bill suggests that the more business-friendly ones (Junts and the PNV) might just give it a đ. Or at least introduce a lot of changes, such as subsidies for small businesses and the like.
And if it passes? It should go into effect by the end of 2025. What will you do with your extra 2.5 hours?
4. âïž Ryanair CEO: âSpain has a crazy communist ministerâ
We hate Ryanair. Letâs be honest. Hatehatehatehatehate. Fine, we got that out of the way. But that said, Ryanair does have low prices if you bring, like, zero baggage (more on that in a second), and CEO Michael O'Leary really gives good value when it comes to starting public feuds we love to watch with a little đż.
Which brings us to⊠CommunistMinisterWhats-His-Name-Gate.
How it started. OâLeary went đŠđ© crazy back in November when Spain levied âŹ179m in fines on Ryanair (âŹ108m) and two other airlines for âabusiveâ baggage and seating charges (yes, we find them abusive too). OâLeary disagreed with Spain (and us) and said the âillegal and baselessâ fines âdestroyed the ability of low-cost airlines to pass on cost savings to consumers via lower fares.â
Then it got even testier. Ryanair announced in mid-January that it would cut 800,000 seats on seven regional Spanish routes due to "excessive" fees from state-owned airport operator Aena, to which Aena pushed back, calling out Ryanairâs "notorious, dishonest, aggressive and threatening business and communications strategy, which it is difficult not to interpret as blackmail.â
âŠand testier. OâLeary did not move on, and it seems Spain didnât either. It came out Wednesday that Transport Minister Oscar Puente had written a very unhappy letter to a Ryanair exec about the airlineâs âthreatening and somewhat insolentâ tone.
How itâs going. And so, OâLeary took the opportunity of a Wednesday Brussels press conference about a totally different subject to slam Spainâs consumer rights minister Pablo Bustinduy (who fined Ryanair) as a âcrazy communistâ who wants to fine airlines for restricting baggage which they have âno choiceâ but to do. (To be fair to OâLeary, Bustinduy is with Sumar, so he is communist-adjacent; But crazy? We donât know.)
And the âcommieâsâ response? Bustinduyâwhose name we had to look up because we had never heard of him and thought he might be a minister in Franceâtook to the spotlight like, um, an unknown politician that is forced to take the spotlight. His words: "No blackmail and certainly no insult will make me stop trying to defend the people against the powerful.â So righteous! Spainâs very own JFK.
5.đïžWho will win this yearâs Benidorm Fest?
At least 50% of the team that writes this newsletter is a huge fan of the drama and music that surround the Benidorm Fest each year (fine, itâs
). Its 2025 edition, happening now and broadcasting the music festivalâs grand finale this Saturday night, will probably not disappoint.For those of you normies who have no idea what weâre talking about, the Benidorm Fest is the musical event of the year (at least for some of us), whose winner is selected to represent Spain in the Eurovision music contest (but thatâs another can of worms so weâre staying away from thatâfor now).
Look, letâs face it. Weâve surely already lost. In recent years, except for that one time in 2022, Spain just doesnât seem to find the right fit for Eurovision. This doesn't mean that all of the chosen songs are bad (Blanca Palomaâs Eaea is simply incredible) but they just donât seem to do it for a European (well, global) audience.
As many music fans in Spain say, the best way to enjoy Benidorm Fest is by not thinking of Eurovision and just going along for the ride. Vote what you like, and then weâll deal with it (which is why we always lose).
But we digress. The first semifinal of Benidorm Fest took place on Tuesday night, with eight contestants delivering some high-energy performances.
Only four of them survived the vote and moved to the next round: Kuve, Lachispa, Daniela Blanco and Lucas Bun. Donât worry if you donât know any of them, most of us didnât know them either until now.
If we had to pick the best one from those four, with go with Bunâs deeply moving ballad âTe escribo en el cieloâ. But if we had to pick the one to have a chance at Eurovision, weâd go with Blancoâs âUh nanaâ.
Did we have a few trainwrecks on Tuesday? You betcha, particularly veteran Eurovision hopeful duo Sonia y Selena, who you may know from 2001âs dance-pop hit Yo quiero bailar. They tried to make it to the international song contest back then and failed, then split up. They got back together in 2011, tried and failed again (and split up again). And finally, they came back one last time this Tuesday (even though they allegedly hate each other) for one more try with an underwhelming - but campy - song, âReinasâ. They were immediately voted out, although the inevitable memes comparing them to Wickedâs Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo live on in our hearts.
The second semifinal is tonight at 10:45 p.m. and it will complete the lineup for the big final on Saturday night.
Here are some of the most interesting options competing tonight:
Public broadcast RTVE has made key changes to the voting system this year, eliminating the controversial âdemoscopic juryâ, giving the professional jury and the public equal power. Also, people can now vote for their favorite performer for free using the RTVE Play app.
With these new voting rules, expectations are high, especially because Spain has not won a Eurovision contest since 1969. Stay tuned to see whether we have a chance in Switzerland this year or if we are headed for yet another night of disappointment.
đ Before you go, please remember to share this newsletter with your friends on social media. The more we grow, the more information weâll be able to offer each week.
Love it. I live in Valencia.