đ„ 'Kolditchen': Spainâs corruption double feature
Also: A dispute over Guernica, more stuff about Iran and the taxman cometh.
Madrid | Issue #142
đȘđž The Bubble is Spain's #1 English-language, best-selling newsletter. We offer paid subscriptions, and weâd be thrilled to have your support!
đš Customize your subscription! You can personalize your Bubble experience so you only get the emails you wantâand never the ones you donât. Click here to learn how.
đș Sponsorship opportunities. Want to get your brand in front of our engaged and influential audience of professionals, creatives, and government workers? Weâre now offering a variety of ways to do so. Click here to find out how and book a spot.
Grab the popcorn
âïž Spainâs two biggest corruption cases hit court at the same time
Itâs time for âKolditchenâ! Thatâs right, Spainâs peculiar judicial version of the 2023 double feature hit âBarbenheimerâ just arrived in a theater courtroom near you, and we couldnât be more thrilled.
Party x2. Both the Kitchen case (corruption in the PP!) and the Koldo case (corruption in the PSOE!) trials are starting in the same week by complete coincidence (or so we hear).
And really, how often do you get to watch Spainâs two main political parties get breaded in corruption and dunked in hot oil like the croquetas we wish they were?
Itâs still early days in these trials. So weâre far from ready to put a
betprediction on Polymarket on who will go to jail. But a few things seem to be coming clear so far: everything politicians say is being recorded, pretty much nobody works in Spain, and women get the short end of the stick. So letâs get to it!
But first, a brief legal history lesson. Here's why each case is so relevant.
Caso Kitchen revolves around an alleged covert operation launched in 2013 by Spainâs Interior Ministry under PP PM Mariano Rajoy, which (allegedly) used police resources and secret state funds to spy on former PP party treasurer Luis BĂĄrcenas. The goal? To obtain and potentially destroy documents linked to the partyâs illegal financing.
Why the name? Itâs called âKitchenâ because the operation referred to BĂĄrcenas' driver, who was allegedly recruited as an informant, as âthe cookâ (apparently he looked like a famous Spanish chef).
Best costume: One of the strangest episodes involved a man disguised as a priest who stormed BĂĄrcenasâ home at gunpoint in an apparent attempt to steal incriminating documents.
Caso Koldo revolves around an alleged corruption scheme during the pandemic, in which former Transport Minister JosĂ© Luis Ăbalos (PSOE), his advisor Koldo GarcĂa, and businessman VĂctor de Aldama are accused of taking commissions in exchange for awarding public contracts for medical masks. Weâve covered this case in excruciating depth.
Ye olde kickbacks. Prosecutors say they used privileged information and emergency procurement rules to steer contracts to companies linked to Aldama. They face charges including bribery, influence peddling, and embezzlement.
First, Koldo. You might think that a major trial about kickbacks on public contracts would focus on, well, kickbacks on public contracts. But youâd be wrong. The first two days of the Case Koldo dove deep into ex-Transport Minister Ăbalosâs (extramarital) lovers, and how they were plugged into apartments and government jobs by Koldo and Aldama. đ€Š
Doesnât anybody work around here? One former Ăbalos lover, JĂ©sica RodrĂguez, who lived in a âŹ2,700/month apartment paid for by an associate of Aldama, earned âŹ44,000 from two public administrative assistant jobs she was given but never worked at. When asked why she didnât work, she said she was waiting for Koldo or his brother to tell her what to do đ.
Staring at a wall. Another Ăbalos lady was former Miss Asturias Claudia Montes (no, he is not that attractive; itâs just that politics is Hollywood for ugly people). After being plugged into a state rail industry job, she was placed in an office corner facing the wall. Feeling that her services werenât being used, she said she reported the situation to Ăbalos and Koldo GarcĂa and, in the meantime, spent her work hours reading books in Oviedoâs library. Pressed by the presiding judge, she clarified that they were always âbooks about trains.â
Not nice. JĂ©sica definitely got it worse. Ăbalosâs lawyer went on a smear campaign to suggest that she and the ex-transport minister had never been actual partners, asking her if she was a prostitute â a move that caused conternation in court and in the press room. Her (well played) answer? âNo. Iâm a registered dentist.â
Ooooh, weâre gonna watch this one! Thereâs clearly more fun to come.
And now the Kitchen. More than a decade after the alleged espionage took place, former Interior Minister Jorge FernĂĄndez DĂaz, his deputy Francisco MartĂnez, and several senior police officials are finally set to face trial. That said, so far the trialâs big moments have been mostly procedural.
No more delays. Judges rejected attempts by the defense to annul the proceedings or move them out of Spainâs High Court, arguing that it was time to finally examine what happened.
Can we expand? Piling on, the PSOE asked the court to expand the investigation and bring back former PP secretary general MarĂa Dolores de Cospedal, arguing that new audio recordings suggest she may have played a more significant role than previously established.
Well, no. The court and the prosecution ruled that Cospedal had already been cleared during the investigation phase and that reopening that line of inquiry would only delay the trial further.
Expect to hear more about this. Did parts of the state apparatus act illegally to protect a political party from a corruption scandal? So far, this trial has been the less spicy of the two, but that could change.
More news below. đđ
đ But first, check out our sponsor â Bureaucracy.es
Weâve teamed up with our friends at Bureaucracy.es to bring you more resources about immigration and life in Spain. Check out our guides on how to get a Spanish Digital Nomad Visa or Non-Lucrative Visa.
If youâd like their help with the paperwork to apply for these visas, or need someone to guide you through the Spanish citizenship application process, you can hire them using this link (and, in the spirit of full transparency with our subscribers, The Bubble will receive a small commission).
đŹ Five things to discuss at dinner parties
1. đźđ· Spain: No to war, yes to NATO, Orange Man bad
Now that WW3 has been postponed for two more weeks, hereâs a roundup of Iran news as it relates to Spain (we'll leave the world press to tell you the rest). The tl; dr version? Whatever is happening in the Middle East, Spain doesnât want to be dragged into it.
Weâre busy, sorry. Foreign Minister JosĂ© Manuel Albares said this week that Spain turned down an invitation to join a high-level international meeting on the Strait of Hormuz, convened by the U.K. and attended by more than 30 countries.
For what? The meeting was meant to coordinate a response to the crisis and guarantee freedom of navigation in one of the worldâs most strategic waterways.
No to war. According to Albares, Madrid refused to participate because it would not be part of âany discussion that could involve military intervention or escalate the war.â
Guess whoâs applauding. China praised Spainâs position, with its ambassador in Madrid going as far as saying that Pedro SĂĄnchez is seen as a âheroâ in Chinese public discourse (maybe a bit much). Beijing has framed Spain as a responsible, peace-oriented actor, essentially saying Madrid is in line with its own stance. But don't get too excited about this; it's probably just another way for Beijing to troll Trump.
Not exactly neutral praise. At a time when the U.S. is pushing allies to do what it says and contribute to its
warsecurity efforts, Spain is taking a more ambiguous route: maintaining ties with Washington, but also strengthening its ties with China and positioning itself closer to what Beijing calls the âGlobal South.â (It is rather warm in Spain, after all.)
President non grata. A new 40dB./El PaĂs poll shows that Donald Trump is viewed by Spaniards as the biggest threat to global peace, slightly ahead of Vladimir Putin. The Orange Menace, always ready to collect a prize, will probably be happy about this.
Worry all around. Yes, El PaĂs is a left-leaning, pro-PSOE publication. But you should know that even conservative voters ranked Trump as a major risk, though they place Putin slightly higher. The only voters who are relatively comfortable with Trump (and Netanyahu) are those of Vox (shocker). And the only ones good with Putin? Podemos (also shocker).
But hereâs a twist. Despite the anti-war mood and an ambiguous take on increasing defense spending, support for NATO remains strong across the board. Nearly two-thirds of Spaniards want to stay in the alliance (with only Podemos voters clearly backing an exit; again, shocker).
Official Iranian trolling. Remember how the PP was timid about criticizing Trump when he started bombing Iran? Well, it looks like Trumpâs Easter message about destroying Iranian civilization may have been a bit too much, so PP boss Alberto NĂșñez FeijĂło took to X to call for âsensibility, not brutalityâ.
His tweet prompted the Iranian Embassy in Spain to reply somewhat cheekily âbetter late than never.â Iranian embassies around the world have launched a global trolling campaign against Trump â and people have noticed.
2.đš Spain is fighting over Guernica. Yes, the painting.
Put up your dukes! The Holy Week is over, so Spain can go back to its regular political drama. This time itâs not about housing or inflation, but a painting. Specifically, Pablo Picasso's iconic Guernica and whether it should leave Madrid.
Never simple. What started as a relatively predictable institutional request has turned into a political clash between the Basque government and Madrid, with regional presidents Imanol Pradales (from the Basque nationalist PNV) on one side and Isabel DĂaz Ayuso (PP) on the other.
Art history lesson. Painted in 1937, Guernica is not just another famous artwork; Itâs one of the worldâs most powerful political paintings of the 20th century.
Civil War bombing. Picasso created it to illustrate the horror of the bombing of the Basque town of Gernika (Basque spelling, fyi) during the Spanish Civil War, when Nazi German and Fascist Italian planes flattened it in support of Francoâs forces.
Back home. After spending decades at the MoMA in New York (Picasso didnât want it in Spain because⊠dictatorship), it returned in 1981 once the country transitioned to democracy. Itâs been at the Reina SofĂa Museum since 1992.
No more moves. The painting has been moved more than 30 times in its history, often rolled up and transported under far less controlled conditions than today. As a result, it is now extremely fragile, and experts have said for years that it should not be moved again. Not under any circumstances.
Enter the Basque Country. A couple of weeks ago, Pradales formally asked PM SĂĄnchez to allow the painting to be temporarily moved to Bilbao. (Btw, this isnât the first time theyâve asked.)
Anniversary show. The idea is to exhibit it at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao between October 2026 and June 2027, to mark the 90th anniversary of both the bombing of Gernika and the creation of the first Basque government.
Computer says no. The response from Madrid was quick and (at least initially) quite technical.
Maybe? No. The Culture Ministry, led by Ernest Urtasun, asked the Reina SofĂa to evaluate the request. The museum came back with a clear answer: no. The vibrations alone, they said, could seriously damage it.
Enter Madridâs presi. Speaking on Monday, DĂaz Ayuso dismissed the proposal as a âcatetada,â (essentially calling it provincial nonsense), and argued that culture should not be treated as something to be divided territorially.
Slippery slope. She also said if you start relocating masterpieces based on origin, you might as well send all of Picassoâs work to MĂĄlaga (where heâs from).
No, you! Her comments did not go down well in the Basque Country. Aitor Esteban, head of the PNV, accused Ayuso of being just as provincial for comments she made last year praising the concept of âhaving a beer on a terraceâ.
Please stop. At the Senate this Tuesday, Urtasun tried to shut the debate down for good, making it clear that the government would simply follow expert advice and leave the painting where it is.
The conservation reports, he said, are unequivocal. End of story.
Here we are again. In our political happy place.
3. đ€ The Tax Man is back â and he wants your đ¶
Itâs the most wonderful time of the year đ„ł! (Wait for it.) Tax season! But yes, all sarcasm aside, the filing season for Spainâs IRPF (income) taxes began yesterday. Because we love you, we thought weâd do as much as we could (in a few hundred words) to walk you through what to expect from Spainâs convoluted tax system this year.
First: the calendar. You can file online from April 8 to June 30. If you want Hacienda to help by phone, you can request an appointment starting April 29, with phone assistance starting May 6. For in-person help at tax offices, you can request appointments starting May 29. One key gotcha: if you end up owing The Man and want to pay by direct debit, the deadline is June 25, not June 30. Miss that and, well...donât.
One big tip. Donât just click through the prefilled draft that Hacienda provides and pray. The borrador is a helpful starting point, not a divine truth. Check your address, income, deductions, family info, rental income, and anything involving multiple employers, freelance work, investments, or side hustles. Spainâs tax agency is especially interested this year in crypto, tourist rentals, neobanks, changes of residence, and digital payments received by freelancers via Bizum. If itâs modern, they will pay extra attention. Because tax man no like modern đŠ.
Whatâs new this year? The headline change is a new deduction of up to âŹ340 for lower earners, designed so workers on or around the 2025 minimum wage (âŹ16,576) donât lose the benefit of that pay rise to tax.
More new-ish. Unemployed people are not automatically required to file just because they received benefits, unless they cross the normal income thresholds. Self-employed people still generally have to file regardless.
There are also more regional deductions than you can shake a stick at (who does that, anyway?). Youâve got celiac food costs in some regions, gym deductions in others, vet bills, glasses, EV purchases, rent breaks, and more. Figuring them out is fun, in the same way that reading Facebookâs T&Cs is.
Green & Rich. Deductions remain in place for green investments (EVs, charging points, certain energy-efficiency home improvements), as well as for subsidies to pay for damage from floods and forest fires. High earners, meanwhile, will pay more on savings income above âŹ300,000, with the top rate rising from 28% to 30%.
One thing thatâs almost inevitable? Youâll pay more this year. Not because you did anything wrong, but because Spain has again not adjusted IRPF brackets for inflation. So as salaries rise nominally, more of your income gets pushed into higher tax bands even if your real purchasing power hasnât actually improved. Economists call it bracket creep. We call it đ©.
The estimates are not tiny. According to Spainâs economistsâ council, someone earning âŹ25,000 may be paying around âŹ250 more a year because of this. At âŹ30,000, itâs roughly âŹ352. At âŹ45,000, about âŹ533. And up it goes. So, yeah, there may be new deductions and even the thrilling possibility of paying by Bizum. But the general vibe is the same. Hacienda wants your money, a little more every year.
4. đŹ Qatar Airwaysâ new big airport hub is inâŠTeruel?
Yeah, yeah, we know the joke: Teruel tambiĂ©n existe. That snide reference to the largely empty desert-ish Aragonese province â as in, it exists, but not much more. But donât tell that to the Qataris or the Emiratis or pretty much anyone else in the no-fly zone that is the Persian Gulf these days. Because for them, Teruel does a lot more than exist â it serves as their new home.
Is that parking space free? National flag carriers from the area have been looking for a safe place to store idled planes since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. Enter Teruelâs airport. Ten planes arrived from the Middle East over one weekend early in the war, and now there are 23 parked there, mostly behemoth Airbus 330s or Boeing 787s from Qatar Airways.
Donât think Iâve ever been there. Thereâs a reason: you havenât. The Aeropuerto de Teruel, built in 2013 on the site of an old military aerodrome that was used in the civil war, doesnât do passengers. It does something far more niche and increasingly lucrative: parking, maintaining, and recycling planes.
Why here? Climate, dude. More than 250 days of sun a year, low humidity, and plenty of empty space (basically, the same thatâs good for solar installations). What looks like a disadvantage â i.e., emptiness â is, in aviation terms, gold.
High points for Teruel. Basically, every time the world poops itself, Teruelâs airport cashes in. COVID? With planes grounded for, you know, global plague â Teruel filled up (to 140 planes at one point). The Ukraine war? Aircraft linked to Russian companies in receivership are parked in limbo. Middle East conflict? You know the story. As one regional official put it, when airlines need to âprotect their investments,â this is where they come, âand we are open to many more.â
More good business from bad news. Today, rising fuel prices are already forcing airlines to cut routes and ground less efficient aircraft. That means more planes need somewhere to sit, be serviced, or be scrapped. Teruel today hosts around 90 aircraft overall, works with 100 clients, and supports roughly 1,000 jobs.
And itâs only getting bigger. The airport is on its fourth expansion, adding more hangars (including a blimp facility â because who doesnât miss the Hindenburg). Thereâs a new aerospace engineering degree launching locally, and Spainâs Defense Ministry is adding a âŹ42m training center. Keep on existing, Teruel!
5. ✠FIFA is investigating Spain for racist chants
Not every joke is funny. The world football body FIFA announced this week it was opening disciplinary proceedings against Spain over âIslamophobic and xenophobicâ chants during a friendly national team game between Spain and Egypt. Which, when youâre preparing to host a World Cup in partnership with Morocco (checks notes â a Muslim country), is not a great look.
What happened? During a recent âfriendlyâ between Spain and Egypt in Barcelona, a part of the crowd was heard chanting, âBote, bote, bote⊠MusulmĂĄn el que no boteâ (âJump, jump, jump! Whoever doesnât jump is a Muslimâ). The chant was repeated multiple times â before and after halftime â even as stadium announcements and on-screen warnings urged fans to stop discriminatory behavior. Those warnings? They were whistled.
The Spanish football federation condemned the chants. So did Egyptâs, calling them âloathsome.â And Spain coach Luis de la Fuente weighed in, voicing his âtotal and absolute disgust.â
Enter The Kid. Then came Lamine Yamal, Spainâs teenage star â who is, not incidentally, a practicing Muslim.
His take. âYesterday in the stadium, we heard the chant âwhoever does not jump is a Muslim,ââ he wrote on Instagram. âI know it was directed to the opposing team and nothing towards myself as a person, but as a Muslim myself, this does not stop being a lack of respect, and something we canât tolerate⊠Using religion as something to mock people in a football stadium shows you to be ignorant and racist.â (Amen).
Not a first for Spain. The incident is part of a history of racist behavior in European football. Spain has struggled with fan chants targeting players for their race. Example? In May 2023, Real Madrid star VinĂcius Jr. faced racist insults from Valencia fans during a La Liga match.
The chant itself. If this feels familiar, it is. The structure â âHe who doesnât jump is aâŠâ â is one of footballâs most portable bits of diss culture. It can be traced back to Argentina, where it reached heights after the Malvinas/Falklands War, when Argentine fans would chant âHe who doesnât jump is English.â Itâs simple and totally customizable: Insert rival here.
The issue this time? It wasnât a nationality or a team nickname. It was race or religion. Which is, um, less than cool. Or, really, just ugly.
đ Once again, 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.