š„ This Week in Spain: Chaos Returns to Parliament
Also: An update on Valencia, Nadal's goodbye and trouble at EFE.
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | November 21, 2024 | Madrid | Issue #79
š Welcome to The Tapa, an English-language, weekly newsletter about all things Spain!
š„ This Week in a Nutshell: As Valencia tries to go back to normal, Parliament is back to its usual antics (and by āusual anticsā we mean absolute disarray). Also, you may have noticed this week weāre late. Well, the final tax vote came late today, so we waited. And we learned today of juicy new corruption allegations against the SĆ”nchez government. But more on that second bit next week!
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The taxman cometh
āImpuestazoā Sends Congress Into Chaos
Letās talk about taxes. Wait! Donāt leave! We know taxes are both complicated and boring, which is like Boring x 2, but we promise to make them interesting. And itās super important because parliament passed tons of new taxes (impuestos)āaka an impuestazo! Itās be fun. We promise! š
To ensure itās fun, weāre going to use a food analogy to tell this story. Because everyone likes food, and because itās an apt analogy. The food? Pizza. š
Plain cheese pizza
Spain desperately has to pass a tax reformāone that sets an effective minimum corporate tax rate of 15% on multinationals with revenues of at least ā¬750m. Why? Because itās an EU law that Spain was supposed to put in place by the end of 2023. Now the EU is mad because Spain failedāalong with Cyprus, Poland and Portugalā and if it doesnāt do it by the end of this year, the EU will a) take Spain to court and b) could withhold ā¬7.2bn in European funds. Wow, thatās money! You wouldnāt want to lose that!
The 15% minimum is the plain cheese pizza of tax reforms. And the majority of people love plain cheese pizza. Even the opposition PP said it would vote alongside PM Pedro SĆ”nchezās governing PSOE to pass this one, and you know how badly the center-right PP and the center-left PSOE get along these days.Ā
Cheese pizza with oregano, garlic andāmaybeāarugula
PM SĆ”nchez does not want to eat plain cheese pizza, however. If he passes a tax reform with the enemy PP, the left-wing and nationalist parties that support his precarious coalition government would be angry. He would be a traitor. Even worseāhe could lose his job.Ā
So SĆ”nchez started adding toppings. Some of these are pretty acceptable to most people. Like a tax on vapes and more taxes on tobacco. Or one to stop fraud on diesel fuel. Who could be against those? These are the powdered oregano and garlic of pizza. Most people like them, and those who donāt can ignore them. Then there was a tax increase on incomes from savings over ā¬300,000, from 28% to 30%. Maybe a little less popular, but okay. Like arugula. We like arugula, but we understand that some other people donāt.
Hawaiian pizzaĀ
But SĆ”nchez and the parties who often vote alongside his PSOE didnāt want to stop there. There were ideological reasons, of courseālike, who on the left doesnāt want to soak the rich?ābut also financial ones. As in, if youāre in government and you collect more moneyā¦you can spend more money! š„³Ā
Thatās when things got out of hand. Parties added taxes. And added some more. More than 130 taxes were presented for consideration (!). There were taxes on Socimis (the Spanish version of a REITs), private health insurance, tourist apartments, luxury items and on and on. But the most important were two very big onesāthe continuation of windfall profit taxes on banks, and on energy companies. Whatever the exact number is, we can all agree thatās a LOT of toppings on one pizza, right? In fact, there were so many toppings that Aitor Esteban, the parliamentary spokesperson of the Basque nationalist PNV party, called the bill a, āpoisoned caramel.ā Which sounds awful!
Hawaiian pizza is an abomination. Hawaiian pizza is a Canadian invention that combines ham/bacon and pineapple slices. While we admit that some (mentally ill) people like it, we find it disgusting. Well, so did some PSOE allies. Letās say that the bank tax is the ham, and the energy tax is the pineapple. Some partiesālike PNV and Junts, which have pineapple farms in their regionsāsaid they would only eat the pizza if it had a little ham and no pineapple. The PP wanted neither. The PSOE wanted the full Hawaiian. And Podemos? They wanted a full Hawaiian with extra everything!
This is a problem.Ā Why? Because the law of this pizza party is that everyone has to eat the same pizza, as chosen by the majority. No half-and-half!
Pizza partyĀ
It all came to a head Monday night. Thatās when Parliament's Finance Commission met to hash out the taxes to be added to the plain cheese pizza. The meeting had already been postponed two times because there was so little consensus. Expectations were not high. And they were met. (Thatās irony.)
The meeting began at 17 hs, lasted for 8 hours, including a 4-hour break, and ended past midnight. Split with multiple breaks, arm-twisting, and begging (PSOE MP Patricia Blanquer literally implored ERC MPs with šĀ to vote for the bill).
A bunch of the added pizza toppings were approved. Amendments adding taxes on vapes, tobacco, high savings income, and so on made it through. Others, like Socimis and tourist rentals, did not.
But the Hawaiian toppings? Yesā¦and no. How? The extension of the bank tax fell through because some on the left thought it wasnāt high enough. And the pineapple energy company tax? Well, the PSOE insisted that the agreement it had with Junts to end it stood, and also that a new agreement with ERC and others to extend it also stood. So, like, yes and no simultaneously. Pineapple and no pineapple at the same time! Wow!
A trap. āThe Government agrees with Junts and PNV to eliminate the tax on energy companies. Now it agrees the opposite with ERC and Bildu, knowing that without the support of Junts and PNV there will ultimately be no tax,ā Podemos pol Irene Montero wrote on Twitter/X. āIf PNV and Junts do not support it, it is a trap to save the vote and Podemos will not support it.ā
So the pizza will have pineapple and ham, or one of the two, or neither? The answer isā¦āYes!ā Parliament met Thursday to vote on the messy bill that came out of the Monday marathon session and it passedā¦sorta? Like, the energy tax wasnāt in it (as the SĆ”nchez government agreed with Junts), but to get Podemos on board the government also promised (āpromisedā) Podemos that it would push for a new energy company tax or extend the current one to 2025. So we have a ham pizza, but there is pineapple (Imaginary or real? We donāt know!) hovering over it!
More news below. šš
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š¬ Five things to discuss at dinner parties this week
1.ā¤ļøāš©¹ An update on Valencia, Part 1
What a difference two weeks make.
Back on Nov. 3, after the deadly DANA storm in Valencia, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia decided to visit Paiporta, (one of the hardest-hit areas in the region). When they arrived, a waiting angry mob pelted them both with mud and other objects. The footage was seen all over the world.
Fast forward. On Tuesday, the royals returned to the region to visit the ground zero town of Chiva (population 15,000), accompanied by regional president Carlos MazĆ³n. This time they were welcomed with cheers and applause.
Happy crowd of olds. Over 100 people (mainly elderly women), waited outside Chivaās Town Hall to greet the royals, shouting āLong live the King and Queen of Spain!ā.
But not so happy to see MazĆ³n. MazĆ³n again faced boos, insults and calls to resign from the crowd, as people are still mad at him for how shittastically (sorry, technical term) he handled the crisis. Luckily for PM Pedro SĆ”nchez, who was also jeered and pelted and ran away the first time, he couldnāt join because he was in Brazil for the G20 summit.
Government changes
Changing faces. MazĆ³n, who in the last few weeks has resisted multiple calls to resign, continues to make changes to his administration in the aftermath of the storm and has now appointed retired Lieutenant General Francisco JosĆ© Gan Pampols to the vice-presidency.
Not a politician. Gan Pampols is an experienced military officer in peacekeeping missions who has been tasked with leading the regionās economic and social recovery (Gen. Gan has experience in reconstruction missions in the Balkans and Afghanistan, so knows from messes.)
Looking forard. Equally important, he has also been tasked with developing a protection plan to address potential natural disasters that pose risks to the population (so hopefully such a tragedy doesnāt happen again).
But not the only one! Gan Pampolsās hiring isnāt the only significant change to MazĆ³nās government following the controversy surrounding the handling of the crisis and seeks to respond to the anger expressed by flood victims.
Youāre fired! MazĆ³n fired Nuria Montes, who served as Regional Minister for Innovation, Industry, Commerce, and Tourism, and replaced her with MariĆ”n Cano GarcĆa, the president of the Valencian Footwear Business Association (AVECAL). Who knows shoes!
MazĆ³n also changed his government spokesperson, and it looks like the minister for justice and emergencies (what a title!) may be gone soon too.
In the words of MazĆ³n (well, not really): āHeads will roll for thisā¦just not mine!ā
2.ā¤ļøāš©¹ An update on Valencia, Part 2
Teresa Ribera, Deputy Prime Minister of Spain as well as ecological transition minister, is now, as Politico puts it, set to become āthe EUās second most powerful figure after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyenā.Ā
Thatās because the European Parliament finally reached a deal yesterday to approve Von der Leyenās team of 26 European commissionersāand Ribera is one of them.
But getting there was no easy feat as the European Popular Party (the EPP, which is the umbrella party for the local center-right PP) had threatened to block Riberaās appointment, who they blamed for the deadly floods in Valencia.
Take your medicine. Ribera appeared yesterday before Parliament to discuss Valencia and defend her actions during the crisis/wait impatiently while people said nasty things about her.
Iām rubber and youāre glue. She once again blamed the Valencia regional government for mishandling the DANA emergency. She also rejected accusations that there was āan information blackoutā from the AEMET (State Meteorological Agency) or the JĆŗcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ), as they both sent āappropriate alerts and information ā¦ before, during and afterā about the storm.
If you all werenāt idiotsā¦ Ribera also said that the āimpactā of such alerts depends on how authorities react to them, particularly regarding time-sensitive public warnings: āThereās little use in having all the necessary information if the responder doesnāt know how to act.ā So much backhanded diss, so little time!
Getting fixed. Ribera said that in terms of reconstruction, the government is focusing on repairing hydraulic infrastructure, cleaning, drainage, and other tasks. She said ā¬500m would be invested in water supply, sanitation, and treatment works to fix the 123 wastewater treatment plants currently āoperating precariously.ā
But not everyoneās buying it! The oppositionāmainly the PP and Voxāwere not sold on Riberaās explanations.
You canāt handle this. PP MP Ester MuƱoz said Ribera demonstrated ālack of capabilityā and accused her of being unprepared for an EU role: āYou cannot take your incompetence to Europe with our support,ā she stated. āYouāve failed as a minister and as a personā. Ouch!
Distracted. āYour role in this tragedy was reduced to three phone calls and one interview. You didnāt realize what was happening because you were busy preparing for Brussels exams,ā MuƱoz claimed.
All for not much. In the end, the PPE decided to support Riberaās candidacy as long as her testimony in Spainās Parliament āwent wellā (which goes against the PPās wishesābut thereās a trade!).
Leaders of the three main groups in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber (from the EPP), Iratxe GarcĆa (from the PSOEās parent party), and ValĆ©rie Hayer (of the liberals), finally reached an agreement yesterday to unblock the approval of the new EU commissioners.
But a horse was traded. The deal says that the PPE (except for Spainās MEPs) will vote for Ribera, while the socialists and liberals will support Italyās far-right candidate, Raffaele Fitto, and Hungaryās OlivĆ©r VĆ”rhelyiātwo people the socialists and liberals said they wouldnāt support and were red lines and all that. Butā¦ politics. So the right-wing governments have the Valencia DANA to thank!
3. š Spanish news agency EFEās great invisible helicopter crash
We love it when people make funny mistakes (as in, when no one dies) because we get to poke fun and jajaja. But when we get two in the same week from one source? Thatās gold-medal fun! š„
Well, thatās just what the Spanish news agency EFE gave us. It started last Thursday afternoon when EFE sent out a tweet saying:Ā
IMPORTANT NOTICE: EFE has mistakenly published a headline in X about a helicopter accident in Madrid that does not correspond to any information from the Agency. The accident referred to in that text did not occur. We apologize for the inconvenience.Ā
Now, that sorta caught our attention. Like, how do you accidentally report a helicopter crash? Especially, when the non-accident in question was a helicopter crashing into Madridās Torre de Cristal, a giant gem-cut glass skyscraper in Chamartin?
But it gets even better. On Tuesday, EFE did it again (just like Britney Spears!), publishing a story falsely reporting the death of writer Fernando Aramburu. Who was, we are sure, surprised to hear it.Ā
EFE felt bad. Agency boss Miguel Ćngel Oliver (a former secretary of state for communications for PM Pedro SĆ”nchez from 2018-2021), apologized to Aramburu himself, both in a public letter and by phone, as well as to his family, friends and publisher. "A misleading account on social media has triggered an unforgivable error by EFE due to a lack of verification,ā Oliver said.
What does that gobbledygook mean? And what the hell happened? Letās go through how EFE totally screwed up, one example at a time. (Because helicopter crashes and deaths should be pretty easy to verify, right?)
First, the copter. We at The Tapa are journalists (of sorts) and are friends with many who make their living at it every day, and our sources tell us that the helicopter crash story is a test story that EFE uses to train new recruits on how to send out news alerts.Ā
But no training wheels. It seems like a trainee somehow managed to jump the curb and actually publish the test story, as opposed to sending it to a dummy internal system. Which we still find super funny because no one actually got hurt.Ā
Whoops. Most outlets held their fire as they tried to verify the story but thereās a lot of AI robots these days in newspaper IT systems, and Barcelonaās La Vanguardia did repeat the tale.Ā
And the dead author? Around noon on Tuesday, EFE falsely reported that the writer Fernando Aramburuāwho wrote the hit Patria (which became an HBO series)āhad died from a heart attack. But this time it wasnāt a mis-published training story.Ā
So what happened? It was an old-fashioned jokeāand EFE fell for it. Aramburuās books are published by the famous publishing house Tusquets Editores, whose twitter handle is @TusquetsEditor. So somebody launched a parallel account @TusquetsLibros, reported Aramburuās death, and boom! š„
Who did that? Apparently it was Tommaso Debenedetti, an Italian āpseudo-journalistā and school teacher who in the past has done similar things, like publish fake interviews with Mikhail Gorbachev, the Dalai Lama and Pope Benedict XVI. Like, as a hobby!
EFE probably should have checked first, no? Yeah, first rule of journalism. So, EFE had a meeting and said it was sorry.š„ŗ
But at least the politicians had fun! The PP mocked EFE (run as it is by a partisan SĆ”nchez appointee) for being as accurate as CIS and RTVE (which also have SĆ”nchez/PSOE-appointed bosses)āand the PSOE busted the PP right back for its own wanna-be journo troll
4. š¤ Who is Iker JimĆ©nez and why should you care?
Elon Musk says you are the media now. Which in other words means you get to report your own āfactsā, whether they are true or not.
Which brings us to Iker JimĆ©nez. Donāt know him?
JimƩnez is a journalist and host of the TV show Horizonte, on the Cuatro network. And he also has a large following on YouTube, via a channel he launched in 2020 during the COVID pandemic.
So whatās going on with Iker? Well, heās been in the eye of the storm due to a series of controversies surrounding fake news, conspiracy theories, theatrical on-camera performances and at least one advertiser that decided to pull ads from his show.
Beginning. It all started when his show started covering the DANA storm that hit Valencia three weeks ago. Like often happens during disasters, as people dealt with the chaos and uncertainty, social media misinformation spiraled out of control.
As in? Rumors, misleading or edited videos or photos, tweets about ātrucks carrying multiple bodiesā and government officials āhiding the real number of people deadā were everywhere, and the usual army of investigative armchair YouTube sleuths got on the case.
Enter JimƩnez.
Not even a little true. Iker tweeted without evidence that there were āmany people deadā at the underground parking garage of the Bonaire Mall, in Aldaya, Valencia; as it turns out, there were none. (He later justified this by saying sources he trusted insisted this was true and other media outlets had mentioned it too).
Fake helper. Then Ruben Gisbert, one of the contributors on his TV show, was caught on video (see above) smearing his pants with mud before taping a segment from the disaster zone (probably for dramatic effect?), which caused indignation from the local population (Gisbert was fired and JĆmenez apologized for it).
Still, like, popular. Despite the criticism, the ratings for Horizonte skyrocketed and JĆmenez remained defiant, in part emboldened by the army of millions of social media followers who flocked to his YouTube channel to watch a video detailing how other media outlets had also screwed up. His take? āNo one would silence himā, because heās someone who āstands his groundā.
But that whole corporate reputation thing. This didn't seem to convince one of the showās advertisers, ING, which announced it was pulling all ads from the show (but apparently it was an algorithm that decided it. The way we live now).
Shut down. Then on Tuesday night, JimĆ©nezās YouTube channel was shut down for reasons that were initially unclear and later seemed to point to hacking.
Damned Brits. Iker reported that his channel was hacked from a server in the U.K. The hackers allegedly uploaded content thatās banned by the platform, prompting YouTubeās automated systems to shut down the channel for violating community guidelines.
Looking into it. Google, which owns YouTube, stated: āIker JimĆ©nezās channel was canceled after the associated account was hijacked, and we are working with the owner to secure the account and restore access to the channel.ā
But not the first time. As El Mundo explains, last July the platform censored his show Los que no creen (The non-believers), a series of interviews with people skeptical about the COVID vaccines. With his channel nearing one million subscribers, YouTube decided to shut it down, and JimĆ©nez said this was an attempt āto silence his independent, critical voiceā.
This isnāt over yet. JimĆ©nez is a leading voice among young people who question the mainstream narrative of everything, so expect to read more about him in the near future.
5. š¾ Rafa Nadalās emotional goodbye to tennis
Rafael Nadal retired this week after one of the most amazing tennis careers ever. It probably wasnāt the exit heād dreamed ofāa loss in the Davis Cup after which he said if he were his Davis Cup coach, he wouldnāt put him in again. His body had finally given up on him after heād had one too many injuries to continue as a top pro.
The numbers are ridiculousā22 major titles, 36 ATP 1000 trophies, and 92 titles overall. A 1,080-227 win-loss record, including 24-16 over Roger Federer (a 29-31 record against Djokovic is a rare ādarkā spot, but no oneās perfect).
No one wants to read our biography of Rafa, though. There are just too many good ones out there, written by real sports journalists. So weāll leave you with three great tributes to him from those who know him bestāhis Manacor (Mallorca) academy, Roger Federer, and Paris. And the words weāve heard all week: āĀ”Gracias, Rafa!ā
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