Spain Notes, Dec 18: global Spain + political deals
1/ Guardian (op-ed): In Spain, we don’t share Britain’s migration panic – ‘stop the boats’ has few fans here.
2/ Wired: The Spanish capital is a fintech and security hub, and new tax breaks are helping to attract talent and international skills.
3/ CNBC: Spain is the No. 1 country for digital nomads in 2024
4/ On Zelensky and the EU, El Mundo sees a strong European message to Putin, framing Ukraine as the new “liberal democracy in the East “, versus “the autocratic axis of Russian and China”. ABC sees “recklessness” in negotiating the adhesion of “state at war, whose territorial sovereignty is in question”.
5/ ABC also sees “a historic surrender to terrosism” with the amnesty deal.
6/ The global (far-) right love-fest continued: Abascal (Vox) turned up in Italy for Meloni’s bash, after Sunak and Musk had done so, and after the get together in Buenos Aires for Milei last week. He says it’s all about “strong roots, protected families and sovereign nations”.
7/ Vox is framing all of these trips (Argetnina, Italy, etc.) and episodes (Tucker Carlson in Madrid) as Abascal being a strong, global leader seeking to counter “the totalitarian drift of Sánchez”.
8/ Feijóo (PP) is counter-framing the PP-Vox rhetoric from the left with a critique of PSOE-Bildu, after the socialists did a deal to take Pamplona City Hall: “you can’t build a country by building walls and governing for the few”.
After 10 years of polarised politics, they’re all building walls.
9/ The PP is stonewalling on the date of a meeting between Feijóo and Sánchez. The PSOE had suggested today, December 22 or Decemnber 29. The PP wants a written order of business, not just Sánchez announcing some topics. PP spokesman Semper says he wants to see an end to the “short-term knife fighting” between the two parties.
10/ A poll in La Razón shows a right-wing PP-Vox majority, just, but with even more voters abandoning Vox for the PP.
11/ A report suggesting the PP might do some kind of joint thing with Ciudadanos at the European elections in 2024. Spain’s centre party recently announced it would run at, after not doing so at the general election in the summer because they went to zero in the regional elections in May.
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In Spain, citizens' concern about immigration is enormous, but since the media and politicians of the two majority parties are the same thing, they do not talk about it and it is as if the problem does not exist.
It is the same thing that happens with the scandal of Queen Letizia's infidelity: while it is on the front page in media around the world (Europe, Latin America, etc) in Spain, neither internet nor written newspapers, nor TV or large radio stations have said a single word, and the scandal does not exist. And a lot of people don't even know it exists.
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En España la preocupación de los ciudadanos por la inmigración es enorme, pero como medios de comunicación y políticos de los dos partidos mayoritarios son la misma cosa, no se habla de ello y es como si el problema no existiera.
Es lo mismo que ocurre con el escándalo de la infidelidad de la reina Letizia: mientras es portada en medios de todo el mundo (Europa, Latinoamérica, etc) es España ni periódicos de internet ni escritos, ni televisiones o grandes emisoras de radio han dicho una sola palabra, y el escándalo no existe. Y un montón de gente no sabe ni que existe.
The left wing guardian readers might not be bothered about illegal immigration "well we have to help people ...." (simper, simper) but the local Spansh people that I speak to in our fairly conservative, small, Spanish village, are not so congenial. They tend to say that it´s a problem and how can we take in all these people when Spain is to all intents and purposes, bankrupt