Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin Jan 13

What’s going to happen in Spain in 2023? These are our crystal ball predictions…

Another year over, and a new one just begun…

It’s great to be back with our Editor’s Roundup Weekly Bulletin for a brand new year. Even if it is on Friday the 13th… unlucky for some!

For those who were in Spain over this Christmas (and New Year and Three Kings) holiday period, it was a mild and sunny sort of Christmas, at least in the south. For those who stayed further north in the continent it was decidedly more drizzly and, in the UK, marked by train strikes/NHS chaos/travel disruption.

Huge incidents with fireworks in Germany and New Zealand at New Year have raised the issue of whether or not the bangers should be banned, as anyone with a pet will sympathise. But, for now at least, that debate doesn’t seem to be on the table in Spain.

Former Pope Benedict passed away, to the despair of many Catholics living in Spain, and we also lost Pele, Vivienne Westwood, Kirstie Alley and The Specials frontman Terry Hall.

That old faithful and somewhat vague Nostradamus, whose predictions are open to a lot of interpretation, apparently reckoned the year 2023 would bring another new Pope, a nuclear explosion (although nuclear bombs didn’t even exist in his day), seven months of war, and the start of a new world order.

Inspired by the great mystic, we decided to give it a crack ourselves and make some predictions for the year ahead. Basing our calculations off the trend of current affairs rather than astrology, here’s what we think 2023 has in store for Spain…

The property market
Climate and the weather
Travel
Covid-19
Politics
The cost of living

The Spanish property market will cool off this year

Nobody was buying or selling real estate during lockdown, although plenty were dreaming of upping sticks and moving out to a villa in the sun with a garden and pool. That’s probably why the property market in Spain bounced back in 2022, with property sales shooting up after three slow years of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The sales of Spanish homes to British, Irish and US buyers in 2022 didn’t just equal pre-pandemic levels, but actually beat them, and that demand from foreign buyers has been pushing the market forward more than the Spanish domestic market.

The question is, will this fantastic growth continue in 2023, and is now a good time to buy property in Spain?

Property expert Nigel Salmon, Managing Director at Girasol Homes, reckons this renewed vigour of foreign buyers purchasing homes in Spain after the pandemic is likely to ease off somewhat this year.

“My thoughts are that the market’s going to bottom out in 2023, a little bit like the UK market,” says Nigel, citing the Ukraine invasion, the cost-of-living crisis and rising inflation as reasons that people will be less willing to shell out for a new home this year.

“The market’s probably going to cool down from nuts to normal,” he says. “Basically, it will still be good but effectively it won’t be quite as hot.”

At the same time, he points out that a moderate reduction in the demand for Spanish properties could mean that the existing supply of homes for sale will be available for a more attractive price.

As he puts it, there will be a “correction rather than a crash” in the Spanish real estate market, and this means there will still be great deals for anyone looking to buy a new home in Spain.

More extreme climate events on the horizon

2022 was the hottest year on record in Spain. More land was destroyed by wildfires last year than ever before. There was far less rainfall than most years, leaving reservoirs dried up. And yet we had floods at the beginning of the year that destroyed communities and even caused fatalities.

And, as much as it pains to have to make a gloomy prediction, all current trends point towards the summers becoming even hotter. Maybe 2023 won’t beat heat records again like last year, but in general the trend is towards ever warmer years – before 2022, the warmest years on record were 2020 and 2017.

If the beginning of this year is anything to go be, it’s likely to be another warm one. This January is already on course to be one of the warmest months of January in Spanish and European history, Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin Jan 13

although that needle could just as easily swing to the other extreme, with meteorologists now warning that we could leap out of the frying pan and into the freezer next month.

The month of February could be just as cold as the month of January is hot thanks to a break in the polar vortex around the North Pole rushing down to meet us, bringing the snow, ice and frosts that we’ve been missing so far this winter.

Scientists agree that these extremes of temperatures and weather conditions are a direct result of the changes human beings are making to our environment, and in the long term, they have predicted extensive and extended droughts in Spain. Get ready to adapt to some possibly uncomfortable weather conditions this year.

Spain travel in 2023

All that said, there are reasons to be hopeful for this year. Spain’s government has extended the popular measure which made regular travel on state-owned Renfe Cercanías, Rodalies and Media Distancia trains free if you purchase a 4-month travel card and make at least 16 journeys, while many intercity coaches and urban buses have discounts of between 30 and 100%.

At the same time, private train companies in Spain like Ouigo and Iryo are challenging Renfe’s dominance of the rail travel market, and offering cheap seats on new, high-quality and energy efficient trains, meaning the options for getting around are more varied than ever before.

All these factors have made public transport more popular than ever before, even exceeding pre-pandemic levels, and these green alternatives could see Spain’s air quality improve vastly as people shun the use of private cars.

Of course, the continuing rise in the cost of petrol and diesel could have something to do with that as well, and 2023 will also see the creation of Low Emissions Zones (Zonas de Baja Emisiones or ZBE in Spanish) in any town or city with a population greater than 50,000. Drivers will have to acquire a special sticker to put on their car to be able to drive in these large town centres, further pushing the uptake of more modern, environmentally friendly vehicles.

However, confusion still abounds about this issue, and for good reason really. At the end of last year, the media was packed with warnings that cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants would HAVE to section off certain streets for lesser polluting vehicles by January 1 and ban older cars from circulating, but that date has come and gone and the vast majority of municipalities still haven’t fully implemented their ZBE. Obvious exceptions to this are Barcelona and Madrid, which were well ahead of the game.

What it boils down to is that most cities are in the process of zoning off their low emission streets and will roll-out the measures throughout 2023. For drivers, the DGT has created four environmental labels depending on the pollution caused by a vehicle: Label 0 emissions, Eco label, Label B and Label C. Drivers simply need to go to the DGT website, enter their licence plate number and they’ll be told what category they fall into.

It’s important to note that, for the moment, the vast majority of cities don’t require you to carry an environmental label – the low emission zones will have cameras that can read licence plates and easily fine anyone breaking the rules anyway.

However, it’s probable that cities will make them mandatory over time, so if you want to get in early you can purchase an environmental label from any post office for as little as 5 euros.

One thing drivers won’t have to worry about this year, or even next year, is paying tolls on the country’s dual carriageways and other high-capacity roads. Spain has made an agreement with the EU to implement a pay-per-use system eventually, which will contribute greatly to the maintenance costs of the roads, but the government has confirmed that this won’t be implemented in 2024 as previously announced.

Government sources have confirmed that the delay has already been communicated to the European Commission and that the powers that be in Brussels “understand” that, with high inflation and rising prices, “this is not the time” to burden tax payers further.

Meanwhile, there is talk of airlines being forced to take on greater responsibility for their carbon emissions, a move which will probably lead them to pass the additional costs onto passengers, making air travel more expensive. Regular trips abroad have become commonplace, especially for the expat community living in Spain who want to visit home and those who split their time between Spain and their home country, but an increase in the cost of flying will likely force many to choose more carefully when and where they fly, reducing emissions further and helping to mitigate somewhat the climate disaster we find ourselves embroiled in.

Importantly, for Brits living in Spain who have been unable to legally drive on their UK driving licences for months on end now, 2023 should see the situation finally resolved and the chance for British citizens resident in Spain to exchange their licences for Spanish ones without having to retake their test. Or at least, that’s what the British Embassy has promised. You would be forgiven, at this point, of having a healthy dose of scepticism towards that claim.

Don’t forget to join our Driving in Spain Facebook group for regular motoring and travel updates.

Covid-19

It seems that, just as we were all letting our guard down, taking off our face masks and wondering “Do I really need that extra booster jab?”, the Covid-19 virus is experiencing a resurgence in China that has governments around the globe worried about a large-scale infection that could leave hospitals even more chock-a-block than they are now.

Really, it’s anyone’s guess what new variants might pop up next and to what extent they’ll either decimate vulnerable populations or pass by virtually unnoticed. For now, though, the EU is recommending that face mask rules be maintained in public places (or even reinstated where they have been repealed).

In Spain, wearing a face mask is still obligatory in hospitals, health centres, pharmacies and on all public transport, although it is not mandatory to wear those same face masks in shops, work places, schools and on station platforms, which many rightly see as absurd and the height of hypocrisy.

The face mask rule was set to be up for review around April, with politicians promising to bow to whatever the scientific community suggested, but with the recent developments in China and many European countries, including Spain, imposing harsher restrictions on travellers entering from China, it is unlikely that the face mask law will be removed any time soon.

CORONAVIRUS LATEST NEWS

For all the latest coronavirus news and updates in Spain, use the link above

Political upheaval ahead for 2023

One year and two days on from the assault on Washington’s Capitol building by Trump supporters who couldn’t believe the billionaire had been voted out of office, Brazil experienced its own riots by supporters of far-right Jair Bolsonaro who were outraged at his defeat by lefty liberal Lula in the October elections.

While such events seem to us to be a long way from the civilised world of European politics, if the sudden invasion of Ukraine and the rapid turnaround time of British Prime Ministers has taught us anything, it’s that trying to second-guess politics is a fool’s game.

Which is why we thought we’d give it a go.

Spain is due to have its own general election in November of this year and, judging by the rapid and controversial changes the current socialist government is making to many laws, it may promise to be an upset in the standing order of the Spanish top brass. The government is currently formed by a coalition of the PSOE party and Podemos, who have come under fire for – among other things – allegedly trying to fix the country’s Constitutional Court in their favour, changing the laws for treason, sexual assault and transgender rights, and spending too much public money on keeping the cost of living down, which will cripple the economy in the future, according to the opposition.

In short, the November general election (which is not to be confused with the local municipal elections in May, which many expat residents will be eligible to vote in) could well see a coalition government come into power of the centre-right PP and the far-right Vox parties.

The question on some lips now, though, is – farfetched as it may seem – will Spain see riots of the likes of Brazil and the US if the wrong party is deemed to win? If the left are voted out of power, could an organised group of leftist radicals storm Spain’s government building in Madrid in an attempt to wrest back control? Or, if the socialists continue for another term, could some disgruntled right-wing extremists try to stage a coup?

The odds are frankly very long on such a possibility. As heated as the world of Spanish politics seems to get, not since the attempted coup in 1985, when the country was embroiled in ETA violence in the same way that the British Isles were subject to violence from the IRA, has there been such a violent attack on democracy in Spain.

That said, last year, shortly after the US attack on Capitol Hill, there was a smaller scale, local storming of a Town Hall building in the Spanish municipality of Lorca, in the Region of Murcia, by a group of pig farmers displeased with a decision to limit their businesses. Said attack was apparently orchestrated by right-wing groups associated with Vox.

So the country is not without precedent for such episodes, although it would be foolish to equate the situation in Brazil and the US with Spain. The circumstances are totally different, and it’s highly unlikely there will be a large, popular movement in favour of violence in the country. A more likely is a lot of shouting matches, mud slinging and rallies in central Madrid as political tensions heighten in the lead-up to and in the aftermath of the elections.

Cost of living

In addition to the cost of fuel at the pumps, almost everything else is set to go up this year – inflation, the cost of the weekly food shop, energy bills and more. As the Ukraine war drags on towards its 1-year anniversary, the unrest in the labour market that we saw in 2022 shows no sign of abating, and is unlikely to do so until the mere fact of living our daily lives and reaching the end of the month becomes more comfortable for the majority of people.

Expect the Spanish government to announce more and continued measures to help regular people be able to afford to live, including such lengths as a 2% cap on how much rental prices may rise and a monthly stipend of 200 euros for low-income families, among many other things.

The socialists are likely to continue such populist policies in an effort to drum up support ahead of the elections, but what happens afterwards when the country has, according to the opposition, dug itself into a hole and there’s no more money to pay for such schemes? We may be sheltered from price rises in 2023, only to see this protection fall away in 2024.

Our hope must be on the world markets to have corrected themselves by then, with a helping hand from non-profit democratic organisations, so that buying food at the supermarket and paying the bills on your house each month doesn’t lead to financial ruin.

Murcia

There was big news over the Christmas break for the Condado de Alhama urbanisation in Murcia, a popular spot for expats to buy property. The Condado golf course, integrated into the resort and closed for business due to a lack of profitability, seems to have found a buyer. Previous owner GNK is reported to have sold the golf course to local management group Alhama Healthy Living SL, who have pledged to reopen the popular course and build the long-awaited clubhouse.

After a failed attempt by local homeowners and golfers to raise enough cash to buy the course themselves, the day has been saved at long last, with new owners Alhama Healthy Living saying they wish for the course to “once again a benchmark course not only in the Region of Murcia but also at a national and international level.” Watch this space as more developments arise over the course of this year.

Sadly, two pilots lost their lives at the beginning of this year after the light aircraft they were flying over San Javier on a recreational flight crashed to the ground. Air Force Second Lieutenant Adolfo Baños and civilian flight instructor Hugo López took the Tecnam Sierra private plane out since they were both free on the eve of Three Kings Day, but just moments after they took off from Los Garranchos aerodrome, the craft plummeted from the sky, 9 kilometres from San Javier.

Both pilots had belonged to the Mar Menor flying club for years and were highly experienced, leaving their crash, which occurred during perfect flying conditions, even more shocking. This is just the latest in a long list of similar accidents that have occurred in the Region of Murcia in the last 40 years; since 1983, 20 soldiers have died in air accidents along this stretch of coast.

In Yecla, in the north of the Region, two British citizens, aged 47 and 52, have been arrested after they were found to be using illegal hallucinogenic drugs like ayahuasca, San Pedro and magic mushrooms in supposed ‘healing rituals’ at spiritual retreats in their country house. It was the fact that they were advertising these retreats online that first led police to begin investigating them, and this week they staged a raid on the country house where they were carrying out the so-called “shamanic rituals”.

When they turned up, there were actually seven people – Spaniards and other Europeans – in the middle of a retreat experience, for which the Brits running it did not have any type of licence or administrative authorisation but for which they charged 45 euros per day for a minimum stay of three nights.

As well as seizing vast quantities of hallucinogenic drugs, police also found the wings of several goldfinches, which are a protected species, nailed to wooden planks, supposedly as decoration or ritualistic tools. As such, the Brits have been charged not only with professional intrusion against public health, but also crimes against flora, fauna and domestic animals.

Taking place later this year in the Region of Murcia is the world-renowned Vuelta a España cycling race. It goes all around Spain between August 26 and September 17, but this year will be very special as Murcia will host both a start and end stage of the competition. On Sunday September 3, international cyclists will set off from Cartagena and make their way to the day’s end stage in Caravaca de la Cruz. Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin Jan 13

Specifically, the finish line will be located at the Barquilla-Collado de la Cruz mountain pass, a first category stage, which has never before been part of the national event.

Finally, there’s exciting news for music fans as legendary rock crooner Rod Stewart has announced four must-see gigs in Spain next year, one of which will take place in Murcia’s Plaza de Toros this July. The much-anticipated Murcia show takes place on July 18 as part of the Murcia On festival, and tickets already went on sale on Friday December 30, so you’d better be fast if you want to nab one!

And there’s loads more going on in Murcia this year—see our EVENTS DIARY for more:

Spain

It’s long been common practice in Spain to pick up an antibiotic or strong painkiller in the pharmacy Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin Jan 13

without the need for a prescription. But those days are coming to an end as the Ministry of Health attempts to crack down on people self-medicating.

Many drugs that should only be prescribed by a doctor are freely handed out over the counter, but a new law means that meds like Ibuprofen 600mg, Paracetamol 1g, Simvastatin, and Nolotil will no longer be available without a prescription. Customers will still be able to buy most of these drugs without a prescription in smaller doses (a 600mg box of Paracetamol, for example), but these generally work out much more expensive.

Spain is once making international headlines for all the right reasons and this month has been awarded third place in the ‘World’s Best Cuisine’ ranking by Taste Atlas. With a score of 4.59 out of 5, Spain was pipped at the post by Italy and Greece, but real-life diners voted the country’s garlic prawns (gambas al ajillo) as one of the best dishes overall. Spanish food was also celebrated for such delicious delicacies as paella, croquettes and churros and restaurants in Barcelona, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Santiago de Compostela also got the nod as top places to sample authentic Spanish cuisine.

Coming in at number 1 on the ‘World’s Best Cuisine’ list is Italy, chosen for its pizzas, risottos and pasta, of course. The silver medal was awarded to Greece thanks to gyros and moussaka.

Arguably the best place to try the most authentic food is those tucked-away little corners of Spain, hidden gems in the hills where tourists don’t generally visit. But rather than making a quick stop, what if we told you that you could move to one of these idyllic spots, and be paid for your trouble?

Believe it or not, there are several idyllic alcoves in Spain that are so keen to attract expats, they are willing to pay handsomely for the privilege. These village hideaways are hoping to entice Britons and other foreigners to repopulate the areas as younger residents move to the big cities, and many offer to cover relocation costs and even an ongoing ‘salary’.

Local governments in picturesque Galicia, Asturias and Aragón all offer incentives to foreigners willing to move to their villages, and these perks range from monthly payments to drastically reduced rents. Most of the locations have tiny populations are especially keen on young families whose children will help keep the village schools going.

That’s what we call living the dream.

Alicante

While millions of Brits were tucking into a turkey dinner or watching classic festive re-runs of Only Fools and Horses, thousands of UK and other European expats and holidaymakers spent Christmas Day on La Zenia beach in Orihuela Costa.

Each year for the last decade, droves flock to this particular stretch of coastline for a gigantic festive party with music, armed with picnics and barbecues. The huge event was first organised by local expat orchestra ‘Just Brass’, and has grown year after year to become a macro-celebration with literally thousands enjoying the festivities, clear blue skies and glorious sunshine on Christmas Day.

In fact, this year’s party was bursting at the seams, so much so that the crowds spilled over beyond Cala Bosque onto the protected dunes, without any type of municipal or coastal control, sparking some criticism. Thankfully, the beach bash went ahead without any problems.

Sadly, for one family, the festive period brought tragedy in another coastal resort following the death of a 22-year-old woman who fell from a Benidorm balcony on December 29. Her partner, also 22, has been preventatively detained while police determine if the victim plunged to her death accidentally or was pushed from the sixth floor of an apartment block.

However, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has indicated that the fatal fall is in fact being investigated as a case of gender violence, given that the suspect was in the apartment at the time.

Just two hours before the woman’s death, police were called to the home following noise complaint from neighbours. Although officers established that the couple had been arguing loudly, they did not feel it necessary to intervene at the time.

Benidorm has changed dramatically over the last 60 years, beyond recognition some might say. But thankfully the Town Hall has built up a sizeable archive of photographs to chart the resort’s development over the decades, creating a mecca for international holidaymakers, in particular the British.

And this historic photograph collection was recently boosted with the donation of dozens of black and white photographs taken by a British tourist holidaying in Benidorm in the 50/60s, the early years of tourism progress.

The 86 snaps, which will soon go on public display, were discovered by Dutch businessman and patron of the arts Wim Kuipers who found them in an album while researching material about Torremolinos and El Ejido and decided to give them to Benidorm Council. According to Councillor for Historical and Cultural Heritage, Ana Pellicer, the collection “brings unpublished images of Benidorm” that “testify to the evolution of our town in recent decades”.

An American tourist found himself in hot water with the police after stunned security guards at Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport spotted the 22-year-old trying to park a golf buggy in the terminal’s car park. They quickly informed the authorities since this kind of small electric vehicle is under no circumstances allowed to be driven outside of the golf course. Police discovered the buggy was actually stolen, and the American had driven it around 17km from the golf course to the airport along a very busy secondary road and a national dual carriageway. The driver was arrested and now faces a crime against road safety and one for theft of the golf cart.

Andalucía

The grisly discovery of a headless body with no hands that washed up on a Marbella beach has sparked a murder inquiry with police making an arrest within 24-hours of the mutilated corpse being found.

The young woman’s body was spotted by diners at a seafront restaurant on the Marbella residential development floating in the sea at Las Cañas beach, located between Elviria and Las Chapas. It’s believed she may have been dead for between 24 and 36 hours.

The victim’s ex-partner has been arrested and has confessed to police that he killed her. After footage filmed on the beach went viral on social media, and details of the macabre discovery were made public, a relative of a missing woman contacted police. He told investigators that he believed the body could be that of his missing sister. Although the body had no hands or head, he based his suspicion on some of her anatomical features.

Festive celebrations took a terrifying and tragic turn in Seville when a tractor pulling a float during the Three Kings parade lost control and ploughed into the crowd. The float swerved to the right and flew uncontrollably towards dozens of bystanders before running over a 72-year-old woman, who died from her injuries, and crashing into a wall.

At least five other people were injured, including a two-year-old child, and were treated at the Virgen del Rocío hospital. According to Emergencias Sevilla, the vehicle careened uncontrollably for around 15 metres at the height of the festivities. An eyewitness said: “Everything was going well. The accident occurred on a downhill slope that is not very steep or long. We were on the bend and I saw that the tractor was going down very slightly.

“It seemed strange to me and, seeing that it was increasing speed, we moved away. The tractor, instead of turning towards the street it should have, turned to the opposite side and took out everything in front of it.”

In Cádiz, residents and the authorities are on high alert since images of a huge white cat stalking the outskirts of a farm went viral. A local spotted the large white feline creeping through the undergrowth in the Benharás area and recorded the mysterious video. They also took snaps of what could be the tracks of the same feline.

The main concern at the moment is that the animal could be dangerous. According to official sources, several witnesses have confirmed that the feline has been in the area before and that it’s certainly “a bigger cat” than your usual domestic pet. For now, the species remains unknown, but officers haven’t ruled out the possibility that it’s an exotic big cat.

“It is not unreasonable because there are many people who like to have this type of animal,” the mayor of Los Barrios, Miguel Alconchel, commented, adding that its sheer size indicates that it could well be an albino tiger. However, many experts are skeptical, claiming that the angle and distance of the video might just be distorting a regular domestic feline.

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That’s it for this first Editor’s Weekly Roundup Bulletin of 2023. We hope you liked it, and we’re looking forward to delivering many more weekly roundups of all the news and goings on in Spain this year.

See you next week!