Remix News

Category: Spain

  • After Spain imports record amount of diesel from Morocco, experts point to Russian sources

    After Spain imports record amount of diesel from Morocco, experts point to Russian sources

    A record-breaking increase of diesel imports from Morocco to Spain has raised suspicions within the energy industry that some of the fuel may be of Russian origin. In just two months, from March to April 2025, Spain imported 123,000 tons of diesel from Morocco, more than the entire historical total.

    The shipments are raising questions about how honest the EU’s energy policy is, which claims it is working to cut off Russian energy but in reality, is often sourcing it through middle countries.

    According to Spanish newspaper El Pais, there are a number of factors that raise the likelihood that Spain is buying Russian diesel through the backdoor.

    Besides the sudden increase in diesel from Morocco, a country that Spain does not typically import substantial amounts of diesel from, industry sources say Morocco did not impose sanctions on Russian energy resources after the invasion of Ukraine.

    El Pais noted that since the beginning of 2025, Morocco has imported over 1 million tons of Russian diesel, accounting for 25 percent of its total imports. It could also be that Morocco is importing diesel from other countries that are also importing Russian diesel and repackaging it to hide its true source.

    Experts believe the diesel is sent to Morocco and there it is blended with other diesel oils, making it untraceable back to its source.

    So much for sanctions: Russia surpasses US for gas exports to EU

    The suspicion is that this fuel is being imported by Rabat, the capital of Morocco, at a lower cost and then re-exported to Spain with a North African country’s certification to mask its origin.

    This practice is being investigated by the Spanish government, which has been trying to prove the Russian origin of the fuel since at least 2023. However, the government has so far been unable to provide definitive proof.

    El Pais also pointed out that since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Spain’s diesel imports have increased from other countries that were not previous suppliers, including Singapore and Turkey.

    This follows a 2024 investigation into a “Diesel mafia,” whose fraud activities were estimated at €1.9 billion, involving oil imported from sanctioned countries like Iran, Russia, and Syria, with altered certificates of origin from Turkey and Morocco.

    Notably, many EU countries have criticized Hungary and Slovakia for stating the EU still needs Russian energy. Meanwhile, many of these EU countries either continue to directly import Russian energy, or in the case of Spain, are likely importing it through middle countries.

    To add insult to injury, El Pais notes that Russia’s economy remains red hot. Despite predictions Russia would collapse under sanctions, the IMF noted that Russia grew by 4.1 percent in 2024, which is more than the United States, the EU, and Spain. The global average was 3.3 percent.

    Russia’s wartime economy is also driving its economic engine, but the BBC also writes that despite sanctions, oil tankers continue to flow to India and China, which is driving significant revenue into Russia’s coffers.

  • ‘The government will be there’ — Spanish socialists confirm attendance at ‘banned’ Pride march in Budapest

    ‘The government will be there’ — Spanish socialists confirm attendance at ‘banned’ Pride march in Budapest

    Spain’s Minister of Equality has sparked accusations of foreign interference after she revealed plans to attend an alternative LGBT Pride event in Budapest and indicated that her ministry is considering legal action against Hungarian-style reforms in Spain’s own conservative-led regions.

    Ana Redondo, a Socialist politician and member of Pedro Sánchez’s government, confirmed in an interview with Europa Press that Spain will be officially represented at the Budapest demonstration planned for June 28, despite the event being banned by Hungarian authorities under new legislation protecting minors from explicit and gender-ideological content.

    “We are looking at the agenda, the government is going to be there,” Redondo said. “If I am not there in person, people from the team and probably the director general will be.”

    The announcement comes amid rising tensions between Hungary and the European Union over LGBT-related laws. In March, Hungary’s National Assembly passed legislation prohibiting pornography, gender reassignment propaganda, and other content deemed inappropriate for minors. The law also allows authorities to ban public events that breach these rules, effectively outlawing Budapest’s annual Pride parade. Violators can face fines of up to 200,000 forints (€503), and penalties cannot be converted into community service.

    Hungarian parliament approves prohibition of Pride events under child protection laws

    Despite this, the mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, has vowed to press ahead with the parade, claiming it will be organized as a municipal event. “Budapest city hall will organize the Budapest Pride march on 28 June as a city event. Period. This ban has no value,” he claimed, calling the law a smokescreen to distract from Hungary’s economic situation.

    However, critics have pointed out that Hungary’s financial challenges stem largely from the European Commission’s decision to freeze critical funding, a move many in Hungary see as politically motivated.

    The Hungarian government has defended its laws as necessary to protect children and safeguard national values, and has received strong support domestically. Earlier this year, opposition politicians protested the law by setting off smoke bombs in parliament, resulting in hospitalizations and possible criminal charges. Yet the ruling Fidesz party passed the law with a resounding majority of 136 votes to 27.

    In addition to showing support for the banned event in Budapest, Redondo has pledged to challenge right-wing reforms in Spain that mirror aspects of Hungary’s law. Her ministry is already planning to appeal to Spain’s Constitutional Court over amendments to the Valencian Community’s 2017 Trans Law, passed with support from the center-right Partido Popular and the populist Vox party.

    Redondo previously succeeded in overturning similar changes in Madrid, and said she would now seek to do the same in Valencia. “We appealed for unconstitutionality to the Madrid law, the Court found in our favor, and we are now studying the appeal of unconstitutionality against the Valencian law,” she stated.

  • ‘You are a traitor!’ — Abascal unleashes furious attack on Sánchez in Spanish parliament before storming out

    ‘You are a traitor!’ — Abascal unleashes furious attack on Sánchez in Spanish parliament before storming out

    Vox party leader Santiago Abascal launched a blistering tirade against Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in parliament on Wednesday, accusing him of presiding over a web of corruption, impoverishing Spaniards, and selling out the country to illegal migrants and his political cronies.

    Abascal delivered his speech directly to Sánchez’s face before walking out of the chamber without waiting for a reply.

    “Mr. Sánchez, are you well? Did you have breakfast this morning?” Abascal began sarcastically. He then demanded to know “how much Spanish taxpayers’ money has gone to your brother, your wife, the Peugeot clan, your party, and corrupt businessmen.”

    He accused Sánchez’s political circle of systemic looting while ordinary Spaniards “pay very high taxes,” claiming his circle spends their money on prostitutes. He pointed out that the public are currently filing their tax returns while struggling to afford housing and make ends meet. “It has never been so difficult to access housing in the past 50 years as under your government,” Abascal declared.

    He claimed that “more and more Spaniards are at risk of extreme poverty” while electricity is cut off due to government policies, with some dying as a result. What was not stolen by Sánchez’s alleged allies, he said, was “handed over to illegal immigrants and the NGOs that bring them here to rob us of our security and peace in the streets — especially Spanish women.”

    Abascal accused the prime minister of “destroying what remains of Spanish democracy” in exchange for staying in power through deals with “corrupt clans,” including those whom Sánchez had “amnestied and pardoned for theft and worse crimes.”

    “You sit on the blue bench [of government] only because of a pact among the corrupt,” he said. “You will not laugh at us any longer.”

    Abascal concluded by denouncing Sánchez as “indecent,” “corrupt,” and a “traitor,” before exiting the chamber without listening to the prime minister’s response.

    The criticism follows growing controversy surrounding Sánchez’s government, which has been rocked by allegations of nepotism and corruption involving members of his family, including his wife Begoña Gómez and brother David Sánchez. While no formal charges have been filed, the opposition has accused the prime minister of using public institutions to benefit his inner circle.

    These concerns have been compounded by Sánchez’s deeply unpopular pact with Catalan separatists, which included granting amnesties to figures involved in the 2017 independence bid in exchange for political support, which many Spaniards view as a betrayal of the rule of law and national unity.

    The latest scandal relates to the publication of a police report that included recordings of a key ally, Santos Cerdan, appearing to discuss golden handshakes in exchange for awarding public work contracts — an allegation Cerdan has denied.

    Nonetheless, Sánchez distanced himself from the fellow socialist lawmaker last week in a televised press conference in which he admitted he should “never have trusted” Cerdan and vowed to root out any corruption within his own party.

    “Our intolerance of corruption is absolute,” Sánchez said on Wednesday, adding that he had agreed to an external audit to be conducted on his party’s finances.

  • Senegalese migrant arrested after stabbing street cleaner in Cambrils over noise from a blower

    Senegalese migrant arrested after stabbing street cleaner in Cambrils over noise from a blower

    A Senegalese migrant has been arrested in the Spanish town of Cambrils after allegedly stabbing a 47-year-old street cleaner in the head and chest, reportedly because he was annoyed by the noise from a leaf blower. The incident took place shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Monday along Diputació Avenue.

    According to sources from the Local Police of Cambrils, the victim, a worker contracted by the cleaning company Secomsa, was operating a blower outside the Apartaments Internacional building when the assailant confronted him.

    As reported by Diari de Tarragona, the situation escalated into a violent assault in which the worker was stabbed multiple times. Witnesses say the attacker, who was seen leaving the apartment complex moments before, reacted aggressively after voicing his annoyance at the noise.

    The attacker fled the scene following the assault, sparking a chase that ended on Valencia Street in the nearby town of Salou. A second Secomsa employee, who witnessed the attack, alerted a Local Police patrol and joined the pursuit. The police were assisted by the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan regional police, who deployed units to the area and ultimately helped arrest the suspect.

    Authorities say the man attempted to hide in a flat believed to be occupied by members of the Top Manta network — informal street vendors, often undocumented migrants, who sell goods along the Cambrils seafront. This has led investigators to suspect that the detainee may be part of that group, although this has not been officially confirmed.

    The victim was transported to Joan XXIII Hospital in Tarragona with serious injuries and significant blood loss. Medical sources say he remains in serious condition but is stable and out of immediate danger.

    Initially treated as a case of assault, the investigation has now been reclassified as an attempted homicide. The Cambrils City Council confirmed that the arrested man, who is 38 years old, does not reside in the city. The motive for his presence in Cambrils and the reason for his violent reaction remain unclear.

    The investigation is now being led by the Mossos d’Esquadra.

  • Moroccan educator jailed in Spain for raping 15-year-old girl in his care

    Moroccan educator jailed in Spain for raping 15-year-old girl in his care

    A Moroccan national has been sentenced to six years in prison for sexually assaulting a minor during his employment as an educator at a juvenile center.

    The Provincial Court of Murcia found that the 31-year-old man picked up the girl in his car and drove her to a remote field, where they had sexual intercourse. Although the court acknowledged that the act may have appeared consensual, it emphasized that under Spanish law, a person under 16 cannot legally consent to sex, making the act a criminal offense.

    In other legal jurisdictions, the offense is known as statutory rape, although it is not referred to by that exact term in Spanish law.

    As reported by La Opinión de Murcia, the incident occurred in March 2021 but was only resolved this year with a final court ruling. After returning to her residential facility, the victim confided in a classmate, who reported the incident to other educators. The man was immediately transferred from his role the following day.

    In addition to his prison sentence, the man will serve five years of supervised probation after his release. He is prohibited from approaching the victim for six years and banned from working in any capacity involving regular contact with minors for 11 years.

    He is not understood to be subject to deportation proceedings.

    Spanish town council votes to suspend Moroccan culture program in schools

    The convicted man had worked at the juvenile facility as both an educator and a translator. He denied the charges, claiming he was never alone with the girl and suggesting there was always a security guard nearby. He further alleged that the girl and another minor had harassed him, made inappropriate remarks, and touched him. According to his testimony, when he punished them, they responded with threats: “Son of a bitch, we are going to make you suffer for your whole life.”

    He also claimed that the girl later told him, “If you don’t do anything to me, I’m going to fuck up your life.”

    However, the court sided with the victim’s account. She testified that she met the man during the Covid-19 lockdown while living in the center. After she moved to a sheltered apartment, they exchanged phone numbers and began speaking on WhatsApp. She said they agreed to meet in person, and the man picked her up from Murcia’s bus station.

    Before driving to a field, he reportedly asked her to “swear to her mother” that she would not report what they were about to do. In the field, the victim said, they had full sexual intercourse.

    The girl also explained that when she first told a friend about the encounter, she might have downplayed its seriousness because she thought she was in love. Over time, she realized she had been manipulated and pressured, a realization that became clear when she turned 17 and began dealing with the psychological consequences.

    In its judgment, the court noted the coercive nature of the relationship and the power imbalance between the adult and the minor, noting how the defendant had “transmitted frankness and conviction” in his dealings with the child.

    Data from the Spanish interior ministry reported by La Gaceta in February revealed that over 5,400 Moroccans are currently incarcerated in Spain, accounting for 29.5 percent of the foreign prison population.

    Moroccans are by far the largest group of foreign inmates in Spanish prisons.

  • Spain’s Socialist government pours taxpayers’ millions into equality plan to combat nationalist surge

    Spain’s Socialist government pours taxpayers’ millions into equality plan to combat nationalist surge

    As nationalist parties surge across Europe, the Spanish Socialist-led government is doubling down on its ideological agenda — plowing over €140 million of taxpayer money into a nationwide equality plan aimed, in part, at combating what it labels “far-right” narratives among young men.

    The move comes just days after significant gains for right-wing forces across the continent, including in neighboring Portugal, where the populist Chega party enjoyed electoral success to compete with the two dominant legacy parties, and in Poland, where the presidential race saw a majority of voters supporting conservative candidates.

    Yet while many European electorates turn toward nationalist, traditionalist platforms, Spain’s Ministry of Equality has announced the distribution of €142.5 million to the country’s autonomous communities as part of its 2025 Co-Responsible Plan.

    As reported by El Debate, the funding, which is 75 percent covered by the central government and 25 percent by regional administrations, will finance projects aimed at enforcing gender parity, redefining family life, and promoting what the government terms “co-responsible masculinities.”

    Speaking after the Council of Ministers approved the latest round of funding, Equality Minister Ana Redondo explained that the Spanish government’s focus is “social transformation.”

    The timing of the announcement has raised eyebrows, especially given Redondo’s remarks about the growing popularity of nationalist parties among young men. “It’s a concern of this government, in Europe, and a concern of society as a whole,” she said, describing online platforms as an environment where “hate, denialism, and anti-equality messages” are allegedly radicalizing young people against parties like hers and into the hands of populists.

    Redondo warned that pornography and social media were fuelling “a misogynistic, sexist conception that devalues women,” which she claimed undermines both equality and democracy. “All the policies of the Ministry are also aimed at facing this new reality,” she added.

    Critics accuse the government of responding to rising disillusionment with its social agenda by funneling state money into programs that stigmatize dissenting views as extremism.

  • Spanish town council votes to suspend Moroccan culture program in schools

    Spanish town council votes to suspend Moroccan culture program in schools

    A local council in mainland Spain has voted to suspend the Arabic Language and Moroccan Culture Program currently offered in several schools across the region.

    The motion, presented by the VOX Municipal Group of the El Casar council, was approved during the most recent plenary session with support from both VOX and the Partido Popular (PP).

    As reported by La Crónic, the measure passed with seven votes in favor — comprising VOX and PP councillors — against five votes from the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and Unidas por El Casar. One PSOE councillor also abstained.

    VOX’s spokeswoman in El Casar, Olga González, defended the motion by invoking a need to protect Spain’s cultural identity. “The initiative responds to the defense of Spanish cultural identity and the need for the public education system to remain free of foreign interference and ideologies alien to our roots,” she said.

    The program in question, formally known as the Arabic Language and Moroccan Culture Program (PLACM), is coordinated by Spain’s Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Moroccan government. It is primarily aimed at students of Moroccan descent and is already being implemented in several schools across the Castilla-La Mancha region. Though the program is officially described as extracurricular and voluntary, VOX has raised concerns over its content and oversight.

    “It involves the institutionalization of a culture alien to our roots within the public education system, taught by teachers sent directly by the Moroccan State and with content whose transparency and supervision are far from guaranteed,” VOX argued.

    Councilor González further elaborated on her party’s position, stating, “Spain is a welcoming country, but it cannot and should not renounce its identity to please globalist agendas or foreign diplomatic interests. Our priority is and must be cultural unity, real integration, and respect for our historical and constitutional values.”

    VOX has sought to reform the education system across regions in which the party has influence. In January this year, Remix News reported on a parliamentary inquiry instigated by the party that found around 200 schools across the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia now teach Islam as part of their curriculum.

    Islam now taught in nearly 200 schools across Andalusia as Vox claims region has ‘succumbed to mass immigration’

    VOX linked the findings to demographic data from the Infancy and Adolescence Observatory in Andalusia, published in November 2024, which highlighted that Moroccans make up the largest group of non-Spanish nationals under the age of 19 in the region, accounting for nearly 30 percent of foreign nationals in this age group.

    “It is revealed that the Andalusian region has succumbed to the effects of the permanent arrivals of immigrants from the Maghreb, mostly Muslim areas and with a high number of practitioners,” the local VOX party stated in a press release at the time.

    “Indeed, the development and presence of this matter in the Andalusian classrooms clearly represents the priorities of the current Andalusian popular government,” it added.

  • Homicides up 400% on the Canary Islands in 2025 as violent crime soars

    Homicides up 400% on the Canary Islands in 2025 as violent crime soars

    Violent crime is surging across the Canary Islands, with intentional homicides, attempted murders, and sexual assaults all rising significantly in the first quarter of 2025, even as overall crime has fallen.

    According to the latest crime statistics published by Spain’s Ministry of the Interior and cited by La Rázon, the islands recorded a 3.8 percent decrease in total offenses compared to the same period last year — but this masks troubling increases in the most serious categories.

    Homicides on the Spanish archipelago rose by a staggering 400 percent, jumping from two cases in early 2024 to ten so far this year. Attempted homicides also nearly doubled, rising by 87.5 percent to 15 registered offenses. Sexual assaults involving penetration increased by 11.1 percent, reaching 60 cases in the first three months of 2025.

    Drug trafficking also showed a steep rise, up 21.4 percent with 210 cases reported. These trends suggest a deteriorating security situation in specific areas, even as conventional crimes such as vehicle theft (down 14.6 percent) and robberies with force in homes and businesses (down 11.1 percent) continue to decline. Cybercrime likewise decreased by 10.9 percent, with 4,047 digital offenses recorded.

    Nationally, Spain experienced a 2.8 percent drop in overall crime in the first quarter of the year. Homicides declined by 11.6 percent, though attempted murders rose by nearly 20 percent — mirroring the increase seen in the Canary Islands.

    Crimes against property fell by 5.3 percent and remain the most common type of conventional offense, accounting for two out of every five crimes in the country.

    However, the trend of increasing sexual violence is evident across Spain. Crimes against sexual freedom rose by 3.8 percent nationwide, with rapes up 7.6 percent compared to the first quarter of 2024. The interior ministry suggested that increased public awareness and reduced social stigma around reporting may be contributing factors.

    It failed, however, to address the issue of mass immigration and the fact that foreign nationals are disproportionately represented in serious crime data across Western Europe, a pattern evident in recent crime stats published in Catalonia.

    Spain: 91% of convicted rapists in Catalonia are foreigners

    Although immigrants make up 17 percent of the population there, they account for 91 percent of rape convictions. More broadly, over half (50.48 percent) of the prison population in Catalonia comprises foreign nationals.

    In February, Remix News reported how the number of homicides committed by immigrants has grown sharply across Spain. Ministry of the Interior data obtained by La Gaceta showed that foreign nationals were arrested or investigated for 137 homicides in 2023, up from 81 in 2013 — a 69 percent increase. In comparison, the total number of homicide cases nationwide rose from 311 to 399 in the same period, a 28 percent increase.

    Murders committed by foreigners in Spain soar 69% in a decade

    Despite these developments, the Spanish interior ministry insists the country reports one of the lowest conventional crime rates in the world, with 40.6 offenses per thousand inhabitants.

  • Man wanted for €264,000 Berlin ATM heist arrested at Spanish port while attempting to flee to Morocco

    Man wanted for €264,000 Berlin ATM heist arrested at Spanish port while attempting to flee to Morocco

    Spanish National Police have arrested a man wanted in Germany for an ATM theft involving a thermal lance and explosive materials, in which €264,000 in cash was stolen from a Deutsche Bank machine in Berlin.

    The arrest occurred on May 2 at the Port of Almería, as the suspect attempted to board a ferry bound for Nador, Morocco.

    As reported by La Vanguardia, the man, accompanied by his brother and driving a van, was intercepted by officers from the Border Unit of the Provincial Police Station in Almería. The arrest was the result of a coordinated surveillance effort launched after the Sirene-Spain Office issued an alert indicating the suspect might attempt to flee the Schengen Area through Spain.

    According to Spanish authorities, the officers located the suspect at the vehicle departure line at the border post and confirmed the validity of the European Arrest Warrant issued by German authorities. He was then taken into custody without incident.

    Police say the suspect was involved in a violent ATM robbery on the night of April 17, 2024, in Berlin. During the incident, he and an accomplice, who died that same night, used a thermal lance — a tool that heats and melts steel in the presence of pressurized oxygen to create an explosion — to breach the cash dispenser. In addition to the substantial cash theft, the operation caused an estimated €30,000 in property damage.

    500 ATMs blown up by migrant gangs in Germany in 2022, setting a new record

    At the time of his arrest, the man was found to be in possession of just over €6,000 in cash. He was transferred to the police station, where specialized officers from the Unit Against Illegal Immigration Networks and Document Forgeries handled the formal processing of his detention.

    The suspect now faces extradition to Germany, where he could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

    Spanish authorities have confirmed that he has already been brought before the appropriate judicial body for proceedings related to his extradition.

    ATM thefts are a prominent modus operandi for migrant gangs operating within Germany and neighboring countries.

    Banks operate nearly 100,000 ATMs located throughout Germany, with the machines routinely containing between €50,000 and €100,000. Criminal gangs are taking advantage of this, and they are willing to use extreme methods to gain access to this money.

    “This extensive network has, in part, drawn organized criminal groups from abroad, seeing the density of ATMs and Germany’s demand for cash access as factors in their favor,” noted a spokesperson for the German Banking Industry Committee last year.

    In 2022, government statistics indicated that organized crime gangs blew up 496 such machines, a record high.

    Another 461 ATM robberies were recorded in 2023.

    “We see ATM blasts all over the world, but the intensity that we experience in Germany is really in a league of its own,” Stefan Lessmann, head of security at ATM-maker Diebold Nixdorf, said previously when asked about the problem.

  • Brussels sues five EU countries for failing to enforce Digital Services Act

    Brussels sues five EU countries for failing to enforce Digital Services Act

    The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it is referring five member states to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for failing to properly implement the Digital Services Act (DSA), Brussels’ flagship legislation aimed at regulating online platforms.

    The countries facing legal action are Czechia, Spain, Cyprus, Poland, and Portugal. According to the Commission, these member states either failed to appoint a national Digital Services Coordinator (DSC) or failed to empower those bodies with the authority required to enforce the DSA.

    Additionally, none of the five countries has established penalties for violations of the regulation, as mandated by Brussels.

    “The DSA required member states to designate one or more competent authorities for the supervision and enforcement of the DSA, and to designate one of them as their national DSC by Feb. 17, 2024,” the Commission said in its press release. “Member states are also required to empower their DSCs to enable them to carry out their tasks under the DSA.”

    Poland is singled out for not appointing or authorizing a national coordinator at all, while Czechia, Spain, Cyprus, and Portugal appointed such bodies but did not grant them the legal powers necessary to fulfill their responsibilities.

    The European Commission insists the DSA, which came into force in 2022, is designed to create a safer and more transparent online environment by requiring large platforms and search engines to combat illegal content, protect user privacy, and address public safety risks.

    Critics, however, argue that it risks overreach by incentivizing platforms to over-remove content, potentially stifling free speech; imposes disproportionate burdens on smaller platforms, reinforcing the dominance of Big Tech; and compromises user privacy through mandated data access for regulators.

    Disapproval of the regulation has been met by both libertarian politicians in Europe and by Republicans in Washington, DC.

    In February, United States House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Technology Henna Virkkunen expressing his “serious concerns with how the DSA’s censorship provisions affect free speech in the United States.”

    He argued that overregulation from Brussels would effectively create a “de facto global censorship standard” as social media platforms generally use one set of content moderation policies for consistent implementation worldwide.

    X owner Elon Musk has also weighed in on the bureaucratic nature of the DSA and its overzealous approach to content moderation, while U.S. President Donald Trump himself also called fines imposed on U.S. tech companies by Brussels for failing to adhere to the DSA a “form of taxation.”

    In Europe, Alternative for Germany (AfD) MP Maximilian Krah has argued that the DSA is designed to suppress dissenting viewpoints, claiming the legislation “is intended to prevent unorthodox and creative ideas from being shared on the internet,” while Sweden Democrats MEP Jessica Stegrud claimed an overfocus on combating disinformation and “harmful content” could undermine freedom of speech.

    The Commission first launched infringement proceedings against the five countries in 2024. Letters of formal notice were sent to Czechia, Cyprus, Poland, and Portugal in April, and to Spain in July. After the member states failed to comply, the Commission escalated the matter to the EU’s highest court.

    If the Court of Justice rules against them, the countries could face financial penalties and be required to act swiftly to meet their legal obligations.

  • Infamous migrant thief from viral ‘Chinese tourist camera’ video strikes again — this time, an alleged knife attack

    Infamous migrant thief from viral ‘Chinese tourist camera’ video strikes again — this time, an alleged knife attack

    Barcelona police are searching for a repeat migrant offender whose attempted robbery of a Chinese tourist went viral last week, after the suspect was released by the authorities, only to allegedly be involved in a violent knife attack at a nightclub in the city.

    The suspect, a 27-year-old man of North African origin with at least nine prior convictions, was first arrested on April 30 after attempting to steal a professional camera from a Chinese tourist near Barcelona Cathedral.

    His plan was foiled when the tourist quickly apprehended the assailant, keeping him in a headlock until the authorities arrived.

    Two police officers eventually visited the scene, dragging the thief away and sitting him up by a tree as he got his breath back before taking him into custody.

    The Chinese tourist was applauded by several eyewitnesses for his vigilantism.

    The incident was captured on video and widely shared on social media, garnering millions of views.

    Despite his already considerable rap sheet, the North African suspect was released the day after the arrest. But now, less than a week later, he is wanted again — this time for his alleged role in a brutal gang assault at the Mr. French nightclub in Barcelona’s Eixample district.

    According to the Spanish news outlet El Caso, a 54-year-old man filed a complaint with the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan police, stating he was attacked by a gang of six men on Saturday night. He suffered a severe wound to the face from a sharp object, possibly a knife or a broken bottle.

    The victim, who is also a foreign national, recognized one of his attackers as the same man featured in the viral video. “He is the man in the Asian’s video,” the victim reportedly told officers.

    Police sources believe that a personal conflict may have triggered the altercation, suggesting that the victim and the assailants had prior connections in Barcelona’s criminal underworld.

    The Mossos d’Esquadra’s Investigation Unit is leading the inquiry, but no arrests have yet been made.

  • Crimes of rape have tripled in six years across Spain

    Crimes of rape have tripled in six years across Spain

    Spain has seen an alarming rise in sexual violence over recent years, culminating in a record-high number of rapes, which reached 5,206 incidents in 2024, according to new official statistics from the Ministry of the Interior.

    With an average of 14 rapes per day across the country, the figure nearly triples the 1,878 cases reported in 2019 when five daily incidents were reported. The upward trend has remained consistent year-over-year since 2018, aside from a brief dip during 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions.

    Regional breakdowns show that communities like Catalonia, Madrid, and Andalusia report the highest numbers, although increases have been noted throughout all regions of Spain. Cases involving minors, nightlife-related assaults, and attacks perpetrated by groups of offenders are also on the rise. The grim reality presented by these numbers translates to a woman being raped every hour and 45 minutes in Spain.

    Remix News reported in November last year on a La Rázon report that revealed 91 percent of those convicted of rape in Catalonia are foreigners, with immigrants comprising just 17 percent of the region’s total population.

    When it comes to sexual assault and rape combined, 64.2 percent of inmates are foreign nationals.

    Spain: 91% of convicted rapists in Catalonia are foreigners

    As reported by El Español, the rapid increase in sexual violence has overwhelmed specialized police units such as the Family and Women’s Care Units (UFAM) of the National Police and the Women-Minor Teams (EMUME) of the Civil Guard, both reporting understaffing and resource constraints. Officers within these units indicate that they are working beyond capacity, often handling a significantly higher workload than a decade ago without adequate support, training, or compensation.

    Government officials have partly attributed this increase to more women coming forward and make no reference to the dramatic rise in mass immigration into Spain over the past decade. However, the continuous surge raises difficult questions about the effectiveness of initiatives such as the “Only Yes Means Yes” law, designed specifically to curb sexual violence.

    Elena Ramallo, a Spanish campaigner battling violence against women, took to social media to criticize the El Español report for failing to address an obvious factor.

    “Not a single reference in the entire article to the identity of the aggressors,” she wrote.

    Police unions, however, have cited multiple factors contributing to this trend, including what they describe as “influence from cultures that undervalue women,” deteriorating societal values, and growing youth gang violence. The unions called for preventive measures, such as education on consent and bolstering police resources to cope with the epidemic.

    Spain: 3 arrested in Zaragoza for gang rape after victim attacked in storage room of housing shelter

    Amid mounting public and political pressure, calls are intensifying for the Spanish government to strengthen institutional responses, not just through symbolic campaigns but by significantly investing in personnel, specialized training, and improved victim support initiatives.

  • Spain: Record number of women over 50 give birth, while births for those under 19 drop to lowest on record

    Spain: Record number of women over 50 give birth, while births for those under 19 drop to lowest on record

    In Spain, a record number of births among women over 50 and the lowest number in history of mothers under 19, all due to abortion.

    The year 2024 confirmed two trends. Never before have so many women over the age of 50 and so few under the age of 19 given birth. If it were not for the liberal abortion law, the number of mothers would be much higher, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

    Last year, when 322,034 children were born in Spain, the record for births to mothers over 50 was broken. While in 2014 they made up only 0.028 percent of all births, in 2024 this number increased to 0.097 percent, a threefold increase.

    Although these cases are a small part of the total number of births, they indicate a lasting increase. In 2023-2024, they went from 236 to 313 cases per year.

    Fewer Teen Mothers

    At the other end of the spectrum are young women who gave birth before the age of 19, and although they are much more numerous than those over 50, the opposite, downward trend is taking place here.

    The fact that fewer children are being born does not mean that there are fewer pregnancies. More and more young women of this age are simply opting for abortion. Last year, Spain recorded the lowest number of births in this age group, totaling 5,447, which was 1.69 percent of all registered. Of these, 76 were aged 14 or younger.

    Death by abortion

    In 2009, when these data began to be collected, the number of births to women under 19 exceeded 13,000 and represented 2.68 percent of all births. The following year, in 2010, the Rodríguez Zapatero government approved a new abortion law that made abortion a presumed “right,” effectively allowing abortion up to 22 weeks of pregnancy, i.e., killing a child that is around 5 months old in the womb.

    As a result, the number of births in this group of young women fell below 9,000 in 2013. In 2021, after another change pushed through by the leftist PSOE of Pedro Sánchez, allowing abortions for underage mothers aged 16 and 17 without the consent or knowledge of their parents, the number of births fell below 6,000 per year.

  • Spain: Vox’s Abascal blames PM Sánchez for blackout ‘chaos,’ demands end to ‘climate fanaticism’

    Spain: Vox’s Abascal blames PM Sánchez for blackout ‘chaos,’ demands end to ‘climate fanaticism’

    A massive and unprecedented power blackout that swept across Spain on Monday has triggered fierce political backlash, with Santiago Abascal, leader of the populist Vox party, accusing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of “leading Spain into chaos.” Abascal is now demanding accountability for the hours-long outage that left millions without electricity.

    The Vox leader lambasted the Sánchez government for “climate fanaticism” and failing to safeguard Spain’s energy infrastructure. “It’s not the first time this has happened, and it won’t be the last,” Abascal said. “They’ve dismantled power plants, made us dependent on renewables, and now we’re paying the price.”

    Abascal also raised alarm about the government’s push toward digital payments, questioning what would have happened had Spain already eliminated cash or fully electrified its vehicle fleet. “Yesterday, cash was the only lifeline for many Spaniards,” he said.

    The Vox leader also took aim at corruption allegations surrounding members of Sánchez’s government, rhetorically asking, “Who is getting rich from this chaos?” He urged the center-right Popular Party (PP) to sever any cooperation with the ruling Socialist government and join his party’s call for a complete reversal of Sánchez’s policies.

    The blackout crisis began at 12:33 p.m., when the Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica de España (REE) reported a catastrophic cascade failure. Initial reports suggest the blackout was triggered by a sudden loss of photovoltaic generation in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, which was followed in rapid succession by grid destabilizations, disconnections from the France-Spain interconnection, and a massive collapse of renewable energy input.

    At its worst, generation in the Iberian Peninsula dropped to zero.

    Massive blackout cripples Spain and Portugal, possible cyberattack not ruled out

    REE’s director of operations, Eduardo Prieto, dismissed the possibility of a cyberattack or human error and said that no extreme weather event had occurred at the time. He confirmed that the root cause was still under investigation but likely stemmed from a technical failure in renewable generation systems.

    The blackout claimed at least five lives. In Ourense, three family members died from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by improper generator use. In Madrid, a woman perished in a fire, and in Valencia, another woman, dependent on an oxygen machine, also died.

    Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced two independent investigations into the blackout: one led by Spain’s Ministry for Ecological Transition, and the other to be led by the European Commission in Brussels.

    Unlike REE, Sánchez did not rule out any potential causes.

  • Spanish news broadcasts will be policed to ensure equal speaking time for men and women

    Spanish news broadcasts will be policed to ensure equal speaking time for men and women

    A Spanish law requiring men and women to have equal speaking time on news programs will now be monitored by the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) to ensure compliance.

    The gender law, promoted by the Socialist party, was first put forward by the department of Nadia Calviño, the first vice president of the government and minister of economic affairs and digital transformation. She said in February 2022 that she would no longer participate in debates where she was the only woman, but then went a step further and decided to spearhead a law requiring the presence of women.

    Calviño’s law was approved by Congress in May 2022 and the fines for violating the law can be extremely high. In fact, “the broadcasting of content that clearly promotes situations of inequality for women” was defined in the 2022 law as a “very serious offense.” TV networks can be punished with fines between €60,000 and €1.5 million, depending on the offense and the income of the networks.

    In practice, it remains to be seen exactly how this law will be determined and enforced.

    Now, the CMAC is going to monitor Spanish news to ensure women and men are speaking equally. To do this, it will monitor 250 hours of broadcasting per year to examine the presence of females on a dozen networks, including both public networks RTVE and 24h, as well as private networks, according to El Mundo.

    Gender quotas: EU parliament votes to make women 50% of all candidates in European elections

    According to the law, newscasts must convey “an equal and non-discriminatory image” of women and men. They are not permitted to promote “directly or indirectly, situations of discrimination based on sex.”

    The CMAC will review between 800 and 1,000 15-minute clips, which will be reviewed by a consulting firm that has been provided €121,000 for both 2025 and 2026.

    “A worksheet will have to reflect the speaking time of each of the actors participating in the news, following the criteria established by the CNMC, and paying special attention to the representation of women in these spaces,” the contract documents state.

    The CMAC is headed by Cani Fernández, who is close to Calviño.

    As El Mundo reports, women are increasingly seen on news networks, but there is currently no official data on how much men and women are speaking.

  • Massive blackout cripples Spain and Portugal, possible cyberattack not ruled out

    Massive blackout cripples Spain and Portugal, possible cyberattack not ruled out

    Millions of people across Spain and Portugal were left without power on Monday after an unprecedented electricity blackout struck both countries shortly after noon.

    The cause of the disruption remains unclear, with government authorities investigating multiple possibilities. Spanish newspaper El País reported that a potential cyberattack had not been ruled out.

    The massive outage saw infrastructure, mobile communications, and transport systems heavily disrupted. Roads were left chaotic with traffic lights failing across cities, while train stations, airports, elevators, factories, and businesses reported widespread interruptions. Hospitals, though impacted, managed to maintain critical operations through emergency generators.

    According to Spain’s public grid operator Red Eléctrica, power began to recover from around 1:00 p.m., but full restoration remains a work in progress. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is understood to be personally overseeing the crisis from the Red Eléctrica Control Center. Across Spain’s regions, local governments have convened crisis cabinets to manage the fallout, including Catalonia’s President Salvador Illa.

    Parts of southern France were also believed to have been affected, but have since managed to turn the power back on. The Balearic and Canary Islands were also spared due to their independent energy systems.

    Spain’s railway network Adif reported major voltage losses, forcing a nationwide suspension of train traffic. State-owned railway company Renfe confirmed that no trains were departing from stations as of 12:30 p.m. Metro services in Madrid and Barcelona were similarly paralyzed, and elevator failures in cities like Madrid resulted in at least 150 emergency calls.

    In airports such as Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat, airlines reported significant delays and confusion among thousands of passengers. Portugal’s Lisbon airport faced similar chaos, with travelers stranded without information.

    The Ford Almussafes plant halted production, and truck manufacturer Iveco paused operations in Madrid and Valladolid.

    Financial operations remained largely unaffected. The Spanish Stock Exchange reported normal activity, and the National Securities Market Commission confirmed that market infrastructures operated without disruption, though some financial institutions faced localized connectivity problems.

    Citizens in both Spain and Portugal rushed to withdraw cash, fearing prolonged outages. Público reported that in Lisbon, students and office workers queued at ATMs, some withdrawing hundreds of euros to prepare for potential extended disruptions.

    Emergency services are on high alert, with Spain’s DGT, the national traffic authority, urging citizens to avoid driving unless absolutely necessary due to the failure of traffic lights and signage. In Madrid, police officers were manually directing traffic at critical intersections.

    https://twitter.com/ConflictDISP/status/1916833567356682368

    The Ministry of Justice in Portugal ordered the closure of registry offices and placed elite prison security forces on standby. Justice ministry facilities activated backup power systems, but warnings were issued that operations would be limited if the blackout continued for several more hours.

    Telecommunications are also widely affected. In Portugal, mobile and fixed network operator NOS reported service disruptions and warned that, depending on the length of the blackout, connectivity problems could become more severe.

  • Spain’s demographic collapse: 2025 birth rate lowest for a decade

    Spain’s demographic collapse: 2025 birth rate lowest for a decade

    Spain’s birth rate has continued its steady decline, with February 2025 marking a new low in the country’s ongoing demographic crisis.

    According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), 24,136 babies were born in Spain during the month, a 2.83 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2024, when 25,557 births were recorded.

    This drop is part of a long-term downward trend that has been evident for over a decade. In 2015, Spain registered 31,335 births in February, meaning that the country now sees more than 7,000 fewer births in the same month, a reduction of 23 percent over 10 years.

    In recent years, the number of births during February has remained relatively stable, though consistently low: 26,946 births were recorded in 2020, followed by 24,413 in 2021, 24,946 in 2022, and 24,435 in 2023.

    January and February have seen a combined total of 51,306 births, the lowest number for this period since 2016, when 66,583 children were born.

    The latest figures also reveal that births have declined across nearly all maternal age groups compared to February of last year. The only exceptions are women aged between 45 and 49, whose birth numbers rose negligibly from 266 to 267, and those aged 50 and older, where births increased from 26 to 27.

    Andalusia, Catalonia, and Madrid registered the highest number of births during January and February, with 14,654, 13,458, and 12,510, respectively. On the contrary, the exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla recorded the fewest, with just 188 and 211 births.

    Only a few regions showed increases in birth numbers over the past year, including the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Extremadura, with growth rates of 3.36 percent, 15.58 percent, and 3.34 percent, respectively.

    Several communities, however, experienced sharp declines. Cantabria saw the most significant drop, with births falling by 12.14 percent, followed by Castilla y León with a 7.67 percent decrease, the Balearic Islands with a 7.39 percent reduction, Murcia at minus 7.18 percent, and Aragón with a 4.19 percent drop.

    These regional differences reflect a broader national pattern of demographic contraction, raising concerns about long-term population sustainability in many parts of the country.

    In the first three months of 2025, the number of deaths registered in Spain increased slightly from the same period last year, by 121,800 to 122,852.

  • France surpasses Germany as Europe’s top asylum destination so far this year

    France surpasses Germany as Europe’s top asylum destination so far this year

    Germany is no longer the leading destination for asylum seekers in Europe, according to an internal EU Commission report accessed by Welt am Sonntag.

    In the first quarter of the year, asylum applications in Germany dropped by 41 percent compared to the same period in 2024, falling to just over 37,000.

    France received the most applications (40,871), followed by Spain (39,318).

    The decline has pushed Germany down to third place among European countries, as migration flows shift across the continent.

    In contrast, Hungary and Slovakia received the fewest asylum requests at just 22 and 37 applications, respectively.

    Across the EU, along with Norway and Switzerland, authorities registered over 210,000 asylum applications in the first quarter — a decrease of 19 percent year-on-year.

    The latest data reveals significant changes in where asylum seekers are coming from. Venezuelan nationals filed the most applications so far this year, marking a 44 percent rise. Afghans and Syrians followed, though notably, the number of Syrian applicants has dropped by over half compared to last year. Similar declines were recorded for applicants from Colombia and Turkey.

    Despite the drop in Syrian requests, however, Germany remained the go-to destination for those heading to Europe — more than half of all Syrian applications across the EU were submitted in Germany, accounting for a quarter of all asylum applications in the country.

    Afghan and Turkish nationals made up significant portions as well, while France has emerged as the main destination for Ukrainian asylum seekers, whose numbers rose by 84 percent.

    Sweeping asylum reforms will change the landscape further next year with the implementation of the EU’s controversial migration pact. The legislation obliges all member states to take their fair share of asylum seekers or pay financial penalties for each migrant they refuse to the tune of €20,000 per person.

    Brussels is also exploring the viability of offshore processing centers, following the lead of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her deal with Albania, though no major progress on this plan has been made to date.

    The migration pact has been met with stiff opposition, particularly in Eastern European nations where socially conservative views are more represented at a national level.

    Both Hungary and Slovakia have refused to comply with the redistribution of migrants, while Poland has also expressed its unwillingness to cooperate.

    “We won’t build camps in Hungary. Our voters have given us a clear mandate against this,” Hungary’s Minister for European Affairs, János Bóka, told Welt am Sonntag.

  • Vox spokesman faces hate crime investigation after calling out link between immigration and crime

    Vox spokesman faces hate crime investigation after calling out link between immigration and crime

    A Spanish conservative lawmaker is facing a hate crime investigation after a press conference in which he highlighted the link between mass immigration and rising crime rates — a connection supported by official data but often ignored by Spain’s far-left administration.

    José Antonio Fúster, national spokesman for the populist Vox party and member of the Madrid Assembly, addressed the media on July 29 last year, where he read out the forenames of several dozen individuals arrested during violent incidents in Barcelona that weekend.

    “Sabar, Omar, Nassim, Abdelkader, Salah, Salah, Younes, Karim, Jamil, Amir, Ali, Oussama, Hassan… I can go on. Do you notice any patterns? Do you notice anything?” Fúster asked.

    “We do, and this is what we have been denouncing for a long time, that the open-door policy of the Popular Party and the PSOE has direct consequences on the security of Spaniards,” he added.

    Though the list he read had the surnames redacted and had already circulated online via party channels, his public use of it has led the National Police to file a report for alleged incitement to hatred. Fúster, protected by parliamentary immunity as a sitting deputy, expressed disbelief upon receiving the notification last week and doubled down on his comments.

    “We’re constantly told that immigration and crime have no link,” Fúster said, as cited by Spanish digital newspaper The Objective. “But they’re not fooling anyone. The criminals that Spaniards endure in their neighborhoods have names — and we all know them.”

    Vox maintains that spurious criminal complaints are part of a wider effort to silence those who raise valid security concerns. The party highlighted charges against MP Rocío de Meer last year for writing, “The future of this country is dark,” in response to the birth of a child named Ayoub in a rural Spanish village, and Jordi de la Fuente, another Vox figure, who is awaiting trial over a 2019 protest targeting an asylum center.

    The party continues to call for reform of Article 510 of the Penal Code, which defines hate crimes, arguing it has been weaponized to censor uncomfortable conversations. In a recent interview, Vox leader Santiago Abascal remarked, “What they call ‘hate speech’ is often just speech they hate. We’re simply describing reality, and it’s backed by the government’s own data.”

    Some of that government data was reported on by Remix News last month after an information request by La Gaceta online newspaper found a growing trend in violent crimes involving foreign nationals.

    Between 2013 and 2023, for example, homicides involving foreign suspects soared by 69 percent compared to a 28 percent increase in total cases.

    Similarly, the Spanish Interior Ministry’s own crime stats for 2023 revealed that the top 10 Spanish cities with the highest rates of violent robberies and intimidation were all located in Catalonia, with foreigners vastly overrepresented.

    The data showed that there are 8,505 inmates in Catalan prisons and that 50.48 percent of them are foreigners.

    When focusing on specific violent offenses like rape, 91 percent of those convicted in Catalonia are foreigners. When it comes to sexual assault and rape combined, 64.2 percent of all prisoners are foreigners.

    Fúster received plenty of support from party colleagues following the news of the criminal complaint.

    “Sabar, Omar, Nassim, Abdelkader, Salah, Salah, Younes, Karim, Jamil, Amir, Ali, Oussama, Hassan… they were the ones arrested. And yes, we could go on because it was a list of the first 50 arrested during a single night in Barcelona,” said Vox secretary general Ignacio Garriga.

    “Let them denounce us all, we will continue to tell the truth regardless of who it may be,” he added.

    “Let’s not forget that the surnames of the criminals who have condemned us to this are others: Sánchez, Bolaños, Marlaska, Montero, Díaz… and their bipartisan allies,” wrote party leader Santiago Abascal on X.

  • Spain: 71.4% of all new jobs in the last 5 years went to foreigners while young Spaniards flee the country

    Spain: 71.4% of all new jobs in the last 5 years went to foreigners while young Spaniards flee the country

    Spain is following trends seen across the Western world, which involve young rudderless people increasingly shunned from the job market, especially if they are natives, and jobs increasingly going to foreigners.

    The data from Spain shows the extreme trend line, where of all the jobs created between 2019 to 2024, 71.4 percent of them went to foreigners, according to a study by the Foundation for Applied Economic Studies (Fedea).

    “We are importing waiters and bricklayers while exporting doctors and engineers, which is a tragedy because we have spent a fortune training them, and they represent the great talent on which the country’s growth and the concentration of high-value-added companies depend,” said Jesús Vega, former Director of Human Resources at Inditex and Banco Santander, in an interview with El Debate.

    He argued that Spain’s labor policies “are driving away those salaries that truly contribute to the country.”

    Lawyer arrested in Spain for facilitating sham marriages between Spanish women and illegal migrants

    Now, foreigners account for 20.7 percent of all workers in the country, with these workers flowing into the construction, hospitality, and elementary occupations, along with technical positions, although to a lesser extent. These are generally considered low-skill positions, which the experts behind the study said is tied to the fact that foreigners coming into Spain generally have lower education levels than Spanish natives.

    During that time period, the study notes that there has been an increase of nearly 2 million workers and a decrease in unemployment of 438,000 people. However, nearly all of those jobs went to people over the age of 50, amounting to 74.7 percent. Meanwhile, 634,000 jobs were lost over five years for those in the 30 to 44 age group.

    Within the age group of 45-49, there has been only a 70,000 increase in jobs.

    Spain, which has already struggled for decades with youth unemployment, is only getting worse in this regard. Now, the number of workers over 50 rose by five points, to 35 percent in the last five years.

    What the experts behind the study argue is that while foreigners are increasingly taking jobs, along with older workers, young workers are increasingly dropping out of the labor force. Some of these young workers may also simply be moving away from Spain entirely, which the data appears to support.

    Migration outflow data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INE) shows that in the first half of 2022, 220,443 people left the country, the highest figure since 2013. That year was at a high point of the country’s financial crisis, which saw unemployment at 25 percent. The data also shows that the age group that left in 2022 at the highest rate was the 25 to 39 group.

    These same trends are being seen across the West, with low-skilled migrants flooding countries and driving down wages. In many cases, this influx of foreigners also leads to soaring housing prices, which in turn leaves native-born young people unable to purchase a home. In countries like the U.S., and Canada, the trend has been especially extreme, with millions of jobs flowing to foreigners at the expense of native-born Americans. Corporations have also actively discriminated against White males through DEI programs, exacerbating the trend.

    Big Business has traditionally seen mass immigration as a positive, as it drives down wages, creates competition for jobs, and also lowers the chances of labor unions forming due to differences between culture, religion and ethnicity amongst workers.

  • Italy and Spain reportedly side with Hungary, raise doubts over EU’s €40 billion for Ukraine

    Italy and Spain reportedly side with Hungary, raise doubts over EU’s €40 billion for Ukraine

    Not only are Europeans fed up with the tens of billions flowing to Ukraine on what is becoming a regular occurrence, but some European governments also seem to be balking at the endless cash flow.

    Of course, Hungary has consistently come out against continuously funding Ukraine, but due to the country’s isolation on the issue, it has often ended up acceding to EU demands. However, even some other major European countries are beginning to drag their feet over the extraordinary sums of money.

    The Italian and Spanish governments are now indicating that they are unwilling to support the EU’s proposal to give €40 billion to Ukraine this year, with the plan for each country to contribute the funds based on the size of its population.

    Hungarian news outlet Mandiner points to Reuters, which says the proposal comes from the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, who is strongly supported by Northern European countries and most Eastern European countries.

    The hunt continues: Zelensky extends forced conscription and martial law again

    Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian minister of foreign affairs and trade, said: “We will not allow ourselves to be dragged into this, and we will not allow weapons to be shipped to Ukraine using Hungarian taxpayers’ money!”

    The Hungarian foreign minister said that Budapest supports peace negotiations instead of more weapons for Ukraine.

    However, Kallas is refuting the Reuters report that some member states are showing reservations about the €40 billion in funding, saying there is “a broad political support,” but “a lot of details need to be worked out.”

    Former German finance minister says corruption in Ukraine is ‘rampant,’ and large majority of Ukrainians agree

    “It’s important that the Сouncil said that we need to move swiftly, and that is what we are doing,” Kallas added.

    Regardless of what the EU decides regarding the €40 billion, there appears to be sharply divergent views between the U.S. and most EU member states about the war. President Donald Trump is racing to secure a peace deal, while most of the EU wants to continue the fight against Russia.

    No matter what, billions of euros sent to Ukraine will be siphoned off through various corruption schemes, something even countries like Germany admit is simply the reality of doing business with Ukraine.


  • Migrant smuggler speaks out: ‘I make €6,000 per trip and Spain pays for my flight home’

    Migrant smuggler speaks out: ‘I make €6,000 per trip and Spain pays for my flight home’

    A serial migrant smuggler sat down for an exclusive interview with El Español to reveal all about the art of trafficking illegal migrants from the African mainland to the Canary Islands, detailing the lucrative sums he receives and how he evades the authorities.

    Ely, a notorious Mauritanian sailor who has captained four successful migrant crossings to the Canary Islands, told the news outlet he operates out of Nouadhibou, Mauritania, describing himself as a skilled navigator rather than a trafficker.

    “I’m a sailor. I know how to navigate. If boats don’t make it, it’s because those in charge don’t know what they’re doing,” he said. He claimed to have completed four voyages without any casualties, a rare feat in the perilous migrant route.

    According to Ely, he earns between €3,000 and €6,500 per trip, depending on the demand. “It’s simple economics — supply and demand. Right now, there aren’t many captains available. Just the other day, I was offered €7,000 for a trip, but I didn’t take it because my mother is sick.”

    He contrasted this with the humble potential earnings from fishing, which he said would take him almost three years to match what he makes in one migrant trip that can be over and done within 72 hours.

    “I don’t use GPS, just a compass and the stars. If you know what you’re doing, you arrive. If not, you get lost in the Atlantic,” he told the site. To evade patrols, he initially steers towards America before cutting back towards the Canary Islands, using marine currents to his advantage.

    Ely also described the economics of the operation. Migrants pay between €1,000 and €3,000 for a seat, with those who can afford more securing safer spots. A typical migrant boat carries between 60 and 90 people, though overcrowding often leads to capsizing. “Once, they brought me a boat with 120 people. I refused. It was too dangerous,” he said.

    Immigration wave: Record number of illegal migrants land on Spanish Canary Islands

    Controlling passengers is another challenge. “The hardest part is keeping people calm. If they panic and all move to one side, the boat sinks.” He explained how he travels with two trusted crew members to maintain order during the journey, but admitted that at times of adverse weather conditions, this can be difficult. “If the sea gets rough, we just pray.”

    Once in Spanish waters, migrants are instructed to deny knowing who captained the boat. “We all move away from the engine and say we all drove it,” Ely said, a trick to avoiding prosecution in Spain for facilitating illegal immigration which can land the captain up to eight years in prison.

    ‘Spain’s establishment parties have abandoned the Canary Islands to mass immigration,’ archipelago’s president claims

    Despite being detained multiple times in Spain, Ely has nearly always been deported rather than imprisoned, and always at the taxpayers’ expense. “The Spanish authorities know who I am. But each time, they just send me back to Mauritania. And they pay for my flight!”

    He recounted an incident where a Mauritanian officer in Tenerife recognized him but allowed him to return home. On another occasion, he spent time in Las Palmas prison before being deported.

    For now, Ely says he is taking a break from smuggling to care for his mother and daughters. “I earn little, but it’s enough for them.”

    He initially claims that he has no plans to migrate permanently and insists that should he do so, it would be by legal means. “If I leave, it will be with a visa. Maybe to America — I’d know how to navigate there.”

    However, off the record, he admitted he might attempt one last crossing — this time for himself. “If I go again, it will be to stay. I hope my friends in Spain like this interview. I don’t want any trouble when I return!”

    Read the full interview here.

  • Lawyer arrested in Spain for facilitating sham marriages between Spanish women and illegal migrants

    Lawyer arrested in Spain for facilitating sham marriages between Spanish women and illegal migrants

    A lawyer in Spain has been arrested along with a man and a woman for their alleged involvement in a criminal network specializing in arranging sham marriages between Spanish women and foreign nationals.

    El Correo de Burgos cited police sources that confirmed investigators had prevented the fraudulent formalization of 13 marriages of convenience based on documentation seized during the arrests.

    An extensive investigation into the operation, which began in September last year, found that the male suspect was responsible for recruitment. He sought out foreign men seeking legacy residency and registered them at addresses in Miranda de Ebro, just south of Bilbao in the north of the country. The men were reportedly charged around €10,000 each.

    The female suspect was tasked with locating Spanish female citizens willing to participate in the sham marriages. They were paid between €3,000 and €4,000 for their involvement.

    The lawyer, based in Miranda de Ebro, filed the marriage paperwork, all of which was seized during searches of their offices.

    In addition to the trio, around 20 other individuals have been identified as participating in the illegal scheme, including prospective fake spouses and intermediaries who helped to facilitate meets.

    The three suspects are understood to be facing charges including falsifying documents and facilitating illegal immigration.

    Facilitating sham marriages can be big business for those involved. In 2020, a major criminal network was disbanded by the Spanish National Police for aiding Indian and Pakistani migrants in their search for residency papers.

    That network had orchestrated over 50 sham marriages, charging €20,000 each time.

    The operation’s reach was broad, with 12 members arrested in locations down the eastern coast, including Barcelona, Valencia, and Sitges.

  • As Zelensky heads to DC, Spanish PM pledges €1 billion in military aid, says Ukraine must be part of EU

    As Zelensky heads to DC, Spanish PM pledges €1 billion in military aid, says Ukraine must be part of EU

    U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may be signing an agreement this Friday, per which Ukraine will give 50 percent of its rare earth mineral sales in exchange for past and continued military aid. 

    Meanwhile, Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez arrived in Kyiv for the third anniversary of the war and promised Ukraine €1 billion in military aid, reports Magyar Nemzet.

    “Ukraine must win a just and lasting peace. The freedom, security and future of every European citizen depend on it. That is why I announced today in Kyiv that Spain is sending a new military aid package of one billion euros to the Ukrainian people. Diplomacy alone will not be enough. We must combine it with more strength and unity,” Sánchez wrote on X.

    The military aid announced by the Spanish prime minister is part of a bilateral agreement signed last year between the Spanish and Ukrainian governments. Last year,  Last year, Spain sent over €1 billion to aid for Ukraine’s defense.,as well as paying hundreds of millions of euros in funds that the EU has funneled to Ukraine.

    Sánchez announced at the summit the opening of the “House of Ukraine” in the city of Torrevieja, in the province of Alicante, a center that will serve the various needs of the Ukrainian community in Spain. He also stressed the importance of Ukraine’s accession to the EU.

    “Ukraine’s future lies in Europe, but Europe’s future also lies in Ukraine,” he said at Monday’s summit in Kyiv, which was chaired by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attended by around 40 political leaders, including Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Antonio Costa, president of the European Council. 

    This was Pedro Sánchez’s fourth trip to Ukraine since the start of the war, writes Magyar Nemzet. Over the past three years, Madrid has consistently supported Kyiv both politically and economically. 

    The Spanish prime minister has continuously stressed Spain’s full support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and is convinced that only Ukraine can decide its own future, and therefore it must be given a place in the peace talks.

  • Murders committed by foreigners in Spain soar 69% in a decade

    Murders committed by foreigners in Spain soar 69% in a decade

    The number of murders committed by immigrants in Spain has sky-rocketed by 69 percent over the past decade, according to data provided by the Ministry of the Interior.

    The statistics, viewed by La Gaceta online newspaper following an information request, cover the period from 2013 to 2023, and highlight a growing trend in violent crimes involving foreign nationals, raising concerns about the disproportionate representation of immigrants in Spain’s crime and prison data.

    As the site reported, there were 81 foreign nationals arrested or investigated for homicides in 2013. By 2023, that figure had climbed to 137, marking a significant 69 percent increase in the involvement of immigrants in such crimes. In comparison, the overall number of arrests and investigations for homicide in Spain rose from 311 in 2013 to 399 in 2023, representing a 28 percent increase in total cases.

    The sharper rise among foreign nationals suggests their growing proportional contribution to the country’s homicide rates.

    The figures could further be distorted by foreign-born nationals who have since acquired Spanish citizenship and would no longer fall under the “foreign” bracket. This is often a tactic used by European governments, such as in Germany, to dilute the figures.

    Since 2020, the total number of arrests for homicide in Spain has remained fairly consistent, fluctuating between 360 and 399 cases annually — an increase of around 10 percent. However, during the same period, arrests of foreign nationals have grown disproportionately, from 101 in 2020 to 137 in 2023 — a 35 percent increase in just four years.

    This rise in violent crime among immigrants mirrors the growth of the foreign prison population in Spain, La Gaceta reports. According to official figures, 28 percent of Spain’s inmates are foreign nationals. The most represented groups include individuals from Morocco, Colombia, Romania, and Algeria, with Moroccan nationals making up the largest share. Over 5,400 Moroccans are currently incarcerated in Spain, accounting for 29.5 percent of the foreign prison population. This is particularly disproportionate given that Moroccans represent just 1.9 percent of the general Spanish population.

    Since 2020, the number of foreign inmates has increased by 16 percent while the number of Spanish prisoners has only grown by 3 percent during the same period.

    In October 2022, Remix News reported on data from the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) which revealed that 45.62 percent of all of those convicted of sexual assault do not have Spanish nationality.

    Foreigners account for 46% of all sexual assault convictions in Spain

    A total of 491 people were convicted in 2021 in Spain for crimes related to sexual assault. Of these, 267 were Spanish citizens and 224 were foreigners. Again, the Spanish column will also include foreign-born nationals who have since been naturalized.

    The disproportionate nature of migrant crime is greatly emphasized in certain regions. In Catalonia, for example, 91 percent of those convicted of rape are foreigners, despite comprising 17 percent of the region’s population.

    Spain: 91% of convicted rapists in Catalonia are foreigners

    Data shows that last year there were 8,505 inmates in Catalan prisons, 50.48 percent of whom were foreigners.

    Catalonia has become the epicenter of violent crime in Spain, with foreigners vastly overrepresented in serious offenses.

    According to the Ministry of the Interior’s crime statistical portal for 2023, the 10 Spanish cities with the highest rates of violent robberies and intimidation are all located in Catalonia, with Barcelona leading the list.

    The Catalan capital, governed by Socialist mayor Jaume Collboni, recorded an alarming rate of 823.9 violent robberies per 100,000 inhabitants — six times the national average and far exceeding Madrid’s 266.6 per 100,000 inhabitants despite being half the Spanish capital’s population.

  • 3 ‘Maghreb men’ wanted in Spain for murder of American priest Richard Gross

    3 ‘Maghreb men’ wanted in Spain for murder of American priest Richard Gross

    Spanish authorities are searching for three young Maghreb men suspected of the brutal murder of an American Jesuit priest, Richard Gross, in Malaga last month.

    The 80-year-old priest, who lived in Boston, was found dead on Jan. 20 in the apartment he was staying in before embarking on a cruise scheduled for the following day.

    His body was discovered by cleaning staff and forensic analysis confirmed that he had suffered severe facial injuries before being suffocated.

    Investigators believe Gross was also the victim of a violent robbery, with police determining that the perpetrators had stolen his luggage and personal belongings before fleeing the scene.

    Security camera footage captured at least one of the suspects fleeing with the stolen items. Authorities have identified him as a young man with a criminal record and are now working to locate all three individuals believed to be involved. All three suspects are of Maghreb origin.

    Fingerprint evidence was also collected from the crime scene is undergoing analysis.

    Neighbors reported hearing distressing noises around 9 p.m. on the night of the murder, with one witness describing shouts “as if someone was drowning,” according to OKdiario. While some residents called emergency services, police officers who responded to the area were unable to pinpoint the source of the disturbance and eventually left without further action.

    Richard Gross was a respected priest and educator who had served as a teacher at Boston College High School and ministered at Our Lady of Good Voyage Church in the Port of Boston. His death has deeply affected his community, with parishioner John Haynes describing him as “a friendly and approachable person, someone with whom you could always talk.”

    “We are deeply saddened to learn of the sudden and tragic passing of Father Richard Gross,” read a statement from the high school where he had worked.

    It further remembered his “trademark self-confidence,” and his “characteristically independent and adventurous spirit.”

  • Islam now taught in nearly 200 schools across Andalusia as Vox claims region has ‘succumbed to mass immigration’

    Islam now taught in nearly 200 schools across Andalusia as Vox claims region has ‘succumbed to mass immigration’

    Approximately 200 schools across the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia now teach Islam as part of their curriculum, official figures disclosed following a parliamentary request by the local Vox party have revealed.

    The inquiry submitted by Vox Andalusia has sparked political debate over the extent to which the curriculum is being catered to immigrants and the scope of influence a rising Islamic community now has on institutions across the region.

    Vox linked the findings to demographic data from the Infancy and Adolescence Observatory in Andalusia, published in November 2024, which highlighted that Moroccans make up the largest group of non-Spanish nationals under the age of 19 in the region, accounting for nearly 30 percent of foreign nationals in this age group.

    In the city of Almería alone, this percentage surpasses 50 percent, making Moroccan nationals the predominant foreign-born group in a province significantly impacted by illegal immigration.

    The next highest nationalities across Andalusia include Romanians (11 percent), Brits (5 percent), and Colombians.

    Vox criticized the Andalusian People’s Party (PP) government for not disclosing the names of the schools where Islam or Islamic studies are taught.

    In a press release cited by OKdiario, the right-wing group said it was “impressive the null transparency that the Andalusian PP government has had by not detailing the name of educational schools that impart such subject in the community.”

    “It is revealed that the Andalusian region has succumbed to the effects of the permanent arrivals of immigrants from the Maghreb, mostly Muslim area and with a high number of practitioners,” the party claimed.

    “Indeed, the development and presence of this matter in the Andalusian classrooms clearly represents the priorities of the current Andalusian popular government,” it added.

  • Barcelona is the epicenter of crime in Spain with Catalan cities dominating top 10 crime hotspots

    Barcelona is the epicenter of crime in Spain with Catalan cities dominating top 10 crime hotspots

    Catalonia has become the epicenter of violent crime in Spain, with foreigners vastly overrepresented in serious offenses.

    According to the Ministry of the Interior’s crime statistical portal for 2023, the ten Spanish cities with the highest rates of violent robberies and intimidation are all located in Catalonia, with Barcelona leading the list.

    The Catalan capital, governed by Socialist mayor Jaume Collboni, recorded an alarming rate of 823.9 violent robberies per 100,000 inhabitants — six times the national average.

    The province of Barcelona alone triples the national average for such crimes, with L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Sant Adrià de Besòs, and Badalona also ranking among the worst-hit areas. In stark contrast, Madrid, despite its significantly larger population of 3.2 million compared to Barcelona’s 1.6 million, recorded fewer violent robberies overall. At a comparative rate, Barcelona’s figure of 823.9 per 100,000 inhabitants dwarfs Madrid’s 266.6, making the Catalan capital the most dangerous major city in Spain.

    According to OKdiario, the situation has become so dire that elderly residents of El Raval, one of Barcelona’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods, have effectively instituted a self-imposed curfew, avoiding the streets after 7 p.m. Even officers of the Mossos d’Esquadra have been advised to take extra precautions due to the sheer frequency of violent incidents.

    Ignacio Garriga of the right-wing Vox party recently criticized Catalonia’s leadership in a parliamentary session, condemning what he described as failed immigration policies that have led to skyrocketing crime rates.

    “While the birth rate is sinking, we are breaking records for homicides and rapes. We are the region with the most foreigners in prisons because of the immigration policies that you promote. You continue with ‘everything is fine.’

    Spain: 91% of convicted rapists in Catalonia are foreigners

    “Well, no. Nothing is going well in Catalonia and I demand that you treat Catalans like adults once and for all. End the policies that are condemning numerous Catalan economic sectors to ruin,” he said.

    Remix News previously reported in November on statistics highlighting the extent of foreign overrepresentation in Catalan prisons. At the time, 50.48 percent of the inmate population comprised non-Spaniards.

    However, when focused on specific violent offenses, the numbers are far higher. In cases of sexual assault and rape combined, 64.2 percent of those convicted are foreigners. When narrowed down to rape alone, 91.67 percent of inmates are foreign nationals.

    The most disproportionately represented nationality in sexual assaults and rapes is Moroccan, followed by Colombian, Dominican, Senegalese, Pakistani, Ecuadorian, Romanian, and Algerian.

    Out of 324 prisoners serving sentences for sexual offenses, 208 are foreigners. For rape, 22 of the 24 convicted inmates are of foreign origin.

  • An unlikely admirer? Czech populist Babiš calls to mirror Spanish PM Sánchez’s real estate tax

    An unlikely admirer? Czech populist Babiš calls to mirror Spanish PM Sánchez’s real estate tax

    Spanish socialist leader Pedro Sánchez has found an unlikely admirer of his proposal to introduce a 100 percent tax on non-EU foreigners purchasing real estate in his country in former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who vowed to push for a similar measure in Czechia should he return to power after the next election.

    Although the two politicians are on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, Babiš, the leader of the ANO movement currently leading in the polls, expressed his full support for Sánchez’s argument that speculative property purchases by foreign investors had driven up housing costs and worsened affordability for local residents.

    “Even though I disagree with Sánchez on many things, I think this is a great idea, and I really like it. If we return to government, I will push for the same measure in our country,” Babis told Echo24. “And not just for houses and apartments — this should apply to land as well. Too often, foreign buyers acquire Czech land using questionable financial sources.”

    Under such a tax, non-EU buyers — including British, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian nationals — would face a 100 percent levy on real estate purchases in the Czech Republic unless they actually reside in the country.

    Announcing his own flagship policy, Sánchez explained that non-EU buyers had purchased 27,000 homes in Spain back in 2023 “not to live in them but primarily for speculation,” namely as investment opportunities and income streams.

    Inflation continues to strain Czech consumers as housing, energy, and food prices rise

    “We cannot allow this at a time when we have a housing shortage,” the left-wing Spanish prime minister added.

    While Babiš has traditionally campaigned on tax cuts, his stance suggests a more targeted approach to address Czechia’s rising housing crisis — one that restricts foreign investment in property while allegedly keeping overall tax levels in check for working Czechs. He has long criticized Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s current government for what he describes as inefficient tax collection and unnecessary tax hikes.

    “Our goal in ANO is to collect taxes correctly and efficiently while keeping them low. This government, however, increases taxes and collects them inefficiently,” Babiš said.

    Asked whether he would also support tax relief for small businesses — such as reintroducing reduced VAT rates for draft beer — Babiš confirmed that his party would help entrepreneurs and bar owners, though he declined to share further details ahead of his party’s election manifesto launch.

    Despite an increasing housing shortage in Czech cities, particularly in Prague where property prices are entirely disproportionate to the average wage, real estate taxes have remained particularly low, making the Czech Republic an attractive destination for speculative property investment.

  • ‘Spain’s establishment parties have abandoned the Canary Islands to mass immigration,’ archipelago’s president claims

    ‘Spain’s establishment parties have abandoned the Canary Islands to mass immigration,’ archipelago’s president claims

    A humanitarian crisis is unfolding on the Spanish Canary Islands, and political leaders in Madrid have ignored repeated calls for help in tackling mass illegal immigration, the president of the archipelago has claimed.

    In a scathing interview with El Mundo, Fernando Clavijo accused Spain’s major political parties — the left-wing Socialists (PSOE) and center-right People’s Party (PP) — of leaving his territory in a “state of abandonment” and urged them to form a “great migratory coalition” to address the ongoing migration crisis affecting the islands.

    Clavijo denounced both Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo for what he described as a lack of support and political will, leaving the archipelago in a “state of abandonment.”

    “The Canary Islands have always been there for others. But now, for the first time in democracy, we face a national emergency, and Spain has turned its back,” he told the Spanish newspaper. “We have a feeling of abandonment and loneliness. It hurts, especially because every time there has been an emergency in another territory, the Canary Islands have shown solidarity, assuming our share and our responsibilities.”

    As the Canary Islands face a renewed surge of migrant arrivals, Clavijo emphasized the severity of the situation, calling it Europe’s deadliest migratory route.

    NGOs estimate over 10,000 migrant deaths in 2024 alone while Remix News reported earlier this month that a record 46,843 migrants came to the islands last year, beating the previous record of 39,910 set in 2023, according to figures published by the Spanish Interior Ministry.

    Immigration wave: Record number of illegal migrants land on Spanish Canary Islands

    Clavijo criticized Spain’s failure to secure adequate European Union assistance, including the deployment of Frontex resources, the European Union’s border agency.

    “Spain has not formally requested European support. The Commission told us directly that there has been no formal request for the deployment of the European Asylum Agency or Frontex. This inaction is shocking.”

    Clavijo slammed both the PSOE and PP for exploiting the crisis as an electoral tool rather than addressing the root causes. He accused Sánchez of neglecting the Canary Islands, while claiming Feijóo and the national PP have “left the islands behind” and undermined their regional coalition with the Canary Coalition (CC).

    “The PP and PSOE are using this as an electoral weapon. I will continue fighting because lives are at stake, and this cannot be about politics,” he added.

    It isn’t just about the lives being lost at sea, however. Tens of thousands of undocumented adult male migrants are landing on the islands — a popular route to Europe due to their proximity to the African mainland and the hospitality offered by the Spanish government compared to, for example, that of Giorgia Meloni’s administration in Italy.

    The Canary Islands are currently hosting over 5,800 unaccompanied minors, a burden Clavijo argued has not been shared equitably with other regions of Spain. He welcomed tentative support from parties like Junts for an equitable distribution of these minors but criticized the slow progress in finalizing agreements.

    Spanish government green-lights liberalization of immigration law to regularize 900,000 illegal immigrants over next 3 years

    Social conservatives like the rising right-wing VOX party, however, while sympathetic to and supportive of the Canary Islands’ plight, are firmly against relocating scores of illegal immigrants to the Spanish mainland and have called for mass deportations.

    Clavijo advocated for longer-term solutions, including revising Spain’s immigration laws and fostering development and cooperation with Africa, whose population is expected to double in the next 30 years. He rejected detention centers in third countries as inhumane and counterproductive, calling instead for comprehensive policies that address migration at its roots.

    “We need rational management that respects human rights,” Clavijo stressed, emphasizing that Europe’s focus on fortifying the Mediterranean has only shifted pressure southward, intensifying the crisis in the Canary Islands.

    Despite Clavijo’s claims, there is ample evidence of the Spanish government taking migrants en masse from the islands and housing them in hotels and reception centers on mainland Spain, as evidenced by the journalist work of migration expert Rubén Pulido and others.

    Pulido has consistently warned that adopting a policy of relocating illegal immigrants to mainland Europe “will once again severely punish the Canary Islands and turn the whole of Spain into a paradise for traffickers.”

    However, traffickers aren’t the only concern. As reported by La Gaceta earlier this month, citing Frontex sources consulted by the news outlet, Spain is facing a “high degree of jihadist threat” due to the origin of the majority of its newcomers.

    Rising number of migrants on Canary Islands monitored for ‘signs of Islamic radicalization’

    “In 2024 alone, almost 15,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in the Canary Islands from Mali, where the struggle between jihadist cells is constant,” warned a spokesperson for the European Union border agency. They further noted that illegal immigration from the region is being used as a “major financing engine for Islamic fundamentalist networks.”

  • Immigration wave: Record number of illegal migrants land on Spanish Canary Islands

    Immigration wave: Record number of illegal migrants land on Spanish Canary Islands

    This year, a record number of migrants landed on the Canary Islands, located far off the coast of Africa, totaling over 46,800. A record number also lost their lives on the perilous Atlantic journey, despite the United Nations reporting that almost all of these migrants are economic migrants who are not fleeing war or persecution and have no right to asylum or refugee status.

    In total, 46,843 migrants came to the island, beating the previous record of 39,910 set just the previous year, according to figures published by the Spanish Interior Ministry.

    Most migrants arriving are coming from Senegal, Mali, and Morocco. In 2024, 63,970 illegal migrants arrived in Spain, which means the clear majority are arriving via the treacherous ocean journey to the Canary Islands, which are 100 kilometers off the coast of Morocco in the Atlantic Ocean.

    It is thought that one of the reasons for the increase has to do with the strict enforcement seen on the Mediterranean, which is driving migrants to find alternative routes.

    There has been some progress in combating illegal immigration last year. The number of illegal entries fell by 40 percent by the end of November 2024, according to the EU border agency Frontex. However, on the Atlantic route, they rose by 19 percent.

    It is considered one of the most dangerous migration journeys in the world. The NGO Caminando Fronteras reports that at least 10,457 migrants have died or disappeared on the crossing to the Canary Islands between the beginning of 2024 and Dec. 5, 2024, representing a 50 percent increase from the previous year, and the highest number of deaths or disappearances on the route since records began in 2007. If this number is accurate, it means migrants have only a one in five chance, approximately, of making it to the Canary Islands alive.

    Notably, the people risking their lives are not doing it as refugees, with the UN Refugee Agency stating that “most people who reach the Canary Islands have no real reasons to flee in the sense of the Geneva Refugee Convention.” In other words, these are economic migrants who are almost always not entitled to asylum status. Many of them know, however, that deportations almost never happen.

    There also appears to be no sign that the migration wave will end, at least if New Year’s Day is any guide. On that day, migrants landed on the beach of Las Galletas in the south of Tenerife in dramatic fashion, with tourists on scene to see the migrants come ashore. Two people did not survive the journey.

  • Moroccan minors arrested in Spain for alleged jihadist plot targeting Basilica of Santa María

    Moroccan minors arrested in Spain for alleged jihadist plot targeting Basilica of Santa María

    The Spanish National Police arrested four migrant minors aged 14 to 17 from Elche last month on suspicion of links to jihadism, marking another alarming incident in a year that has seen 15 minors detained for terrorism-related activities.

    The operation was launched after investigators identified concerning messages posted on social media by the teenagers. Authorities acted swiftly, arresting the suspects on Dec. 19 — just days before Christmas, a period of heightened security risks due to festive gatherings.

    As reported by El País newspaper, the suspects, all of Moroccan origin, allegedly planned an attack targeting the Basilica of Santa María in Elche during its Jubilee Year celebrations. The basilica, a historical and cultural landmark, hosts El Misteri d’Elx, a UNESCO World Heritage medieval drama, attracting large crowds.

    The arrests were made just two days before the scheduled reinforcement of anti-terrorist measures were implemented across major Christian landmarks in Spain. These measures are typically in force between Dec. 21 and Jan. 8 where places of interest can expect a heightened police presence.

    The National Court has ordered the four African-born minors to be placed in a juvenile center in Madrid while the investigation continues.

    One of the accused, a fourth-year secondary school student, reportedly showed no prior behavior that might have raised alarms among classmates or teachers, adding to the concerns over hidden radicalization.

    The arrests in Elche come just days after a separate operation in Barcelona, where the Civil Guard detained a 19-year-old man in what was dubbed “Operation Kerkoporta.” Born in Melilla, the suspect is accused of attempting to indoctrinate others and seeking information on how to carry out mass poisoning using arsenic.

    Experts warn of a growing trend of youth radicalization through online platforms, where extremist groups exploit vulnerabilities to indoctrinate and recruit individuals. This year alone, 15 minors have been arrested across Spain for terrorism-related offenses, sparking calls for urgent action to counter extremist propaganda and prevent radicalization.

    “In many investigations, minors appear involved when this was not the case before,” a high-ranking Spanish police officer told El Confidencial.

    Minors can serve a maximum of five years in a closed juvenile facility for such offenses, with a further three years of supervised release, while prison sentences can be extended to eight years for those 17 and over.

  • Spain: NGOs demand more aid for illegal migrants in Valencia even as flood victims struggle to rebuild their lives

    Spain: NGOs demand more aid for illegal migrants in Valencia even as flood victims struggle to rebuild their lives

    A range of far-left NGOs are pushing Spain’s Socialist government to deliver money to illegal migrants in flood-stricken Valencia, even as local residents struggle to rebuild amid a lack of financial resources.

    In fact, the situation remains so dire there that 100,000 people took to the streets in Valencia on Saturday to protest against the government’s slow response.

    Demonstrators gather a month after devastating floods to demand the resignation of the regional officials who bungled the emergency response in Valencia, Spain, on Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/ Alberto Saiz)

    The NGOs in question —  Andalucía Acoge, Asociación Rumiñahui, the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR), the Cepaim Foundation, and Red Acoge — sent a document to the Secretary of State for Migration and the Secretary of State for Labor, where they said there were “specific difficulties” being faced by the migrant community to flood that claimed the lives of over 220 Spaniards.

    The NGOs say that many migrants are not receiving financial aid due to their lack of documents.

    “The lack of registration, the absence of rental contracts or mortgages, and the impossibility of proving ownership of damaged vehicles are barriers that the administrations must overcome,” the NGOs wrote. They also note that many of the migrants do not have bank accounts.

    What the NGOs do not mention is that the many Spaniards who had their homes and livelihoods destroyed in the flooding are also not receiving funds.

    “One month later, and our towns and cities are still destroyed. The regional government is morally and ethically incapable of handling the reconstruction,” Anna Oliver, a spokesperson for the march, told reporters at a demonstration on Saturday. An estimated 100,000 marched in Valencia against the government.

    Mattresses are laid out in a sports center for people who have lost their homes after floods, in Picanya on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

    In many areas, sewers are still not working, classrooms are destroyed, and businesses remain shuttered. While the acute emergency phase is over, residents in Valencia and surrounding areas say aid and reconstruction efforts are not happening fast enough or simply not happening

    However, the NGOs themselves promoting more money for illegal migrants are not lacking in funds. Many of these organizations have earned million-euro contracts in recent years in exchange for taking care of illegal migrant arrivals on Spanish shores.

    According to Spanish news outlet La Gaceta, “The NGO Cepaim, which is responsible for protecting illegal immigrants who are living in a hotel in Guardamar (Alicante) and have generated numerous controversies, received more than €50 million euros in public contracts with the Government in 2022.”

    The paper further writes: “It is not the only one that has benefited from large amounts allocated by the central Government and some regional ones. The NGO Andalucía Acoge has received a total of €22.4 million from the administrations since 2020, part of which comes from Ceuta (90,000 euros) and Andalusia (4.7 million).”

    In some cases, migrants were accused of looting homes and businesses in Valencia following the flooding.

  • Spanish farmers demand immediate suspension of EU-Morocco free trade deal due to ‘unfair competition’

    Spanish farmers demand immediate suspension of EU-Morocco free trade deal due to ‘unfair competition’

    Spanish farmers are calling for the immediate suspension of the European Union’s free trade agreement with Morocco following a European Court of Justice (CJEU) ruling last month that annulled the agricultural deal between the bloc and the African nation.

    The Luxembourg court invalidated the fishing and agricultural trade agreements signed between the parties back in 2019 after finding the expressed consent of the people of Western Sahara had not been adequately sought, but granted a one-year grace period to avoid any disruption to EU foreign policy.

    Spanish agricultural unions, however, take issue with another aspect of the deal, namely that it allows for unfair competition by Moroccan producers who do not need to adhere to the same regulatory standards as EU-based businesses, can use preservatives and other chemicals to enhance their products, and are able to operate on far smaller budgets.

    According to La Gaceta, farmers have also expressed concern over the fact that many producers are linked to Morocco’s King Mohamed VI, alleging a favorable business environment that is harming the Spanish agricultural sector.

    “The daily wage in Morocco is about €8, while here the cost is €10 per hour,” said Andrés Góngora, head of fruits and vegetables at the Coordinator of Farmers and Livestock Organizations (COAG). Labor costs, which account for half of production expenses for certain crops, exacerbate the competitive imbalance.

    In addition to lower labor costs, Moroccan producers benefit from more lenient regulations that permit the use of chemicals banned in the EU, giving Moroccan farmers an edge in pest control and production efficiency. Furthermore, Morocco’s tax framework offers companies more favorable operating conditions than those in Europe.

    Spanish farmers argue that the one-year grace period for the CJEU ruling prolongs a situation of “unfair competition” that threatens the sustainability and economic viability of their sector and are demanding swift action to protect local producers from what they view as a fundamentally unbalanced trade relationship.

    The agricultural sector has long voiced concerns over free trade agreements that fail to ensure equitable conditions for European producers — a key factor in the collapse of talks between the bloc and Australia and a pivotal bone of contention in talks with the South American Mercosur nations.

    Just this week, French farmers launched new protests against the deal with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia, citing concerns over unfair competition.

    Similarly, many Eastern European farmers, Poles in particular, have protested preferential treatment for Ukrainian grain producers over the past two years, even implementing blockades at the Poland-Ukraine border over claims that Ukrainian grain was being dumped on the EU internal market and affecting their businesses.

  • Spanish government green-lights liberalization of immigration law to regularize 900,000 illegal immigrants over next 3 years

    Spanish government green-lights liberalization of immigration law to regularize 900,000 illegal immigrants over next 3 years

    The Spanish government has approved a sweeping reform to its immigration law aimed at regularizing the status of 900,000 illegal immigrants over the next three years.

    The plan, greenlit during Tuesday’s Council of Ministers meeting, sets a target of 300,000 regularizations annually and introduces a range of measures to simplify administrative procedures and promote the integration of immigrants into Spanish society and the labor market.

    The reform was described by Minister of Migration Elma Saiz Delgado as the most “comprehensive and ambitious” update to the legislation created in 2011. It marks the fourth modification to the law since 2018.

    As reported by La Gaceta, this latest iteration extends the scope of job search visas, introduces new residence authorization categories, and relaxes conditions for family reunification, liberalizing Spain’s immigration system at a time when a majority of citizens want fewer migrants, not more.

    Under the plans, job search visas will now last one year, up from three months, and can be renewed for up to four years. Two new pathways based on “social roots” will simplify the process for immigrants to gain residency, while the conditions for family reunification have been eased.

    The update also establishes a specific framework for residence visas, which were previously a less-defined aspect of the regulations. This framework seeks to streamline requirements and processes, making it easier for immigrants to obtain formal residence and work permits.

    The reform emphasizes the labor and social integration of immigrants in irregular situations with the government expressing its hope that the new measures will encourage illegal immigrants to legally fill labor shortages in key sectors.

    The move will also enable currently illegal immigrants to lawfully use vital social services, although no plans have been announced to ensure those services are improved to cater to the new demand.

    A survey conducted last month by the 40dB Institute for El País and Cadena SER revealed that 75 percent of Spaniards now associate immigration with negative concepts such as insecurity, crime, and overburdened public services.

    The increase in concern — up by 16 points over the last year and a half — reflects a considerable shift at a time when the migrant crisis, particularly on the Canary Islands archipelago is at the forefront of public debate.

  • Spain: 3 arrested in Zaragoza for gang rape after victim attacked in storage room of housing shelter

    Spain: 3 arrested in Zaragoza for gang rape after victim attacked in storage room of housing shelter

    The Spanish National Police in Zaragoza has announced the arrests of three men in connection with a gang rape reported by a woman in September.

    According to the victim, she was attacked and abandoned half-naked in a storage room in an apartment building. The case has gained widespread attention, with police stating that the assault took place off Río Ara Street where the woman was later found unconscious by patrolling officers.

    Initial responders provided medical attention, and she was transferred to Miguel Servet Hospital, where protocols for sexual assault cases were activated.

    The woman, who had sought temporary shelter at a municipal housing facility in Zaragoza, identified one of her alleged attackers among the shelter’s residents several weeks after the incident, as reported by Heraldo. Her recognition of the individual accelerated the police investigation, eventually leading to the arrest of three men suspected in the attack.

    Police have withheld further details about the suspects and the case, citing the ongoing judicial investigation.

    At the time of the assault, the woman informed investigators that she had been out visiting bars in Zaragoza. However, she has no clear memory of how she was transported to the storage room where she was assaulted. Upon awakening, she reportedly found herself surrounded by three men who proceeded to harass, grope, and ultimately rape her.

    The woman had previously reported experiencing ongoing harassment from several individuals of Arab origin at the shelter and had ultimately decided to leave the facility.

    The Aragon Police Headquarters has confirmed that the case is now under the jurisdiction of Investigative Court Number 2 in Zaragoza, which is handling the judicial proceedings.

    Further investigative work by the Family and Women’s Unit of the National Police is ongoing.

  • Spain: Organized migrant gang kept 18 Colombian women imprisoned and forced them into prostitution 24/7

    Spain: Organized migrant gang kept 18 Colombian women imprisoned and forced them into prostitution 24/7

    Eighteen Columbian gang members have been arrested in Spain for their involvement in human trafficking and pimping operations. The case involved the organized crime members imprisoning women, who were forced to work in shifts as prostitutes available to clients 24 hours a day.

    The group, which was operated in Almendralejo and Arrecife, Spain, has already seen six of its members imprisoned, with the rest set to stand trial. They promised the women work and then entrapped them with debts up to €3,400 and withholding their ID until the debts were cleared.

    In a coordinated effort involving the National Police, the Civil Guard, and the Colombian National Police, supported by INTERPOL, the gang was broken up. Eighteen victims, primarily Colombian, were freed after being recruited in Colombia with promises of a better life in Spain. Instead, they were forced into prostitution, according to a press release from Spain’s interior ministry.

    Victims were required to be available for clients around the clock, with severe financial penalties for any downtime, and were coerced into selling additional services like drinks and drugs, all under the watchful eye of security cameras.

    The police executed six raids, three in each location, seizing over €30,000, cocaine, erectile dysfunction pills, mobile phones, and significant documentation. This operation not only freed 18 victims but also led to the arrest of 18 individuals, charged with various crimes including human trafficking for sexual purposes, forced prostitution, drug trafficking, and more.

    The investigation began following a statement from one of the victims, revealing the existence of this family-based criminal network operating from Badajoz province and Lanzarote island, specifically targeting vulnerable women in Colombia..

    The recruitment process involved targeting individuals in poverty-stricken conditions in Colombia, offering them a chance for a better life. The organization financed their travel, including flights, passports, and even provided some money for expenses, but in return, these women were saddled with debts and their documents were seized. Upon arrival in Spain, victims were either taken to a club in Lanzarote or directly to Almendralejo where the group had established a clubhouse for prostitution. The women were frequently moved between different locations in Badajoz and Lanzarote.

    The operation was supported by the NGO “OUR RESCUE,” which fights human trafficking and child exploitation, highlighting the collaborative efforts to combat such transnational criminal activities.

  • Spain: 91% of convicted rapists in Catalonia are foreigners

    Spain: 91% of convicted rapists in Catalonia are foreigners

    An incredible 91 percent of those convicted of rape in Spain’s Catalonia are foreigners, while immigrants make up 17 percent of the total population of that region.

    Data shows that there are 8,505 inmates in Catalan prisons and that 50.48 percent of them are foreigners. However, when it comes to specific serious crimes, foreigners are even more vastly overrepresented.

    When it comes to sexual assault and rape combined, 64.2 percent of all prisoners are foreigners. However, when the category is only broken down into rape, which is a more serious offense, 91.67% are foreigners, according to Spanish newspaper La Rázon.

    Moroccans represent the top foreign nationality in terms of sexual assaults and rapes. Next are Colombians, Dominicans, Senegalese, Pakistanis, Ecuadorians, Romanians, and Algerians. In total, there are 324 prisoners for sexual offenses, with 208 foreigners. For rape, there are 24 in prison, and 22 of them are foreigners.

    In Germany, nearly half of all gang rapes, which have hit a record high, are committed by foreigners, while among the other half, about 25 percent of them have foreign names but are German citizens. In total, nearly 75 percent of rapes in Germany are committed by foreigners or men with a foreign origin.

    In Italy, 11,141 women were raped by foreigners between 2018 and 2023, equating to nearly five cases per day.

    In Sweden, even university researchers with prestigious backgrounds faced criminal prosecution for their study that showed the majority of rapes in the country are committed by migrants.

    In many cases, even those who merely protest against the crisis of migrant rape crimes face criminal charges for their actions, including in France.




  • ‘Murderer!’ – Incredible scenes from Spain as mud hurled at PM and king in flood-hit Valencia

    ‘Murderer!’ – Incredible scenes from Spain as mud hurled at PM and king in flood-hit Valencia

    Stones and mud were thrown at Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, along with King Felipe and his wife, Queen Letizia, after they arrived in Valencia on Sunday morning to personally visit Valencia in the aftermath of devastating flooding.

    The royal family and Sánchez reportedly wanted to express their support, sympathy and condolences after the natural disaster, which has already claimed 214 lives and this number is sure to rise.

    However, upon arrival in Paiporta, angry locals pelted them with mud and stones, which was all captured on video. Many of them chanted, “Murderer!”

    “Pedro Sánchez, you bastard, get us help now,” one shouted. In one clip, Sánchez allegedly flees in a vehicle while angry residents attack it, however, it has not been confirmed if Sánchez was in the car or if it was simply a part of his convoy.

    https://twitter.com/ArturoVilla_/status/1853062364523827513

    The residents of Paiporta, in Valencia, which became the center of the disaster, are trying to clear the streets, which are covered in mud and debris, as well as search for bodies. Sánchez arrived in the settlement together with the head of the region, Carlos Mazón, and the royal family, right in the middle of the cleaning and rescue work. As soon as locals saw them, the people started whistling and shouting, and then several threw sticks, stones and mud at them. 

    There are now calls for Sánchez to resign following reports that the government failed to react to the flood threat, with emergency alerts only sent to phones long after rain started pouring.

    One man challenged the king over the late alerts, saying, “They knew it, they knew it, and yet they did nothing,” he shouted. “It’s a disgrace.”

    Sánchez was reportedly whisked away from the scene while King Felipe tried to remain on scene, speaking to victims. He reportedly left an hour later.

    “We’re very angry and we’re devastated,” said Guillermo Luján, the mayor of Aldaia. “We have a town in ruins. We need to start over and I’m begging for help. Please help us.”

    The overall number of missing remains unknown but there are fears there could be hundreds more bodies yet to be found. According to information from the Antena3 channel, three more victims were found on Sunday in the settlement called Pedralba, but the body of a woman was also found in Letúr, Albacete, 12 kilometers from the village where she lived.

  • Concern over immigration in Spain rises sharply as majority believes there are ‘too many’ immigrants

    Concern over immigration in Spain rises sharply as majority believes there are ‘too many’ immigrants

    Concern among Spaniards about immigration has surged in the past year with 57 percent of citizens believing there are now “too many” immigrants in the country, new polling shows.

    A recent survey by the 40dB Institute for El País and Cadena SER revealed that 75 percent of Spaniards now associate immigration with negative concepts such as insecurity, crime, and overburdened public services. The increase in concern — up by 16 points over the last year and a half — reflects a considerable shift at a time when the migrant crisis, particularly on the Canary Islands archipelago is at the forefront of public debate.

    A total of 41 percent of respondents described immigration as a significant concern with a growing unease particularly prevalent among Gen Z males who broadly agree with the description of Vox leader Santiago Abascal, who has described the current migration crisis as an “invasion,” and the center-right opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who has linked immigration with crime and called for “mass deportations.”

    The survey reveals significant differences in opinions based on political affiliation. Among supporters of the hard-right SALF, 93.4 percent believe there are too many immigrants, with Vox supporters close behind at 86.1 percent. However, 4 out of 10 left-wing PSOE voters (41 percent) also share the belief that there are too many immigrants, while 27.7 percent of Sumar voters and 24.2 percent of Podemos voters express similar views.

    The majority of respondents (74.8 percent) link immigration to various negative outcomes, such as increased insecurity (29.5 percent), strain on public services (27.2 percent), social divides (21.2 percent), and crime (19.2 percent). A significant portion also associates immigration with unemployment (16.7 percent) and a “loss of cultural identity” (7.6 percent).

    Despite these concerns, there remains support for humanitarian immigration policies. A majority (64.3 percent) agree that Spain should welcome people fleeing war or political persecution, though over half (52.8 percent) believe this should come with limitations.

    A significant takeaway from the survey is that 1 in 4 Spaniards would halt immigration from North Africa’s Maghreb region, while 1 in 6 would restrict immigrants arriving from sub-Saharan Africa.

    Respondents also saw a difference in the origin of immigration when asked whether they would be happy with a family member marrying a foreign national. While nearly half (49 percent) would approve of a son or daughter entering into a relationship with someone from northern, central, or southern Europe, just 22.8 percent would be happy for a child’s partner to originate from North Africa.

    Despite its current handling of immigration, the incumbent PSOE was still seen as the most competent party to address the issue among the wider population with 20.5 percent, followed by Vox (17.7 percent) and the center-right PP (16.2 percent).

    Vox supporters, however, were the most convinced their party was the best equipped to tackle the issue with 83 percent of support. In contrast, 67.7 percent of PSOE voters believed their party had the best approach, and 57.3 percent of PP voters supported their own party’s stance.

  • Video of migrant man striking a baby in Spain goes viral, 2 other victims also identified

    Video of migrant man striking a baby in Spain goes viral, 2 other victims also identified

    A viral video of a man striking a baby in Spain has gone viral, with the suspect arrested in Montjuïc, Barcelona, ​​for assaulting several people and attacking a one-year-old girl. However, the baby was not the only victim, with the Ecuadorian migrant attacking many people that same day.

    The 31-year-old suspect, who was arrested on Sunday, assaulted three people in the Montjuïc Park area. Among the victims is the one-year-old baby, the child of French tourists, with the video accumulating tens of millions of views on different accounts across social media. Remix News posted the video as well.

    However, that was not the only victim. A 60-year-old man was also attacked, suffering cuts to his face and bruises all over his body. The victim was transported to Hospital del Mar for evaluation. Another third victim was also discovered by police who was also assaulted and required hospitalization, according to Spanish news outlet ElCaso.com.

    The police found the suspect in the park after conducting a search, and he was arrested for the three separate attacks. In addition, the man is also considered a suspect in a number of other random attacks in Montjuïc in recent days.

    Several witnesses have come forward who are willing to testify against the Ecuadorian migrant. The baby suffered minor injuries and did not require hospitalization.

    He is expected to appear in court today. According to police sources speaking with ElCaso.com, they say they do not trust the suspect will actually be sent to prison despite the shocking video. In fact, they told reporters that they believe the man could be back on the streets in a matter of hours, potentially targeting more victims in the Sants-Montjuïc district.

    Children have been increasingly the target of migrant violence, including three children who were recently murdered in Great Britain who were attending a Taylor Swift dance class. Remix News compiled a list of some of the most harrowing cases in recent years in an X thread.

  • Spanish farmer stabbed by migrants speaks out: ‘The police are overwhelmed, and we are living in fear’

    Spanish farmer stabbed by migrants speaks out: ‘The police are overwhelmed, and we are living in fear’

    A Spanish farmer recently attacked at his farm by two Moroccan nationals has slammed the lack of protection and enforcement offered by the authorities in the face of an alarming rise in thefts and violent crime committed by illegal migrants.

    In the town of El Ejido in the province of Almería, a farmer identified as Alejandro was attacked by two men of North African origin last Wednesday night as he defended his farm from a robbery attempt.

    The assailants, armed with a machete, attempted to steal from the property while a third accomplice, a young Moroccan woman, helped them flee. The violent incident highlights the growing sense of insecurity in the region, where residents feel abandoned by authorities amid a rise in crimes.

    Alejandro recounted the event to local media, stating that he had spotted two men attempting to break into his farm via security cameras in the early hours of the morning. Acting swiftly, he notified the Civil Guard and his brother, with whom he confronted the attackers. Upon arriving at the scene, they discovered a young woman in a car, which was later found to be stolen. The woman fled, leaving behind her mobile phone.

    The situation escalated when the two assailants attacked the brothers with a machete, damaging their SUV before fleeing as the police arrived. Alejandro sustained minor injuries and later expressed his frustration over the ordeal and the increasing violence across Almería.

    “This is the third time I’ve been robbed, and it’s always the same people. We know who they are, and so do the police, but nothing ever happens. There’s complete impunity,” he told La Gaceta.

    Alejandro highlighted a broader issue of crime and insecurity in El Ejido, where thefts and violent incidents involving illegal migrants have become alarmingly frequent. Farmers in the region, particularly in areas like La Aldeílla and Algarrobo, have faced repeated attacks, with many choosing not to report incidents due to the perceived absence of law enforcement.

    “The police are overwhelmed, they don’t have the resources, and we are living in fear. We are defenseless, and it’s getting worse,” Alejandro said. He added that many of the crimes are committed by migrants, who, in his view, turn to theft due to economic desperation.

    “If the laws were stricter, no one would dare steal, but the current system allows criminals to act without fear of consequences,” he said.

    The Spaniard also shared an incident from the past where he tracked stolen goods using a GPS he had hidden in his farm equipment. Despite knowing the thieves’ location, authorities told him they were unable to act without judicial authorization. “The system works against us,” he said, frustrated by the legal barriers that prevent immediate action.

    As Alejandro and other farmers struggle to protect their livelihoods, many express growing anger at the left-wing government for failing to address the root causes of the crime wave.

    “We are terrified. We don’t sleep at night, wondering if it’s going to happen again. Something needs to change before it’s too late,” Alejandro added.

  • European Commission takes legal action against four countries over delay in corporate tax reforms

    European Commission takes legal action against four countries over delay in corporate tax reforms

    The European Commission (EC) has initiated legal proceedings against Spain, Cyprus, Poland, and Portugal for failing to meet the deadline to introduce a minimum corporate income tax rate.

    According to the EU directive, all member states were required to adopt a minimum 15 percent corporate tax rate by the end of 2023, but these four countries have yet to announce the necessary legislation.

    The delay comes amid repeated warnings from the European Commission which Eurosceptics say is interfering in national affairs, although Brussels will claim it has jurisdiction in line with single market rules.

    In May, the Commission issued formal warnings to Spain, Cyprus, Poland, Portugal, as well as Latvia and Lithuania, giving them two months to comply with the directive. While Latvia and Lithuania have since taken steps to address the issue, the other four countries have yet to fully implement the required measures.

    Spain has made some progress, having submitted a draft law to parliament in June 2024. The Spanish government’s proposal aims to align with the EU directive, applying a minimum tax rate to companies with annual revenues exceeding €750 million. Despite Spain’s current corporate income tax rate of 25 percent, various loopholes allow many companies to pay less, making the introduction of the minimum tax critical for enforcing fairer taxation.

    The European Union’s move to standardize corporate taxation is part of a broader global effort to combat tax avoidance, led by the OECD. At the start of 2024, the OECD anticipated that governments would raise between $155 billion and $192 billion in additional corporate tax revenue annually — a 6.5 percent to 8.1 percent increase. However, this estimate was a reduction from the earlier projection of $220 billion, reflecting the challenges of implementing such measures worldwide.

  • Four Moroccan asylum seekers escape Madrid airport detention facility, sparking security concerns

    Four Moroccan asylum seekers escape Madrid airport detention facility, sparking security concerns

    Four Moroccan citizens seeking asylum in Spain escaped from a reception room at Madrid’s Barajas Airport on Tuesday night by climbing through a hole in the ceiling, according to sources from the country’s interior ministry.

    After making their way through the roof, the men reached the top of the building and have not been seen since. The National Police have launched a search operation to locate the escapees.

    Union representatives cited by the 20 Minutos news outlet have criticized the conditions at Barajas Airport, claiming that the structures provided by airport operator Aena to secure asylum seekers are “completely insufficient and unsafe.”

    They argue that the escape highlights significant security lapses, warning that the individuals are now “roaming freely” in an area near critical infrastructure, potentially posing a risk to public safety and national security.

    “You cannot work in these conditions without proper security measures or adequate facilities,” union sources said, also warning of the potential danger the escapees could pose to the airport, particularly if they accessed restricted areas like runways or other sensitive zones.

    Authorities continue their search for the escaped men.

    The incident has renewed scrutiny of the facilities where asylum seekers are held at Barajas. Union data reveal that the airport’s reception rooms are currently holding a significant number of people. Room 3 alone houses 46 asylum seekers and 27 rejected applicants awaiting deportation.

    Room 1, a provisional space activated during periods of overcrowding, is sheltering 18 minors and 52 women, while Room 4 holds 78 people.

    Humanitarian organizations have long criticized the overcrowded and unsafe conditions in which asylum seekers are housed while their cases are being processed.

    The escape comes on the heels of another incident just days earlier, when a group of Sahrawi asylum seekers refused to board a deportation flight and remained at the airport.

    Back in August, the Spanish Police Federation (CEP) warned the Madrid airport was running out of space in the designated holding areas for illegal migrants due to a surge in newcomers, primarily Mauritanian nationals leaving Morocco.

    It claimed that many undocumented migrants landing in Spain were throwing away their passports and claiming asylum.

    The number of new arrivals heading to the Spanish mainland via plane is a drop in the ocean, however, compared with the tens of thousands using boats to land on the Canary Islands before being transported to Madrid on taxpayer-funded flights at the request of the Spanish government.

  • Spain blocks Hungarian purchase of Spanish train producer Talgo over ‘national security,’ shares crash 10 percent

    Spain blocks Hungarian purchase of Spanish train producer Talgo over ‘national security,’ shares crash 10 percent

    Citing strategic interests and national security reasons, the Spanish Council of Ministers on Tuesday rejected the acquisition of train manufacturer Talgo by Hungarian company Ganz-MaVag for €619 million ($691 million), Spanish press reports.

    “The cabinet has agreed today to not authorize the foreign direct investment in Talgo by Ganz-Mavag Europe Private Limited,” the economy ministry said in a statement. “The analysis has determined that authorizing this operation would entail risks to national security and public order.”

    The move from Madrid sent the shares crashing 10 percent in reaction to the news.

    According to the Spanish ministers, this is a national security and geopolitical issue, especially amidst ongoing Russian aggression. On the one hand, Talgo has technology that affects the military mobility of Baltic countries; on the other hand, the Hungarian bidder is accused of having Russian and right-wing links because it is backed by the Hungarian government, which is a baseless claim since Hungary is a NATO country.

    The Spanish side says it wants to put an end to a Herculean struggle that has been going on since November last year.

    A spokesperson for Ganz-Mavag in Spain signaled his company would “take legal action, both in Spain and in Europe” against Madrid’s decision.

    Now, the Spanish transport minister is trying to find an alternative buyer for Talgo, which some newspaper sources have suggested could be the Czech company Skoda. However, Skoda has informed train manufacturer Talgo that after exploring the possibility of an industry merger, it has decided not to make a takeover bid.

    “Although Talgo’s board of directors welcomed the Hungarian offer, the government is blocking the deal by applying Covid-era legislation, citing its strategic importance,” states a Spanish article, which writes that the European Court of Justice would certainly rule in Hungary’s favor if the case came before it, even if Madrid is ideologically closer to it than Budapest.

  • Spanish police federation calls for urgent action as Madrid airport saturated with migrants after spike in Mauritanian nationals

    Spanish police federation calls for urgent action as Madrid airport saturated with migrants after spike in Mauritanian nationals

    Madrid airport is running out of space in the designated holding areas for illegal migrants due to a surge in newcomers in recent weeks, the Spanish Police Federation (CEP) has warned.

    The organization cited a large number of Mauritanian nationals leaving Morocco as a challenge currently facing border staff. Apparently, many undocumented migrants are landing in Spain, throwing away their passports, and claiming asylum.

    Spanish police said the situation had started to become worrying at the end of June when arrivals of Mauritanians increased by 350 percent compared to the previous month.

    They added that most of the arrivals are men under the age of 30. There are also some who claim to be minors, hoping that this will speed up the processing of their asylum applications.

    The police union is asking the Spanish interior ministry to resolve the situation immediately, as between 140 and 170 illegal immigrants are currently arriving in at Barajas Airport every day and waiting in the reception rooms.

    The authority is also demanding that the Spanish government take action to ensure that the flights on which these people arrive comply with the rules regarding security checks; this is demonstrably not happening, as most Africans do not even have transit visas without which they should not have been able to depart.

    Police officers at the airport believe that the Mauritanian flights are as much the work of a migrant mafia as the open water entries, with the Canary Islands as the primary destination.

    “Both the Home Office and the Foreign Office, as well as the European Union, need to take urgent action to stop the influx of illegal migrants before it becomes a more serious problem,” the police federation wrote in a statement.

    “The system for asylum seekers at airports must be prevented from collapsing,” it added.

  • Manhunt for Algerian suspected of slitting throat of Spanish man in Valencia

    Manhunt for Algerian suspected of slitting throat of Spanish man in Valencia

    A manhunt is underway for an Algerian national suspected of murdering a 40-year-old Spanish man after the victim was found lying on a tram line in Valencia with his throat slit.

    Emergency responders were dispatched to the crime scene on the Moreras bridge at around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday after two witnesses reported seeing a man have his throat cut with a large knife by the suspect.

    Las Provincias reported that the police believed the alleged perpetrator to be a man of Algerian origin, while a second Black man is also being sought in connection with the gruesome murder.

    The 40-year-old victim has been named as José P. He is understood to have first been stabbed in the neck following a dispute between the victim and his attacker.

    Spanish media reported how youths gathered and took photographs of the “practically decapitated body” which went viral on WhatsApp. Police then cordoned off the area and prevented traffic from crossing the bridge as investigations were carried out.

    The attacker is believed to have fled on foot and discarded his bloodied shirt outside the Fomesa company in the city near to where the attack took place.

    Despite attempts by police officers, including those in plain clothes, to apprehend the suspect, they were unsuccessful after a 2.5-hour search.

    The body was transferred to the Institute of Legal Medicine of Valencia for an autopsy, and a murder investigation is ongoing by the homicide division of the National Police.

  • After Spain recognizes the Palestinian state, Vox party leader flies to Jerusalem to smooth over conflict with Israel

    After Spain recognizes the Palestinian state, Vox party leader flies to Jerusalem to smooth over conflict with Israel

    Spanish Vox party leader Santiago Abascal personally contacted Benjamin Netanyahu to assure him that Spain is not equal to PM Pedro Sánchez and that the Spanish people are on the side of Israel.

    “Pedro Sánchez is not Spain,” said the leader of the right-wing Vox party after a face-to-face meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Abascal went to Jerusalem after the left-wing governing coalition formally recognized Palestine as an independent state on Tuesday, further escalating the diplomatic crisis between the two countries. The Spanish prime minister also personally received Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and foreign ministers from several Arab countries in Madrid on Wednesday.

    Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz accuses the Spanish government of being complicit in inciting the extermination of the Jewish people by recognizing Palestine, especially after far-left Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz (Sumar) said in a video message that Palestine will be “free from the river to the sea.”

    According to Katz, Díaz’s words are anti-Semitic and her party wants Israel to disappear from the map. The foreign affairs chief also posted a video on X this week, which begins with the flag of Spain and then shows some images of Hamas attacks, interspersed with scenes of two men imitating flamenco dancers. The video ends with the message “Hamas: Thank you Spain.”

    Santiago Abascal’s visit was an attempt to calm the diplomatic crisis, and he told Netanyahu that he is willing to do anything to expose Sánchez’s political and economic corruption.

    He then assured him that Vox supports the Israeli people and recognizes their right to self-defense. According to a Vox statement, the party leader also said that “as long as Hamas has a single hostage and the terrorist organization is not eliminated, no one has the right to ask Israel to abandon its self-defense operations.”

    Netanyahu, for his part, said he hoped Abascal would be able to win the Spanish prime ministership and would then reverse the hostile measures of the Sánchez government and withdraw recognition of the Palestinian state.

  • Ukrainian forces at a breaking point? Zelensky’s decision to cancel foreign trips indicates trouble at the front

    Ukrainian forces at a breaking point? Zelensky’s decision to cancel foreign trips indicates trouble at the front

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was due to pay an official visit to Madrid on Friday, has canceled his visit to Spain, the Spanish press confirmed, according to the official program published by the Spanish Royal Palace.

    The royal palace updated its program on Wednesday morning, indicating that the planned meeting between King Philip VI and the Ukrainian head of state, as well as the official lunch in honor of Zelensky, had been canceled, without giving any reason why.

    The Ukrainian president was also due to visit Portugal, but according to the Portuguese press, this visit is also likely to be canceled.

    Ukraine is facing another Russian offensive in the north. Moscow’s new offensive on May 10 threatens Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, some 30 kilometers from the Russian border.

    The Ukrainian army announced on Tuesday evening that it would have to withdraw from some areas of the northern front in the Kharkiv region.

    “In some areas, near Lukyanets and Vovchansk, in response to enemy fire and infantry attacks, our units maneuvered towards more favorable positions to save the lives of our soldiers and avoid casualties. The battle continues,” the Ukrainian general staff wrote on social media

    “Ukrainian units are preventing the Russian invaders from gaining a foothold. Counterattacks are being carried out, and artillery and drone units of the defense forces are keeping the enemy under constant control,” the Ukrainian general staff further noted.

    The situation in Vovchansk, the largest city targeted by the current Russian offensive, is “critical,” Tamaz Gambarashvili, head of the local military administration, admitted on Tuesday, reporting “continuous shelling” and fighting on the outskirts of the city.

    The Ukrainian army general staff said the Russians were achieving “tactical successes,” with some 30 villages under enemy control. Some 7,000 people have been evacuated from the area.

    The influential Russian military blogger Rybar noted that the attack was “reconnaissance in force” and did not amount to a full-scale invasion. Notably, the blogger wrote that Russian forces were penetrating only 2 to 3 kilometers into Ukraine along the border, with the attacks designed to probe and weaken defenses. However, Russia has a larger force that it has not yet deployed across the border,

    Few military analysts believe Russia has the forces to conquer Kharkiv and that the move in the region is designed to draw forces away from battles in the southeast, namely near the city of Chasiv Yar. Furthermore, the offensive may be designed to make Kharkiv itself uninhabitable and create a “gray zone” near the Russian border.

    Russia is rushing to mobilize 300,000 soldiers on top of the already 500,000 in the country. Fighting is expected to only pick up in intensity over the coming months, as Russia seeks to exploit weaknesses in Ukraine’s lines before U.S. weapons begin to flow to Ukrainian forces. There are concerns from the West that Ukraine’s lines, which are stretched very thin, may reach a breaking point, allowing Russian forces to break through in certain areas.

  • Visit the Canary Islands before they become the new Africa

    Visit the Canary Islands before they become the new Africa

    Spaniards, accustomed to headlines boasting “record” numbers of immigrants due to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s open-door policy, are now facing yet another unprecedented surge of African migrants, setting new records and causing issues not just for locals and the entire country, but also for tourists unaware of what might meet them during their dream vacations.

    According to La Gaceta de la Iberosfera, the number of illegal immigrants arriving in the Canary Islands this year has surpassed all known records. By the end of 2023, the archipelago had received 40,000 people, and from January to April this year alone, 16,000 illegal immigrants arrived. The Interior Ministry estimates that about 70,000 more could arrive in the next eight months, potentially bringing this year’s total to over 85,000.

    It is also noted that due to Spain’s far-left governing coalition, which could be defined as “Islamo-leftist,” Spain is currently the European region receiving the most illegal immigration — five times more than Cyprus, 60 percent more than Greece and nearly 25 percent more than Italy.

    Mainstream media have often omitted that the face of the migration pact agreed upon during the Spanish presidency was the repeatedly compromised Interior Minister Fernando Grande Marlaska. Known for his “take it or pay” approach to solidarity, this has implications for other Europeans, including Poles.

    It is noteworthy that Marlaska’s phone was twice hacked by suspected Moroccan intelligence services using Pegasus software, leading to a data loss of 7 gigabytes, marking him as one of the highest-level Spanish politicians targeted by foreign services.

    Since 2022, the compliance of the Sánchez government to the Alawite regime in Morocco, including a total surrender on the issue of border protection, feeds public speculation in Spain about the prime minister being blackmailed — sadly implicating the whole country.

    The ceaseless flow of refugees from Africa and the Maghreb flooding Spain, the dismantling of police units battling hashish smuggling from Morocco, and even the shift in stance on Western Sahara —effectively handing it over to Morocco — suggest potential blackmail by the Moroccan regime, which could eventually impact other EU member states.

    Massive immigration to an archipelago with roughly 2.2 million residents doesn’t see newcomers staying long, as authorities relocate them deeper into Spain. However, humanitarian crises erupt occasionally, as seen on the Canary Island of El Hierro, where newcomers on the streets far outnumber the residents. Lesser, yet similar, issues occur on Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura. For now, Tenerife — popular with Poles — remains free from the occupation by illegal immigrants, but this could change within a few months.

    An internal report by Frontex accessed by La Gaceta indicates that in the coming months, up to 100,000 Malians might move from northern Mali to Mauritania and then to the Canary Islands.

    Thus, we might need to adapt to a new Europe, where booking holidays under the palms will depend not on weather conditions or hotel availability but on the current migration routes from Africa.

  • Spanish conservatives slam Sánchez’s theatrics after PM announces he’ll continue in office

    Spanish conservatives slam Sánchez’s theatrics after PM announces he’ll continue in office

    Spanish conservatives pulled no punches in their criticism of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez after the Spanish premier announced on Monday his intention to continue in office.

    At a press conference on Monday, Sánchez said a mobilization of support from his Socialist party had convinced him to stay on as prime minister despite a new investigation being opened into his wife, Begoña Gómez, amid allegations of corruption.

    The Socialist leader had announced on Thursday he was stepping down from public duties for a few days to consider his position in light of the new allegations, but has since confirmed he will fight on.

    Addressing the public following Sánchez’s announcement, the leader of Spain’s VOX party, Santiago Abascal, accused the prime minister of being an “angry, unleashed autocrat” whose “victimizing” theatrics had plunged Spain into an “international embarrassment of incalculable proportions.”

    “I said yesterday that the decision made today by the President of the Government would be taken based exclusively on personal interests. I said this while taking into account our experience of the last five years, and I don’t think I was wrong,” Abascal told journalists.

    He lamented the decision taken by Sánchez to continue, claiming it would result in the continuity of attacks against “unity, against co-existence, against the rule of law, the separation of powers, and against freedom of the press.”

    “The worst for Sánchez is yet to come,” Abascal warned, “and we have to work to minimize the damage to the Spanish people and build a viable alternative. VOX has not stopped doing so with full intensity, exercising total opposition.”

    Vox MEP Hermann Tertsch was arguably more scathing, accusing Sánchez and his family of “leading Spain into civil war” and claiming the prime minister planned to “go for the judges, for the free press, and for his political opposition.”

    “His Cuban/Venezuelan-style communist criminal project will have us on our knees. He will end up in the trash heap of history, the only place he belongs,” Tertsch added.

    Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of Spain’s center-right Partido Popular opposition, called for an election following Sánchez’s announcement.

    “The only way to make a point in politics is to consult the Spanish people. Spain needs a new democratic government, with a president worthy of it and not the regime change that Pedro Sánchez intends to sneak in behind this whole play,” he said at his own press conference.

    Spanish political analyst and conservative journalist Rubén Pulido said the ramifications of Sánchez’s decision to continue were not yet known.

    “We will see what price the non-resignation of Pedro Sánchez has in the short and long term. After a pause in which we do not know what type of discussions have taken place, in a context of events that are not only detrimental to him but also to Spain.”

    He claimed the prime minister now had “zero credibility” and “no respect at the international level,” adding that it was more important than ever to “fight for a change of direction.”

    Sánchez’s opposition had claimed last week it was unlikely he would step down because his position as prime minister affords him certain legal protections.

    The allegations against Sánchez’s wife, first reported by center-right news outlet El Confidencial, claim she met with the bosses of several private companies that went on to receive government funding or public contracts from Sánchez’s administration.

    One example involves two meetings with Javier Hidalgo, the chief executive of a tourism holding company before Sánchez’s government granted the Hidalgo family’s airline, Air Europa, a taxpayer bailout of nearly €500 million.

    Sánchez responded to the allegations on Thursday by accusing right-wing media outlets of doing the dirty work of his political opponents who he said were slinging mud to “dehumanize and delegitimize” him and his family.

  • Spanish Socialist PM Sánchez mulls future after latest corruption case opened against his wife

    Spanish Socialist PM Sánchez mulls future after latest corruption case opened against his wife

    Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced he is suspending his public duties to reflect on whether it is worth continuing to lead his country’s government after a Spanish court commenced another anti-corruption investigation into his wife.

    In a four-page letter published on X, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) leader accused a court in Madrid of reopening investigations into his wife, Begoña Gómez, at the request of right-wing organization Clean Hands and called the allegations “as scandalous as they are non-existent.”

    He further claimed that two newspapers reporting on the allegations are of an “ultra-right orientation,” claiming he and his family have been the victims of a political witch hunt by those who oppose his left-wing government.

    Sánchez accused his political opponents, Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the Spanish People’s Party (PP), and Santiago Abascal, leader of VOX, of political point-scoring by “collaborating” with those calling for investigations into his wife, calling their outrage “serious as well as crude.”

    “This strategy of harassment and demolition has been going on for months,” he wrote, saying political opponents were targeting Begoña “because she is my wife” in an attempt “to make me weaker politically.”

    The allegations against Sánchez’s wife were first reported by center-right news outlet El Confidencial, which claimed she met with the bosses of several private companies that went on to receive government funding or public contracts from Sánchez’s administration.

    One example involves two meetings with Javier Hidalgo, the chief executive of a tourism holding company before Sánchez’s government granted the Hidalgo family’s airline, Air Europa, a taxpayer bailout of nearly €500 million.

    After claiming that Feijóo and Abascal were slinging mud to “dehumanize and delegitimize” their political opponent, he wrote, “I legitimately ask myself, is all this worth it? Sincerely, I don’t know.”

    “I am a man deeply in love with my wife, who lives helplessly with the mud that is spread on her day in and day out. I need to stop and reflect. I urgently need to answer the question of whether … I should continue at the head of the Government or resign from this high honor,” he added.

    The Socialist leader explained he would continue working but would be canceling his public duties until Monday, April 29, when he will arrange a press conference and announce whether he intends to continue in office.

    His political opponents derided the letter, accusing Sánchez of deflection and attempting to make him out to be the victim in the face of legitimate allegations regarding his wife’s dealings.

    Responding to the announcement, VOX leader Santiago Abascal said he wasn’t clear whether Sánchez was stepping back to reflect or to “prepare his legal defense because he should have been sitting on a bench for a long time and not on the blue bench,” referring to prison yard benches and the blue benches in the Spanish parliament.

    “We do not know if this is another of his propaganda maneuvers to present himself as a poor victim, and thus silence the majority of Spaniards’ indignation. But what we do know, and we will never forget, is that he is the president who achieved the inauguration with the greatest act of political corruption ever seen, amnestying criminals in exchange for votes,” Abascal wrote on X.

    Opposition leader Feijóo claimed that Sánchez’s announcement was not a political or personal one, insisting he and his entourage have a “judicial problem.”

    “From today until Monday, he will try to victimize himself and polarize Spanish society,” he added.

    Spanish journalist and political analyst Rubén Pulido had another possible explanation for Sánchez’s announcement, which even took much of his inner circle by surprise, suggesting that the Spanish prime minister was pre-empting the outcome of a re-opened investigation by the Spanish High Court on Tuesday into the Pegasus spyware scandal.

    The spyware, developed by the Israeli company NSO, made headlines back in 2022 when several top politicians in Sánchez’s cabinet were reportedly hacked and sensitive information was obtained by foreign agents.

    Speaking to Remix News, Pulido said, “Sánchez is not thinking of resigning because of his wife’s possible court cases, Sánchez is thinking of resigning for fear of the consequences of a new investigation into Morocco’s spying on his mobile phone.

    “Now, he also has Israel as an enemy — don’t forget that Israel developed the software used by Morocco to spy on the Spanish government. Sánchez fears that sensitive information about him or part of his administration as prime minister will come to light,” he added.

  • VIDEO: Dozens of illegal migrants land on Mallorca and disappear, authorities scramble to locate them

    VIDEO: Dozens of illegal migrants land on Mallorca and disappear, authorities scramble to locate them

    Several boatloads of illegal migrants from North Africa pulled up undetected on a beach in Mallorca on Sunday as the Spanish island continued to experience high volumes of new arrivals from across the Mediterranean.

    Amateur footage posted on social media captured the moment around a dozen adult males and one minor disembarked near the town of Colonia de Sant Jordi to the south of the island.

    Mallorca Diario reported the group had not been picked up by the authorities. The Security Forces and Corps was actively seeking to locate the cohort and requesting any information that could lead to its whereabouts.

    The boat was one of many to arrive on Mallorca’s shores over the weekend, with the local government reporting that 18 North Africans had also landed near Pilar de la Mola, Formentera, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

    This group, too, has not been apprehended.

    Furthermore, shortly after 11 a.m. on the same day, another 22 people of North African origin were picked up by a humanitarian vessel approximately 20 miles southeast of the island. They were transported to Cabrera where the Civil Guard intervened and documented their arrival.

    In total, 54 people were spotted arriving over the weekend, increasing the total number of illegal migrants landing on the Balearic Islands so far this year to 379 people in 23 boats.

    Last year, a total of 2,278 migrants were recorded arriving on the Spanish archipelago in 128 boats.

    Just last month, José María Manso, the long-serving chief inspector of the National Police’s immigration brigade on Mallorca revealed the vast majority of asylum-seeking migrants arriving on the island are regularly committing crimes and claimed it is impossible to deport them.

    [pp id=106762]

    “Now, on a daily basis, it is the problem of the boats that come from Algeria and everything that surrounds those who arrive and stay. It is a big problem that involves the entire leadership,” Manso told the Ultima Hora publication.

    “There is an increasingly larger trickle of people staying in Mallorca irregularly. The vast majority who stay here are committing crimes and are very repeat offenders in their actions. Without any problem, they can commit up to 30 crimes in a short time,” he added.

  • ‘On the inside, I am a lesbian woman’ — Spanish soldiers exploit Trans Law to unlock better pay, pension provisions, and private rooms

    ‘On the inside, I am a lesbian woman’ — Spanish soldiers exploit Trans Law to unlock better pay, pension provisions, and private rooms

    A corporal in the Spanish Army has revealed how an administrative gender change under Spain’s new Trans Law has seen their pension increase, unlocked the child benefit since they are now recognized as a “mother,” and facilitated a move to a private room in the barracks with their own private bathroom.

    “On the outside, I feel like a heterosexual man. But on the inside, I am a lesbian woman, which prevails. That’s why I made the legal change to being a woman,” said 35-year-old Roberto Perdigones in an interview with El Español online newspaper.

    The soldier explains that they are a man, equipped with male genitalia and a beard. They have also fathered a son and remain attracted to women.

    Roberto is one of dozens of officials stationed in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta to have used the far-left trans legislation to their advantage with reports this week suggesting that as many as 37 soldiers, police officers, and public officials have changed their gender in a purely administrative capacity in order to access extra perks as women.

    Some are calling it fraud, but Roberto disagreed, citing that they have done everything required under the new legislation to make the change. In Spain, an individual can now legally change to the female sex through their own self-declaration with the Civil Registry of the gender they identify as without the need for medical reports or hormone treatment.

    “As I can do it, I do it,” Roberto explained. “Before, I was screwed for complying with the law. Now, I continue to comply with the law but, after finding my gender situation, I have come out in favor. And if someone criticizes me, they may be committing a crime of transphobia.”

    It took just two meetings with the relevant authorities in which Roberto insisted they identified as a woman for the gender change to be processed, unlocking several perks for the soldier.

    “By changing my sex, as I have learned, my pension has increased. Because women earn more in their retirement pension to compensate for inequality. In addition, I earn 15 percent more when having a child,” they said.

    “I even have a private room in the barracks, all to myself, with a private bathroom. Because I cannot be with men, as I am a woman, and I did not consider it appropriate to be with biological women out of respect for them. I have only made the room for myself since the sex change,” they added.

    Roberto is also free to turn up to military drills with long hair and to wear earrings, unlike their legally male colleagues.

    The sex change also has wider implications in relation to Roberto’s estranged 16-year-old son from a former relationship, with the new trans law making the soldier as much a mother of the boy as the biological mother, creating greater unintended legal complications in Spanish family law.

    “As a father, I haven’t seen him since the child was three years old, but now I am no longer a father, now I am a non-pregnant mother. This means that I can fight on equal terms with my biological mother,” they explained.

    “I am in the process of looking for a lawyer to recover what I have lost, always prioritizing the good of the minor.”

    Roberto’s is not an isolated case, with dozens of officials following suit with the speedy administrative process unlocking ample perks and protections previously reserved for biological women.

    “In Ceuta, it is possible that the phenomenon is so high because, as I have been told, there are competitive academies in which they even recommend changing to a woman and Ceuta is a city of civil servants, for the most part,” Roberto said.

    According to El Español, of the 41 people in the Spanish enclave to have undertaken the process to date, 37 have kept their male names, remained in their heterosexual relationships, and have made no real adjustment to their lives.

  • Illegal arrivals into Spain soar by 500% in first six weeks of 2024 — but Socialist PM Sánchez rewards Morocco with €45 billion funding package

    Illegal arrivals into Spain soar by 500% in first six weeks of 2024 — but Socialist PM Sánchez rewards Morocco with €45 billion funding package

    The number of illegal migrants arriving on Spanish territory in the first six weeks of 2024 is almost six times more than the corresponding period last year, official figures show.

    A total of 12,262 new arrivals by land and sea were recorded up to Feb. 11 compared with 2,568 arrivals in the first six weeks of 2023 — a difference of 493 percent, according to weekly data published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

    The vast majority of arrivals are boat migrants from Africa — 12,204 sea arrivals and 58 land arrivals were recorded.

    The vast majority of newcomers are exploiting the geographical vulnerability of the Canary Islands, southwest of the Spanish mainland, where 10,902 migrants have landed so far this year. The extent of the crisis can be measured by the fact this figure is up 902 percent for the same period last year — a time when local leaders on the Spanish archipelago were already sounding the alarm regarding unsustainable levels of illegal immigration.

    The total number of arrivals since the turn of the year is already more than a fifth of the total figure recorded last year, despite usually being a time of fewer crossings due to adverse weather conditions, and more than a third of all arrivals in 2022.

    The most current figures provided by Spain’s interior ministry as reported by La Gaceta show the trend continuing with a total of 14,084 illegal arrivals so far this year.

    The Socialist government in Madrid is under pressure to contain the crisis from conservative opponents and local government leaders in the migrant hotspots who have expressed security concerns.

    The number of reported rape cases in the Canaries has skyrocketed amid the immigration surge in recent years, rising in 2022 to 167 cases compared to the 91 reported the previous year — an increase of 84 percent — and more than double the 73 cases recorded in the last pre-pandemic year of 2019.

    [pp id=100645]

    The other major issue is the saturation of public services in the affected areas with Madrid, which have needed to create additional emergency accommodation for newcomers in disused military barracks and hotels on the Spanish mainland.

    Footage is now widely circulated on social media of huge lines of migrants awaiting taxpayer-funded charter flights from the Canaries to Madrid in order to be dispersed throughout the country.

    The main Barajas airport in the Spanish capital has also had to extend capacity by 50 percent at its asylum center to accommodate greater numbers flying directly into Spain from North Africa.

    Spain’s left-wing prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, conducted a working visit to the Moroccan capital of Rabat on Wednesday to discuss, among other matters, the issue of illegal immigration.

    At a press conference following his meeting with the Moroccan head of state, Mohammed VI, Sánchez announced plans to invest €45 billion of Spanish taxpayers’ cash to improve Morocco’s infrastructure and economy by 2050, leading conservatives to accuse the socialist politician of favoring the African nation at Spain’s expense.

  • Farmer blockades continue to paralyze Spain on 11th day, mass protest scheduled for Madrid

    Farmer blockades continue to paralyze Spain on 11th day, mass protest scheduled for Madrid

    For 11 days in a row, Spanish farmers have blocked highways and ports, dumping cheaply imported Moroccan vegetables and cereals on the roads and marching with tractors into the centers of large cities.

    Farmers took over Santander on the weekend, while this Wednesday, farmers plan to hold tractor marches and protests in Andalusia, Extremadura, and Castilla and León, with media reports warning of additional road closures and blockaded roads in these regions.

    There are no signs the protests are coming to an end, either.

    The Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers has an extensive calendar of tractor demonstrations scheduled, all the way until the final one set for Feb. 27 in Córdoba. Meanwhile, the Union of Farmers and Livestock Unions has announced its next demonstration to be on Feb. 21 in Madrid, with several demonstrations planned in the run-up to this.

    The growing transport chaos and supply chain disruptions have led Minister of Agriculture Luis Planas to call a meeting of several trade unions on Thursday to try to find a solution to the sector’s problems.

    Spanish farmer protests have hit nearly every corner of the country

    Last week, on Wednesday, Spanish protesters paralyzed traffic for hours at the port of Motril in southern Spain, where a large part of Morocco’s fruit and vegetable shipments arrive. Several of the vans stuck inside had their holds opened and tomatoes found inside were thrown onto the road in protest at cheap imports of agricultural products from Morocco, which do not meet EU standards.

    Meanwhile, scores of farmers with tractors and human chains have blocked the busiest highways in Spain, and have also made crossing the Spanish-French border at La Jonquera difficult for more than two days.

    On the A1 near Burgos, police used force to break up the demonstration, beating desperate farmworkers with truncheons.

    In southern Spain, the first stage of the Vuelta Andalucia cycling race had to be canceled due to a mobilization because there were not enough gendarmes to ensure the passage of riders.

    In Guadalajara, neighboring Madrid, protesting farmers spilled grain on the road, while in Salamanca and other cities, cheaply imported products from third countries bought in the shops of one of the largest hypermarket chains were spilled in the car parks, according to Hungarian news outlet Magyar Nemzet.

    On top of calling for reduced regulations and less complicated bureaucracy surrounding EU agricultural policy, Spanish farmers are demanding that the socialist government help them to cope with the damage caused by the drought and ensure greater respect for Spanish agricultural products through fair prices, less red tape, and a level playing field, among other things.

    The farmers’ mass protest, planned for Madrid on Feb. 21, is expected to cause major disruptions in the city. There are also fears that clashes with police could ensue. Farmers also announced on Thursday morning of last week that they would mobilize on Feb. 26, the day EU agriculture ministers meet in Brussels.

    Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has so far announced that the law on the food supply chain will be strengthened to ban loss-making sales and promote the sector’s needs; however, farmers remain skeptical of his proposals and plan to keep up the pressure.

  • ‘Europeans will lose Europe’ – EU migration policy needs radical overhaul, says Hungary’s foreign minister

    ‘Europeans will lose Europe’ – EU migration policy needs radical overhaul, says Hungary’s foreign minister

    In order to protect Europe’s future, a radical change is needed in Brussels’ migration policy, which should respect international law and not punish those who act in accordance with it, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Madrid on Tuesday.

    “Given that the terrorist threat in Africa is more serious than ever and economic development is struggling to keep pace with population growth, we can see that illegal migration pressure will continue to increase in Europe,”Szijjártó warned.

    “If Brussels’ pro-migration policy is maintained, there is a real risk that Europeans will lose Europe, because Brussels’ migration policy is attracting people here,” he added.

    Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó in Madrid. (Facebook)

    Following his meeting with his Spanish counterpart José Manuel Albares, Szijjártó said that Spain, Belgium and Hungary will form a so-called trio of rotating presidencies within the EU, in which Madrid will assist Budapest in certain areas that are not within the scope of Hungarian interest and expertise in the normal course of business.

    The importance of this, Hungary’s foreign minister said, is heightened by the very serious challenges facing the continent today, one of which is illegal immigration, according to Hungarian news outlet Magyar Hirlap.

    As Szijjártó pointed out, this is illustrated by the fact that last year the number of migrants arriving in Spain increased by 82 percent compared to 2022, while in the Canary Islands region there was a 6.5-fold increase this year compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, Hungary is also under increasing pressure, with authorities preventing 170,000 illegal border crossings last year.

    Szijjártó stressed that the country’s that protect their borders are adhering to international law and should not be punished for doing their duty.

    He said that international law is very clear that those who are forced to flee may stay temporarily in the first safe country, but no one has the right to enter the second, third or fourth safe country.

    “So the European Union should respect international law, not punish those who respect it, so that it would be easier to cope with migratory pressures,” he said.

  • Crisis in Spain: In desperate effort to remain in power, PM Sánchez likely to accept Catalan demand to extend amnesty law to acts of terrorism

    Crisis in Spain: In desperate effort to remain in power, PM Sánchez likely to accept Catalan demand to extend amnesty law to acts of terrorism

    Spain’s proposed amnesty law was voted down by Carles Puigdemont’s Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), or Junts, on January 30. Pedro Sánchez had agreed to this in exchange for Junts’ help to make him prime minister again. The amnesty law was to free thousands of Catalan separatists from all charges linked to the organization of an illegal referendum on independence in 2017. It is now feared Pedro Sánchez will make more concessions to keep his post of prime minister, extending the amnesty to acts of terrorism.

    To get the support of Catalan separatists, a condition Sánchez had to agree to was to create special parliamentary investigation committees to review past actions by prosecutors and judges against them, to make sure their proceedings had not been politically motivated.

    Unsurprisingly, such violation of the principle of judicial independence has left EU institutions indifferent, in contrast to their past dealings with countries governed by conservative, right-wing governments, namely Poland and Hungary.

    The agreement, however, has been for now torpedoed by a new case into possible acts of terrorism opened by judges against Carles Puigdemont, making the latter and his party demand from Sánchez that the amnesty law be extended to acts of terrorism. Sánchez has so far refused, instead accusing judges of playing politics and manipulating the meaning of terrorism.

    Among those who could be amnestied if Sánchez finally bows to Junts’ demands, as he is likely to do, are members of the Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), previously named Committees for the Defense of the Referendum, which were groups that formed in preparation for the 2017 independence referendum.

    Following an investigation by the Guardia Civil in 2019, several members of the CDR were arrested in Barcelona on charges of terrorism and possession of explosives, and the organization was defined in 2021 as a “criminal organization with terrorist purposes (and) capacity of assault, occupation, and seizure of institutional Catalan buildings and infrastructures.”

    It is suspected the CDR was planning attacks as retaliation for the trial of Catalonia independence leaders after the illegal independence referendum held in Catalonia in 2017.

    In order to get the necessary votes in parliament to form a new government after last July’s parliamentary elections, Sánchez, the leader of the Spanish socialist party (PSOE), had to form a pact with fugitive Carles Puigdemont, the Junts leader and former president of the region of Catalonia responsible for organizing the illegal referendum of 2017.

    Since 2018, Spain’s current prime minister has been heading a coalition of socialists, communists, and other radical leftists, with the support in the Spanish Parliament of regional autonomists and separatists, something that had never happened since the country’s democratic transition in the 1970s, after the death of General Franco.

    There are currently 12 CDR members who are standing trial on terrorism charges.

    Another case of possible terrorism has been opened by a judge concerning the riots organized at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport by another Catalan independence organization, Tsunami Democratic, in October 2019, during which a French tourist died of a heart attack. In this case, too, the goal was to protest against the charges brought against the region’s political leaders for their responsibility in organizing the 2017 referendum. In that respect, an investigation has been opened against Carles Puigdemont himself on suspicion that he could have contributed to the riots being organized.

    This was yet another reason for him to demand that the amnesty law also cover acts of terrorism.

    However, as some legal experts are now warning, this could lead to a tragic repeat with Jihadists and other terrorists of what happened with rapists and other sexual offenders as a result of the Sánchez government’s “Only yes means yes” law, which resulted in the early release of hundreds of rape and sexual assault offenders in 2022.

    [pp id=83111]

    Just as judges who released these convicts based on the new law were called male chauvinists and fascists by Sánchez’s far-left coalition, the ruling coalition is now attacking the judges who have brought terrorism charges against the separatists whose support in parliament it so badly needs, being short of an absolute majority.

    On Monday, Spain’s judicial council, the CGPJ, which is the institution in charge of supervising the judiciary, was to gather to react to the attacks and accusations formulated against judges a week earlier, during the debate that preceded the vote on the amnesty law.  The attacks against judges were heard during a discussion about one of the components of the future law that had been agreed upon with Catalan separatists, which is the creation of special parliamentary committees to investigate possible past cases of “lawfare” by judges and prosecutors.

    By “lawfare,” the authors of the agreement between Sánchez’s coalition government and Junts mean that some judges and prosecutors could have been conducting legal warfare against Catalan separatists in the wake of the 2017 illegal referendum.

    The creation of such parliamentary investigation committees has been deemed a gruesome attack on judicial independence and on the principles of equality before the law and the rule of law in Spain by all major judicial associations, as well as by the top bodies of the country’s judiciary. It has not, however, triggered a reaction by EU institutions of the kind Poland and Hungary have experienced for much less when governed by right-wing conservative governments.

    [pp id=101429]

    During the debate last week, some judges and prosecutors involved in the proceedings against those responsible for organizing and conducting Catalonia’s illegal independence referendum were accused by name by the Junts spokeswoman but also by MPs from the ruling coalition, and in particular from Sumar, Sánchez’s far-left coalition ally.

    During the votes on the amendments to the amnesty law proposed by Junts and rejected, for now, by the prime minister and his socialist party (PSOE), Sumar MPs voted with the Catalan separatists and against the government of which they are part, including in favor of extending the planned amnesty to crimes of terrorism.

    Meanwhile, in the European Parliament, Spanish socialists have been working on keeping Catalan separatists out of the scope of a planned anti-corruption directive that would prohibit amnesties for political leaders convicted of corruption.

    [pp id=87843]

    It is all the more likely that the socialist prime minister will eventually bow to Junts’ demands that their seven votes are needed in the Congress of Deputies to pass the 2024 budget. The ruling coalition’s failure to get the 2024 budget through parliament would make early elections likely, and Pedro Sánchez has proved many times in the past that he is ready for any concession that will help keep him in power. He also knows that, just like in the case of Donald Tusk now trampling on the rule of law and judicial independence in Poland, supposedly to “restore” the rule of law after eight years of PiS government, Brussels will be looking the other way.

    An indication of Sánchez’s determination to proceed with the amnesty law at all costs is that it was sent back to the Congress of Deputies’ Justice Committee after it was voted down with an absolute majority of votes against it. Normally, in Spanish law, a bill that gathers an absolute majority against it in a plenary vote should be considered as having been ultimately rejected and should not proceed any further.

    It is not only the two opposition parties, PP and Vox, that have pointed to this breach of the law by the socialist speaker of the Congress of Deputies, but also the Spanish parliament’s own legal experts.

    However, as we now know all too well, in Europe, the rule of law is only something to be respected by right-wing conservative governments, whereas left-liberal governments sharing the ideologies of the elites in Brussels are de facto exonerated.

  • Majority of illegal migrants on Mallorca are committing crimes but cannot be deported, reveals police immigration chief

    Majority of illegal migrants on Mallorca are committing crimes but cannot be deported, reveals police immigration chief

    The vast majority of asylum-seeking migrants arriving on the Spanish island of Mallorca are regularly committing crimes and it is impossible to deport them, the long-serving chief inspector of the National Police’s immigration brigade has claimed.

    José María Manso, who is soon retiring after serving in Spain’s National Police for the last 44 years, exposed the reality of the migration crisis affecting the Balearic island where he has been stationed since 1991.

    In an interview with Ultima Hora published on Sunday, the esteemed chief inspector lamented the demise of the Spanish archipelago and the damage being inflicted by illegal immigration.

    “Now, on a daily basis, it is the problem of the boats that come from Algeria and everything that surrounds those who arrive and stay. It is a big problem that involves the entire leadership,” Manso told the publication.

    “There is an increasingly larger trickle of people staying in Mallorca irregularly. The vast majority who stay here are committing crimes and are very repeat offenders in their actions. Without any problem, they can commit up to 30 crimes in a short time,” he added.

    Manso explained that many illegal migrants would begin with petty crimes that rarely warrant a custodial sentence in Spain.

    “They start with minor crimes like theft and no one goes to prison for this. Robberies with violence should go, but they are difficult to prove.”

    He discussed the migratory route from Algeria to the Balearic Islands, which “was created some time ago,” but warned that “half of Africa” now has boats leaving its shores to reach Mallorca. “Much of the sub-Saharan part of the continent has also opened routes to the Island, but also Morocco and the Arab countries.”

    Manso expressed his dismay that a breakdown in relations between Algeria and Spain has resulted in it being “absolutely impossible to expel an Algerian from the country.”

    When asked what the solution was to tackle the migrant crisis, Manso insisted that a pan-European response was needed to “return every boat” to its country of origin and to “impose economic consequences” on countries of origin refusing to comply.

  • Peruvian national arrested for murder of elderly Spanish priest accused of paying male migrants for sex

    Peruvian national arrested for murder of elderly Spanish priest accused of paying male migrants for sex

    A Peruvian national has been arrested on suspicion of murdering an 80-year-old Spanish priest accused of paying male migrants for sex.

    Alfonso López Benito, a former canon of Valencia Cathedral, was found dead and naked in his bed at his home on Avellanas Street in the city center by friends on Tuesday. A post-mortem concluded he had died of asphyxiation and had been deceased for several days.

    Authorities detained a 40-year-old suspect around 24 hours after the body was discovered after he attempted to use the victim’s bank card in a local bar.

    The investigation found that the victim’s mobile phone had also been taken from the crime scene and the suspect is accused of sending several WhatsApp messages posing as the priest to his contacts with the intention of delaying the discovery of the body.

    A further message was sent to the janitor of the priest’s apartment building explaining he would be leaving Valencia for a few days. However, the victim’s body had already been recovered by this point enabling police to trace the message and close in on their prime suspect.

    It is understood the migrant had been in a sexual relationship with his victim and the priest had been asked to stop inviting men back to his apartment — owned by the Catholic Church — by other residents.

    El País newspaper reported that the late priest regularly brought “young people to his home, with few resources and who lived on the streets. On some occasions, they had caused a nuisance in the building and caused an incident.”

    “The investigations are continuing by the Homicide Group of the Provincial Brigade of Judicial Police of Valencia,” read a police statement.

    The Archbishopric of Valencia expressed its regret for “this sad death and we are at the disposal of the authorities in case the collaboration of the archbishopric could serve to clarify the facts.”

  • Moroccan national arrested on suspicion of raping 12-year-old girl during visit to her grandmother’s house

    Moroccan national arrested on suspicion of raping 12-year-old girl during visit to her grandmother’s house

    A Moroccan national was arrested last week on suspicion of raping the 12-year-old granddaughter of his neighbor at their home in the Spanish city of Zaragoza.

    An investigation was launched by the Family and Women’s Care Unit (UFAM) of the National Police into the incident which allegedly took place on June 1, 2022, but has only recently come to light.

    Spanish news outlet El Caso reported how the 48-year-old suspect entered his neighbor’s home in the Valdefierro district of the city while their granddaughter was visiting. The 12-year-old had been left in the house alone whilst her grandmother walked the dog.

    Hearing a commotion in the kitchen, the young girl went downstairs to see who she thought was her grandmother returning but instead found her neighbor.

    The suspect was accused of grabbing the girl’s arms and touching her breasts and bottom before undressing her and trying to kiss her.

    The victim managed to escape her attacker and fled into the living room, but was soon apprehended once more and pushed against the sofa before being raped. It is alleged the man penetrated her vaginally until he ejaculated.

    After the attack, the minor is said to have showered and found that she was suffering vaginal bleeding. She also claimed her attacker attempted to re-enter the home the following day but she managed to escape.

    The victim held her silence about the attack for a year and a half before confessing it to her older sister on Dec. 29 last year on the condition that she kept it a secret.

    However, the pair came face to face with the man on New Year’s Day during a visit to their grandmother’s house, prompting the victim’s sister to confront him angrily which drew the attention of other family members.

    After disclosing the incident to their parents, the victim was accompanied to the police station where she eventually filed a report.

    The Moroccan national was subsequently arrested on suspicion of rape but was released during the investigation subject to a 200-meter restraining order from the girl.

  • Major counter-terror operation across Europe after intelligence revealed plan for mass attacks on Christian landmarks

    Major counter-terror operation across Europe after intelligence revealed plan for mass attacks on Christian landmarks

    A major counter-terror operation took place in the German city of Cologne on Saturday after security services in Austria, Germany, and Spain received intelligence of an Islamist terrorist cell’s plans to carry out several attacks across Europe over the Christmas period.

    Sniffer dogs trained to detect explosives were deployed at Cologne Cathedral after a specific threat was received regarding the Gothic landmark as authorities sought to ensure that no devices had already been planted at the location.

    “Due to a warning of danger for Cologne Cathedral, the Cologne police will take special protective measures from this evening,” a spokesperson for the city’s police said, as cited by the German tabloid Bild.

    “The police will not comment on details of the available findings due to ongoing investigations by the police state security service,” they added.

    Ahead of Christmas church services, all visitors to the cathedral will be screened upon entry, and security guards will be deployed throughout the holiday period, Cologne’s police chief Michael Esser announced.

    “We will take everything into account this evening to ensure the safety of cathedral visitors on Christmas Eve. In coordination with the security officer of the cathedral chapter, the cathedral is searched with sniffer dogs after the evening mass and then locked. Tomorrow all visitors will be screened before entering the church,” he said.

    Further counter-terror operations have taken place in Madrid and Vienna following additional terror threats, and Austrian authorities revealed the primary focus for attacks is on churches and religious events including Christmas markets.

    St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna was specifically mentioned as a target and Austrian authorities are imposing access controls and deploying armed guards.

    “Since terrorist actors across Europe are calling for attacks on Christian events — especially around Dec. 24 — the security authorities have increased the corresponding protective measures in public spaces in Vienna and the federal states,” Austrian federal police wrote in a press release issued on Saturday evening.

    “In particular, endangered places or objects are increasingly monitored and guarded. The adaptation of the protective measures is carried out in close coordination with organizers and operators of corresponding facilities. These precautionary measures serve to maintain the general safety of people in Austria,” it added.

    According to Austrian newspaper Der Standard, police forces in Austria made arrests late on Saturday evening with Bild reporting that those detained were Tajiks affiliated with the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISPK), a splinter group of ISIS.

  • Power politics: EU turns a blind eye to Spain’s attack on judicial independence while accusing Poland and Hungary of violating the rule of law

    Power politics: EU turns a blind eye to Spain’s attack on judicial independence while accusing Poland and Hungary of violating the rule of law

    The left-liberal commissioners and MEPs now defending Spain’s left-wing government are the same ones at the forefront of the rule-of-law conflict with Poland and Hungary. A new law from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is said to make a mockery of judicial independence by Spain’s top judicial bodies, including its Supreme Court and its General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), as well as the country’s main associations of judges, including one that is known to be left-leaning, i.e., ideologically close to the Sánchez government, and was initially in favor of an amnesty law for Catalan separatists.

    Street protests had already been underway in many Spanish towns for more than two weeks when incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the composition of his new government on Nov. 20, hoping to win the support of 179 deputies in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies.

    On Saturday, Nov. 18, hundreds of thousands of Spaniards took part in a demonstration in Madrid called by civic organizations with the support of Vox and the center-right People’s Party (PP). According to some, it was the largest such demonstration in a quarter century.

    Spain’s Conservative Popular Party opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo, center, gestures surrounded by crowds with Spanish flags in the central Puerta del Sol during a protest in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Nov.12, 2023. The Popular Party is protesting the Spanish socialists’ deal to grant amnesty to Catalan separatists in exchange for support of the new government. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

    But Sánchez eventually went ahead with his agreement negotiated in Brussels and Geneva with Carles Puigdemont, the former president of the Spanish region of Catalonia, who fled justice after the illegal independence referendum he organized with public money in 2017, and his party Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), also called “Junts.” Puigdemont, who finally found shelter in Belgium, was elected to the European Parliament in 2019 and is now an MEP.

    Spain’s Supreme Court confirmed last June that the proceedings against Puigdemont are valid and that his actions could incur a punishment of up to 12 years in jail for misuse of public money and disobeying rulings by courts, including by the Constitutional Court, which said that a referendum on independence could not take place.

    Catalonia regional President Carles Puigdemont, right, and Catalan regional Vice-President Oriol Junqueras attend a plenary session in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. Catalan lawmakers voted on a bill that will allow regional authorities to officially call an Oct. 1 referendum on a split from Spain, making concrete a years-long defiance of central authorities, who see the vote as illegal. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

    After the left’s thin victory in July’s parliamentary elections, however, the seven Junts MPs now sitting in the Congress of Deputies were necessary to confirm Sánchez as the country’s prime minister, at the head of a coalition of his socialist PSOE party, with the radical left now embodied by Sumar.

    Sumar is a new alliance of far-left parties created by Yolanda Díaz, a former member of the Communist Party of Spain, that was previously allied with Podemos under the name of United Left (Izquierda Unida), to form Unidas Podemos. Unidas Podemos was the PSOE’s government coalition ally in the previous legislature, when Yolanda Díaz was Minister of Labour and Social Economy in the Sánchez government. She now is Sánchez’s second deputy prime minister in his new government.

    The PSOE and Sumar do not have an absolute majority, however, and apart from Junts, Pedro Sánchez will have to negotiate each new law with several far-left parties as well as with regional autonomist or separatist parties, mainly from Catalonia, the Basque country, and Galicia.

    [pp id=88049]

    To make things worse, the seven Podemos deputies left the Sumar group last week and made clear that each vote in the Congress of Deputies will have to be negotiated separately with them as well.

    We should, therefore, expect this new Sánchez government, to adopt even more radically leftist, anti-liberty laws than before. But that is not the only issue. As shown by the amnesty bill agreed with Junts and its fugitive leader, Carles Puigdemont, Sánchez will not hesitate to tramp on constitutional principles and the rule of law to remain in power.

    In addition to an amnesty for all those who have been criminally prosecuted or received sentences related to the organization of an illegal consultation on Catalan independence in 2014 or an illegal independence referendum in 2017, the agreement signed with Junts provides for the creation of parliamentary committees to look into judicial decisions and prosecutors’ actions in search of alleged cases of their committing “lawfare.”

    This term, which appears in the signed agreement, is a combination of the words “law” and “warfare” and it refers to an alleged instrumentalization of the law for the benefit of political struggle on the part of some prosecutors and judges in their proceedings against Catalan separatists.

    [pp id=58024]

    In the election campaign, Sánchez had pledged that under his government, there would be no amnesty for Catalan separatists. However, in a speech to the Congress of Deputies on the day the composition of the new government was presented on Nov. 20, he spoke of the need to form a front of progressives to counter the “reactionary” forces of the right, thereby justifying the far-reaching concessions made to Catalonia’s separatists.

    The Supreme Court, the General Council of the Judiciary, and Spain’s four main judiciary organizations have protested against this blatant interference in the operation of the judiciary, which, in their opinion, will violate the principle of independence of judges and the principle of equality of citizens before the law.

    In an interview with the ABC daily, for example, the president of Spain’s judicial council said that parliament’s review of the actions of prosecutors and judges in search of cases of “lawfare” and parliament’s direct oversight of the courts’ interpretation of the amnesty law provided for in the settlement with Junts would be a clear violation of the principle of the separation of powers.

    A debate in the European Parliament on this projected violation of the principle of judicial independence was demanded by the political groups to which Spain’s center-right People’s Party (PP) and conservative VOX party belong, respectively the European People’s Party (EPP) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).

    This debate took place on Nov. 22. Like in the case of most past debates on similar issues concerning Poland and Hungary, few MPs were present apart from the nationals of the concerned country. During that debate, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, from Belgium, reiterated that although the European Commission will carry out a “careful, independent and objective” review of Spain’s amnesty bill, it believes that it “remains an internal matter for Spain.”

    This attitude, which is very different from the Commission’s usual stance towards countries like Poland and Hungary — countries governed not by a coalition of the left and the far left but by right-wing conservatives — comes as no surprise.

    In the past, the European Commission did not protest when Sánchez appointed his justice minister to the position of attorney general, even though reuniting the two functions in Poland as per an electoral pledge made by Law and Justice in the run-up to the 2015 election was, in the eyes of the EU Commission, an attack on democracy and the rule of law. Many legal experts protested Sánchez’s decision in Spain but not in Brussels.

    [pp id=6398]

    Likewise, the fact that since 1980, it has been parliament that elects the judges who sit on Spain’s judicial council has not resulted in the withholding of Spain’s share of NextGenerationEU funds as it has in the case of Poland.

    As a matter of fact, Hungary has had to reform its judicial supervision system due to pressure and financial blackmail from the European Commission, to give more powers back to its National Judicial Council (OBT), whose members are elected by judges, to the detriment of the National Office for the Judiciary (OBH), whose president is elected by parliament.

    For five years now, the Spanish parliament has been unable to renew the country’s General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) because the opposition People’s Party (PP) demands that a reform be voted on first for the CGPJ’s members to be elected by judges, something that is refused by the Spanish governing left.

    In the last decade, it has also become the position of the European Commission that to guarantee full independence of the judiciary in member states, the body in charge of supervising the judiciary in each country should be made up of judges elected by their peers. This was a standard that Poland’s Law and Justice wanted to change in order to put an end to the chronic corporatism of the judicial profession and the impossibility of disciplining and sanctioning corrupt or incompetent judges.

    Nevertheless, the very same situation has led to the withholding of funds in the case of Poland and to financial blackmail in the case of Hungary, but not in the case of Spain.

    With the planned amnesty law, Spain is going to have its parliament review past judicial rulings and investigate past trials and prosecutors’ proceedings in search of alleged political motives behind those proceedings. For the left in the European Parliament as well as, apparently, for commissioners Reynders and Jourova, who have in the past so aggressively questioned Polish and Hungarian laws, this is okay (as long as the word “lawfare” does not appear in the amnesty law, though).

    Comparing this to its attitude towards Poland, one cannot but think of the European Commission’s criticism of a Polish reform, enacted in 2017, that allowed for the appeal of old judicial decisions through a new institution called “the extraordinary appeal,” which can be activated by people like the prosecutor general and the ombudsman when they feel a past ruling violates the rights and freedoms of citizens enshrined in the Polish Constitution, or they are a flagrant breach of the law, or there is an obvious contradiction between the court’s findings and the evidence collected.

    In the Polish case, it is not parliament but a newly created chamber of the Supreme Court that was to review such cases, and it was linked to the fact that, after the fall of communism, there was rampant corruption in the judicial system that led to some truly outrageous judgments.

    The European Commission nonetheless pointed to this reform as something that put in question the principle of legal certainty and said that “it is important that judicial decisions which have become definitive after all rights of appeal have been exhausted or after expiry of the time-limits provided for in that connection can no longer be called in question.”

    This was one of the motives given by the European Commission in December 2017 to activate the Article 7 rule-of-law procedure against Poland.

    There has been an openly double-standard approach in the European Parliament as well, where the S&D group commented on the request for a debate in the European Parliament by tweeting on their official profile:

    “We truly regret that the EPP (PP) is leaving the existing pro-European majority to embrace an alliance with the far right like ECR (Vox). Their collaboration on bringing their hate speech from Spain to Brussels is a sad attempt to deviate public attention from their failure to win a majority, create bridges and respect the will of the Spanish people and democracy.”

    However, the most blatant case of the double standard applied to Poland and Hungary on the one hand, and Spain on the other, have been the declarations made by the Spanish socialist Juan Fernando López Aguilar who said during the debate in the European Parliament, about his country’s planned amnesty law and the protests against it:

    “The Spanish People’s Party has failed in its attempted investiture of its candidate for the Presidency of the Government before the Congress of Deputies. Not content with that bitter taste in its mouth, it is trying to refresh it here in this Parliament with a forced debate on a legitimate initiative adopted in accordance with the Spanish Constitution. (…) In this organic law, or bill, there is no threat to the rule of law or democracy in Spain. (…) There is no threat to judicial independence in Spain other than the blocking of the [renewal of the] General Council of the Judiciary by the People’s Party.”

    The same MEP, who chairs the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (also called the LIBE Committee), is the author of the report based on which in 2020, the European Parliament green-lighted the Article 7 procedure activated against Poland by the European Commission.

    [pp id=8124]

    Among the litany of reproaches against Poland that are contained in the Spanish socialist’s report, there is one about the Polish Supreme Court’s new Extraordinary Chamber and its ability to review old judgments. In his report, which was the LIBE committee’s proposal for a resolution and which was adopted as such by the European Parliament, López Aguilar “calls on the commission to urgently start infringement proceedings in relation to the national provisions on the powers of the Extraordinary Chamber, since its composition suffers from the same flaws as the Disciplinary Chamber.”

    The flaws in question are linked to the judges of the Polish Extraordinary Chamber being appointed by the Polish president based on candidacies proposed by a judicial council whose members are now elected by parliament, just as in… Spain. It is the same reason behind “the blocking of the [renewal of the] General Council of the Judiciary by the People’s Party” mentioned by López Aguilar.

    “As regards the rule of law in the strict sense of independence of the judiciary, the situation in Poland is far from improving and concerns remain or increase in every aspect exposed in this report,” this extraordinarily hypocritical Spaniard wrote in his report against Poland in 2020, then mentioning among his causes of concerns “the creation of the chamber of extraordinary appeal inside the Supreme Court.”

    Well, in socialist Spain, there are going to be special parliamentary committees to review old judgments against those engaged in the organization of the illegal 2017 independence referendum and to investigate the judges’ motivations behind those judgments.

    But in this precise case, López Aguilar, like his political friends in Brussels, sees no threat to judicial independence.

  • Spain proposes financing Ukraine with frozen Russian assets

    Spain proposes financing Ukraine with frozen Russian assets

    Spain, which is currently serving as president of the Council of the European Union, is keen to push through its proposal that the EU could finance Ukraine from the profits generated by frozen Russian funds. However, the European Central Bank (ECB) and several member states, including France and Germany, have serious doubts about the plan.

    As the EU summit approaches, tensions are mounting over a Spanish proposal that the EU should use profits from frozen Russian money to finance reconstruction in Ukraine.

    At the EU summit at the end of October, member states blamed Russia for the damage caused by the war and said that there was a need to examine how Russian assets frozen in EU banks could be used to rebuild Ukraine.

    The possibility has been under consideration for months, but several member states, including Germany and France, are skeptical, not to mention Belgium, where most of the frozen Russian money is held.

    In addition, the ECB fears the move would upset financial markets and weaken the euro’s position as a reserve currency.

    A new round of the debate took place at a meeting of EU ambassadors on Tuesday evening, where the Spanish presidency wanted to push the proposal through. They calculate that some €15-17 billion of Russian money could be spent on Ukraine by 2027 — effectively as much as the EU has earmarked for the country over that period.

    However, according to anonymous sources quoted by Politico, it is difficult to understand where Madrid’s figures come from, and it could take months or even years for the money to reach Ukraine, which is in dire need of immediate help.

    Others say the Spanish did not take into account the public mood in the EU when drafting the proposal.

    “For many countries, this is not an acceptable basis for negotiation at the Dec. 14-15 summit of EU leaders,” one diplomat said.

    However, while the EU is cautious on the issue of frozen Russian funds, Canada has taken action and is already working on legislation. As Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said, her country will be the first G7 country to authorize such asset forfeiture and suggested that allies should follow suit.

  • Illegal Moroccan migrant arrested in Lanzarote for sexual assault of three children aged 5 to 7

    Illegal Moroccan migrant arrested in Lanzarote for sexual assault of three children aged 5 to 7

    An illegal Moroccan immigrant has been arrested for sexually assaulting three children between the ages of five and seven on the Spanish island of Lanzarote, local police confirmed on Friday.

    The assaults date back to an incident on Nov. 20 when the 30-year-old suspect allegedly approached the minors in the street and kissed them on the mouth whilst grabbing their necks, according to a report by Spanish news outlet La Gaceta.

    The father of two of the victims told police his sons had been playing with a friend when they were accosted by the man.

    Authorities were dispatched to the scene upon receipt of the complaint to locate the suspect but he had fled the scene.

    However, one of the children the following day spotted the man who was wearing the same clothes as the previous day, prompting the father to call the police and detain the man until the authorities arrived and arrested him.

    [pp id=97827]

    It later transpired at the police station that the Moroccan had arrived on the island illegally and had no right to reside in Spain. He was subsequently charged with three counts of sexual assault and placed in pre-trial detention.

    Lanzarote, much like the other Canary Islands, has become a hotspot for illegal migrants attempting to reach the European Union as tightened on-land border security has led to an influx in amphibious beach landings on the Spanish archipelago.

    In October, the islands recorded over a third of its total illegal arrivals for the entire year as 8,500 people reached Spanish shores from the African mainland in the first two weeks of the month.

    The Spanish Police Confederation said at the time that it had concerns over public safety due to an insufficient number of patrol cars as all of its staff were being diverted to assist new arrivals.

    The Canaries have now received a record number of illegal migrants in a single year, surpassing 2006 when almost 32,000 new arrivals were recorded.

    President of the Canary Islands Fernando Clavijo said the figures “define the humanitarian emergency facing the Canaries”.

  • Tunisian migrant wanted for assassination attempt on founder of Spain’s Vox party

    Tunisian migrant wanted for assassination attempt on founder of Spain’s Vox party

    Spanish police have announced that a Tunisian migrant, who is a resident in France, is wanted for the attempted assassination of former Spanish politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras. The victim was shot on Nov. 9 on the streets of Madrid, and the suspect, who remains on the run, is considered armed and dangerous.

    Vidal-Quadras, a co-founder of the Spanish Vox party, was targeted in a terror attack, having been shot in the head. The attempted murder resulted in a double fracture to his jaw. However, he miraculously survived the shooting without ever having lost consciousness after the bullet went through one side of his jaw and out the other. He was subsequently released from the hospital.

    Following the shooting, a number of arrests have already been made, with one suspect placed in pre-trial detention for “attempted terrorist assassination,” according to a Madrid court.

    [pp id=98357]

    In a press release from the National Court, it stated that “the judge decided to place the detainee in pre-trial detention for the offense of attempted terrorist assassination in Lanjaron.” The suspect’s partner was also arrested alongside him, and a third suspect was arrested in the south in Malaga.

    These three suspects are two Spanish citizens along with a British citizen. They are thought to have provided logistical assistance to the main shooting suspect, who remains on the run.

    According to media reports, the 78-year-old politician was walking down the street when a motorcycle approached him. The driver pulled out a pistol and shot the politician at point-blank range.

    Vidal-Quadras has since accused the Iranian government of being behind the assassination attempt. He is connected to an Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which he says may have been a motive in the attempted murder. Iran has added him to a terror list.

    He was once a member of the center-right Popular Party (PP) during the 1990s. He later served as an MEP and then helped found the Vox party, but he left quickly after it was created. Vidal-Quadras has remained active in politics and has regularly appeared on talk shows to discuss a variety of political themes.

  • Civil war looms for Spain? Socialists push country to the breaking point

    Civil war looms for Spain? Socialists push country to the breaking point

    Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in Madrid over the Socialist Party’s (PSOE) move to seize power, with the party only able to form a government via controversial pacts with separatist parties that not only violate the constitution but also threaten to tear Spain apart.

    The genie is out of the bottle for the Spanish left. On Saturday, in addition to hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating again in downtown Madrid against the Socialist Party’s pacts to form a government, 30,000 people in the Basque Country demanded self-determination for the region.

    Pedro Sánchez was sworn in as prime minister on Friday, after parliament authorized him to form a government by an absolute majority, with 179 votes in favor. However, he has paid a huge price for attaining power, having to reach an agreement with the separatist Catalan and Basque parties, without which he would have been forced to call new elections.

    In the end, Sánchez opted for treason and made pacts with the separatists, raising concerns not only about the constitutionality of his actions but also about the rule of law.

    He promised Catalans an amnesty law that would grant all politicians involved in the independence movement a pardon going back to 2012, including Carles Puigdemont, who has been a fugitive in hiding in Belgium for six years after being unable to take responsibility for his unconstitutional declaration of Catalan independence in 2017. The Socialist Party also waived 20 percent of the region’s debt to the state (around €15 billion) and handed over all of Catalonia’s rail infrastructure and its management, which was considered to be in the national interest.

    In return for a yes vote from the Basque parties, he promised to give them their own social security system within two years and to recognize the Basque country as a nation.

    The demonstrators, backed by at least a hundred NGOs and the right, accused the new head of government of treason, and carried banners with slogans, such as: “Not in my name: no amnesty, no self-determination.”

    The event was also attended by the leader of the right-wing opposition party Vox, Santiago Abascal, and the head of the People’s Party (PP), which won this year’s early elections, Alberto Núnez Feijóo, who only failed to form a government because, unlike Sánchez, he refused to sell his country to separatist parties.

    At the demonstration, Feijóo accused Sánchez of “raising walls in Spanish society” and “humiliating the country” even though he claimed to have adopted such extreme measures to protect peaceful coexistence for the Spanish people. He then described the inauguration of the Socialist Party leader on Friday as a fraud and a lie.

    The leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, also spoke, again referring to the agreements made by the Socialist Party in order to form a government as a “coup d’état.” He then announced that his party will continue to support all peaceful movements in the future because Spain cannot give up the battle.

    There are already signs that separatist parties are making their move to carve up Spain. In the Basque region, around 30,000 people took to the streets at the call of EH Bildu party, which works with former ETA terrorists and is also allied with Sánchez. They demanded recognition of the region as an independent nation. 

    A turnout for Basque separatists on the streets has not been seen in some time, as it is a region where aspirations for self-determination have subsided significantly since the termination of the ETA militant group. Now, Sánchez has reawakened the movement with his promises.

    Both the Catalans and the Basques made it clear during the negotiations that if they helped install Sánchez as prime minister, they would come up with additional demands, one of which would be that both regions could legally become independent from Spain, which is strictly prohibited by the Spanish constitution. If Sánchez wants to pass laws in the next four years in addition to obtaining the prime minister’s seat, he will need these separatist forces, and in turn, he will have to fulfill even their most radical demands.

    The result could mean Spain is heading towards breaking apart, which would have enormous consequences for all of Europe.

  • Vox founder miraculously survives shot in head from point-blank range in Madrid

    Vox founder miraculously survives shot in head from point-blank range in Madrid

    A Spanish politician who helped found the right-wing populist Vox party was shot in the head in broad daylight on Thursday in an upmarket neighborhood in Madrid.

    Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a former vice-president of the European Parliament who had also served as leader of the People’s Party of Catalonia, was shot at point-blank range by a gunman who fled the scene on a motorcycle.

    The incident occurred at around 2 p.m. local time on 40 Nuñez de Balboa street in Salamanca, police confirmed.

    Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported how the 78-year-old politician had been walking alone down the street when a motorcycle with two occupants approached him. The passenger, who wore a helmet to conceal his face, then fired an execution-style shot to the head before fleeing the scene.

    Several bystanders tended to the politician and reported the incident to authorities. According to local media, first responders reported there had been both an entry and exit wound from the shooting.

    Vidal-Quadras miraculously survived the attack and was rushed to La Princesa Hospital for treatment. He is understood to be conscious and in a stable condition.

    Local authorities have cordoned off the affluent area of the Spanish capital, and the national police have taken over the investigation, requesting access to security cameras in the vicinity to ascertain the motorcycle’s license plate.

    Vidal-Quadras has remained a prominent voice in Spanish politics, regularly appearing on talk shows and commenting on current affairs and the country’s political landscape.

    Just hours before the shooting, he criticized on social media the proposed amnesty agreement reached between the Spanish left-wing government and Catalan separatists including exiled Carles Puigdemont, which has paved the way for incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to remain in power following inconclusive elections.

    “The infamous pact between Sánchez and Puigdemont that crushes the rule of law in Spain and ends the separation of powers has already been agreed upon,” Vidal-Quadras wrote.

    “Our nation will thus cease to be a liberal democracy and become a totalitarian tyranny. We Spaniards will not allow it,” he added.

  • Holidaymakers to share Spanish hotels with illegal African migrants

    Holidaymakers to share Spanish hotels with illegal African migrants

    Holidaymakers in Spain could soon find themselves sharing their luxury hotels with illegal African migrants after several hoteliers were offered cash by pro-migration charities to accommodate new arrivals flown to the Spanish mainland from the saturated Canary Islands.

    Under government plans, thousands of migrants are being transported from the Spanish archipelago to the Valencian Community to help alleviate the crisis enveloping the islands.

    Over 32,000 illegal crossings from Western Africa have now been detected on the Canaries so far this year, surpassing the record annual total of 31,678 set back in 2006.

    HOSBEC, the hotel and tourism association located in vacation hotspot Benidorm, told Spanish media that several hotels had been approached by human rights organizations “offering them proposals for renting accommodation for refugees during the coming weeks.”

    According to reports, hoteliers have been offered €40 a night for each migrant they provide accommodation for.

    [pp id=97827]

    The hotel association criticized the left-wing Spanish government for its decision to transport migrants to the area without any clear plan or consultation.

    “Hosbec regrets that never before in any of the crises we have faced have we felt so isolated and uninformed by the central government,” read a statement from the group as cited by Spanish digital newspaper ESdiario.

    “It has been impossible for us to take any action for the correct coordination of these receptions and thus guarantee normal coexistence in the affected tourist destinations, despite having tried to contact the NGOs to which the management of accommodation and stays has been delegated,” it added.

    The association claimed that communication between the federal government and the local administrations had been “non-existent.”

    Spanish media reported that hotels in Benidorm had refused the proposals for accommodating migrants but claimed HOSBEC said it had been made aware of other holiday destinations in the Valencian Community where hoteliers had agreed to receive new arrivals, some of which had already opened their doors.

    It is understood that newcomers have already been put up in Valencia, Alicante, Castellón, and Gandia.

    The government in Madrid recently announced its intention to convert military barracks on the Spanish mainland into emergency migrant accommodation, but this is understood to house just 3,000 people, fewer than 10 percent of this year’s new arrivals to the Canary Islands alone.

    Spain is also in discussions with the Senegalese government, from where a majority of migrants arriving on the islands originate, about the measures it should take to deter migrants from making the journey to Europe.

  • Crisis in the Canaries: Spanish islands break annual record for migrant arrivals with two months to spare

    Crisis in the Canaries: Spanish islands break annual record for migrant arrivals with two months to spare

    A record number of illegal migrants have landed on the Canary Islands this year — surpassing the previous highest total for the Spanish archipelago set back in 2006.

    Close to 1,000 illegal crossings from the African mainland were detected by authorities over the weekend as the latest surge in illegal immigration showed no sign of slowing down.

    According to the Spanish interior ministry, a total of 31,933 migrants have now reached the Spanish territory in small boats from northwestern Africa, exceeding the 31,678 arrivals recorded 17 years ago.

    Almost half of new arrivals made the journey across the Atlantic in October alone, with government data showing 14,976 people making the trip last month.

    Over 50 percent of newcomers to the islands this year originate from Senegal and Gambia, the Spanish government stated.

    The islands’ regional government has been sounding the alarm for months regarding the crisis, calling on Madrid and Brussels to provide greater support. The Spanish territories are seen as a more attractive route for migrants seeking to reach the European Union due to increased border security at more traditional routes across the Mediterranean in recent times.

    President of the Canary Islands Fernando Clavijo said the figures “define the humanitarian emergency facing the Canaries.”

    “The 2006 data has been surpassed, but the response from the state and the EU is not the same. Migration management on the southern border must be a priority on the Spanish and European agenda,” he wrote on X.

    Last month, Clavijo said he was “amazed” and “perplexed” by the left-wing Spanish government’s “total silence” over the escalation of the migrant crisis on the islands, and police officials warned that resources are overstretched.

    “It is true that by diverting staff to assist these people, we once again find ourselves with an insufficient number of patrol cars in such essential services as public safety,” said José Luis Gallardo, the spokesperson for the Spanish Police Confederation (CEP).

    [pp id=96080]

    The government in Madrid recently announced its intention to convert military barracks on the Spanish mainland into emergency migrant accommodation, but this is understood to house just 3,000 people, fewer than 10 percent of this year’s new arrivals alone.

    Spain is also in discussions with the Senegalese government about the measures it should take to deter migrants from making the journey to Europe.

    Not all who embark on reaching the islands succeed, and reports from the Spanish emergency services over the weekend confirmed that four people had died after four boats became distressed at sea on Friday and Saturday.

    Thirteen migrants were also hospitalized as sea rescuers intercepted several vessels and escorted them to a port on El Hierro, the most southerly of the Canary Islands.

    Early last month, nine migrants were even arrested for piracy after hijacking a Dutch ship that rescued them at sea. It is understood the group became angry at the crew who had been instructed by the Morrocan authorities to return them to the African mainland.

  • Canary Islands overwhelmed by wave of illegal immigration with 8,500 new arrivals in two weeks

    Canary Islands overwhelmed by wave of illegal immigration with 8,500 new arrivals in two weeks

    At least 8,561 illegal migrants have landed on the Canary Islands in the past two weeks as the Spanish archipelago’s own migration crisis spirals out of control.

    The figures, published by the Spanish Interior Ministry on Monday, represent more than a third of all arrivals recorded so far this year.

    A total of 23,537 illegal migrants have reached the Spanish territories in 2023, up 80 percent from the figures recorded for the same period last year, and local officials are sounding the alarm as public services become saturated and the islands’ security comes under threat.

    President of the Canary Islands Fernando Clavijo said he was “amazed” and “perplexed” by the left-wing Spanish government’s “total silence” over the escalation of the migrant crisis on the islands, and police officials warned that resources are overstretched.

    “It is true that by diverting staff to assist these people, we once again find ourselves with an insufficient number of patrol cars in such essential services as public safety,” said José Luis Gallardo, the spokesperson for the Spanish Police Confederation (CEP).

    With the daily number of new arrivals this month averaging above 500, the main asylum center in Arrecife on the island of Lanzarote is above capacity and immigrants are being temporarily housed in tents in the port of Naos.

    While in Tenerife, police officers were forced to move their cars from a secure police station garage in Las Americas in order to enable groups of illegal migrants to sleep on the garage floor.

    120 migrants sleep in the garage of the South Tenerife Police Station

    Clavijo warned recently that the situation is expected to deteriorate further. He cited the political instability in Senegal, the decrease in Ukrainian grain reaching Africa resulting in increased famine, and the EU’s focus on the Eastern Mediterranean around the Italian island of Lampedusa as aggravating factors for the influx.

    “All these indicators, together with the fact that at this time of year, the sea is very calm, have caused what we knew was going to happen, especially when the European Union’s controls are being reinforced in the upper part of the Mediterranean,” Clavijo told Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

    While the islands’ officials are unimpressed with the Spanish government’s inaction to relieve the burden, conservatives on mainland Spain are berating the governing socialists and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in particular, for doing too much.

    “Marlaska transfers 600 illegal immigrants from Tenerife to Madrid on commercial flights in 48 hours to leave them on the street. While a level 5 terrorist alert is declared in France, the Government is transferring hundreds of African immigrants of military age to our cities who do not know where they are from or what they are,” the right-wing populist Vox party wrote on X.

    “They are putting everyone’s safety at risk,” it added.

    The Spanish islands are currently on course to receive a record number of illegal migrants in a single year, surpassing 2006 when almost 32,000 new arrivals were recorded.

  • 9 migrants arrested for piracy after hijacking Dutch ship that sought to return them to African mainland

    9 migrants arrested for piracy after hijacking Dutch ship that sought to return them to African mainland

    Nine migrants have been arrested on suspicion of attempting to hijack a Dutch cargo ship in Morocco.

    The suspects were part of a group of migrants rescued by the VOS Pace vessel after the boat they were using to migrate to Europe got into difficulty a few kilometers off the Moroccan coast.

    The offshore supply ship, which is registered in the Netherlands, brought on board 79 migrants from two boats in distress on Monday night.

    After reporting the incident to the Morrocan authorities, the vessel’s crew were ordered by the Rescue Coordination Centre in Rabat to return those rescued to the Morrocan port of Tan-Tan, but when some of the migrant group realized they were being returned to the African mainland, they became aggressive.

    According to the Dutch current affairs program Hart van Nederland, the suspects threatened the ship’s crew with knives and demanded that they set sail for the Canary Islands, a popular landing zone for migrants departing Western Africa for the territory of the European Union.

    Under duress, the ship’s captain redirected the vessel to the Spanish island of Fuerteventura but managed to alert the Spanish authorities of the hijack-in-progress.

    Upon arrival at the port, the nine hijackers were arrested, while the remaining migrants on board are being held for questioning by Spanish police.

    The majority of those on board were adult males of North African origin, sources from the Spanish emergency services told Spanish news agency EFE. There were also nine women and one child in the group.

    If convicted of piracy, the suspects will face a minimum of 10 years in prison under Spanish law.

  • Leaked police report shows 95% of 79 arrested for violent robbery at Spanish festival were Arabs

    Leaked police report shows 95% of 79 arrested for violent robbery at Spanish festival were Arabs

    Of the 79 individuals arrested for aggravated robbery and intimidation at this year’s summer festival in the Spanish city of Bilbao, 75 were of Arab origin, a leaked police detainee list revealed.

    The demography of those arrested at the annual nine-day Aste Nagusia celebration was reported by ESdiario, a Spanish digital newspaper, citing an individual named Alvise Pérez, who describes himself as an independent analyst and who published the confidential police detainee list on social media claiming it to be in the national public interest.

    The list, which reveals the name and the mugshot of each suspect, reveals what appears to be a high number of males primarily of Maghreb origin, a region that prioritizes Spain as a gateway to Europe due to its proximity to the African continent and the land borders shared at the Spanish African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.

    According to Spanish media, Pérez claimed to be in possession of another list in relation to arrests for sexual assault and rape, which tells a similar story; however, this is yet to be published.

    A total of 209 arrests were made at the festival held from Aug. 19 to Aug. 27, a 29 percent increase from the previous year.

    After the first night resulted in 25 arrests, the city mayor, Juan Mari Aburt, pleaded for attendees to have “healthy and respectful fun” at the event, insisting “crimes have no place in Bilbao.”

  • No, Spanish society is not inherently left-wing, explains managing editor of leading conservative media outlet

    No, Spanish society is not inherently left-wing, explains managing editor of leading conservative media outlet

    Were you disappointed with VOX’s election results?

    VOX’s results in the July 23 elections were worse than the previous ones, no doubt, but the truth is that the number of votes was only slightly below expectations.

    With a campaign centered on calling VOX supporters to vote for the People’s Party (PP) and a very powerful media campaign against VOX, the result was indeed a little worse than in the last elections.

    With about half a million votes less than last time, VOX obtained just over 3 million votes while the PP obtained 8.1 million and the left-wing PSOE 7.8 million. The far left went into the election together under the name Sumar and obtained nearly as many votes as VOX.

    Are you not surprised by this decrease in the number of votes for VOX, though? In the recent municipal and regional elections in May, VOX had the greatest progress of all parties. What happened between the end of May and the July 23 election?

    At the municipal and regional level, VOX was coming from very modest results in the previous elections, because in the end, the raison d’être and role of VOX is eminently national, and what matters to the party’s representatives and its voters is more the country at the general level.

    Then, there was a very important rise indeed this year, as VOX multiplied its number of councilors and regional deputies practically by three – even more in the number of councilors – and obtained representation in territories where it did not have one before. This is especially true in Catalonia, where VOX has grown exponentially.

    What happens is that it is difficult to compare the two elections. It is very difficult to compare the municipal elections in which VOX went up sharply, with the general elections in which people voted in a different tone. And surely, in addition, the punishment of Sánchez, which the left exercised in the municipal elections, was not so much exercised in the general elections.

    Can you briefly explain to us why a moderate decrease in votes for VOX resulted in such a sharp decrease in the number of deputies, from 52 to 33?

    The truth is that VOX could even have gone up in votes and down in deputies. This is due to the Spanish electoral system, with constituencies returning a fixed number of deputies. VOX is usually the third force in most constituencies. In those constituencies that have few deputies, if the two main parties are very strong and have twice as many votes as VOX each, VOX will obtain no representation.

    In the previous elections, the People’s Party was significantly less strong. VOX obtained more than half of the votes cast for the PP in a higher number of constituencies and therefore had more deputies.

    In addition, there have been two other factors that have made VOX’s votes count for less.

    One is that the far left went to the election as one party. So, in the end, VOX’s popular vote also had to compete against one large force on the far left instead of several smaller forces.

    Moreover, Ciudadanos, the party comparable to Macron’s party in France, did not run, because of the debacle it has experienced in recent elections. Even if it had obtained only 3 percent, this would have been a boost for VOX, because it would have meant fewer votes for the People’s Party and the Socialist party, the PSOE.

    Because of all these new circumstances, a moderate loss of votes resulted in a much more significant loss of seats.

    Were there no mistakes in the VOX campaign in your opinion?

    VOX’s campaign in the run-up to the July 23 election was perhaps the most difficult VOX has had in its history and certainly since it has become a major force at the national level. There had been violent campaigns, with aggressions and insults in Catalonia, the Basque Country, Madrid, well, almost all of Spain, but this campaign was even more difficult because VOX found itself up against all the other parties, including the People’s Party, and all the media, including the media most sympathetic to the People’s Party, i.e., the media that the sociological right reads, listens to, and sees. This was a campaign of demonization against VOX, a campaign in which VOX’s messages did not reach the voters or, even worse, were distorted.

    More so than in previous elections?

    Yes, for sure. Because in the end, in Spain it is quite clear which media are rather left-wing and which media are rather right-wing. A reader or viewer who is exposed to a left-wing media outlet knows that they are not going to speak well of VOX. But it is not so clear when a right-wing media outlet or the People’s Party itself speaks ill of VOX.

    The PP is VOX’s usual partner. When the party, which is expected to be VOX´s partner after a general election, also participates in such a demonization campaign, it is easy for right-wing voters to become demobilized. First, because, according to the People’s Party, it was sure to win the election anyway. So, being July, many people stayed home or went on vacation. But at the same time, by demonizing a party with which it was set to enter a coalition, the PP succeeded in mobilizing voters on the left. The PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo even called on the left and the regional nationalists to vote for his party so that it would not have to govern with VOX. Left-wing voters and regional nationalists did turn up on election day, but of course, they did not vote for Feijóo. They voted for Pedro Sánchez.

    Do you think that Sánchez will be able to form a majority or will it be necessary to have new elections?

    He should be able to form a majority, especially since he has no scruples.

    We are in a situation in which Sánchez, in order to remain at the head of the Spanish government, depends on Bildu, which is the political arm of ETA, or, better said, ETA turned into a political party, and on Junts, which is the party of Carles Puigdemont, the fugitive from justice who fled after the failed coup d’état in Catalonia.

    Twenty or 30 years back, had the People’s Party won an election with the same level of support it obtained on July 23, it would be clear to everybody that Alberto Núñez Feijóo is the one who should take the reins of government. Then, neither the PP nor the PSOE would sit down to negotiate with the political party of ETA, or with the political party that was central to the coup d’état in Catalonia in 2017. Nor would have they sat with Esquerra Republicana, which was the other party responsible for that illegal independence referendum.

    But we are at a point of debasement and degradation of Spanish politics in which everyone assumes, left and right, that Sánchez will not only have no problem sitting down to talk with them but will accept the blackmail proposed by Esquerra Republicana, Bildu, and Junts.

    And then, in addition, there is a very important issue, which is that these parties do not want under any circumstances to have VOX in a government coalition, even if only as a minor coalition partner or simply supporting a PP government from parliament. This would be much less profitable for them, in political and economic terms, than having Pedro Sánchez as prime minister, even if Sánchez does not give them everything they want.

    Is it not also the case that Spanish society is structurally more left-wing than right-wing?

    This is commonly said, and even in Spain we often say this. Spanish society indeed finds it easy to vote for the Socialist party.

    About each time the PP came to power, it was after some serious crisis. But when the Socialist Party recovered power, it always was under strange circumstances. Felipe González arrived just after a coup d’état, Zapatero after the biggest terrorist attack in the history of Europe, and Pedro Sánchez after a motion of censure.

    I do not know whether Spanish society is left-wing, or whether the media and the collective imagination of Spain, as happens in almost all of the West, accept the postulates of the left in a much softer and easier way.

    Moreover, in Spain, there are pro-independence and nationalist forces in several regions that represent many thousands of Spaniards, and those Spaniards feel that they are better represented in the Socialist party, and in a more useful way, than in the traditionally nationalist and pro-independence parties.

    This has partly to do with some traditional leftist feelings, but also with movements that are not exactly pro-Spanish and that have seen in the PSOE a potential for political gains which, of course, they cannot find in the parties facing the PSOE.

    A surprising element of your latest election campaign was that there was not much talk about immigration despite what happened in France and the fact that in Spain too there is a lot of immigration, including illegal immigration. Didn’t VOX talk about this issue or did their message not get through to the voters?

    This is a good point. It was not a central message in the campaign. Other things came up in the campaign that I am sure are less important problems in Spain.

    VOX has always advocated defending our borders and controlling immigration. It is not against legal immigration, of course, but it is aware that natural immigration in Spain comes from Latin America – for cultural, religious, and historical reasons.

    Illegal immigration exists in a large part of Spain, from Catalonia, all along the Mediterranean coast going south, like in Murcia and Almeria where there are many illegal immigrant population nuclei and there is a correlation between the high rate of illegal population and criminality.

    In those places, VOX actually gets very good results. In fact, there are very pro-independence towns in Catalonia where VOX obtained very good results because the main issue there is security.

    The absence of these issues in the campaign is a sign of what I mentioned before. It shows how difficult the campaign was for VOX, which did not manage to put these debates on the table.

    In fact, during the negotiation to form coalitions in the autonomous communities after the regional elections at the end of May, it is someone from the People’s Party, María Guardiola, the current president of the Region of Extremadura (thanks to VOX), who went so far as to say that VOX dehumanized immigrants. It was a turn in the pre-campaign, in terms of the demonization of VOX, and this was said by the People’s Party, not the PSOE or Podemos or Sumar.

    Then, every time the debate was put on the table, VOX had all the media as well as the two biggest parties against it. Worse still, on COPE radio, which belongs to the Spanish Episcopal Conference, one could even hear that VOX was against the social doctrine of the Church for not being in favor of illegal immigration.

    Perhaps if the PP has become so left-wing as is also the case in France with Les Républicains, VOX should act like Marine Le Pen’s party and move toward the center to occupy the political space that has been left free…

    The People´s Party has indeed become leftist, but the truth is that in the end it is moved by pure political calculation. It does not say the same thing in all parts of Spain. Wherever it believes a message is profitable, it uses it and it has gone in recent months from being, at least in words, pro-life, to being openly pro-abortion. It has gone from, at least in words, defending that all Spaniards are equal, wherever they are born, to speaking of a plurinational Spain. It has gone from advocating that all Spaniards should have access to water – the south of Spain has very little rainfall, but in the north, there is plenty of water and there is no national hydrological plan – to saying one thing in the north and another in the south. In Madrid, it pays off for the PP to say that they want to lower taxes and they want to stay out of children’s education, so it is their message there. Then they do not act on their words, but it is what they say.

    So, it is difficult to situate the People´s Party, because depending on who speaks, depending on where they speak, and depending on when they speak, they say something different.

    The most profitable thing in political terms for VOX is to stay true to its principles, to always say the same thing, what it believes in, and to say the same thing everywhere. And this is a very important aspect of their success. If VOX were, in some way, occupying the space left open by the PP, it would never know what to say, because the PP says one thing one day and contradicts itself the next. VOX would end up being just as incoherent as the People´s Party and that would be a problem for Spain and, of course, for VOX as well.

  • Exclusive: After the Spanish right’s election loss, MCC’s Rodrigo Ballester says there are lessons to learn from Hungary, including for ‘the whole of the Western European right’

    Exclusive: After the Spanish right’s election loss, MCC’s Rodrigo Ballester says there are lessons to learn from Hungary, including for ‘the whole of the Western European right’

    For years, the French have been claiming that they have the dumbest right in the world. But hasn’t the title of the World’s “Dumbest Right” just been stolen from them by the Spanish? I’m thinking in particular of the People’s Party, the center-right PP…

    I think the question does arise for the PP. The results of the Spanish elections are the consequence of an absolutely catastrophic strategy and also of some fear, an inferiority complex in relation to the mental framework imposed by the left.

    The PP has not dared to assume a possible coalition at the national level with its natural electorate. The truth is that people who vote for Vox today were the People’s Party voters 10 or 15 years ago. The PP’s reluctance is all the more absurd given that it now has coalitions with Vox in several regions.

    But the PP’s idea for the general elections was to demonize Vox to attract voters. However, the exact opposite actually happened. It mobilized a moribund left that woke up to the cry of fascist wolf. The left was the first to cry wolf, but this was amplified by the PP, with whom Vox now has agreements at the regional level.

    The result was a communicative cacophony that also contributed to the defeat of the right. The PP’s strategy was indeed completely stupid. It was totally counterproductive and is going to cost the country dearly.

    Rodrigo Ballester, located on the far left, is pictured moderating a panel at MCC Feszt.

    The PP has thus failed to win back the Vox electorate in Spain. Perhaps it should have asked Hungary’s Fidesz for advice first. Hasn’t Fidesz managed to recapture part of the former electorate of Jobbik, the formerly nationalist party on its right? Is there a Hungarian lesson for PP?

    There is certainly a Hungarian lesson for the PP, but not concerning Jobbik’s regression. Jobbik committed hara-kiri all by itself. It was a far-right party that allied itself with the socialists, former communists, and Momentum’s woke activists in a coalition whose only common denominator was that it was anti-Orbán. Its voters made it pay dearly for this. Fidesz didn’t have to do anything for this to happen, and Jobbik was replaced on the right of Fidesz by Mi Hazánk, a nationalist party that entered parliament at the last elections with a small group of deputies.

    But perhaps there are other lessons to be learned from Hungary, not just for the PP in Spain and Les Républicains (LR) in France, but for the whole of the Western European right. Indeed, the entire Western European right is completely subordinated, sometimes psychologically conditioned, to the hegemonic cultural framework of the left.

    The first lesson they could take from the Hungarian right is to abandon their complexes, stop being afraid, and stop always referring to the frame of thought of their political adversaries.

    Is this what Fidesz did to return to power after its 2002 defeat?

    In my opinion, yes. And what makes Fidesz so successful is that it has been able not only to challenge the left’s mental, psychological, and cultural framework to win elections but also, later on, to govern. In the Fidesz party, they are “thinkers” but also “doers.”

    The day it returns to government, the Spanish People’s Party will also have to learn this lesson.

    The PP enjoyed an absolute majority from 2011 to 2018, under Mariano Rajoy. It only used it to deal with unemployment and economic management. This was very necessary at the time, but the PP did not dare to take on the cultural battle with that absolute majority, which it will never enjoy again.

    The second lesson from Hungary for the PP is that you shouldn’t be afraid to look to your right. With 3 or 4 million voters in Spain voting for Vox, the PP needs to stop being “more papist than the Pope” when it comes to demonizing this party. It cannot afford to maintain a cordon sanitaire around Vox. “Cordon sanitaire” is in itself a despicable expression that should not exist in a democracy, and should not even be used.

    The Hungarian lessons are lessons in common sense, in basic political logic that the Western right, for fear of what people will say, dare not take.

    The same applies to the European People’s Party, which for two terms now has assumed that its role is to vote in the European Parliament with the liberals, socialists, communists, and greens. Anyone but the conservatives.

    In Spain, Vox has all the major media outlets against it. The PP does not have all the media against it, but it feels obliged to sound progressive so as not to have them against it. It is the same situation as in France or Germany, where the mainstream media are almost all in the camp of the liberal left. Fidesz lost the 2002 elections in a similar situation. It had most of the media, which were also almost all left-wing in Hungary, against it. How did it manage to change its situation in that respect? Is there a Hungarian lesson here too for Western European right-wingers?

    I do not exactly know what made the wind change direction after 2002 so that Fidesz could return to power. But what I know perfectly well is that once the Fidesz people came back to power, they said to themselves: “I got fooled once, I won’t get fooled twice.”

    There is an expression here in Hungary, in the ranks of Fidesz, to refer to the period from 1998 to 2002: “We were in government but not in power.” After their victory in 2010, they decided not only to be in government but actually to be in power.

    Power is not just government, it is everything that goes with it, and you need the political will to exercise that power, including with right-wing media that can explain the actions of Fidesz governments in a more or less objective way, something the left-wing media will never do. There is a lot of talk these days about social media helping to short-circuit the mainstream media’s hegemony, but that is not enough.

    [pp id=78149]

    One of the great lessons of the Spanish election is that the legacy media – the press and especially television – can have an absolutely decisive effect. If it hadn’t been for the vast majority of the media, including those very close to the PP who had received instructions from the People’s Party to demonize Vox, the election result would undoubtedly have been very different.

    However, after 13 years of Viktor Orbán’s government, how does pluralism in Hungary compare with Spain?

    Contrary to popular belief, the Hungarian media landscape is actually much more plural than that of Spain. In Spain, there isn’t a single major TV station that won’t put Vox under constant attack, for example. And you don’t have a single major TV station that is going to be openly in favor of the People’s Party. The vast majority of TV stations in Spain are openly left-wing and openly pro-Sánchez or pro-left coalition.

    As for the public media in Spain, public television has been completely colonized by the left. In fact, this was Pedro Sánchez’s first measure when he came to power in 2018: He immediately scuppered an agreement that existed at the time in the Spanish parliament to appoint a director of Spanish television based on mutual consent. Sánchez came and imposed his candidate, who was a former journalist with strong left-wing leanings.

    What about Hungary?

    In terms of television, for example, there is clearly more pluralism in Hungary. The situation is certainly not ideal, but alongside a government-controlled public channel, you also have a private channel that is the biggest and most-watched television channel, and it is openly anti-government. This means that if you watch television in Hungary, when one channel tells you something, the other tells you the opposite. In Spain, all the channels tell you the same thing.

    [pp id=76923]

    And even in the print media, things are much more balanced in Hungary than people give them credit for. There is a clear dominance of conservative newspapers in the local press outside Budapest and the big cities, but it is much more balanced in the national press. And then of course there is the Internet, with Hungary’s major online sites being predominantly left-wing.

    So you could say that Fidesz has imposed pluralism, which did not exist in Hungary either, right? In 2006, this even caused riots because Hungarians had had enough of the media lying to them.

    Exactly.

    They even set fire to the headquarters of public television in their exasperation.

    As far as I know, this was indeed the reason. It was a clear sign of citizen exasperation, but not something to be recommended.

    Indeed, this is not one of the Hungarian lessons to be followed, but there are others, more positive and constructive. I am thinking in particular of the cultural war waged by the left in the West. We are here at the MCC Feszt, which is a very special festival. For the past three years, it has been held in Esztergom, 50 kilometers from Budapest. You see a lot of young people there because there are concerts and festive evenings, but there are also very serious discussions during the day, for three days in a row. Even though the speakers come from a wide range of backgrounds, conservative views are clearly dominating the discussions. Is the festival organized by the Mathias Corvinus Collegium an instrument of cultural warfare against the left?

    It is counter-culture, and it is done in a very spontaneous and natural way. This festival takes place in a very friendly atmosphere. There are concerts with the best Hungarian bands and tens of thousands of festival-goers.

    It should not necessarily be seen as a political festival. People come here mainly to have fun and, at the same time, they can indeed listen to opinions that people don’t get to hear in Western Europe. Forty thousand in all have come to the MCC Feszt this year!

    It is an example of counter-culture, and the MCC itself is also an example of counter-culture in the face of an academic world colonized by woke thinking and cancel culture — admittedly less so in Hungary than elsewhere, but in the social science faculties in particular, universities in this country are also markedly left-wing.

    [pp id=8974]

    Of course, in Hungary, it never happens that a mob of left-wing students prevents a right-wing lecturer from speaking. We are not at the level of censorship you might find at Sciences Po in France, or Cambridge and Oxford in England.

    And in Spain?

    This is less the case in Spain than in the Anglo-American world, but much more so than in Hungary. In Spain, it is mainly the world of culture and cinema that is rabidly leftist.

    So here is another lesson from Hungary, perhaps one for the right-wingers of Western Europe to follow when they come to power: Mathias Corvinus Collegium, or MCC, which offers both free university accommodation and complementary courses with a conservative outlook to students from all those universities colonized by left-wing ideologies. And there is this unique annual festival organized by MCC in Esztergom…

    These recipes have been applied in Hungary since 2010. In this country, the conservative counter-model has not only been conceived, it has been implemented. There are plenty of concrete examples of what can be done in the face of left-wing domination.

    In the cultural sphere, for example for the protection of folklore and the management of cultural institutes, there have been real battles. Among other things, Fidesz has succeeded in opening up the management of theaters, which used to belong to a small, very urban clique in Budapest. It has opened up this management to other circles too. It is a very positive thing indeed. All models are here, in Hungary.

    I wonder, though, if Hungarian society isn’t inherently more conservative than Spanish society. Isn’t this above all why Fidesz’s action has worked so well in Hungary?

    It is indeed important not to simply copy and paste. Every country is different, with its own historical traditions and different historical origins.

    You cannot culturally compare a country that lived under Communism for 45 years with a country like Spain, which had the opposite experience, with a right-wing authoritarian dictatorship for almost 40 years.

    Moreover, unraveling 45 years of left-wing cultural hegemony in Spain is extremely complicated. It is a long-term job that cannot be done by the government alone. A real cultural battle also involves civil society and other sectors.

    However, the cultural battle also involves triggering a change in mentality. This was achieved in Hungary thanks to Viktor Orbán’s strong leadership, but not everyone is Orbán.

    In the meantime, civil society can already organize itself as the MCC did in the past. It was actually created in 1996 by a handful of families, and it later developed year after year before literally booming over the past three years.

    It is a very long-term process which, in Western Europe, will take time, and in some cases may even have to be much more disruptive.

    Rodrigo Ballester is a Spaniard who spent his younger years in France and now lives in Hungary, He currently serves as the head of the Matthias Corvinus Collegium’s Center for European Studies in Budapest. He is also a lawyer and a former EU civil servant who worked in the European Commission from 2008 to 2019.

  • Spanish conservatives win most seats in general election but fall short of absolute majority

    Spanish conservatives win most seats in general election but fall short of absolute majority

    Spanish conservatives were celebrating into the night on Sunday after winning the general election by securing the largest number of parliamentary seats. However, they fell short of an absolute majority, leaving the country in a state of turmoil.

    With more than 99 percent of the vote counted by Sunday evening, the People’s Party (PP), led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, had acquired 136 parliamentary seats, beating Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), which attained 122 seats.

    The right-wing Vox party, a potential coalition partner for Feijóo’s conservatives, had a difficult night, sing their seat count in the Spanish parliament drop from 52 to 33. And Sumar, the fledgling progressive platform more affiliated with Sanchez’s socialists, won 31 seats.

    This means that when collating the seat count for both sides’ most natural allies, a right-wing bloc of PP, Vox, and the regional UPN and Coalición Canaria parties would have 171 parliamentary seats. Meanwhile, Sanchez’s PSOE, Sumar, the Basque nationalist EH Bildu, and BNG could combine to reach 165 seats.

    The number required for an absolute majority is 176.

    The election appears to have resulted in few winners. Feijóo is expected to enact his right and request to form a government. However, the pathway for establishing a stable government looks problematic at best, and a minority government with individual bilateral agreements on certain issues with minor parties could be the best way forward.

    If this is deemed impossible, Prime Minister Sanchez could seek to form another left-wing coalition by negotiating with pro-independence Catalan parties, the ERC and Junts, established in 2020 by former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, both of which won 7 parliamentary seats in Madrid.

    Speaking after the results, Vox President Santiago Abascal warned about such a possibility. “I want to congratulate Mr. Feijóo as the winner of the elections,” Abascal said of the PP’s victory.

    “I want to point out what is bad news for many Spaniards: Pedro Sánchez, even losing the elections, can block an investiture. And, even worse, Pedro Sánchez could even be installed (as PM) with the support of communism, the coup pro-independence movement, and terrorism,” he added.

    Both Catalan parties sensed the opportunity the election had presented them on Sunday, with Junts candidate Míriam Nogueras telling journalists the party “will not make Sánchez president for nothing.”

    “We have indeed understood the result. Ours is a town that takes advantage of opportunities and this is an opportunity. A stage for change has opened (for us) to recover unity. At Junts, we have maintained our position, but it has been worth it,” she added.

    Meanwhile, ERC leader Gabriel Rufián said: “We can tip the scales. From minute one, we make ourselves available to do what we said we would do, which is to set a price. Put a dilemma on the table of Spanish progressivism: either Catalonia or Vox.

    “This is the dilemma that Pedro Sánchez and Yolanda (Díaz, the leader of Sumar) have if they want to govern their country,” he added.

    Despite the fraught difficulties on the horizon, both main parties declared the election a success, including Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez who told a crowd of supporters on Sunday evening: “The backward-looking bloc that wanted to abolish the advances of the last four years has failed.”

    “There are far more of us, those who want to see Spain continue to advance,” he added.

    The victorious People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo had remained tight-lipped at the time of writing, but party sources told El País newspaper that he will seek to form a government following the result.

    “We would not understand a decision that did not go in that direction. This country has never made someone president who has lost the elections,” they told the newspaper.

  • Spain’s center-right has no other choice but to stop demonizing conservative Vox party

    Spain’s center-right has no other choice but to stop demonizing conservative Vox party

    Castile and León will no longer be the only Spanish region that is governed by a coalition between the center-right People’s Party (PP) and the Vox conservatives. After the PP’s victory in many regions and municipalities, albeit short of an absolute majority, and Vox’s strong progression in the May 28 elections, the Spanish center-right has no choice but to negotiate new coalitions with a party it has been demonizing for years.

    With parliamentary elections due to take place at the national level on July 23 and opinion polls showing that the PP is very unlikely to obtain an absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies, it could enjoy a comfortable majority together with the party of Santiago Abascal. Given the current electoral reality, forming coalitions with the left or even minority governments with the left’s support to keep the traditional “cordon sanitaire” in place around Vox is the worst of all options for Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s PP. Hence, after July 23, Spain is likely to be the next Western European country, after Sweden, Finland and Italy, where a right-wing, sovereignist, anti-mass immigration party is in government.

    [pp id=36877]

    Due to the Spanish system of autonomous communities, i.e., regions with a lot of autonomy to govern themselves, negotiations to form governing coalitions are conducted locally, with some PP leaders having struck deals very fast. Others, like the PP leader of the Extremadura region, find it hard to understand that it is no longer useful or productive to demonize Vox and insult its members and voters to please the mostly left-leaning mainstream media — what has essentially been going on for years in France regarding Marine Le Pen’s National Rally.

    In mid-June, the Valencia region was among the first where the local PP and Vox struck a deal after years of a coalition government between the left and the far left. With the PP having won 35 percent of the popular vote and Vox 12 percent, together they have an absolute majority in the regional parliament. Their government program clearly bears the imprint of Vox, with the struggle against “gender-based violence” being refocused to intra-familiar violence in general, with planned tax cuts, and the possibility for parents to refuse that their children participate at school in classes provided by external actors. The new government of the Valencia autonomous community also plans to take measures to favor more births instead of more immigration.

    In that government, Vox holds the portfolios of justice, interior affairs, culture, and agriculture. The region’s president, who heads the regional government, is the local PP leader while the parliament’s speaker is now a deputy from Vox.

    [pp id=76559]

    The region’s PP president, Carlos Mazón, has said he is very satisfied with the deal struck with Vox and has promised stable governments for the region, saying in the media: “We don’t like sanitary cordons.”

    However, not all within the PP have come to terms so easily with the new political reality created by Vox’s emergence on the party’s right, due to its own shift to the left in the previous decade under former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

    At the other end of the PP’s political spectrum is the region of Extremadura, bordering Castile and León to the north. In Extremadura, the local PP leader, María Guardiola, whose list came only second to the socialist party (PSOE) on May 28 but could have an absolute majority with the support of Vox, said right after the regional elections that Vox should support her election by the regional parliament as the region’s president. She added, however, that her red line was that a party like Vox which, according to her, denies there is such a thing as male violence (Vox is against having special laws for violence committed by men against women, which it sees as treating men as criminals, per se, and as discriminating against men), criminalizes migrants by speaking out against illegal immigration and throws LGBT flags in the garbage.

    So, with this very left-leaning PP leader in Extremadura, the role of speaker of the regional parliament fell back to the socialists. This was when Guardiola began to understand she was not going to govern at all and will probably have to face a repeat of the elections soon, probably with many PP voters unimpressed by her defense of illegal immigrants and LGBT flags. Although the national PP leader, Núñez Feijóo, said regional sections of the party are free to negotiate their own agreements with whoever they like, he had good reasons to worry, as Guardiola was sowing doubt over what kind of coalition the PP could form after the July 23 national election and whether voting for the PP would mean voting for the right or the left.

    “Does anyone vote for the PP because of the LGBT flag?” asked center-right daily newspaper El Mundo’s columnist on June 21. The answer is probably hardly anyone.

    Facing growing unease within her party, just seven days after she had lost control of the parliament’s presidency to the socialists because of her inability to negotiate with Vox, Guardiola thus had to call a meeting with the PP leadership in Extremadura to explain her stance in front of unhappy participants.

    [pp id=63319]

    After that, things have been evolving in a different direction this week, with Guardiola finally understanding that if she is to maintain the “cordon sanitaire” against Vox in Extremadura, she will not get the region’s top job.

    So she acknowledged publicly that “respect, dialogue and programmatic agreement” with Vox is “essential” and that both parties, the PP and Vox “have to understand each other and build an alternative.”

    Vox’s leader, Santiago Abascal, sees this as a positive step, leaving the door open to negotiations with the PP. Referring to the current government coalition of the socialists and the far left supported by several regional separatist parties in parliament, Abascal said: “What is important now is Spain, what is important now for us is July 23 and to throw out of the Moncloa Palace those who have become a danger to Spain and have incorporated into the leadership of the state all the enemies of the constitutional order and the unity of Spain.”

    [pp id=30099]

    On June 27, after a first round of real discussions with Vox, the PP leader in Extremadura said she is convinced both parties will find an agreement and that “Vox is a constitutional party with which (she wants) to strike a deal.”

    “We are parties that are different and on many occasions do not share ideas and visions, but I believe that in a moment like this, which is decisive for Spain, it is more important to meet despite the discrepancies,” said Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the Madrid regions’ charismatic PP leader who obtained an absolute majority on May 28, in an interview with El Mundo published on June 25.

    Meanwhile, the PP leader in another region, Murcia, is still insisting he does not want to have Vox in his regional government although he is two seats short of a majority in the region’s parliament. In Murcia, the PP obtained 43 percent of the popular vote and Vox 18 percent, and at least two deputies from Vox would have to abstain for him to be voted into office. However, Vox has said that short of an agreement on a governing coalition, they will vote against him, and that, based on their earlier bad experience in supporting a PP government in Murcia from the outside, they will not be satisfied with an agreement on a common program, as they know it will not be executed by the PP once a government is formed.

    But contrasting with Guardiola in Extremadura, the PP leaders in Murcia have refrained from demonizing Vox in their political discourse, and negotiations are still going on between the PP and Vox in two other regions: the Balearic Islands and Aragon, where MPs from Vox have been elected speakers of the regional parliaments with support from the PP as part of pre-agreements.

    Ahead of the July 23 elections which the Spanish right is almost certain to win, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the PP leader at the national level, has now ended the “cordon sanitaire” surrounding Vox officials, noting that the consequence of such a “cordon sanitaire” is that even when Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE party does not win an election, the PP cannot strike coalition deals with anyone and the election has to be repeated.

    This is all the more true that the PP’s previous frequent coalition partner, the centrist party Ciudadanos (Citizens), has now almost completely disappeared from the Spanish political scene and will not take part in the July 23 election. So the “cordon sanitaire” is no longer acceptable in Feijóo’s eyes. “We are not going to receive any lessons on [coalition] pacts,” Feijóo has said, adding: “And certainly not from those who made the (current) ‘Frankenstein’ pact, as the socialists themselves call it, which consists of making a pact with the greatest populism and extremism in Europe, Podemos, which has changed its name and is now called Sumar, alongside the Basque and Catalan independence advocates, who are against maintaining the nation. Such a pact does not exist in any other country in Europe.”

  • Brit bottled by migrant squatters after confronting group living in his Spanish home

    Brit bottled by migrant squatters after confronting group living in his Spanish home

    A British homeowner in the Spanish province of Málaga has been hospitalized after traveling from England to confront a group of migrant squatters living in his Spanish property.

    The incident occurred on Tuesday in the town of Manilva, located approximately 100 kilometers southwest of Málaga.

    The victim, known as Michael, had received a call two days prior from neighbors at the Spanish residential complex informing him of movement within his property. When it became clear a group of men had accessed the property and were now living in it, the British national flew out from Liverpool to recover his home.

    According to Spanish newspaper El Confidencial, Michael noticed the locks had been changed, and accessed his property from the balcony of an adjoining apartment. Once inside his home, he identified “three men, probably of Moroccan nationality.”

    They reportedly expressed their intention to assert their rights under Spanish law, a tense discussion escalated into an assault when one of the squatters used a bottle to attack the Brit, bloodying his face and torso.

    “One of them breaks a glass bottle with which he struck several blows to the complainant’s body and head while he was struggling,” the police report read.

    The victim was taken to the hospital where he spent a night under observation.

    It later transpired that the squatters had been given access to the property by a former tenant without the owner’s knowledge or consent, according to a local source cited by El Mundo.

    Under Spain’s liberal squatting laws, it is notoriously difficult for owners to evict illegal occupants from a property once they have access to it, and judicial intervention is required.

    The judicial process in this regard was sped up through constitutional changes in 2018; however, property owners still often find themselves in legal difficulty when attempting to take matters into their own hands.

    This is an issue that Mario Jiménez, the mayor of Manilva City Council, wants to see addressed. He expressed concern about the attack generating publicity that “does not do the municipality or anyone outside our borders any good.

    “There is a need for sanity to solve the problem of squatting, to provide judges and state security forces and bodies with the necessary tools to combat it,” he added.

  • After Spanish left’s crushing defeat in local elections, Pedro Sánchez calls for snap elections on July 23

    After Spanish left’s crushing defeat in local elections, Pedro Sánchez calls for snap elections on July 23

    Spaniards voted on Sunday to elect their regional and municipal assemblies, and the results that came out of the ballot boxes do not bode well for Pedro Sánchez’s governing coalition of socialists, far-left populists, and communists.

    The landslide victory of the center-right People’s Party (PP) and Vox’s conservatives in Sunday’s local and regional elections came after a campaign marred by attempts by members of the prime minister’s socialist party (PSOE) to rig the election in some municipalities. There was also the usual hate speech directed at conservatives from government circles that has resulted in acts of physical violence by far-left extremists and the presence of former terrorists linked to the Basque Marxist organization (ETA) in the electoral lists of a regional far-left party, Bildu, which has been indispensable to maintaining Sٞánchez’s minority government in power.

    Whereas those election irregularities have gone unnoticed in Brussels — where Europe’s left-liberal establishment seems to be preoccupied with democracy and the rule of law solely in member states ruled by right-wing conservatives — they have been heavily castigated by Spanish voters. These voters probably also had in mind the threat to democracy and the rule of law posed by the ruling coalition’s recent radical legislation, like the “Yes means yes” law, which has led to the liberation of hundreds of sexual offenders, and the “trans” law adopted this year, which is Europe’s most radical gender-ideology law and marks a real totalitarian drift.

    Although the definitive results were not yet fully known on Monday, it was already clear that out of 17 autonomous regions in total and of the 12 where elections were held on Sunday, the center-right PP has now taken over at least six of the 10 that were governed by the socialists. The only region that was governed by the PSOE’s coalition partner, Podemos, together with far-left allies, the Valencia region, has fallen into the hands of the center-right too. However, the PP will need Vox to govern in several regions and not only, as until now, in Castile and León. This is not the case in Madrid, however, where the electoral list conducted by the region’s incumbent PP president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, obtained an absolute majority on Sunday.

    [pp id=76923]

    The PSOE’s far-left coalition partner Podemos lost the region of Valencia where it governed with other far-left parties, and it suffered heavy losses all over Spain, including in the capital city of Madrid, from which it originated and where it was wiped out of the municipal council.

    A new competitor that had emerged from its ranks, another far-left party created by Sánchez’s labor minister, Sumar, was defeated everywhere, and its Catalan allies, whom it officially supported, lost their mayorships in the cities of Valencia and Barcelona. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s far-left coalition partners will now not be part of any regional government apart from Navarra where Podemos still stands a chance to be part of a coalition that would include Bildu, the party that had former terrorists on its list.

    On Sunday, Podemos was completely wiped out in five of the 12 regional parliaments.

    Meanwhile, Santiago Abascal’s conservative party Vox, which had made its first incursion in a regional parliament in Andalusia in 2018 and entered the national Congress of Deputies for the first time in 2019, will now be represented in all 12 regional parliaments that were renewed on Sunday in addition to the parliaments of Andalusia and Catalonia, which have elections at a different time.

    Vox’s explosive rise

    Vox was created in 2013 by conservative members of the PP who did not agree with their party’s leftward drift under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and it now appears as a necessary coalition partner for the PP in most regions where the right is in a position to govern.

    With over 1.6 million votes on May 28, Vox achieved twice as many votes as in the municipal elections of 2019. It increased its number of seats in the parliaments of Valencia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands, Murcia and Cantabria, and it is entering for the first time the parliaments of the regions of Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, La Rioja, Navarre and the Canary Islands. Santiago Abascal’s party has also increased its number of local councilors throughout the country from 530 to 1,687. In Catalonia, where its members have traditionally suffered the most brutal politically motivated attacks by separatists and left-wing activists, its number of councilors throughout the region has now risen from only three to more than 120.

    Vox’s only black spots in these elections are the Madrid region, where it will now have 10 seats instead of 13 and the PP has gained an absolute majority, as well as Ceuta, in North Africa, where it failed to meet its expectations of coming first and being able to form a government.

    [pp id=36877]

    Since the last parliamentary elections in the fall of 2019 in which it won 52 seats out of 349, Vox has been the third force in the Congress of Deputies behind the PSOE and the PP.

    After Sunday’s election, even center-right newspaper El Mundo came to the conclusion that “a more favorable scenario is now opening up for Vox than for any other party. It will make its debut in numerous new parliaments and will become a key player in the formation of right-wing governments.”

    Spain’s left is faltering

    In the big cities, one of the notable losses for Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE is Sevilla, the capital of Andalusia and its last bastion in a region it governed without interruption from 1978 to 2019.

    Another loser of last Sunday’s elections in Spain is the centrist-liberal Ciudadanos party, which is a close ally of Macron’s Renaissance party in the European Parliament, sharing its radically progressive and euro-enthusiastic views. Three and a half years after its crushing defeat in the last national elections, Sunday’s results come as a confirmation that Ciudadanos (Citizens) is no longer a significant player on the Spanish political scene and has ceased to be a potential ally for Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s PP.

    Feijóo, who became the PP’s leader last year, has since then seemed undecided whether to continue his predecessor’s strategy of demonizing Vox and espousing Ciudadanos’ and the PSOE’s liberal-progressive views. He must now know that this will not be possible if the PP is to govern in most regions and probably also at the national level after the July 23 elections.

    Remix News asked Spanish journalist Alvaro Peñas whether he thinks there will soon be such a coalition governing Spain. Peñas notes that the PSOE has actually lost only some 430,000 votes compared to the previous regional and local elections, and it is the progression of both the PP (with almost 2 million more votes, putting it some 750,000 votes ahead of the PSOE) and Vox that is making a big difference.

    [pp id=5792]

    If the People’s Party does not get an absolute majority on July 23, Peñas says, it will then have to negotiate with Vox even if some of its leaders do not like the idea. And it is unlikely the PP will repeat at the national level the same good results as in the Madrid region, where the local PP leader, Isábel Ayuso, is much more charismatic than Feijóo.

    However, although a PP-Vox coalition has been functioning in Castille y Leon for some time, in some regions, for example, Aragon or Extremadura, the local PP leaders have said they want to convince the left to abstain to allow them to form minority governments without having to negotiate with Vox.

    “So there will be some resistance within the PP,” says Peñas, “but what these elections have shown is that if it wasn’t for Vox, the PP could not oust the Socialist Party from power, as many people who now vote for Vox are conservative voters who are angry at the PP, and it is the sum of those forces that makes it possible for the right to govern, making such a coalition a matter of necessity for the center-right.”

    Santiago Abascal, on his part, said on Monday that he is in favor of forming coalition governments with the PP both locally and at the national level.

    “It is our duty to build a great alternative, starting from the municipalities and regions, to the terrible legacy that the pact made by Sánchez (with the far left and the separatists) has left us,” Abascal said on Monday.

    If it was not for Sánchez’s decision to dissolve his government on Monday, the next general elections would have taken place next December.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Spain’s Vox party is ‘determined to change all the public policies of the left on energy, food sovereignty, security, immigration and taxes,’ says conservative leader MEP Jorge Buxadé

    EXCLUSIVE: Spain’s Vox party is ‘determined to change all the public policies of the left on energy, food sovereignty, security, immigration and taxes,’ says conservative leader MEP Jorge Buxadé

    Many Europeans wonder why Spain has become so left-wing. It’s probably the most left-wing country on the whole continent now, isn’t it?

    Well, yes, the explanation is perhaps very complex, but fundamentally it is because, during the years in which there have been governments of the Popular Party, the center-right has not been able to give a cultural-political response to all the challenges posed by the left. Therefore, when the left has governed, it has advanced its political agenda, and when the center-right has governed, it has been incapable of opposing this agenda and it even implemented left-wing policies. Forty years of this have brought about social change. However, Vox is proof that there is a response in Spanish society and that we can reverse the situation.

    So, if the Popular Party has conducted leftist policies for years, why can’t Vox replace it? Despite Vox’s progression, the PP still gets the most votes on the right. Don’t Spaniards see that it is now more of a left-wing party than a right-wing one?

    Indeed, there is a part of Spanish society that has not yet realized that the Popular Party is nothing more than the Socialist Party a few years behind. We, Vox, continue to grow and in the next municipal and regional elections at the end of May 2023, Vox will be the party that will grow the most in Spain. Of course, we know that this is not going to be easy, but we are determined to change all the public policies of the left on energy, food sovereignty, security, immigration and taxes.

    [pp id=76199]

    The problem is that in Spain there is no real freedom in the media. The media are either public or, when they are private, they survive thanks to subsidies from public administrations. Therefore, there is no real free competition; there are practically no conservative media in Spain, and this places Vox in a situation of competitive inferiority.

    So, it’s the same as in countries like France and Germany, yes?

    I think so. I don’t fully know the situation in those countries, but I think so.

    Vox talks a lot about this problem, but not only. It also sounds the alarm against general rule-of-law issues in Spain. Can you tell us what are the main problems with the rule of law under the coalition government of the left and the far left led by Pedro Sánchez?

    The fundamental problem is that since the beginning of the legislature, Sánchez has launched an assault on the institutions — the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the National Intelligence Center — taking hold of all the institutions, unfortunately doing so on many occasions with the collaboration of the Popular Party. Starting from there, there are other very important issues, including inequality among Spaniards. In Spain, the system of autonomous communities, or regions, has developed so much that it now stands in the way of equality among Spaniards. For example, hundreds of thousands of Spanish people living on Spanish territory cannot freely use their language and study in Spanish because Sánchez’s minority government has to find agreements with all the separatist and globalist forces that exist in Spain.

    Regarding separatists, it seems that for the May 28 elections, some of their political parties have on their lists people who were convicted in the past for terrorism, including for blood crimes…

    Yes, and it’s a very serious matter. A few days ago we learned that 44 people convicted of terrorism are on the electoral lists of the Bildu party, which is a separatist party in the Basque Country and the Sanchez government’s main support. The drift of the government in Spain towards chaos and autocracy, following the model of the narco-dictatorships in Latin America — Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua — is evident. And therefore, it is urgent that Vox enters as many institutions as possible to stop this process of destruction of the social order.

    Being an MEP who sees all this also from Strasbourg and Brussels, how do you explain the fact that the EU institutions do not react as they do with Poland or Hungary, which do not have such serious problems with the rule of law or with political violence like the physical aggression by the extreme left in Spain?

    It is very simple: The Brussels machinery is ideologized with a strong left-wing and federalist bias. And as Sánchez, when he goes to Brussels, always agrees with them on everything, and Sánchez is the main executor of the whole globalist and federalist agenda in Spain, Brussels considers him an ally. For that reason, what is not allowed for Poland or Hungary is allowed for Sánchez.

    [pp id=75485]

    Furthermore, Poland and Hungary are often attacked without reason whereas Sánchez is allowed to pursue a process of destruction of the democratic institutions and of the independence of the institutions that guarantee citizens’ rights such as the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court.

    In the context of the CPAC conference that took place in Budapest on May 4 and 5, where you made a speech and had discussions, do you think there are reasons to be optimistic about the possibility to reverse this evolution to the left, not only in Spain, which is at the forefront of the progressive revolution in Europe but throughout Europe?

    Yes. I believe that the enemy is very powerful, but CPAC showed that there is a growing conservative force of reaction to the processes of destruction of Europe. We have seen this in the last elections in Hungary, Italy, Sweden and Finland, and we expect this to continue later this year with the elections in Poland and Spain. There is a reaction of European nations against the woke agenda, the 2030 agenda, the globalist agenda, and the projects of federalization of the European Union that are pushed forward by the Brussels bureaucracies. CPAC was yet another moment to demonstrate the strength of conservative and patriotic movements in Europe, as was, for example, the Madrid summit chaired by Santiago Abascal just over a year ago.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘They want people who are isolated, who have no past, no relations, no family, and no identity,’ warns Spanish MEP and vice-chair of the ECR Group Hermann Tertsch

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘They want people who are isolated, who have no past, no relations, no family, and no identity,’ warns Spanish MEP and vice-chair of the ECR Group Hermann Tertsch

    You said during the panel discussion in which you took part at CPAC Hungary on May 4 that the Left and the liberals are nervous because they see that the right is now going forward and is acting together. How is it in Spain to be a conservative when your country is ruled by a coalition of the left and the far left?

    Well, they say all kinds of things about us: We are monsters, we are fascists, we are Nazis, we are almost everything. And we have all the media against us, but that’s a normal thing. I guess that happens in most European countries with parties that want to have a real conservative policy.

    True, but in Spain it can get pretty brutal sometimes. We talked about it back in 2021, when there was a wave of left-wing violence against Vox in electoral meetings. Is the situation any better now?

    No, it’s not any better now. We had some physical attacks again just a few days ago. In Catalonia, in particular, we suffer endless aggression that is promoted by the government of Catalonia and by the government of Spain, which is continuously demonizing and criminalizing us.

    So we know who we are confronted with, and this situation is no surprise to us. They are our enemies because they want to destroy us, and they want to destroy us because we want to change the rules. We want democracy; we want the nation back; we want to defend our own people; we want our values and our traditions to be respected, and we want the people who are in Spain to respect Spain instead of continuously violating Spanish law. We want an end to imported criminality. We want to end the hatred against women that we import. We want to fight the antisemitism, which we import with the Muslim immigration from North Africa. We want a country with rules, with legal rules that are respected by everybody. We want all people to be equal and everybody who lives in Spain to be there legally. And we want our borders to be secure.

    These are all very normal things, which should be respected and seen as logical by everybody. We are not extremists when we ask for things that 50 years ago, every social democrat or Christian democrat would have asked for: law and order, secure borders, and so on. However, today we are being called extremists for just that, although we simply want to restore our nation, and we see that in all of Europe there is a reaction.

    At CPAC Hungary, you also mentioned how the left has been doing social engineering based on the EU’s Green Deal policies.

    It is not just the Green Deal, but the Green Deal is the biggest example of the monstrous kind of social engineering that we have in the European Union. As I said during our panel discussion, it is a Leninist way of dealing with the future. They want to intervene in everything. They want to conduct everything. They want to discipline everything, and they want to control everything. They need to control everything in order to manage everything. So what we are developing in the European Union with this Green Deal is really a communist ideal. It goes along with this monstrous development of socialist control and intervention in every sphere and at every level of our daily lives.

    Talking about social engineering, you now have a so-called “trans law” that came into force in Spain not long ago.

    Yes, we now have this monstrous “trans law.” It is an appalling decision by the Spanish government that allows kids to be mutilated without their parents being able to prevent it from happening. Unfortunately, we are moving faster than others. Spain has become some sort of laboratory of the fastest way of destroying society. Whereas Hungary is now a case model of how to recover the nation and restore its defenses, Spain is the place where the left is now destroying all defenses of the nation in the most radical and speedy manner.

    [pp id=76923]

    What about the next general elections that are to be held this year in your country? Can conservatives count on a coalition between the People’s Party (PP) and Vox to put an end to the current ruling coalition between the left and the far left?

    If it depends on Vox, yes. But if it depends on the PP, I am not so sure; you would have to ask them.

    Is the PP actually still a right-wing party or has it become more of a left-wing party?

    That’s a good question. I wouldn’t be so sure. Theoretically, they are a center-right party and they always were. But they are one of those supposedly center-right parties that attract conservative votes during elections and then enforce leftist and progressive policies once elected.

    How come conservative voters keep voting for them in that situation?

    That’s also a good question. Well, mainly because of habits and because they are afraid of voting for us, but this is less and less the case because we are growing in numbers and we are showing that we are an alternative to this permanent betrayal of conservatives’ votes by the Spanish People’s Party and also by the European People’s Party. The European People’s Party expelled Fidesz from its ranks, and they vote 70 percent of the time with the socialists, Macron’s liberals, the communists, and the Greens. They also vote together with the left and extreme left in favor of all the things linked to the United Nations’ very leftist 2030 Agenda. They are all together. The only people who vote differently are us, the European Conservatives and Reformists, Identity & Democracy, and Fidesz, which does not belong to any group in the European Parliament for the time being. So I hope that in the next legislature, even if we are not together in one group, we can develop very strong cooperation between the two groups.

    At CPAC Hungary you also talked about a Reconquista, which could last not 800 years like the Spanish Reconquista against the Muslims but still some time. Aren’t you afraid it is going to be too late by the time such a Reconquista has a chance to succeed?

    Many people indeed think that. I believe, however, that there is still enough energy and hope on a continent that has a long history. We must have self-confidence and the love for our ancestors, our history, our heritage, and our sons and the next generations in order to move things in the right direction and avoid suicide, because they want us to commit suicide. They want only to have slaves. They want people who are isolated, who have no past, no relations, no family, and no identity whatsoever, people intermingled in such a way that everything is confused and everybody is interchangeable. We must seek to avoid this.

    Does the organization of CPAC Hungary mean that American and European conservatives are allies fighting the same struggle?

    Of course, we are fighting the same struggle. If we all stick to our values, then we will be together. What we can’t do is look for shortcuts, making alliances with people who are against our values. This is very important. We can’t be tempted to make alliances just because someone is the enemy of our enemies. We have to make alliances between people sharing common values: the Republicans in the USA, but also all the conservatives in South America who are now overrun by the Foro de São Paulo, which is the combination of the communist movement with organized crime.

    Drug trafficking is in the hands of the Foro de São Paulo and the Grupo de Puebla, which is the communist movement. That’s Lula in Brazil, Petro in Colombia, Maduro in Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Correa in Ecuador, and Díaz-Canel in Cuba. These are all people who are totalitarian and as such are our enemies. Latin America is also the West, and it’s an enormous force that needs to be with us. Through Spain and the Iberian Peninsula, we have an enormous connection with Latin America. North Americans, South Americans, and Europeans should pull together in this fight for civilization.

    ***

    Hermann Tertsch is a journalist, member of the editorial board of La Gaceta de la Iberosfera, and a Vox MEP since 2019. In the 1980s, he worked as the Spanish press agency’s correspondent in Vienna, covering Central and Eastern Europe, and was later El País’ correspondent in Bonn and Warsaw. Starting from the 1990s and until the year 2019, Hermann Tertsch worked with a number of major Spanish media outlets. In the European Parliament, he is vice-chair of the ECR Group and vice-chair of the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (DLAT). He is also a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and of the Delegation to the EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee.

  • New ‘trans law’ means Spain is no longer a free country, says head of major Spanish lawyers’ association

    New ‘trans law’ means Spain is no longer a free country, says head of major Spanish lawyers’ association

    There has been much talk of “women’s rights” in Spain this month. There was Women’s Day on March 8, which in Spain is something very important in the media and in the streets, but there are also four new laws championed by the self-styled “progressive” parliamentary majority related to those rights: the “trans” law, which came into force at the beginning of March; the “only yes means yes” law; the gender parity law; and a reform of the abortion law, which will allow minors to have an abortion without informing their parents.

    As for the so-called “trans law,” which is highly criticized by feminist associations, there were already such trans laws in some regions, such as Madrid, Andalusia and Murcia. What is going to change with this new law passed by the left-wing majority in the Spanish parliament?

    Well, with this new law, from now on in all of Spain, if you say, for example, that you are trans, without even changing your name, without any surgery, then you are considered a woman. And because of this, you get advantages over biological women like me. When it comes to accessing jobs, for example, you will be given preference over me.

    Another very dangerous thing is that if, for example, your 16-year-old daughter says she wants to have “sex-reassignment” surgery, then she can have her breasts cut off and her uterus removed.

    And this can happen from the age of 16 without parental consent and without a medical endorsement, although a girl or a boy may say they want to have surgery without it being a “gender dysphoria” issue. It can be because they have another type of psychiatric illness. So they will be operated on, and, as we know, these surgical operations are not reversible and have destroyed the lives of many.

    It is a very radical law, even more so than the Scottish law, which was rejected by the U.K. government for being too radical.

    It is a radical law, and this law has been enacted when there are countries realizing that these things do not work. In Spain, we are going against the latest trend. We are being more stupid than others. We enacted the most radical law just when its approach had been shown to be wrong.

    It is a law that is completely misogynistic because of what I have already said: You just need to pretend you are a woman, without changing your name and without any surgery, and you will get all the jobs ahead of me, a biological woman, and ahead of other women. It is a law that only harms women and minors, that confuses them, and allows them to undergo irreversible surgery that will destroy their lives and destroy them biologically.

    On the other hand, as a new gender parity law is also being discussed, it seems to me that this new “trans law” is going to solve the parity issue. If a company has too few women on its board, some men just need to declare they are women, isn’t that so?

    Yes, indeed. As a matter of fact, after just a few days of this “trans law” being in force, there were already many men who had said they were women just to get new rights that are meant for women. For this reason, this is undoubtedly the most harmful law for women ever.

    How are feminist associations in Spain reacting?

    They are against it and are calling for the resignation of Equality Minister Irene Montero. Montero is a very special case. The truth is that she could be a case for medical study, because what she is doing while pretending otherwise is completely against women and equality.

    In the end, I believe that she accessed her job at the Ministry of Equality because she had a relationship with the former vice-president of the government [Podemos’ leader Pablo Iglesias, ed.]. I think she has to prove something or wants to prove something, but she does not have the capacity. She did not get the job because of her own merits but because she was in a relationship. This is in itself something that harms us women because it looks like we can only have positions of responsibility if we have a sentimental relationship with a man of influence.

    But laws are passed by the government and then voted on by parliament. It’s not just her law, right?

    That’s true. What is happening in Spain is that, in exchange for passing these laws, there are minority groups that are getting benefits. For example, the secessionist groups (of Catalonia and the Basque Country), in exchange for approving these laws and in exchange for approving the state budget, are achieving previously unthinkable things, such as decriminalizing the crime of sedition or decriminalizing the crime of embezzlement.

    And what do doctors and psychiatrists say about this trans law, about the possibility for minors to “change sex” or “gender”? Because we are talking about minors who can have operations or hormone treatments without parental consent from the age of 16 and even earlier with parental consent.

    Medical professionals are all against it, obviously. All physicians are against it. Doctors were not asked because they would have said no, of course. You don’t even need a medical endorsement, a medical report that justifies something as important as having a mastectomy, which is the removal of the breasts or having the uterus removed. Doctors, women, and lawyers are against it, and only the equality minister is in favor of it together with a small group of people.

    Could it then be that the Spanish “progressive” majority ignores science?

    It’s not just that it ignores science, it clearly goes against it.

    You are a lawyer and human rights expert. Does it not seem to you that allowing minors to do irreversible things to their bodies without parental consent is a violation of the fundamental right of parents to ensure the education of their children in accordance with their convictions, which is guaranteed by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and also by the European Convention on Human Rights?

    It certainly is. In Spain, with these laws, fundamental rights are being violated: the right to physical integrity, the right to life, the right of parents to educate their children in accordance with their convictions, and the right to religious freedom, which are also fundamental rights guaranteed by our own constitution.

    However, what the Spanish government is doing is appointing judges who are close to them in order to be able to violate the constitution and fundamental rights with impunity, without any kind of consequence. That is why Spain is in a really dreadful moment: The constitution is being violated, citizens’ rights are being violated, and to avoid any responsibility, Pedro Sánchez’s government has been appointing judges who are close to them, even judges who earlier were in the Sánchez government. The truth is that we are in a dictatorial country, a country that does not respect the rule of law.

    Do you mean, for example, that the Constitutional Court is too politicized to reject this “trans law”?

    This is exactly what I mean. In fact, the president of the Constitutional Court was the attorney general on behalf of the government, and there are members of the Constitutional Court who belonged to the government. So, what this government has done is manipulate the judges; they appoint judges who are most sympathetic to them and even some former members of the government so that the law can be broken without any kind of consequence.

    That sounds very strange because we always hear about Poland and Hungary. However, what you are saying about the judicial system in Spain goes way beyond the EU institutions’ usual accusations against those two countries. Why then do the EU institutions not react in the case of Spain?

    I believe the European Union is trying to impose an ideology that is perverse and the only countries that are standing up to them are Poland and Hungary. And since Spain is in line with this perverse ideology of the European Union, nothing is done in this case. This is despite the fact that the situation with the rule of law is much more serious in Spain than what is happening in Poland and Hungary. Spain is actually where a reaction would be needed. 

    We are even faced with the possibility that they may manipulate the elections. Efforts at manipulating or rigging the elections in some way are something that cannot be ruled out in the case of Spain.

    In fact, the first thing Spain’s socialist-communist coalition government did when it came to power was shower certain media outlets with money. This way, they have bought the support of a large part of the media thanks to the millions of euros distributed by the government, and we are talking about the most important media in Spain.

    Regarding this “trans law,” in February the vice-chair of the Madrid College of Physicians was interviewed on the Telecinco TV channel, and she said things that also have serious implications for democracy and the rule of law if they are true: “In Spain, in the last year there has been an increase of more than 2,000 percent in the number of demands from minors who say they are trans. The only thing they are offered with this law is affirmative therapy. Treatment is started and professionals are not allowed to do exploratory therapy or make a comprehensive assessment of an adolescent who manifests a deep discomfort, because that would make them liable to fines of €150,000, professional disqualification, and prison sentences.” Can you confirm that is how things work now under Spanish law? It just seems incredible…

    Yes, this is how it works. They are destroying Spain’s youth, as they generate a lot of confusion by indoctrinating them in schools and classrooms and then many young people are faced with the alternative of undergoing surgery, which is made easier for them. At the same time, access to professional advice is made difficult. No one can raise objections, no one can open their eyes or advise them. What is being created, moreover, is a clientelistic network with associations and private clinics being created that are dedicated to doing these things and work just like our abortion centers have for years. The “sex-reassignment” business works the same way as the abortion business, with new dedicated centers being created on the same model as the abortion clinics. As a matter of fact, many abortion centers now perform not only abortions but also these types of “sex reassignment” procedures.

    Talking about abortion, Spain is also reforming its abortion law to allow 16-year-old girls to have an abortion without their parents’ consent, right?

    Yes, and here too it’s all about increasing business. At the same time, a lot is done in schools to encourage sexual relations. In fact, there was a plan in Catalonia to display explicit sex scenes, porn scenes, during classes, thus increasing sexual relations at an earlier age which, obviously, would increase the number of juvenile abortions so the abortion business can make more and more money, destroying women’s lives and killing babies.

    Abogados Cristianos won a lawsuit a few months ago. In fact, the Spanish courts have sanctioned those centers for not providing sufficient information to women about abortion…

    Not only do they not inform women, but they deceive them, hiding the after-effects of abortion so that women go for an abortion as if it were nothing when they are in reality killing their own child. And with this, not only do they deceive women and destroy their lives, but they also put their health at risk, as they do not inform them of all the physical and psychological consequences. We won that case. In Spain, it has had very few repercussions, however, because, as I have already said, the government has bought the media’s support, and their response has been to prohibit pro-lifers from approaching abortion centers. Now it is forbidden to get close to an abortion center even if it’s just to pray. This is how they reacted. Instead of reacting against abortion centers that deceive women, they reacted the other way around, against pro-lifers.

    Is it correct to say, going back to that “trans law,” that now in Spain, if I say that I am trans or homosexual, then doctors have the obligation to help me change my sexual identity, to change my sex, or to accept my homosexual orientation. But if I want to go the other way, it is forbidden to help me because it is called conversion therapy and it is supposedly a barbarity.

    Yes, it is correct to say this. As Abogados Cristianos, we won a case of a therapist who had been fined for carrying out these conversion therapies, which were attended freely by people who wanted to be there. We won a very important victory, and the authorities had to reimburse the fine. The law goes even further, however, and in Spain there is no freedom left in that field, as it is almost mandatory to be homosexual or trans, but, on the other hand, if you want to return to a heterosexual way of living because you realize that you made a mistake, then it is forbidden, it is punished, and it is persecuted. Even if you are homosexual and you are against some of the mantras of this gender ideology, they also persecute you. Then it is a constant public lynching.

    What is very difficult to understand is that when the government of Sánchez says despite all this that they are in favor of women’s rights, part of the government coalition – Unidas Podemos – does not want to amend its “only yes means yes” law even though there are hundreds of sex offenders who have been set free because of the reduced sentences provided by that law. Why is this so?

    One of the objectives of gender ideology in Spain and throughout the world is the legalization of pedophilia. In fact, the equality minister has made a statement in favor of decriminalizing pedophilia. So, this law, whereby rapists and pedophiles are released and compensated, goes in the direction of legalizing pedophilia.

    Do you mean that, for Pedro Sánchez’s far-left coalition partner, the only thing that counts is consent, which is central to the “yes means yes” law, and not age?

    Yes, but of course, you have to realize that a minor’s consent is not valid. Because you can trick a child into giving you consent. The consent of a minor is invalid by law. However, that is one of the ways that the Ministry of Equality, and I believe that in the end also the whole government, has at its disposal to bring about the legalization of pedophilia.

    In light of democratic principles and the rule of law, there seems to be yet another problem with the “only yes means yes” law and the “trans law”: the reversal of the burden of proof – in the case of alleged discrimination against LGBTIQ+ people in the “trans law,” and in the case of a woman’s alleged lack of consent in the “only yes means yes” law. For example, if a woman tells me that there was no consent, I am the one who must prove that there was, right?

    Yes, that is exactly how it works. In these laws, the man is guilty by nature. Because he is a man, he is already guilty and he has to prove consent and that this consent was maintained over time. That is, if a woman says yes, but changes her mind 10 minutes later, you are guilty too. Furthermore, if there is consent but later the woman regrets it or whatever, the man is guilty by nature. And I believe that blaming men simply for being men makes them more sexist towards women and it causes them to not want to approach us, as they’d rather avoid potential problems. In the end, it is about destroying the family, destroying women, and virtually prohibiting relationships between men and women as equals.

    Well, with “the trans law” we men can always choose to be women, can’t we?

    Sure, that’s a good idea. You don’t even need to change your name, nor do you need to have surgery. Although if you have surgery, all the better, because that way you give money to those “transgender clinics,” just like women do to the abortion clinics.

  • Population replacement progressing in Spain with the government now pressing the accelerator

    Population replacement progressing in Spain with the government now pressing the accelerator

    Nearly 5.5 million foreigners, more than a third of them from Latin American countries, live in Spain, according to official data. This is out of a total population of 47.6 million people, and this does not take into account all those who are in Spain illegally or the increasing number of Spanish citizens with an immigration background.

    In terms of having its own population replaced by non-European immigrants and their offspring, Spain is still lagging behind countries like France, Britain, Germany and Sweden, but it has been catching up fast of late.

    But apparently not fast enough for Pedro Sánchez’s government, an administration made up of pro-immigration socialists, communists and other members of the far left prone to social engineering.

    As illegal immigration numbers are down this year compared with what they were a year ago, the Spanish Congress of Deputies is going to debate on how to give them a boost by delivering residence permits to all illegal immigrants who arrived in Spain before Nov. 1, 2021. Such measures are known to encourage potential illegal migrants to try their luck in the hope that they, too, might someday get a residence permit.

    Before Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez presided over a sharp rise in illegal immigration when he took office in 2018, the previous record for the number of illegal immigrants arriving in Spain was in 2006, with 39,180 illegals in just one year (compared to 11,781 the year before), just after the socialist government of José Luis Zapatero had proceeded with mass regularization of immigrants in an illegal situation.

    And Italy is still paying the price for the decision taken by its pro-immigration, left-wing government to legalize en masse the status of illegals in May 2020. That decision had been demanded by the minister of agriculture at the time, Teresa Bellanova, to compensate for the absence of workers from Eastern Europe due to the closure of borders prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic. For the last two years, the country has been struggling with an influx of illegal immigrants arriving on small boats from the coast of Tunisia, as Tunisia itself has had to face a surge in arrivals of Sub-Saharan Africans heading to Europe.

    There were some 34,000 arrivals of illegal immigrants in Italy in 2020, over 67,000 in 2021, and over 104,000 in 2022, a trend that the new Meloni government is now trying hard to reverse.

    The Spanish prime minister and his allies, however, seem to be on a very different trajectory. In 2018, Pedro Sánchez managed to oust the center-right government of Mariano Rajoy to install a left-wing government, with the support of the far-left Unidas Podemos party as well as Catalonia and the Basque Country’s pro-independence parties. The number of illegal immigrants jumped from 21,971 in 2017 to 57,498 in 2018. Sánchez then reverted, to some extent, to the stricter policies of his predecessor, and by 2022 his government had managed to bring the number of illegal immigrants back down to 28,930.

    Last week, however, Spain’s Congress of Deputies put on the agenda a citizens’ bill that aims to legalize the stay of all illegal immigrants who have been in the country since before November 2021. According to the NGO “Regularización Ya” (Regularization Now) that has put forward the bill, this would concern over half a million illegal immigrants now residing in Spain. The Socialists’ coalition partner Unidas Podemos is in favor of the bill, as are the smaller far-left parties and pro-independence regional parties whose support is essential for Sánchez to have a majority in parliament.

    Meanwhile, the Confederación Nacional de la Construcción (CNC), which represents companies from the country’s construction sector, is calling on the government to issue visas to half a million foreigners who would be willing to work in Spain.

    It should be remembered that population replacement in more “advanced” immigration countries such as France, Britain and Germany had its beginnings in the pressure exerted by companies on their respective governments in the early 1970s to bring in economic immigrants who would fill the gaps and allow employers to keep wages as low as possible.

    A few weeks ago, the Spanish government issued a decree allowing for the regularization of the situation of illegal immigrants who choose to attend vocational training courses. Such illegals will be delivered temporary residence permits that will be renewed upon completing their course and obtaining an employment contract. Such a path to regularizing one’s situation is now open to all immigrants who have been staying illegally in Spain for at least two years.

    On the legal immigration front, the Sánchez government reformed Spain’s law on foreigners last year to make it easier for aliens to legally get jobs. This is despite Spain having the EU’s highest rate of unemployment. The reform will also facilitate family regrouping, an important tool used by Western European governments that has led to immigration getting out of control; regroupings allow these states to proceed with what French author Renaud Camus called “the Great Replacement” to describe the ongoing population replacement in his own country due to decades of high immigration and low natality.

    With a fertility rate of 1.3, Spain’s birth rate has been among Europe’s lowest for years, and not long ago the country’s leading center-left newspaper, El País, explained to its readers that the country would need 7 million additional immigrants in the next three decades to make up for the lack of children and ensure continued economic prosperity.

    In mid-January, the Spanish media published new data showing that in three-quarters of the country´s provinces, there are now more new immigrants than new babies each year. Center-right El Confidencial, the first to mention this data, described the situation by writing in big letters under its title that “Spanish society is undergoing a process of transformation similar to what other countries have gone through before, with the potential to change the political, economic and cultural map of the country.”

    Like France’s Emmanuel Macron and probably with the same motives, Pedro Sánchez and his far-left partners seem to be seeking just that. This is bound to create further tensions within the European Union as Central European countries, which are strongly attached to their national identity after decades of communism and Soviet domination, prefer pro-natality policies over mass immigration.

  • Father of 2 sisters murdered in double honor killing in Pakistan arrested in Spain

    Father of 2 sisters murdered in double honor killing in Pakistan arrested in Spain

    The father of Aneesa and Arooj Abbas, two Pakistani sisters living in Spain who were shot dead by their own family members in a suspected honor killing last May, has been arrested by authorities near Barcelona for his involvement in the attack.

    Ghulam Abbas was arrested by the Mossos d’Esquadra and the National Police Force at his family’s former residence in the Catalonian city of Terrassa on Wednesday.

    Six other members of the family had already been arrested shortly after the double murder and remain in custody in Pakistan.

    [pp id=37995]

    It is suspected that Aneesa, 24, and Arooj, 21, both of whom had Spanish citizenship, were the victims of an honor-related attack after the pair, who had been forced to marry their cousins back in Pakistan in an attempt to help them get Spanish citizenship, told their family they wanted to re-marry in Spain.

    They were accused by their family back in Pakistan of intentionally delaying their spouse’s visa applications.

    It is alleged the sisters were tricked into returning home on May 19 last year with their mother to the eastern city of Gujrat, Pakistan, and were murdered in horrific circumstances the day after they arrived.

    [pp id=7718]

    The pair were first strangled and then shot by their own family. The mother of the women attempted to help her daughters but was locked away in another room.

    The women’s husbands and cousins, Hassan Aurengzeb and Atiq Hanif, their uncle, Hanif Goga, and their brother, Shehryar Abbas, were all arrested shortly after the attack and confessed to the killing, while two other men were also reportedly arrested at the time for their involvement.

    “The investigations have confirmed that both the sisters were killed in the name of ‘honor’,” investigating police officer Muhammad Akhtar said at the time of the arrests.

    The extent to which Aneesa and Arooj’s father participated in the attack is yet unknown.

    Prosecutors are now expected to conduct further investigations into Ghulam Abbas’ involvement in the double murder.

  • Attacker in Spanish church machete murder was Moroccan national subject to deportation order

    Attacker in Spanish church machete murder was Moroccan national subject to deportation order

    The man responsible for a terrorist attack at two Spanish churches on Wednesday evening, leaving one dead and several injured, was a Moroccan national who had been under surveillance and was subject to a deportation order, authorities have confirmed.

    The attacker, now known as 25-year-old Yasin Kanza, stormed a church in Algeciras armed with a machete and stabbed a priest in the neck. He then went to another church where he attacked a sacristan, hunting his victim down as he attempted to flee and delivering a fatal wound in the town square.

    Eyewitnesses told the EFE news agency that the man shouted “death to Christians” along with “Allah” before the attack.

    Kanza is a Moroccan national who had been living in Spain illegally. He was recently the subject of a deportation order and had been under surveillance by Spain’s counter-terrorism police because he was linked to terrorist groups and was at risk of radicalization.

    [pp id=63853]

    On Thursday, a search was carried out at his home, where digital devices were seized and the sheath of the machete used in the murder was found. Authorities have so far found no evidence to suggest any involvement in a specific terrorist organization, leading them to believe Kanza acted as a lone jihadist.

    The Islamic community in Algeciras has already reacted to the tragic event, call it a “vicious attack” and distancing themselves from the perpetrator. The Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska canceled his visit to Stockholm to meet EU counterparts and instead traveled to Algeciras.

    The leader of the right-wing Vox party, Santiago Abascal, blamed left-wing politicians for the events.

    “He entered Spain illegally, was subject to a deportation order, was under surveillance for jihadism, and was an illegal squatter. How many more like him will there be in Spain?” Abascal asked.

    “The mafias of people smugglers and the politicians who open borders and provide them with support cannot hide their responsibility,” he added.

    The Spanish authorities have made counter-terrorism a priority since the 2004 terrorist attacks in Madrid. Together with Kanza, they have now captured 1,089 jihadists in almost two decades.

  • Spain’s center-right too afraid of the Left to govern with Vox

    Spain’s center-right too afraid of the Left to govern with Vox

    Bowing to pressure from the radical Left, the Sánchez government, and the mainstream media, Spain’s center-right won’t support pro-natalist measures and better information for women who consider aborting their children.

    After a “health protocol” proposed by Castilla y León’s vice-president from Vox was defeated by Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s People Party (PP), which is the senior coalition partner in the regional government, tensions are running high between the two parties that make up the Spanish right.

    The PP’s attitude has led some 500 doctors to sign a manifesto penned by the +Vida Foundation to protest the current situation whereby, in Spain, “there is an attempt to hide” the heartbeat of the embryo-fetus from pregnant women who decide to have an abortion.

    Vox’s  Juan García-Gallardo, the vice-president of the Castile y León region in Spain, announced the proposed measures to promote natality and enhance support for pregnant women on Jan. 12, during a press conference which he held together with Economy and Finance councilor Carlos Fernández Carriedo from the PP, who is also the regional government’s spokesperson. In Spain’s regions – or autonomous communities – a councilor is the equivalent of a minister at the national level.

    The planned measures were supposed to make it compulsory for health professionals to give pregnant women three possibilities, in particular when they consider an abortion: to get free psychological and social care, to be able to listen to the embryo’s or fetus’ heartbeat, and to get a 4D ultrasound of the baby in the womb. While the new “health protocol” was to be binding for health professionals, pregnant women would have been left with the choice of taking advantage of the offer or not.

    The idea was to allow parents considering an abortion to make an informed choice and provide them with the necessary support if they chose to carry the baby. “She is not going to be forced to listen to her baby’s heartbeat if she doesn’t want to,” García-Gallardo stressed on Jan. 12, adding that even if the new measures were to save only one child’s life, that would make it worth having entered a government coalition with the PP a year ago.

    The Vox politician also insisted the measures he was announcing had been discussed and agreed upon with the councilor responsible for health issues, and that they were part of the coalition agreement signed last year with the PP, which provided for policies to boost natality and support families.

    Specifically, psycho-social care was to be guaranteed to all mothers “who ask for it” and health professionals would have had to inform each pregnant woman of this possibility, so “they have all the support to face the pregnancy in the best circumstances and feel accompanied,” and are thus truly able to choose between the “natural and proper” decision to continue with the pregnancy or the “social tragedy” of abortion, which leaves “a mark on women” and implies “a drama”, the Vox politician explained, with his PP colleague assenting next to him.

    The latter furthermore clarified that the use of budget money to implement this service would depend “largely” on its use, so it is “difficult to quantify” beforehand, but, he said, “it is important to provide an adequate service whatever its cost.”

    On Jan. 12, the regional government’s PP spokesman was actually the first to speak, introducing as follows the topic that was going to be addressed during his joint press conference with his colleague from Vox:

    “The Vice-president of the Junta de Castilla y León [Juan García-Gallardo] is with us at this press conference in relation to the implementation of (…) actions in favor of the natality and the family, measures that come to comply with the Government Pact that we signed during this legislature and which among its main objectives included the promotion of natality and the fight against depopulation. These measures have been brought to the attention of the Governing Council by both the Vice President of the Junta de Castilla y León and the Regional Ministry of Health, who have been working together in this area, and they will be implemented in the health sector by the Regional Ministry of Health.”

    However, a few days of sustained attacks from the pro-abortion Left were enough to make the “center-right” PP renege on its commitments and forget that it used to be, just a decade ago, a party that was – officially at least – even against abortion on demand.

    The national government, led by socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, threatened to take the planned measures to the courts, arguing that they were putting pressure on women not to abort, and insisting the regulation of abortion is not a competence of the autonomous communities.

    As the mainly pro-abortion mainstream media were railing at this “radical” anti-abortion policy and demanding the PP put an end to its regional cooperation with the “far right”, Castile y León’s PP President Alfonso Fernández Mañueco and PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo both pretended the measures announced by Juan García-Gallardo were its own personal initiative, that no document existed on that matter, and that what was announced at the Jan. 12 press conference had not been agreed with the rest of the regional government.

    Feijóo sent the spokesman of the PP campaign committee, Borja Sémper, to say in a press appearance that his party “is not going to swallow everything” and will express its rejection of the measures with which it does not agree and Vox “wants to impose.”

    Only the PP president of the Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, when asked about Spain’s liberal abortion law by Spanish television Antena 3, noted:

    “We always act with much indifference, without taking into account that in our country there are already more than 100,000 abortions a year. So I don’t know where the progress is here. There is the freedom to do it, but we do not put ourselves in the shoes of people who do not get to be born, who are, well, directly aborted. We do not put ourselves in the shoes of women who have no resources, of people who are forced to abort. We do not put ourselves in the shoes of doctors against whom they now want to make black lists to force them to do abortions.”

    In Castile y León, tension runs high between the two coalition partners as Juan García-Gallardó has reportedly called the PP regional president a “coward” and reproached him for backing out of measures that had been agreed upon and reviewed by the two wings of the government before presenting them to the media on Jan. 12.

    In Madrid, Vox leader Santiago Abascal turned to Alberto Núñez Feijóo on Tuesday, Jan. 24, when answering the Prime Minister Sánchez’s intervention in parliament, reproaching the PP’s leader for disavowing the PP-Vox coalition in Castile y León and asking: “Did you need the PSOE’s permission?” “When we negotiate something with you are we going to have to go and ask permission from these gentlemen?”

    Abascal insisted the only aim of the measure announced on Jan. 12 in Castile y León was to provide women with more information during their pregnancy. “Who is against this? What are they afraid of? What do they want to hide?” he asked, warning that in Vox they had taken note of what had happened for future electoral pacts.

  • 1 dead, several injured in Spanish church machete massacre

    1 dead, several injured in Spanish church machete massacre

    At least one person has died and several others are injured following a machete attack at two Spanish churches on Wednesday evening.

    A man allegedly wielding a machete attacked churchgoers of the San Isidro Church in the port city of Algeciras, southwestern Spain, at approximately 6 p.m. local time.

    It is understood the priest was attacked and sustained serious injuries to his neck.

    The rampage continued at the nearby Nuestra Señora de La Palma where the attacker stabbed the local sacristan who then fled onto the nearby Plaza Alta de Algeciras where he was hunted down and mortally wounded. Two other people were injured during the incident, according to reports by Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

    Eyewitnesses told local press how the attack, which began inside the church, spilled out onto the nearby public square as people were seen running from the scene. An employee from one of the local bars spoke of a tall man armed with a machete, dressed in a djellaba, a full-sleeved robe typically worn in the Maghreb region of North Africa. The man was reportedly shouting something during the attack.

    Local police confirmed the arrest of a Moroccan national in his 30s. The case is being treated as a terrorist incident.

    The suspect’s residence in the city center has been searched, and authorities may be looking for two other individuals in relation to the incident, according to local press reports.

    “We are all stunned by these acts, which have filled us with pain,” said the local mayor, José Landaluce. “Algeciras has always been a city where harmony and tolerance reign, despite incidents like this that create an image that does not correspond to reality.”

    “They’ve killed a sexton and injured, at least, a priest in an attack in Algeciras. It is still under investigation, but I condemn this crime. Intolerance will never be accepted in our society,” said Juanma Moreno, the regional president of Spain’s southern Andalucia.

    The attack came just hours after a stabbing spree in Germany on a regional train that killed two people and injured five others. A Palestinian asylum seeker already known to police has been arrested in that case. He was reportedly in police custody a matter of days before the attack and has a violent background for a string of sexual offenses.

  • Tens of thousands rally in Madrid to protest socialist government

    Tens of thousands rally in Madrid to protest socialist government

    More than 30,000 people congregated at the Plaza de Cibeles in front of Madrid’s City Hall on Saturday to protest Spain’s socialist government led by Pedro Sánchez.

    The rally, organized by dozens of conservative action groups and endorsed by Spain’s center-right People’s Party and conservative Vox party, accused Sánchez’s left-wing coalition government of undermining the country’s constitution.

    Sánchez’s administration has been criticized for abolishing the crime of sedition and pardoning nine Catalan separatist leaders for their involvement in the region’s failed independence bid back in 2017.

    Conservatives have also accused the government of being soft on rapists in relation to its ‘Only yes means yes’ law introduced last year, which reformed sexual assault laws in the country and amended the definition of consent. A by-product of the legislation has seen the reduction of sentences or the early release of 244 convicted rapists across the country.

    Vox party leader Santiago Abascal told reporters the country was being subjected to the “the worst government in history,” claiming Sánchez “has divided Spaniards and freed rapists and coup leaders.”

    Outside the city hall, scores of protesters could be seen waving Spanish flags and holding placards depicting the incumbent prime minister with the term “traitor.” Shouts of “murderers” were also heard, according to the EFE news agency.

    Absacal told his supporters on Saturday: “There is a Spain far removed from electoral calculations and the pettiness of politics. There are millions of Spaniards fed up with the autocrat and his henchmen. We have to be with them. We have to know how to represent them.”

    Vox Vice President Javier Ortega Smith tweeted during the protest: “There are many more of us who love Spain and want to see it free and sovereign, and we will demonstrate it in the streets, at the polls, and in the institutions.”

    Alberto Nunez Feijoo, leader of the center-right People’s Party, which is widely tipped to become the largest party in the Spanish parliament at the next election, did not attend the rally but encouraged party members to participate.

    While local government estimates suggest 30,000 people attended the rally, organizers believe the true figure was closer to 70,000.

    At an event in the Spanish city of Valladolid on Saturday, Sánchez told his own supporters that the protesters in Madrid were defending racism, according to the Reuters news agency.

    Spanish local elections are due to be held on May 28, while the next general election is expected to take place on Dec. 10.

  • Over 100 convicted rapists in Spain benefit from socialist government’s ‘Only yes means yes’ law

    Over 100 convicted rapists in Spain benefit from socialist government’s ‘Only yes means yes’ law

    A new Spanish rape law designed to strengthen the threshold of consent in order to better protect vulnerable women is having the opposite effect as it emerges that more than 100 convicted rapists in the country have had their sentences reduced or been granted early release due to penal reforms included in the legislation.

    Hailed as a victory for women by Spain’s far-left Podemos party and Equality Minister Irene Montero who authored the bill, the law included a new legal definition based on explicit consent which stipulates that “consent shall only be understood to exist when it has been freely manifested, through acts that, in view of the circumstances of the case, clearly express the will of the person.”

    Included in the legislation, however, was a provision to lower the minimum sentence that can be applied to those convicted of rape or sexual assault in the country, a reform that many convicted rapists have taken advantage of to appeal the length of their sentences.

    There is a general principle regarding Spanish penal issues which holds that new laws apply retroactively whenever this benefits a convicted offender, and thus, the new rape law has inadvertently seen the reduction of sentences or the early release of 108 convicted rapists across the country since its implementation just two and a half months ago, according to Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

    [pp id=58024]

    According to the publication, the Court of Alicante announced another 13 cases yesterday where sentences for sex offenders were reduced, resulting in the early release of one convict following a two-year reduction in his sentence from nine to seven years.

    A further five cases in Jerez de la Frontera were also confirmed yesterday, resulting in three cases of early release, and another early release was agreed by the Badajoz Court for a man convicted of attempted rape which saw his sentence reduced from four years and three months to two years and ten months.

    Only on Dec. 1 did El Mundo report that 43 sex offenders had already benefited from the penal reforms, which reveals the extent to which appeals against seemingly harsher sentences have ramped up in the last three weeks alone.

    At the beginning of this month, the right-wing populist Vox party called for the law to be repealed “because it frees rapists leaving women more unprotected than ever, it violates the presumption of innocence of men, and indoctrinates our children.”

  • Spanish police hunt migrants who escaped diverted aircraft after hoax labor claim prompted emergency landing

    Spanish police hunt migrants who escaped diverted aircraft after hoax labor claim prompted emergency landing

    Spanish authorities remain on the hunt for 12 foreign nationals who fled a commercial airplane during an emergency landing at Barcelona’s El Prat airport early on Wednesday.

    The plane, which was carrying a total of 228 passengers from Casablanca to Istanbul, diverted to Spain’s second city after a pregnant woman on board faked going into labor.

    As the flight was grounded, a group of 28 passengers took the opportunity to flee the aircraft as soon as the doors had opened upon landing and escape across the tarmac, according to the Spanish government.

    Half of the runaways were detained almost immediately, including the pregnant woman who had claimed her water had broken, while a further two were arrested later, one inside the airport and one in the nearby area.

    Of the initial 14 who were captured, five were returned to the Pegasus Airlines aircraft and the rest are to be deported back to Morocco.

    The pregnant woman was escorted to a nearby hospital where no evidence was found to suggest she was in labor. She has since been arrested on public disorder charges and is scheduled to be deported.

  • VIDEO: Mass riots hit Europe after Morocco’s World Cup victory against Spain

    VIDEO: Mass riots hit Europe after Morocco’s World Cup victory against Spain

    Following Morocco’s shock World Cup penalty shoot-out victory over the Spanish national team on Tuesday, Moroccan fans have once again rioted across multiple countries, including Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

    The scenes of chaos mark the third time Moroccan fans have rioted following a World Cup victory, with the first two times last month already drawing condemnation.

    Video of last night’s riots have been spread across social media, including from the account of Italian Transportation Minister Matteo Salvini, who wrote, “Morocco eliminates Spain, so they ‘celebrate’ in Milan… I hope that those responsible are identified and pay all damages.”

    Critics are pointing at the now weekly scenes of mass unrest from Moroccan fans as a case in point for the failure of multiculturalism, with these fans not only rooting for a rival national team but also actively destroying their own cities.

    Moroccan fans celebrating in a number of Spanish cities turned to violence, such as in Bilbao, where multiple videos show fans rampaging through the streets.

    https://twitter.com/RadioBa1oncesto/status/1600239257033256960

    Fans also set cars on fire in the Spanish city of Reus, according to reports from BNN Spain.

    https://twitter.com/gchahal/status/1600223226235191298

    Before the match, Moroccan fans and Spanish fans were already clashing in Huelva, a city in Andalusia, prior to kick-off.

    The widespread nature of the riots, including outside of Spain, underlines the level of animosity some Moroccans feel for the European nations they live in. The Dutch national team has not even faced off against Morocco yet, but fans in the country battle with riot police in Amsterdam, just as they did after Morocco’s victory over Belgium.

    https://twitter.com/gchahal/status/1600221846762557441

    The Hague also saw chaos on the streets, with fans attacking police vehicles in the Schilderswijk neighborhood.

    In France, the city of Lille saw Moroccan fans starting fires and attacking police with fireworks. Riot police responded by charging the revelers in an attempt to disperse them and restore calm.

    Fans in the French city of Nice also fired pistols into the air, blocked streets, and terrorized residents.

    “Are we still in France? Tram blocked and rocked, police attacked and cars burned. This is the result of Morocco’s victory in the streets of Nice! Zero tolerance against these criminals who defy our laws!” wrote Les Republicans politician and former presidential candidate Eric Cotti on Twitter.

    Brussels, the capital of Belgium, was also hit with mass riots following Morocco’s victory over Spain, with fans attacking police vehicles. Belgium has one of the largest Moroccan populations in Europe, numbering over 500,000 in a country of 11.5 million.

    https://twitter.com/sotiridi/status/1600223813668478976

    As Remix News previously reported, Belgium and the Netherlands were hit by widespread riots following Morocco’s victory last month. Video footage of these previous incidents can be seen here.

  • Madrid ultras issue call to arms to ‘defend Spain’ from Moroccan riots ahead of World Cup knockout fixture

    Madrid ultras issue call to arms to ‘defend Spain’ from Moroccan riots ahead of World Cup knockout fixture

    The ultra gangs of Madrid’s two largest clubs have called on their associated members to help “defend Spain” in case the country experiences similar riots from pro-Moroccan fans witnessed across Belgium and the Netherlands last week.

    Ultra Sur and Frente Atlético, the two die-hard fan groups of Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, have urged supporters to take to the streets of the Spanish capital ahead of Tuesday’s FIFA World Cup knockout match, which will see Spain take on Morocco.

    Foro M.D.M, the largest ultras forum in Spain, tweeted a call to arms on Sunday, calling on radical groups across the country to “join forces and prevent acts of vandalism by Morocco fans” and “protect the streets.”

    The call appears to have been heeded by ultras of Real Betis, who have agreed to congregate in their city of Seville, as have ultras of Real Zaragoza and Valencia.

    The vigilantism has not been explicitly condemned by authorities, but fans of both national teams have been urged to treat each other with respect, while Spain’s interior ministry has told the national police to put their riot units “on alert” for any public disorder.

    The Deputy Operations Directorate (DAO) of the National Police said ahead of the fixture that “it is necessary to reserve for (Tuesday) afternoon, night, UIPs (riot control), UPRs (prevention and reaction), and to have specific devices planned.”

    [pp id=57150]

    Precautionary measures are necessary, the directorate added, “in view of the anticipation of celebrations that could lead to disturbances of public order, as has already happened in other countries.”

    It is understood that areas where a high number of Moroccan nationals are registered will be prioritized for extra surveillance.

    The Association of Moroccan Immigrants and Workers (ATIM), however, urged supporters of Morocco’s national team “not to respond to the threats and provocations made by radicals” but to instead report them to police.

    Spain is home to a significant Moroccan population, with close to 900,000 people of Moroccan origin residing in the country, according to official data from 2021.

    [pp id=52765]

    The two nations have often clashed over immigration controls in the Spanish territories of Ceuta and Melilla, both of which share a land border with Morocco and are the only European land borders on the continent of Africa.

    Tensions are high across Spain due to the scenes reported in both Belgium and the Netherlands last week, where some Moroccan supporters celebrating their victory over Belgium in the FIFA World Cup chose to resort to vandalism, burning vehicles, looting shops, and even attacking a police station.

    Scenes of violence were witnessed in the Belgian cities of Brussels and Antwerp, and across the border in the Dutch cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague.

    A dozen rioters were detained by authorities in Brussels, while eight were arrested in the port city of Antwerp. Two police officers were also hospitalized in Rotterdam.

  • Spain’s left-wing government calls judges ‘male chauvinists’ and ‘fascists’ as scandal over early release of rape convicts grows

    Spain’s left-wing government calls judges ‘male chauvinists’ and ‘fascists’ as scandal over early release of rape convicts grows

    One of the reproaches heard from the EU institutions against Poland and Hungary, as far as the famous “rule of law” issues are concerned — and in particular, the independence of the judiciary — is that the two conservative countries’ executive powers allegedly try to intimidate judges with harsh criticism made in the media.

    If criticizing judges and their rulings is indeed an act of intimidation, why are the same EU institutions not switching their focus to Spain’s ruling coalition of the Socialists and the far left after members of that coalition have called judges “male chauvinists” and “fascists” just because they did not like their rulings?

    Even the country’s judicial council, the General Council of the Judiciary Power (CGPJ), has expressed “its strongest condemnation of the intolerable attacks made (…) against members of the judiciary by some political leaders” for applying the so-called “only yes means yes” law.

    [pp id=53760]

    Spain’s “only yes means yes” law on sexual consent was adopted last August. The law, which is officially named the “Organic Law on the Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom,” stipulates that “consent shall only be understood to exist when it has been freely manifested, through acts that, in view of the circumstances of the case, clearly express the will of the person.”

    According to the far-left Podemos’ Equality Minister Irene Montero, who is the new law’s author, the law “is finally enshrining in law that consent must be the central element of our sexual relationships” so that “women will no longer have to show that there was violence or intimidation in order for it to be recognized as sexual aggression.”

    In a tweet published just after the bill was enacted into law, the equality minister thanked “the feminist parliamentary majority that made it possible.”

    The law takes a turn for the worse

    Despite her victory lap, on Nov. 25 in Madrid, a feminists’ protest saw thousands of people gather to demand Montero’s resignation. The Spanish conservative news website La Gaceta wrote: “In addition to the cries heard from part of the organizing associations calling for her resignation, the Alliance against the Erasure of Women, an entity in which some socialist personalities are active members, deployed a banner on which you could read “Irene Montero, resign. Enough misogynist and botched laws!’”

    [pp id=30099]

    The sharp turn of some feminists against Montero has to do with reforms of the penal code enacted in August, with Montero’s new law also lowering the minimum sentence for sexual offenders. Since there is a general principle regarding Spanish penal issues in which new laws apply retroactively whenever this benefits a convicted offender, some judges have lowered past sentences while others have begun to hand down verdicts with lower sentences in new cases related to sexual assaults and rapes.

    On Dec. 1, the center-right daily newspaper El Mundo thus wrote: “At least 43 sex offenders have already benefited from the ‘yes means yes’ law. All of them have had their sentences reduced by one to seven years.” In another piece, the newspaper gave a list of 13 men convicted of rape, including of children, who had been set free because of Montero’s law.

    The early release of rapists is not the only concern raised by the law that was supposed to better protect women. Already in early 2021, when it was still a draft law discussed within Sánchez’s government, Spain’s judicial council criticized the definition of sexual consent it planned to introduce by stating that “consent shall be deemed not to exist when the victim has not freely manifested by external, conclusive and unequivocal acts in accordance with the circumstances his or her express will to participate in the act.” Such a definition is seen by many law experts as putting into question the principle of presumption of innocence.

    On Dec. 2, the conservative Vox party announced it had put Montero’s law to the country’s constitutional court. It took his action because of the left-wing majority’s refusal to amend it at the center-right Popular Party’s (PP) request; the party also said the law should be repealed “because it frees rapists leaving women more unprotected than ever, it violates the presumption of innocence of men, and indoctrinates our children.”

    Instead of just amending the law, Vox had filed a bill in parliament to repeal it altogether.

    [pp id=29805]

    In mid-November, PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said: “We are living, in Spain, the dramatic consequences of a populist decision, taken against the PP, the judges, and common sense. The entry into force of the ‘only yes means yes’ law has provoked a constant trickle of prisoners jailed for sexual crimes who have had their sentences reduced or have been released.”

    However, for Equality Minister Irene Montero, the reason why sexual convicts are being released early is due to the judges who apply her sexual freedom law erroneously because of their “machismo,” and the only solution in her eyes would be to send them to gender-sensitivity training courses so they know better how to enforce the law. She also repeatedly stresses that the law was prepared “hand in hand” with the Ministry of Justice and two other ministries and that it was a government bill.

    During the G20 summit in Bali in mid-November, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez defended the law despite the increase in sexual convicts walking the streets of Spain, saying that “it is a great achievement of the feminist movement” and “a vanguard law that will inspire other laws in the world.”

    “There are judges who are breaking the law,” said Minister Montero on the following day in Madrid. “The United Nations alerts us that machismo can cause judges to apply a law in a defective way,” she added.

    Top leaders in her far-left party Podemos have stood by Montero and attacked judges for applying the law to release rape convicts early. Javier Sánchez Serna, who holds the position of third secretary in the Congress of Deputies and is Podemos’ regional coordinator for the region of Murcia, has called to “not slacken” before “fascists in robes that want to blow up any feminist legislation.”

    [pp id=6398]

    Intervening in the Congress of Deputies in mid-November, Secretary of State for Equality Ángela Rodríguez and Government Delegate for Gender Violence Victoria Rosell claimed that judges “are breaking the law” and making an interpretation of the reform of the penal code “with gender bias.” Like Montero, they want “there to be mandatory training for judges” on machismo.

    “Where is the training of judges? It is a disgrace. Get yourselves trained, judges!” said Rodríguez who went on to tell deputies that she never thought one law would be enough to get rid of Spain’s “patriarchal judiciary.”

    Despite Spanish politicians outright attacking judges, this behavior has drawn little scrutiny from the EU, raising the question of how Brussels treats various governments as long as they are friendly with the left-liberal establishment. The treatment of Spanish judges reveals that the EU may be less concerned about preserving democracy and the rule of law, and more focused on which government professes an ideology aligned with the ruling class in Brussels.

    This latest controversy is confirming that Spain’s left can trample on democracy as long as it is governed by pro-EU progressives.

  • Spain set to adopt world’s most radical ‘Trans Law,’ allowing minors to ‘change sex’ without parents’ permission

    Spain set to adopt world’s most radical ‘Trans Law,’ allowing minors to ‘change sex’ without parents’ permission

    Spain’s main mental health specialists’ organizations published a stark warning in the El Mundo newspaper on Oct. 17 against the governing coalition’s draft “Trans Law” which is about to be passed in the Spanish parliament. The “Law for Real and Effective Equality of Trans People and for the Guarantee of LGBTI Rights” will introduce the right to “gender” self-determination in Spain at a time when other countries are backtracking on their own laws based on gender ideology.

    “It ‘jeopardizes the comprehensive medical care to which all children are entitled. It ignores that ‘in all judicial decisions relevant to the life of the minor, the best interests of the minor must prevail.’ And it ignores that countries such as ‘Finland and the United Kingdom have moved from quick and invasive models to others that are more reflective and linked to Mental Health’,” wrote El Mundo on Oct. 23 quoting Luisa Lázaro, the president of the Spanish Association of Adolescent and Child Psychiatry (AEPNyA).

    AEPNyA is the country’s main pediatric psychiatrists’ organization.

    In other words, the law is being protested by the country’s own medical professionals.

    [pp id=53227]

    The so-called “Trans Law” is a draft law penned by Equality Minister Irene Montero of the far-left party Podemos and supported by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez despite strong opposition from within his PSOE party ranks, in particular from the party’s feminists, such as the Sánchez government’s former vice-president (from June 2018 to July 2021), Carmen Calvo, a PSOE MP who now chairs the Equality Committee in the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of Spain’s parliament.

    If adopted, the Trans Law will allow anyone over the age of 16 to change their “gender” at will and to be treated as if belonging to the opposite sex, including in relation to accessing toilets or changing rooms as well as taking part in sports competitions — just to name a few examples. Children aged between 14 and 16 will need their parents’ consent and those aged between 12 and 14 will have to get a judge’s approval for their requested “gender change.”

    As we wrote in Remix News last August, this radical “Trans Law” is likely to have a chilling effect on freedom of expression and parental rights and will lead to new forms of discrimination.

    Due to the societal risks, the draft law pushed by Spain’s current socialist-communist government has been criticized by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), which is the Judiciary’s supervising body, and by the Council of State, the main advisory body to the executive branch, and also by several feminists organizations, including the PSOE’s Association of Socialist Feminists (Femes).

    [pp id=45530]

    Apart from the country’s main mental health societies, including the aforementioned Spanish Association of Adolescent and Child Psychiatry and the Spanish Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health (SEPSM), Spain’s draft Trans Law has been harshly criticized by the Endocrinology Society and even the College of Physicians of Madrid, who already notes that “there is an avalanche of young people with disorders who are looking for a magical solution in the trans identity.”

    Part of the concerns of the health professionals’ organizations stems from the fact that, once adopted, the new law will prohibit mental health professionals from intervening in the process of “gender self-determination” of minors, leaving teenagers the exclusive capacity to choose whether they want to initiate sex change treatments, which health professionals say is “an outrage” that is committed “following ideological and not scientific criteria,” and which “can bring much pain and regret to many people.”

    Luisa González, the vice-chair of the College of Physicians of Madrid, claims that “there is no science to justify legislating in this way,” that “there is no scientific consensus” on the treatments that the law “applies blindly,” and that the regulation, as promoted by the Spanish government, “prevents professionals from working, violates the human rights of minors by preventing their care, and even usurps the parental authority of parents.”

    The law will make Spain the tenth country in Europe to allow for “gender self-determination” by simply submitting a declaration to the civil registry, the other ones being Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland. However, apart from Norway and soon Spain, no other country allows minors to change their “gender” without their parents’ consent.

    [pp id=27526]

    On Oct. 26, Sánchez’s socialists asked for a delay in the voting of the bill in parliament to give time for amendments that will give it “legal security,” as it is expected that the right-wing opposition will question its constitutionality. They won the vote against their far-left ally Unidas Podemos with the support of the center-right People’s Party (PP), and the move has sparked anger in the ranks of Unidas Podemos, with Equality Minister Irene Montero saying: “We will not accept a single setback in rights after the law has been agreed in a very tough negotiation within the government,” and “we should not make LGTBI people wait any longer.”

    The PSOE’s declared goal, however, is to have the dangerous law — being fought both by medical professionals and concerned parents across the nation — approved by the Cortes Generales (the Spanish parliament) before the end of the year. To do so, it will have to secure the support of the left-wing, regional pro-independence parties from Catalonia and the Basque Country.

    Unlike Hungary’s child protection law, Spain’s Trans Law will not lead to any withholding of EU funds from Brussels, as Spain’s anti-science, pro-trans law is in line with the European Commission’s professed ideology. Hungary is currently facing billions in cuts, and its position on trans issues plays a major role in left-liberal efforts to financially throttle the country.

    Discriminatory laws of this type already exist in Spain, but until now they have been adopted only in some regions, including in regions governed by the center-right Popular Party (PP). This is the case in the Madrid autonomous community, governed by the PP, where local party leader and regional president, Isabel Ayuso, allegedly one of the PP’s most right-wing leaders, refuses to revoke the LGBT law that was voted with her support in the Community of Madrid under the presidency of Cristina Cifuentes, also from Ayuso’s PP.

    On Oct. 21, the issue of the LGBT and “trans” laws of the Community of Madrid opened a rift between the regional government and the parliamentary group of Vox. The issue was put back on the table a few days later by Vox’s regional parliamentary spokesperson and provincial party leader Rocío Monasterio who asked Ayuso to repeal the Madrid Trans Law.

    “The Trans Law of the Community of Madrid is even more aggressive than that of Irene Montero,” Monasterio explained on El Toro TV on Oct. 28.

    Cifuente’s and Ayuso’s Trans Law is “more aggressive” because it allows “to apply hormone treatments at a very young age, and there is no way back,” the woman from Vox said.

    As Remix News previously reported, puberty blockers are associated with psychiatric disorders, higher cancer rates, suicide, osteoporosis, and a range of other serious medical disorders.

    As Monasterio explained, “Madrid’s Trans Law dictates that if a child indicates that he or she wants to be trans in front of a social worker, the social worker should fill out a report that goes to a medical center where a doctor has the obligation not only not to oppose the gender change, but will also be required to treat that child with hormones, even if his or her parents are opposed to it. If the parents object, the government of Madrid and the social worker can start a judicial procedure to take the child’s custody away from the parents, because gender identity, what the child wants, is ‘above everything else’.”

  • Trump and Orbán among conservatives to throw weight behind Vox’s Santiago Abascal at Madrid rally

    Trump and Orbán among conservatives to throw weight behind Vox’s Santiago Abascal at Madrid rally

    Conservative leaders across the world have offered full-throated support to Spanish conservative party, Vox, and its leader, Santiago Abascal, in video messages played at a conservative rally held by the party in Madrid on Sunday.

    The prime ministers of Hungary and Poland, Viktor Orbán and Mateusz Morawiecki, the de facto next Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and former U.S. President Donald Trump, all offered messages of congratulations and support for the party that continues to make electoral gains across the country.

    Speaking via video message from a private airplane, former U.S. President Donald Trump praised the Vox party for continuing to promote conservative values and thanked its leader, Santiago Abascal, for the “incredible job that he does.”

    “It’s a very unique situation that we’re all in, but we have to make sure that we protect our borders and we do lots of very good conservative things,” Trump said, adding that “Spain is a great country and we want to keep it a great country.

    “So congratulations to Vox for so many great messages that you get out to the people of Spain and to the people of the world, and, again to Santiago, I’d like to congratulate you, and thank you very much for the incredible job you do,” Trump added.

    Thousands of Vox supporters turned out to support the rally in the Spanish capital, waving Spanish flags and chanting as numerous conservative political allies, including former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and U.S. Republican Senator Ted Cruz, offered their support for the party.

    In a pre-recorded message, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán addressed the attendees of the VIVA ’22 rally, saying it was a “good custom that every year you meet under Spanish flags.

    “We also do it in Hungary because it is good for our hearts and souls, and also, because it causes a heart attack for globalist liberals,” Orbán added.

    He urged fellow European conservatives to continue to fight the challenges facing Europe. “We have to continue fighting for national interests. We must defend against bureaucrats in Brussels, and keep our customs and sovereignty.”

    The Hungarian prime minister said European conservatives “cannot allow millions of illegal immigrants to invade the states of the European Union,” and called on his political allies to “watch over our way of life and our culture, defend our children and our families from globalist ideology.”

    “The train from Rome has just arrived in Brussels,” Orbán hailed, referring to Giorgi Meloni’s electoral victory in Italy last month, “and the Madrid train, led by my friend, Santiago Abascal, will leave very soon,” he predicted.

    Meloni herself pre-recorded a near nine-minute address for the Spanish audience, who she urged to “go ahead with humility and truth, and people will understand.”

    “We are not monsters, the people understand that. Long live Vox, long live Spain, long live Italy, long live European patriots,” Meloni said. “Only by winning in our countries can Europe become a political giant that we want, and not a bureaucratic giant,” she added.

    Poland’s Morawiecki, who physically attended the rally, also used the opportunity to heavily criticize the current trajectory of the European Union, accusing the bloc of “turning its back on tradition” and Brussels bureaucrats of “expanding their powers to create a transnational beast without true and traditional values, and without a soul.”

    “For years, there has been a silent war in Europe against the values on which our civilization was built,” Morawiecki said.

    “We are all children of Christian civilization, we must not forget it. I will not apologize for the fact that I am a Pole, that I am a Christian, that I am someone attached to such supposedly outdated values as truth, freedom, solidarity and law and justice,” he added.

  • Spanish socialists to slap temporary two-year tax on country’s wealthiest

    Spanish socialists to slap temporary two-year tax on country’s wealthiest

    Spain’s socialist government plans to impose a temporary two-year tax on the richest 1 percent of the country’s population in an attempt to alleviate the current crisis, Budget Minister Maria Jesus Montero said on Thursday.

    Speaking to La Sexta television channel, Montero revealed she was in negotiation with left-wing Podemos, her party’s junior coalition partner, over how best to implement the scheme.

    Despite providing no insight into how the proposal would be enforced, Montero confirmed it would be a tax on “millionaires, those who are in the top 1 percent income bracket.”

    Such individuals are frequently regarded as wealth and job creators themselves, and as such, in the eyes of free marketeers are important to retain to further encourage trickle-down economics.

    “We are going to use a similar scheme to that for energy companies and banking,” Montero told the channel explaining that “for the next two years … the big fortunes of this country will be asked to make a temporary contribution.”

    The government minister said she expected the tax to be enforced next year.

    As well as an additional tax on the country’s wealthiest, Spain’s ruling coalition has also announced plans to impose a windfall tax on energy companies and banks in an attempt to raise €7 billion to redistribute and alleviate those struggling from the cost-of-living crisis currently enveloping Europe.

    “There is no social justice without fiscal justice,” a spokesperson for the Socialist Party in Congress, Patxi Lopez, said back in July, calling the windfall tax on companies the duty of a “progressive government.”

    The move is in stark contrast to methods adopted by other European governments to solve the same problem, including the new U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss who last week resisted calls by Britain’s opposition to impose a windfall tax on energy companies, and whose Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to push on with reversing planned increases to corporate tax and national insurance contributions in a mini-budget to be announced on Friday.

  • Mysterious increase in deaths across Europe

    Mysterious increase in deaths across Europe

    European countries are currently experiencing an unusually high death rate, and coronavirus deaths are not the direct reason for this increase. Known as “excess mortality,” people are dying at an unusually high rate in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain.

    Since April, the death rate has risen sharply in Europe by an average of 11 percent. What is puzzling experts is that these deaths are not directly related to the coronavirus pandemic.

    In the Netherlands, according to de Volkskrant, one of the top newspaper in the country, hundreds of people more are dying every week than usual. This means that since the spring, approximately 5,000 more deaths are being recorded compared to the period before coronavirus. Scientists are puzzled by the reason, but Dutch health agencies refuse to release data behind the cause of deaths due to what the agencies say is related to privacy concerns.

    Some have criticized this approach, with popular Dutch commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek saying that matters of health privacy were universally suspended when the Dutch government decided to check everyone’s vaccination status before they began entering restaurants and shopping establishments.

    However, excess deaths are even worse elsewhere, with Germany’s top-selling Die Welt newspaper reporting that the situation is especially drastic in Spain. In July 2022, Spain registered almost 10,000 more deaths than in the same month of 2019, while in Germany, the climbing death rate was not as dramatic but still a matter of concern.

    To some extent, the rising death toll in Spain can be accounted for with coronavirus infections, but only 1,872 deaths were attributed to Covid-19, and another fifth were due to the extreme temperatures this summer, according to the statistics analyzed by the Carlos III Health Institute, which specializes in monitoring heat damage.

    However, many of the deaths cannot be accounted for, a fact acknowledged by the Spanish government, which has ordered a detailed investigation with results expected in six months. Some experts say it is already clear the research should not focus on Covid-19 or the heat.

    “Neither Covid nor heat waves explain what’s happening here,” said Salvador Peiró, head of research at the Fundación de Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de la Comunidad Valenciana.

    Peiró says the rising death toll is “incomprehensible,” above all because he sees many old and chronically ill people among the deceased. Despite this group being highly vaccinated on average, they were still the most at-risk individuals to die from Covid-19.

    [pp id=30065]

    “We believed the coronavirus had already caught the weakest,” said Peiró, but now these elderly individuals are dying at very high rates.

    In Great Britain, up to 1,000 more people are dying every week than the average in previous years, but health experts here, which are known for their expertise analyzing health data, are reportedly farther along in determining the reasons behind the substantial increase in deaths.

    The British authority for national statistics (ONS) published a report entitled “Direct and indirect health effects of Covid-19 in England” in early August, which made international headlines. The authors examined how the healthcare system responded to the pandemic and determined there was a connection between the lockdowns and fear of Covid-19, resulting in drastic reduction in the diagnosis of other diseases. In other words, people were either too afraid to get checked out at a hospital or their doctor, or due to the healthcare crisis, were not diagnosed due to Covid-19 patients receiving priority.

    The report, which examined the rate of diagnoses during the pandemic, determined that up to 141,000 cases of heart disease, 26,000 strokes, and 60,000 cases of diabetes went undetected. At the same time, the authors note there was a dramatic increase in mental illness and alcoholism.

    If the report’s findings are echoed elsewhere, it will show compelling evidence that lockdowns alone had a deleterious effect on public health, and may be responsible for tens of thousands of deaths across Europe.

    As for Germany, 85,285 people died in July alone, which represents a 12 percent increase compared to the average number in July for the years 2018 to 2021, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). In one week of July, deaths were over 24 percent higher.

    However, scientists and statisticians in Germany also cannot ascribe a reason behind the rapid increase in deaths, as data behind the deaths is not available to the public.

  • In Spain, 16-year-olds will soon be able to change their gender without their parents’ consent

    In Spain, 16-year-olds will soon be able to change their gender without their parents’ consent

    A year after it was presented to the Council of Ministers, the draft “Trans Law,” as it is called, was adopted by the Spanish government at the end of June. The lawmakers mostly ignored the criticisms and reservations expressed by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), which is the Judiciary’s supervising body, and by the Council of State, the main advisory body to the executive branch. This is not to mention the feminist associations, the dissident voices within Sánchez’s Socialist Party (PSOE), and even the voices of health workers against this ideological draft law, which is the expression of the will of an increasingly radical LGBT lobby in favor of affirming “gender identities.”

    The “Law for Real and Effective Equality of Trans People and for the Guarantee of LGBTI Rights” penned by the Minister of Equality Irene Montero of the far-left party Podemos has even been criticized from a feminist position by the Sánchez government’s former vice-president (from June 2018 to July 2021), Carmen Calvo, a PSOE MP who now chairs the Equality Committee of the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of Spain’s parliament.

    It was precisely because she was unable to impose her classical feminism against the “queer theory” taken on by the extreme left in the Sánchez government, under the leadership of Unidas Podemos’ Irene Montero, that Carmen Calvo was pushed out, consecrating the PSOE’s conversion to gender ideology and the idea that the biological sexual duality between men and women should be replaced, through social engineering, by a wide spectrum of fluctuating “genders” with each person being allowed to choose their own gender at a given time.

    FILE – People gather for a protest In support of transgender rights in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Paul White)

    Thus, despite the criticisms from Spain’s judicial council CGPJ and the Council of State, the bill that will now be examined by the Spanish parliament, where the ruling socialist-communist coalition counts on the support of the regional pro-independence parties — probably in exchange for new concessions to them — still has provisions, as when it was presented by Montero to the government a year ago, for minors to be able to change their “gender” at will by filing a declaration with the civil registry office.

    From the age of 16, they won’t even need their parents’ consent. The parents’ agreement will be required only between the ages of 14 and 16, and a judge will have to rule on children aged 12 to 14 who wish to be identified by the opposite sex or by one of the fast-growing number of “genders” that a constantly evolving gender theory says exist among human beings. Under-12s will not be able to change their sex or gender in the civil registry but will be able to change their name and demand to be treated as children of the opposite sex, including in the use of toilets and changing rooms.

    However, a person who commits a crime will be judged according to his or her sex as recorded in the civil registry at the time of the crime.

    In order to deny the idea that sexual identity disorders, currently referred to as “gender dysphoria,” can be any kind of pathology, the Spanish government’s proposed Trans Law also includes a ban on any therapy meant to influence or change a person’s sexual orientation or “gender identity.”

    [pp id=18430]

    Within lesbian couples, the partner of a woman giving birth to a child will also be able to be officially recognized, despite the reality, as the biological mother of the child and will therefore no longer need to go through an adoption procedure to be considered the child’s second mother.

    It is also worth remembering that the official EU policy (pushed by the European Court of Justice, the Commission, and the European Parliament) is to impose on all EU member states the recognition of the falsified documents that will consequently be issued by the Spanish authorities.

    While the minister of equality now considers that the right to self-determination of one’s “gender” is a constitutional right in Spain, the CGPJ have expressed their concern about the infringement on women’s rights that this law entails and also about the attack on the principle of equality through the positive discrimination effects that it will necessarily have in favor of LGBTIQ people.

    Among the most blatant discriminations against heterosexual people that will be brought about by the Spanish Trans Law is the reversal of the burden of proof when a homeowner will be accused of refusing to rent his or her property because of the LGBTIQ sexual orientation or identity of the would-be tenant(s).

    [pp id=12789]

    In other words, it will now be up to a landlord to prove that his or her refusal of those who wanted to rent his property was not motivated by their non-heterosexual sexual orientation or their “transgender” or “transsexual” gender identity, failing which the landlord will have to pay a very heavy fine of up to €150,000. Consequently, if both LGBTIQ and heterosexual would-be tenants show up, a landlord will have a vested interest in renting to the LGBTIQ ones to avoid risking having to sell his or her property to pay the fine.

    Discriminatory laws of this type already exist in Spain, but until now they have been adopted only in some regions, including in regions governed by the center-right Popular Party (PP). This is the case in the Madrid autonomous community, governed by the PP, where under the LGBTI law a biology and geology teacher at a high school in Alcalá de Henares was suspended for six months last year for telling his students in class that there are only two sexes and that a person’s sex depends on their XX or XY chromosomes.

    The Council of State, in an opinion issued at the beginning of July, criticized the lack of agreement between the Ministry of Equality and the Ministry of Justice on this bill, as the latter ministry had proposed modifications that were not taken into account in the final bill adopted by the Sánchez government in late June. According to the State Council, some of the Ministry of Justice’s reservations were fully justified, for example, with regard to the unconditional ban on therapies concerning sexual orientation or “gender identity,” which also includes consenting adult patients, who will no longer be allowed to seek specialist care once the bill is voted into law, at least if the left-wing Sánchez’s government gets its way.

    Furthermore, just like the Spanish Association of Socialist Feminists (Femes), the Council of State sees a risk of discrimination against women, for example, in sports competitions, and also a risk of decades-long sex equality policies being invalidated by the new law.

    [pp id=31508]

    Like the CGPJ, the State Council disapproves of the possibility for minors to change their “gender” in the civil registry without their parents’ consent, which is a serious violation of parental rights.

    These are so many attacks on the rights and freedoms of citizens and on the much-hailed principle of non-discrimination by a far-left government that knows it does not have to fear any reaction from the EU of the kind Central and Eastern Europe’s conservative governments have to face. Indeed, unlike the Hungarian child protection law, which prohibits propaganda in schools in favor of LGBT lifestyles and gender ideology, and which has led to the Commission blocking the disbursement of NextGenerationEU funds to Hungary, the Spanish bill is fully in line with the new European “values” as understood by the EU institutions dominated by the left-liberal establishment.

    Given the circumstances, it is no wonder then that Spain received a second tranche of €12 billion in grants under the recovery and resilience NextGenerationEU plan on July 29. This second tranche came in addition to the €9 billion transferred as an advance payment in August of last year.

  • Spain limits cooling and heating of public buildings

    Spain limits cooling and heating of public buildings

    Administrative buildings, commercial buildings, closed catering and cultural spaces, and railway and bus stations in Spain cannot be cooled to a temperature lower than 27 degrees in the summer, or heated to a temperature higher than 19 degrees this winter, the Spanish official gazette (BOE) reported on Tuesday.

    The Spanish government adopted a package of energy-saving measures on Monday, which will enter into force one week after its publication and will remain in force until Nov. 1, 2023. According to the measures, the lighting of shop windows must be switched off after 10 p.m., as well as the external lighting of unused public buildings.

    If either the heating or the air conditioning is working, the doors must be kept closed, and for this purpose the entrances must be automated by the end of September. The legislation stipulates that thermal equipment must be reviewed for properties that last underwent an energy efficiency test before Jan. 1, 2021.

    The energy-saving plans do not apply, for example, to healthcare and educational institutions, hair salons, restaurant kitchens, or places where it is “justified to maintain special environmental conditions.”

    The package of measures that has now entered into force is part of the Spanish government’s action program aimed at fulfilling the European Union’s gas-saving plan adopted at the end of July, which aims to prevent the energy crisis threatening Europe due to the war in Ukraine.

    According to this, Spain voluntarily agreed to reduce its current gas consumption by 7 percent.

  • Police search for two men after male Irish national raped in Valencia

    Police search for two men after male Irish national raped in Valencia

    Spanish authorities are searching for two men “of Arabic origin” in connection with the rape of a 28-year-old Irish male tourist on the last night of his stay in Valencia.

    The assault reportedly took place in the early hours of June 18. The victim, who had been partying with a friend in the vibrant El Carmen area of the city, agreed to leave with the two men.

    As they walked along the Túria river, the attackers tore the man’s clothes and sexually assaulted him.

    The victim took himself to Valencia’s La Fe hospital where a doctor examined his injuries sustained and confirmed they were consistent with rape.

    According to a description given to authorities by the victim, the men were “of Arabic origin” and spoke English “with a French accent.”

    National Police in Valencia are yet to comment publicly on the attack, and news of the assault has only just been made public.

    No arrests are believed to have yet been made.