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BREXIT

Eight reasons why Spain is very worried about Brexit

A leaked report has revealed the true extent of the Spanish government’s fears over the negative impact that Brexit could have on Spain.

Eight reasons why Spain is very worried about Brexit
Photo: AFP

The internal report commissioned by Spain’s Brexit commission, which is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaria, was leaked to Spanish daily newspaper El Pais and published on Friday.

The report made it clear that Spain would be more in favour of a “soft Brexit”, the scenario that least castigates London for abandoning the EU but it acknowledged: “Theresa May’s speech on January 17th is definitive…it excludes a new relationship framework that supposes the continuance of the United Kingdom in the single market.”


Photo: AFP

Here are the key points of concern for Spain as outlined in the report.

Damage to Spain’s GDP

Britain’s withdrawal from the EU will threaten Spain’s GDP growth, trimming it by between €2 billion and €4 billion (0.2-0.4 percentage points) said the report.

Force Spain to increase its EU contributions

Without the UK in the European Union, Spain fears it will have to stump up more funds to contribute to the shortfall and may have to increase its budget contributions by €888 million. The report also warned that Spain’s poorer regions, such as Melilla and Murcia may lose out on European funding.

Fall in exports

Spanish exports to Britain would fall by €464 million ($490million) per year under the best-case scenario which the report defined as Madrid reaching a bilateral trade agreement with London after Brexit.

But the report said the fall in exports could reach as much as one billion euros per year, with the food, auto and pharmaceutical sectors especially hard-hit.

Spanish business interests in the UK

It also said that some of Spain’s largest companies could be adversely affected because of their significant business interests in the UK. For example 12 percent of the revenue of Spain’s largest bank, Santander, is generated in the UK. While Telecoms giant Telefónica has a UK revenue share of 30 percent and energy utility Iberdrola generates 12 percent of its revenue in the UK.

Together those three companies account for a third of the value of the Ibex 35 index.

Tourism


Photo: AFP

With the tourist industry being one of the main driving forces of economic growth in Spain, and Britons making up one in five of foreign visitors, Spain is concerned that Brexit willhave a negative impact on tourism.

The fall in the value of sterling against the euro that has already occurred since the Brexit vote and may well fall further could discourage some of the 17 million British holidaymakers who came to Spain last year, or so Spain fears.

Gibraltar


Photo: AFP

Details were not provided about the exact impact Spain fears in regards to Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory at the southwestern tip of Spain but the report acknowledged that it will have a negative impact on the free movement of goods and people across that border.

Spain has repeatedly said that the best solution for The Rock would be to negotiate a joint-sovereignty agreement, a scenario dismissed out-of-hand by the Gibraltarians themselves.

Future of Spanish football players

Photo: AFP

The consequences of Brexit could be felt by Spanish players signed to British football teams.

“Brexit could affect Spanish players in the United Kingdom,” says the report.

Santí Cazorla at Arsenal, Juan Mata at Manchester United, Diego Costa at Chelsea and David Silva at Manchester City are among the Spanish stars who play in the Premier League.

Spanish citizens in UK and British expats in Spain

Photo: AFP

It said there are 102,498 Spanish nationals officially living in Britain and 391,000 Britons registered as living in Spain – although we know that the real figures in both cases is much larger – including 105,000 pensioners who cost Spain's public health system around €250 million per year.

Free movement of people, which allows any citizen of an EU country to work anywhere across the 28-nation bloc, is “the most relevant detail in the (Brexit) negotiations,” the report said.

“Spain is interested in maintaining the conditions of free movement,” it stated.

So what next?

Spain's attitude towards negotiations seemed positive with a source telling El Pais:

“The aim is to get some certainty for citizens and to help the [European] commission in its role as a negotiator. At the end of the process, the UK can’t find itself in a better situation outside the EU than in it. But if London doesn’t play dirty, the best thing would be not to do mutual damage.”

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BRITONS IN SPAIN

FACT CHECK: Spain’s ‘£97 daily rule’ isn’t new nor a worry for British tourists

The British tabloids are at it again causing alarm over the so-called '£97 daily rule’ which Spain is apparently imposing on UK tourists, who in turn are threatening to ‘boycott’ the country. 

FACT CHECK: Spain's '£97 daily rule' isn't new nor a worry for British tourists

American playwright Eugene O’Neill once said: “There is no present or future – only the past, happening over and over again – now”.

In 2022, The Local Spain wrote a fact-checking article titled ‘Are UK tourists in Spain really being asked to prove €100 a day?, in which we dispelled the claims made in the British press about Spain’s alleged new rules for UK holidaymakers.

Two years on in 2024, the same eye-catching headlines are resurfacing in Blighty: “’Anti-British? Holiday elsewhere!’ Britons fume as tourists in Spain warned they may be subject to additional rules” in GB News, or “’They would be begging us to come back’: Brits vow to ‘boycott Spain’ over new £97 daily rule” in LBC.

The return of this rabble-rousing ‘news’ in the UK has coincided with calls within Spain to change the existing mass tourism model that’s now more than ever having an impact on the country’s housing crisis.

Even though Spaniards behind the protests have not singled out any foreign nationals as potential culprits, the UK tabloids have unsurprisingly capitalised on this and run headlines such as “Costa del Sol turns on British tourists”.

READ MORE: Why does hatred of tourists in Spain appear to be on the rise?

What is the so-called ‘£97 daily rule’?

Yes, there is theoretically a ‘£97 a day rule’, but it is not a new rule, nor one that applies only to UK nationals specifically, and not even one that Spain alone has imposed (all Schengen countries set their financial means threshold).

As non-EU nationals who are not from a Schengen Area country either (the United Kingdom never was in Schengen), British tourists entering Spain could have certain requirements with which to comply if asked by Spanish border officials.

Such requirements include a valid passport, proof of a return ticket, documents proving their purpose of entry into Spain, limits on the amount of time they can spend in Spain (the 90 out of 180 days Schengen rule), proof of accommodation, a letter of invitation if staying with friends or family (another controversial subject in the British press when it emerged) and yes, proof of sufficient financial means for the trip.

Third-country nationals who want to enter Spain in 2024 may need to prove they have at least €113,40 per day (around £97), with a minimum of €972 (around £830) per person regardless of the intended duration of the stay. It is unclear whether this could also possibly apply to minors.

The amount of financial means to prove has increased slightly in 2024 as it is linked to Spain’s minimum wage, which has also risen. 

Financial means can be accredited by presenting cash, traveller’s checks, credit cards accompanied by a bank account statement, an up-to-date bank book or any other means that proves the amount available as credit on a card or bank account.

Have Britons been prevented from entering Spain for not having enough money?

There is no evidence that UK holidaymakers have been prevented from entering Spain after not being able to show they have £97 a day to cover their stay, nor any reports that they have been asked to show the financial means to cover their stay either. 

17.3 million UK tourists visited Spain in 2023; equal to roughly 47,400 a day. 

Even though British tourists have to stand in the non-EU queue at Spanish passport control, they do not require a visa to enter Spain and the sheer number of UK holidaymakers means that they’re usually streamlined through the process, having to only quickly show their passports.

The only occasional hiccups that have arisen post-Brexit have been at the land border between Gibraltar and Spain (issued that are likely to be resolved soon), and these weren’t related to demonstrating financial means. 

Therefore, the British press are regurgitating alarmist headlines that don’t reflect any truth, but rather pander to the ‘they need us more than we need them’ mantra that gets readers clicking. 

To sum up, there is a £97 a day rule, but it is not new, it has not affected any British tourists to date, and it is not specific to Spain alone to potentially require proof of economic means. 

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