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INSIDE SPAIN

Inside Spain: Why it’s ok to interrupt others and Spain’s tourism dilemma explained

Spain? The country with the best quality of life in the world, take our word for it. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some frustrating things about it, from pervasive corruption, the habit of interrupting others and the drawbacks of mass tourism.

Published: 16 March 2024 06:57 CET
Updated: 18 March 2024 10:03 CET
Inside Spain: Why it's ok to interrupt others and Spain's tourism dilemma explained
A man reads a wall sticker reading "Danger! Airbnb seriously harms the neighbourhood" plastered on a wall in Barcelona. (Photo by PAU BARRENA / AFP)

Are you familiar with the term PPSOE? It’s a combination of PP (the right-wing Popular Party) and PSOE (the ruling Socialists), and it’s used by critics to denote that Spain’s two main parties are just as bad as each other. 

It certainly rings true currently given that both parties are embroiled in face masks corruption scandals involving kickbacks and tax fraud (the Koldo Case for the Socialists, and the boyfriend of Madrid’s president Ayuso in the case of the PP, who allegedly used the money he didn’t declare to buy them a €1 million flat and a Maserati). 

Politicians on both sides have been slinging accusations at each other like a bunch of petulant teens, alleging that the other side is ‘more corrupt’. No one ever resigns though. 

They’ve also shown a complete lack of class, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez included, by using the 20th anniversary of the worst terror attacks in Spanish history (the 2004 Madrid train bombings in which 192 people died) to continue having a go at the other side. “You abandoned the victims!”, “You said it was ETA and not Al-Qaeda that did it in order to stay in power!”.

One thing is for sure though, the Spanish Parliament is one of the only places in Spain where people don’t talk over one another (perhaps because they have to take turns to use the microphone).

Have you ever noticed that there is no etiquette in Spain when it comes to interrupting others? Whether it’s a group of friends in a bar, colleagues in a work meeting, pupils butting in when a teacher is talking, and don’t get us started on TV debates. 

Even though certain situations should call for a bit more respect and decorum, foreigners shouldn’t necessarily be offended by this habit. Spaniards simply get excited about what’s being spoken about and assume that by adding their two céntimos it will make for a better conversation. The same can be said about them being quite loud speakers.

Spaniards are a fairly tolerant bunch, after all. How would you like it if your city back home was packed full of drunk foreigners with their less than appealing half-naked bodies on show, jumping off balconies, pricing you out of your neighbourhood and expecting you to speak their language?

This week we saw how a minority of locals in Málaga began an anti-tourism sticker campaign calling for tourists to “go f*cking home”. 

It’s happened before in other parts of Spain, although with not quite as explicit messaging.

Yes, it’s enough to get British tabloid writers frothing at the mouth with ‘we’ll take our money elsewhere’ headlines at the ready, but before they do, they should consider that Spain faces a huge dilemma as it tries to figure out how handle so much success (83 million visitors in 2023, a number which grows every year). 

How many tourists are ‘too many’? Should Spanish city centres just be for holidaymakers who stay in Airbnbs, rather than barrios where locals reside, walk, eat and meet (the essence of Spain’s intoxicating quality of life)?

Spanish tourism officials insist that the way forward is to transform the current ‘cheap’ all-inclusive model which traditional sun-seeking European holidaymakers like, and replace it with a pricier and more exclusive offering for the more affluent American or Asian tourist. Quality over quantity. 

This may help solve the issue of over-tourism, but will it alleviate the higher cost of living, rents and property that Spaniards now face? If anything, it could worsen it.

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INSIDE SPAIN

Inside Spain: Where heat kills and anti-squatter vigilantes

In this week’s Inside Spain we look at how the Spanish government is upping its game to protect its citizens from extreme heat and why the country’s ‘okupa’ problem is increasingly being solved by tough-talking bodybuilders.

Published: 18 May 2024 13:23 CEST
Inside Spain: Where heat kills and anti-squatter vigilantes

That it gets hot in Spain in summer is nothing new, but often decimal points can mark the difference between life and death.

Spain is the second European country where most people die due to heat, with a record 11,300+ casualties in the summer of 2022. 

Every year, the Spanish Health Ministry launches its prevention plan to protect the most vulnerable from the dangerous effects of exposure to extreme heat, and this year they’re aiming to provide warnings that are more specific than ever. 

On June 3rd, authorities will launch a reference map that will alert of heat episodes in 182 territories within the country’s 52 provinces.

After all, temperatures can vary greatly within the same province or region- it can be sweltering down in Málaga city but cooler in Los Alcornocales Natural Park, or horrifically hot in the concrete jungle that is Madrid but fresher in nearby Cercedilla up in the sierra.

Each of the 182 territories will have maximum risk thresholds that register differences of more than ten degrees Celsius. These limits have been set by studying the exact temperature at which heat-related deaths and hospital admissions increased in previous years in set locations.

Heat tolerance is logically higher in some places of Spain than others, so whereas in southern Córdoba the heat alarm threshold is set at 40.4C, in northern Asturias it’s 23.9C.

Although the effects of meteorological phenomenon La Niña are yet to be confirmed, most meteorologists agree that this summer will probably be another scorcher in Spain.

READ MORE: Will this summer in Spain be as hot as the previous two?

If you haven’t started making plans to protect yourself from el calor (the heat), now is probably the right time to do it. 

Preparation is also what many Spanish homeowners need when it comes to preventing their homes from being occupied by squatters. 

The okupa (squatter) movement is very controversial in Spain, not least because Spanish law often sides with the squatter over the owner unless the latter acts quickly (48 hours usually), and okupas know exactly what to do to ensure their occupation is legally protected.

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What’s emerged in recent years as a result of this powerlessness on the part of affected property owners are numerous anti-squatting companies popping up around the country. 

Staff members are usually made up of no-nonsense muscle-bound tough men who promise clients the swift exit of the okupas, for a fee of course. 

These desokupación firms often operate on the margins of the law, sometimes threatening squatters and using underhand tricks to get them out. In fact, some of these anti-squatter vigilantes have been charged with coercion, and they are often accused of having links to alt-right and fascist groups.  

“People know that Desokupa is faster than the justice system,” Daniel Esteve, head of the most famed anti-squatting firm in Spain (Desokupa), which has reportedly carried out 9,400 squatter evictions without any of his team or clients being prosecuted, told El Periódico de Ibiza. 

In fact, there is evidence that even Spanish banks now are hiring the services of these companies rather than relying on police to retrieve the properties they own, and that judges are accepting the normalisation of these anti-squatter companies rather than the issues being resolved in the courts. They even now offer customers the possibility of cleaning up and refurbishing their recovered homes, as many of them are left in a poor state when the squatters leave.

“We are professionals, lawyers, bodyguards and detectives, we are not thugs,” Esteve concludes.

“In Spain those who don’t pay are protected, we defend the owners from a great injustice.”

Thugs or not, the emergence of these companies specialising in the eviction of squatters are a prime example of people in Spain taking the law into their own hands when they feel justice isn’t being carried out.

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