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03.21 - Spain Today News 13 September 2026 · Spain Today - Last Spanish News

• 0:00
  Welcome to all the listeners to Spain Today News and we invite
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  you to follow the channel so you do not miss any chapter.
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  Thanks for having me, it's great to be here.
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  So right now in Spain you can literally be handed a passport
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  and welcomed as a citizen, but, you know, legally banned from
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  casting a ballot. Yeah, it's a really complex
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  situation. Right.
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  Or you could be a politician who is forgiven for a crime by the
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  government but kept in exile by a judge.
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  Today we're doing a deep dive into a stack of recent reports
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  from Spain. Today looking at how Spain's
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  borders aren't just lines on a map anymore.
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  No, they're not. They are very much invisible
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  legal walls at this point. Exactly.
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  And the theme connecting all these reports today is the
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  boundaries of belonging and justice.
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  We're exploring how Spain's legal and political institutions
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  are really stress testing who gets forgiven, who gets to vote,
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  who controls the economy and ultimately who is allowed inside
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  the borders. But.
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  Before we get into the mechanisms of all this, I think
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  we need to set some ground rules for you, the listener.
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  Oh, definitely. Because the sources we're
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  looking at today, they touch the most polarized nerves in the
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  country. We're talking about the Catalan
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  amnesty law, radical left wing economic policies and the deeply
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  contentious immigration debate. Very heavy topics.
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  Very heavy. So we need to explicitly state
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  that we are completely impartial here.
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  We are not endorsing any left or right wing viewpoints.
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  We're just the messengers. Exactly.
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  We are simply unpacking the arguments and the facts exactly
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  as they appear in the Spain Today reporting.
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  That way you can draw your own conclusions.
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  So let's jump straight into that first invisible wall, which is
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  the boundary of forgiveness. Yeah, we have this ongoing,
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  incredibly high stakes legal battle over the amnesty law for
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  the Catalan independence leaders.
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  Right from the 2017 secession crisis.
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  Yeah, and the Constitutional Court is currently weighing
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  whether to actually apply this amnesty.
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  Specifically, we need to look at a draft report by conservative
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  Magistrate Jose Maria Macias. And this draft is regarding
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  former Catalan minister Jordy Turrell.
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  Right. And Turrell's defense has been
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  arguing that the Supreme Court is acting out of pure animosity
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  by refusing to grant him amnesty.
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  But Macias steps in with his draft, and he focuses heavily on
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  the crime of embezzlement of public funds or malversation.
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  He really does. Macias is backing the Supreme
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  Court's refusal to amnesty these leaders, and his argument is
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  entirely based on a very strict legal definition.
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  And I was reading the way they parse out this legal doctrine
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  and it's fascinating. They separate profit motive from
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  personal enrichment and then personal benefit.
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  Yeah, it's a very fine line. It is.
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  Think about it like like a corporate CEO, say this CEO
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  wants to throw an incredibly lavish birthday party for
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  themselves, but they pay for the whole thing using company funds.
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  OK, I see where you're going with this now they.
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  Didn't take cash and wire it to their personal bank account,
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  right? There is no direct literal
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  enrichment in their bank balance.
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  Right, exactly. Their net worth didn't go up on
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  paper. But by using the company's
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  money, they avoided spending their own.
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  They got the entire benefit of the party while protecting their
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  own wealth. That savings of personal assets
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  is the core issue here, isn't? It it perfectly illustrates the
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  legal doctrine Macias is leaning on.
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  Yeah, the legal term used in the draft is a patrimonial saving
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  right. Macias argues that the Supreme
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  Court's logic is well, it's not arbitrary or born of animosity.
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  The politicians used public funds to execute their political
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  goals for the independence referendum.
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  Which was massively expensive. Right.
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  If they hadn't used public money, they would have had to
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  finance that monumental logistical effort out of their
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  own pockets. So avoiding that massive
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  personal expense qualifies as a personal benefit of a
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  patrimonial nature. So Masiz is basically telling
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  the defense you might hate the conclusion, but you can't say
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  the Supreme Court's reasoning is unpredictable.
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  Exactly. It's based on very clear,
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  established legal doctrine. But hold on, doesn't the
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  European angle kind of up end that track?
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  Because the European Court of Justice issued a ruling on July
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  16th explicitly stating that the PRO says did not affect EU
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  financial interest. Yeah, that did complicate things
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  in the public eye. Right.
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  So if Europe is saying the financial impact wasn't what it
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  was made out to be, how does Macias reconcile that with the
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  Supreme Court's harsh stance? By pointing to the calendar.
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  Honestly, Macias addresses that July 16th ruling directly by
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  highlighting A strict timeline issue.
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  Oh really? Yeah, the Supreme Court issued
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  its orders refusing the amnesty before the European Court of
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  Justices handed down that ruling.
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  Oh wow. So in a constitutional appeal,
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  you're reviewing whether a court acted legally at the exact
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  moment they made their decision? You can't retrospectively apply
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  a later European ruling to invalidate a Supreme Court order
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  that was issued when that doctrine didn't even exist.
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  Yet. OK, that makes sense legally,
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  but let's look at the immediate reality of this draft report.
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  According to the reporting, this draft is widely expected to be
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  rejected in the upcoming September 22 vote.
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  Right. The progressive majority is
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  likely going to vote it down. Which wood forest?
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  The court to just appoint a new magistrate to write a totally
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  new draft. So if this document is basically
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  headed for the shredder in a matter of days, why does it
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  matter so much right now? It's a fair question, but it
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  matters because of the precedent it forces out into the open.
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  This is the very first appeal to reach the Constitutional Court
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  from the condemned process leaders.
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  It's the Canary in the coal mine.
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  Exactly. Even if it's rejected, it's the
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  first real test that could dictate the legal future of
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  Carl's Pigdemont. Because everyone is watching how
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  the court defines this. Yes, Supreme Court Magistrate
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  Pablo Urena is waiting in the wings, and he actively plans to
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  apply whatever legal doctrine the Constitutional Court
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  eventually establishes here to all the other pending cases.
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  Which means the lines of who gets forgiven are being
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  permanently drawn based on this exact philosophical debate.
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  Precisely, and you know, this perfectly transitions us from
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  politicians fighting for legal inclusion to everyday citizens
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  fighting for democratic inclusion.
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  Oh right, the grandchildren Law. Yeah, how do you define a
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  Spanish citizen and more importantly, who gets a voice?
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  This is a huge story. So we're talking about the Lady
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  Nietos, the Grandchildren law. This allows descendants of Civil
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  War and Franco era exiles to reclaim their Spanish
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  nationality. Which is a massive project of
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  historical memory by the state. But the catch is the Supreme
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  Court has placed a total freeze on their voting rights.
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  They're handing out passports but saying no, you can't
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  actually vote. And their justification for this
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  is purely numerical. The Supreme Court acted because
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  of what they call an extraordinary increase in the
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  overseas electoral census, known as CR.
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  How big of an increase are we talking about?
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  Since 2023, the Grandchildren Law has added about 408,262 new
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  voters to that registry. Wow, over 400,000.
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  Yeah, and the Supreme Court claims this poses a real,
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  founded risk to the transparency and objectivity of future
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  elections. OK, let me just play devil's
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  advocate for a second. I can completely see why adding
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  over 400,000 new voters overnight would make any
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  electoral board nervous. Oh absolutely.
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  I mean in a tight race, 400,000 votes is enough to swing an
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  entire national election, so isn't freezing their rights just
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  like a necessary emergency brake doesn't prevent the system from
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  being overwhelmed? Well, that's the administrative
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  defense, but the counter argument from groups like
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  progressive judges and prosecutors, as well as the
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  minister of the Presidency, Felix Bolanios, is that this
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  freeze is completely disproportionate.
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  Because it's creating a 2 tiered citizenship.
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  Exactly. And this is the exact point made
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  by consenting magistrate Maria Alicia Milan Hernandez.
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  She highlights a massive legal paradox here.
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  What's the paradox? The Supreme Court is stripping A
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  fundamental constitutional right from hundreds of thousands of
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  legal citizens to prevent a hypothetical risk to future
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  elections that haven't even been called yet.
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  Oh, I see. They are inflicting an immediate
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  and concrete harm right now to guard against an imaginary
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  logistical problem tomorrow. And it creates deeply unequal
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  treatment among Spanish nationals.
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  And the bureaucratic hurdles are just Kafkaesque.
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  I read that actually vote these citizens now have to prove
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  they're descendants of political exiles via a specific
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  certification. Right.
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  But legally, they cannot even request that certification
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  themselves, so they are effectively trapped in a
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  bureaucratic limbo without any individualized examination of
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  their cases. It's a black hole.
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  You have Spanish nationals who can vote and Spanish nationals
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  who cannot, based entirely on this frozen system.
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  It's wild. And you know, all of these
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  voters, both domestic and overseas, they will eventually
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  head to the polls for the 2027 general election.
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  They will, and as they prepare to vote, the political landscape
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  they'll be voting on is undergoing a massive shake up,
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  especially on the left, where the debate is completely
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  shifting to the boundaries of economic fairness.
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  Yes, the 2027 race is already starting to take shape, and the
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  catalyst right now is Irene Montero, the former.
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  Equality Minister. Right, and current Podemos MEP,
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  she has officially announced her bid to be a candidate in the
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  2027 general elections. But she doesn't just want to
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  leave Podemos. No, she wants to hold open
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  primaries that go way beyond just Podemos members.
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  She's aiming for a fully transversal left wing candidacy.
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  Exactly, and her platform is highly specific.
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  She's running under the slogan Peace, Home and Work.
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  And the economics of it are radical.
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  She's demanding an 1800 euro monthly minimum wage and a 30
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  hour work week, capped at six hours a day.
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  Which would fundamentally restructure the labor market,
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  and she knows people will ask how the economy can sustain
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  that. So her target is explicitly the
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  system and the 1%. Right, She cited that 2024 Oxfam
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  report. She did the one stating that the
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  1% accumulates 95% of the wealth.
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  She is framing capitalism as the literal root of wars, high food
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  prices, and the fact that people can't even afford a week of
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  vacation. It's like the current state of
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  Spain's radical left is a messy man breakup.
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  That's a good way to put it, right?
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  All the musicians are trying to launch solo careers, but they're
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  slowly realizing they might actually need to form a super
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  group under the brand UN Paso Alfrente, a step forward if they
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  want to actually sell out the stadium in 2027.
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  Yeah, the fragmented state of the left is glaring right now.
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  You have Ione Balara heavily praising Montero, calling her a
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  mother fighter who can't be bought.
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  Basically her hype man. Exactly.
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  But then you have the Sumar Coalition, who currently doesn't
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  even have an official candidate, and they are insisting on taking
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  things step by step to build a common space.
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  And meanwhile, ERC's Gabriel Ruffian had previously floated
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  this idea of a broader left front.
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  It's just a lot of moving parts. It is, but what connects this
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  directly back to the listener is how Montero is actively trying
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  to shift the political narrative away from the culture wars.
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  Oh, absolutely, she explicitly said migrants, the LGTBI
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  community and feminists are not to blame for high rent or
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  grocery prices. Right, she is trying to bring
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  the focus back to raw foundational class economics
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  against the quote rich and powerful.
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  She wants to force the rest of the left to either fall in line
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  behind her economic populism or explain to voters why they don't
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  support a 30 hour work week. It's a bold strategy, but you
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  know, while politicians is in Madrid are busy drafting these
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  economic platforms for 2027, a very physical immediate crisis
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  of survival and jurisdiction is happening right now on Spain's
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  southern frontier. This is perhaps the most urgent
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  boundary we are discussing today.
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  Following a Mass or regular entry on July 30th and 31st, the
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  Spanish enclave of Ceta is deeply overwhelmed.
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  The numbers are staggering, Youth and Childhood Minister Sia
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  Rego reported. There are currently about 2100
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  registered migrant children in Celta.
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  And 700 of them are girls. Right.
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  And Celta just does not have the infrastructure for this.
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  No they don't. Rego is practically pleading
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  with the autonomous communities on the peninsula to take
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  responsibility and accept transfers to relieve Serta.
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  She's also urging the PP to drop confrontational quote hate
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  rhetoric. Because it's a powder kick down
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  there. It really is.
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  The central government, led by Minister Anil Victor Torres, is
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  urgently trying to open more triage spaces.
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  They want to increase capacity from 3400 up to 6000 places.
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  Just to manage the 13,000 total people who entered illegally
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  during that window and they're trying to repatriate those
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  without asylum rights back to Morocco.
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  They are, but they face a massive backlog in verifying
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  family structures. And while this bureaucratic
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  backlog happens, the extreme fragility on the ground is
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  terrifying. The reporting detailed the
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  shocking overnight violence where eight people were arrested
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  for attacking minors. Yeah, that was horrific to read.
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  They're using a machete, a knife, pepper spray and a pellet
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  gun against kids. And meanwhile, 100 Moroccans are
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  living in rebuilt shanty camps near the Terra Hall industrial
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  estate because 42 of their shacks burned down recently.
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  It's a complete humanitarian rupture.
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  So with the government expanding triage centers and actively
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  trying to process returns, what is the actual bottleneck here?
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  Why are thousands of children still stuck in an environment
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  where they are literally being attacked with machetes?
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  Well, the sources outline a dual bottleneck here.
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  Administratively establishing proof of a family structure in
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  Morocco takes significant time. You can't just send a child
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  across the border, you need cooperation from the Moroccan.
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  Government, which hasn't been great, right?
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  Right. The reporting notes that many of
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  the July requests simply went unanswered by Morocco.
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  So the paperwork just sits there.
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  And politically, the central government is struggling to
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  convince regional governments, the autonomous communities, to
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  share the load. They can't force them without
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  political agreement. So it turns a humanitarian
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  crisis into a bitter partisan standoff.
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  Just pointing fingers while Zelda bears the entire brunt of
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  it. Exactly.
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  And that is really the final thought I want to leave you with
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  today. As you monitor these stories, it
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  is absolutely fascinating to look at SPAN as a country that
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  has the immense institutional capacity to meticulously parse
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  out the precise legal definitions of overseas voting
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  rights for grandchildren of exiles.
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  Or debate the philosophical nuances of personal benefit in a
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  130 page document. Right, The legal machinery is so
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  refined, yet that exact same state completely stalls when
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  trying to process undocumented children physically standing on
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  its own soil. It's a glaring contrast.
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  It is how will Spain's complex legal and political frameworks
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  eventually bridge this massive gap between historical memory
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  and immediate humanitarian reality?
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  It's definitely something for the listener to keep a close eye
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  on. That is such an important point
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  to end on the contrast between the pristine courtrooms and the
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  reality at the border fence. Thanks for being with us at
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  Spain today, and remember to come tomorrow for more Spanish
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  news in English.