Latest from Local Spain
Local Spain
31 minutes ago
- Politics
- Local Spain
How securing rights through citizenship has become 'increasingly fragile'
The first Global State of Citizenship report, by the Global Citizenship Observatory (GLOBALCIT) at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, analyses citizenship laws in 191 countries in 2024. Researchers found that "with the growing number of armed conflicts and incidence of terrorism worldwide, many countries have introduced provisions for withdrawing the citizenship of a person on the basis of national security grounds.' Over a third of countries, including many European ones, 'can now strip a person of their citizenship when their actions are seen as disloyal or threatening to state security,' the report says, and the trend has been expanding. The practice is linked to an 'increasing securitisation of citizenship' since the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 in the USA. Between 2000 and 2020, 18 European countries put in place measures to deprive persons of citizenship because of national security or to counter terrorism. Before 2001, these measures were 'virtually absent', the report says. revocation of citizenship from individuals threatening national security. Germany's coalition parties discussed this option for 'supporters of terrorism, antisemites, and extremists'. Hungary also amended the constitution to allow the temporary suspension of citizenship because of national security. Middle East and North Africa are other regions where these policies have expanded, the report says. Ways to strip citizenship The report identifies four ways in which citizens can be stripped of their status on security grounds. Nearly 80 per cent of countries have rules covering at least one of these situations. In 132 countries around the world, and two thirds of European states, citizenship can be removed for disloyalty or for acts that threaten national security, such treason, espionage, trying to overthrow a government or terrorism. Such rules exist in Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK. In 89 countries, however, this rule concerns only to people who naturalised, not those who acquired citizenship by birth. Another reason that can lead to the stripping of citizenship is having committee serious criminal offences, which typically involves having been sentenced to imprisonment for a certain period. These rules exist in 79 countries but only a few in Europe. In 70 countries, citizenship can be removed for serving in a foreign army and in 18 this measure concerns only people who acquired citizenship by naturalisation. In Europe, 40 per cent of countries – including France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Estonia, Turkey, Belarus and Bosnia Herzegovina – can remove citizenship under certain conditions for having served in another army. Latvia, one of the countries that can revoke citizenship for such reasons, changed the law in 2022 to allow its citizens to work with the Ukrainian military forces. Citizenship can also be removed for providing non-military services to another state, such as being elected in a public office, working for certain agencies or just in the civil service. Such rules exist in 75 countries around the world and some in Europe too, including France, Greece and Turkey. People naturalised more at risk Luuk van der Baaren, co-author of the report, said at the presentation of the study that 'these developments indeed raise an important question as to what extent is citizenship still a secure legal status'. The data also shows that 'a large share of the citizenship stripping provisions are discriminatory in nature, as they only apply to specific groups, particularly citizens by naturalisation'. This is to prevent that a person remains stateless, but it means that 'citizens by birth have a secure legal status, while those who acquired citizenship later in life do not,' he added. Losing citizenship may not only affect the personal security and life opportunities, but also that of dependants, the report says, as in 40 per cent of countries citizenship deprivation can extend to children. Other ways of losing citizenship There are other ways, intentional or not, to lose citizenship, according to the report. The most common, is to have withdrawn because it was acquired in a fraudulent way. Such rules exist in 157 countries. 156 states have also rules on how to voluntarily renounce citizenship, usually with provisions to ensure that a person does not end up stateless. In 56 countries, people can lose their citizenship if they acquire another nationality, and in 55 this may occur by simply residing abroad. Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 'everyone has the right to a nationality', but four million people in the world are stateless 'because their citizenship remains denied or unrecognised,' the report continues. On the other hand, 35 countries do not allow people to renounce citizenship, or make this impossible in practice. Unequal rights The report also looks at ways to acquire citizenship and finds 'highly unequal pathways'. The most common naturalisation requirement knowledge. Less common are economic self-sufficiency, civic or cultural integration, language or citizenship tests, and renunciation of other citizenships. On residency requirements, Americas and Western Europe have the more inclusive measures. Citizenship in European countries is also regulated via the European Convention on Nationality, under which the residence requirement cannot exceed 10 years. In 15 countries the wait is longer than 10 years: Equatorial Guinea (40 years), United Arab Emirates (30), Bahrain (25), Qatar (25), Bhutan (20), Brunei (20), Eritrea (20), Oman (20), Chad (15), Gambia (15), Nigeria (15), Rwanda (15), Sierra Leone (15), St. Kitts and Nevis (14), and India (11).
Local Spain
a day ago
- Business
- Local Spain
80 flights cancelled on third day of easyJet strikes in Spain
As of 10am on Friday, the third day of the strike at easyJet, the airline has cancelled 40 flights across its four Spanish bases: Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Alicante and Málaga. The 40 cancelled flight routes - 80 total as they are roundtrips - are as follows: 17 in Palma de Mallorca : Geneva (two), Basel (three), Naples, Berlin, Bordeaux, Zurich, Nice, London Gatwick (two), Palermo, Nantes, Toulouse, Leeds Bradford and Paris Charles de Gaulle 11 in Málaga: Geneva (two), London Gatwick (two), Basel, Zurich, Bristol (two), Marrakech, Manchester and Nantes 4 in Alicante : Bristol, Basel, Southend and Lyon 8 in Barcelona : Berlin, Basel, Strasbourg, Naples, Geneva (two), Lisbon and Nice The cabin crew protest began on Wednesday with the intention of ending today (Friday June 27th), although if there is no agreement, they have not ruled out an indefinite strike in August. The previous two days of strikes have resulted in 124 cancelled flights, 62 on each day. Therefore, the total number of grounded flights over the three days numbers 204. Called by Spanish workers' union USO, the purpose of the stoppage is to demand improved pay for easyJet's Spain-based cabin crew, equalling their wages to that of their counterparts across other European countries where the budget airlines has bases. However, the airline's management maintains that "it is not possible to compare working conditions between different countries," since its staff are governed by local contracts. Pier Luigi Copello, the general secretary of USO at easyJet Spain, explained that the workforce is demanding fair and equitable working conditions, "in line with the European standards that easyJet maintains in other countries, given the exorbitant increase in the cost of living in Spain', especially in cities such as Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona and Alicante. According to Copello, easyJet flight attendants' salaries in Spain get paid around the minimum wage.
Local Spain
a day ago
- Climate
- Local Spain
Weather agency debunks 'summers in Spain are always this hot' claim
Whenever Spain's Aemet weather agency or a news website warns of an upcoming heatwave or record temperatures in Spain, there's invariably a barrage of replies online saying something to the effect of 'It's always been hot in summer'. This is of course true, very obvious, and in many cases quite a disingenuous claim. These sorts of remarks are repeated over and over again as evidence against climate change (along with claims like 'fake news' and 'clickbait') and although it is of course true that temperatures are higher during summer in Spain, and that there have always been abnormal periods and heatwaves over the years, Spain's weather agency has now shown they have never consistently reached current levels, at least not since records began. This has been confirmed by Spain's state meteorological agency Aemet in a social media post in which it debunks the claims with data. Around a quarter of the replies and messages directed at Aemet on social media are insulting, humiliating and threatening, according to figures from the Social Inclusion journal, which may explain why the state body has taken to the internet to make its point. Posting on X, Aemet stated that: 'It's always been hot in summer.' Yes, but there is no precedent for a June as hot as this one. Just look at the anomaly graph. And it's not an isolated case: between 2022 and 2024 there were 7 records of hot months. The last record for coldest month was in 2005. With a graph showing average temperatures in Spain and the variations that have occurred in recent months, Aemet data shows that in most cases when weather anomalies occur they are towards higher or rising temperatures. Take June, for example, which is already promising to be a record month. Aemet provided further data from June that adds to the list of records, especially for incidents of extreme weather and variation, such as the fact that on June 23rd, for example, Almería broke both its highest maximum and minimum temperatures record for the month, 40.9C and 27.1C, respectively. According to Spain's System of Daily Mortality Monitoring (MoMo), from June 1st to 21st 114 people have died in Spain due to heat-related causes. The year with the highest rate of mortality due to heat-related causes was 2022, with 339. As we approach July, the situation doesn't look likely to change, warns Aemet. The average temperature should be between 23C and 24C (an average of maximum and minimum temperatures), but the forecast is for it to be around 30C.
Local Spain
a day ago
- Business
- Local Spain
New tourism promo of Spain's interior clashes with lack of international flights
The campaign by Turespaña, Spain's Institute of Tourism, has a a slogan ¿Crees que conoces España? Piénsalo mejor or 'Think you know Spain? Think again.' It aims to highlight hidden gems found inland in Spain beyond the typical tourist destinations on the coast, many of which are suffering from oversaturation in the property market and have seen anti-tourism protests in recent years. 'We want the world to share the thousand dimensions of Spain,' explained Spain's Minister of Industry and Tourism Jordi Hereu at the presentation ceremony, emphasising that the change in strategy is a move towards a more sustainable tourism model that will allow Spain to maintain its global leadership in the sector. Hereu pointed out that the aim of the new campaign is to open 'a window to the world' for all regions of Spain, whom he also thanked for their collaboration in jointly developing the project. 'The sun will continue to shine, as it always has, on Spain's seas, coasts, beaches and capitals, but this campaign is designed to shine a light on the thousands of treasures that we all know about in our country but which the world is still unaware of," he said, noting it was the first active tourism campaign by the government to target inland Spain. The minister also stressed that seasonal adjustment and better decentralisation of tourism throughout the country are essential to ensure a sustainable future for the sector. Spain broke a record in 2024 with 94 million international tourists and is expected to reach 100 million this year. 'If we want to remain leaders in international tourism, we need to decentralise destinations,' Hereu said. 'Now the focus must be on the parts of Spain that need further development.' But the campaign, however needed and well-intentioned, may come up against problems due to a glaring shortage in international flights arriving at airports in Spain's interior, with the exception of the capital Madrid and Seville. Zaragoza for example, which is now Spain's fourth most populous city with 691,000 inhabitants, only has regular international flights to and from London, Milan, Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca, as well as seasonal flights to Paris, Marrakech and Fez. Therefore, the best way for most international tourists to reach the capital of Aragón is flying to either Madrid or Barcelona and catching a train that last around one hour and 30 minutes. The lack of international flights is even more evident at airports in other cities in Spain's interior such as Pamplona, Burgos, Salamanca, Logroño, Valladolid, León Pamplona and Badajoz, for which train connections from Madrid and Barcelona are also less frequent and take longer. The disparity in international flights between the popular coastal holiday spots and Spain's interior risks becoming even larger when carriers deem that routes to smaller regional airports are no longer profitable enough to maintain. Early in 2025, Ryanair closed its bases in Jerez and Valladolid, and cut its routes at airports such as Santiago de Compostela, Asturias, Cantabria, and Zaragoza, favouring instead increasing flights to Spain's major hubs: Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Málaga as well as the Canary and Balearic Islands. In fact, Ryanair's CEO Eddie Wilson has warned that the low-cost carrier could cut even more flights to Spain's smaller regional airports after already axing 800,000 seats this year, with an ongoing fees dispute with Spanish airport operator Aena given as the reason for this. Although Spain has one of the best rail networks in the world, not all holidaymakers are willing to catch a train after spending several hours on a flight, which evidences that Spanish authorities may have to go to greater lengths to improve services (not just flight connections) in the country's interior if they really wish to encourage tourists to visit. 👀'Think you know Spain? Think again' 📽️Os presentamos la nueva campaña de @Turespana_ — Ministerio de Industria y Turismo (@minturgob) June 25, 2025
Local Spain
a day ago
- Business
- Local Spain
Inflation rises in France and Spain in June
Consumer prices rose by 0.9 percent in France in June compared to the same month last year, up from 0.7 percent in May, according to the INSEE statistics agency. The rise was linked to faster increases in prices for services - including accommodation, healthcare and transport - along with a "slight acceleration" in food prices and a smaller drop in energy costs, INSEE said. Another measure of inflation used by the eurozone's statistics agency - the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) - reached 0.8 percent in June compared to 0.6 percent in May. In Spain, inflation as measured by the HICP reached 2.2 percent in June, up from 1.6 percent in May, due to rising fuel and food prices, official data showed. The ECB cut interest rates for a seventh consecutive time earlier this month because inflation has stabilised in the eurozone, reaching 1.9 percent in May - just under its two-percent target. After the meeting, ECB President Christine Lagarde declined to comment directly about whether the central bank would pause its cuts at its next meeting in July, as some expect. But she stressed repeatedly that the ECB was in a "good place", fuelling expectations it might soon hit pause.
