New 25 percent tax proposed for flipping properties, foreigner deportations decrease, Sabadell bank rejects improved BBVA takeover bid, and more news from Spain on Wednesday October 1st.
Spanish court to start hearing media case against Meta
A Spanish court will open a trial on Wednesday over a €550-million lawsuit brought by more than 80 Spanish media organisations against Facebook owner Meta for allegedly breaching European Union data protection rules.
EU rules oblige companies to obtain users’ consent to create personalised advertising from their data.
Spain’s main media association AMI says the US tech giant, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, created “unfair competition” by “systematically” breaking the law between May 2018 and July 2023.
The association alleges unfair competition in digital advertising sales and is seeking €551 million ($647 million) in compensation.
“Meta has ignored European regulations to build its economic empire at the expense of the viability of the media and the right of all citizens to information,” AMI’s director general Irene Lanzaco told AFP.
Spanish government’s junior coalition partner Sumar proposes new tax on quick resale of homes
Spanish politician Alberto Ibáñez, a member of the left-wing Sumar party, has proposed a new tax in Congress to impose a 25 percent levy on reselling homes less than two years after purchase.
It aims to put a stop to people investing in properties and flipping them in order to make a quick profit, a practice that is very common in many countries.
Many times in Spain this is done very quickly without even adding value such as improving the home’s energy efficiency or renovating it.
“It contributes to rising housing prices, making a basic necessity even more inaccessible to the majority of society,” Ibáñez said.
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Foreigner deportations decrease due to rejections from home countries
According to data from Spain’s Interior Ministry, a decade ago, Spain forcibly repatriated 11,817 people. Last year though there were only 3,286 immigrants deported, which is almost four times less.
Of the 3,286 repatriations carried out last year, 2,923 were expulsions due to illegal stay, convictions, or public safety issues.
The reduction has been more evident since the pandemic, when countries shut their borders. Even to this day, both Morocco and Algeria continue to use this as an excuse to refuse to accept the return of their citizens expelled from Spain.
In other sub-Saharan countries like Senegal and Gambia, where money sent from migrants abroad back to their families represents around 5 percent of GDP, accepting deportations is seen as humiliating.
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Foreigners in Barcelona spend 42 percent of their salary on housing
A new report from the Observatory of Migration and Refuge in Barcelona prepared by the Institut Metròpoli shows that foreign workers represent 29.5 percent of the city’s wage earners and more than 40 percent are earning the lowest wages.
Because of many of them work in low paid jobs, they’re also being forced to pay up to 42 percent of their salary on housing.
Many in Spain’s second city can often only find work in low-paying sectors with temporary or part-time contracts and it disproportionately affects those who have arrived from abroad.
Board of Spain’s Sabadell bank rejects improved BBVA takeover bid
The board of Spanish bank Sabadell on Tuesday rejected larger national rival BBVA’s improved hostile takeover bid as 10 days remain for shareholders to make a final decision.
The proposed deal aims to create a European banking powerhouse capable of competing with industry heavyweights such as Santander, BNP Paribas and HSBC.
Earlier this month, Sabadell’s board also rejected BBVA’s initial bid that had valued the bank at around 15 billion euros ($17.6 billion).
BBVA raised its takeover offer by 10 percent last week, but Sabadell said its board had met on Tuesday and, “taking into account all the terms and characteristics of the offer, rejects the offer”.
“The price offered is significantly lower than the value of Banco Sabadell’s independent project,” Spain’s fourth-biggest bank said, urging shareholders to snub the bid.
With additional reporting by AFP.
