Madrid Barajas airport restricts access to homeless people, people with domestic workers to have to conduct risk assessment, Barça win La Liga and more news from Spain on Friday May 16th.
Madrid Barajas airport restricts access to homeless people
Spanish airport operator Aena has decided to restrict access to the terminals of Madrid’s Barajas Airport so that only passengers and companions can access it during certain time slots, all in a bid to address the homelessness problem Spain’s biggest airport has been facing in recent years.
The news has been met with mixed reactions by Spain’s political parties, with the PP and Más Madrid describing it as patchwork, the ruling Socialists supporting the move and Vox applauding it given the “poor image of the nation it provides”.
According to stats from Aena and Madrid’s City Hall, up to 500 homeless people sleep at Barajas but there are also pickpockets, unofficial luggage wrappers, criminal gangs and even prostitutes which have turned the airport into a ‘lawless city’.
READ MORE: Madrid airport’s worsening homelessness problem
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People with domestic workers to have to conduct risk assessment
Families who hire domestic workers in Spain will be required to conduct an occupational risk assessment for their employees within the next six months.
By November 14th employers will have to complete the form (to be available on an app), give a copy to their workers, and failure to do so will result in a fine.
In Spain, there are more than 348,000 domestic workers, 80 percent are over 40 years old, and nearly 70 percent are foreign-born. Their average monthly salary is €1,010.
Catalonia postpones higher tourist tax
Barcelona and Catalonia were this May set to double the tourist tax holidaymakers would have to pay up to €15 per person per night, but the government has decided to delay its implementation to provide more “legal certainty”. to the sector while the rate changes are debated in Parliament.
Government spokesperson Sílvia Paneque has stressed that the “very nature of the fee” is not being negotiated and noted that an initial decree has already been validated and is being processed as a bill.
READ MORE: How and why Barcelona is doubling its tourist taxes
Barça win La Liga with its teen star Yamal shining
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win at local rivals Espanyol on Thursday, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table.
Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble.
Only the Champions League escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2023.
With additional reporting by AFP.
