A Coruña and Santiago de Compostela to introduce tourist taxes, Spain’s BBVA casts doubt on Sabadell takeover bid, night metro services resume in Valencia and more news from Spain on August 1st.
Valencia floods reconstruction head quits amid allegations he falsified qualifications
The government commissioner appointed to lead reconstruction after the Valencia floods, José María Ángel Batalla, has resigned from his position and also as president of the Valencian Socialists after Spain’s Anti-Corruption office launched an investigation into whether he falsified his CV to get a job as a civil servant on Valencia council in 1986.
Ángel Batalla submitted his letter of resignation to the Ministry of Territorial Policy, according to state broadcaster RTVE, in which he insists that he has “never” falsified any document and has “never” used “any false document to gain access to any position.”
This follows a high-ranking Partido Popular spokesman resigning all her positions last week after she was found to have exaggerated all three of her qualifications listed online.
A Coruña and Santiago de Compostela to introduce tourist taxes
The Galician cities of A Coruña and Santiago de Compostela have approved tourist taxes in their respective municipalities, ranging from €1 to €2.5.
The northwestern region joins initiatives already taken in municipalities across Catalonia and the Balearic Islands in the search for greater sustainability in the tourism sector and to offset some of the negative impact it has on locals.
The tax in A Coruña will come into force in September, while the Galician capital will apply it from October.
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Night metro services resume in Valencia
The Valencia metro will resume night services this weekend, nine months after the deadly floods hit the rail network.
From Friday, services will resume on Friday and Saturday nights and the eve of public holidays until almost 3:00 a.m. The regional government says the reopening represents “another step forward” in the long recovery process following the tragic events of October 2024.
This was announced by Regional Minister for the Environment, Infrastructure and Territory, Vicente Martínez Mus, who also took stock of the first month since the long-awaited reopening of the Valencia South-Castelló train line, the branch most affected by flood damage.
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Spain’s BBVA casts doubt on Sabadell takeover bid
Spanish banking giant BBVA on Thursday cast doubt over the future of its hostile takeover bid for rival Banco Sabadell, warning there were no guarantees of success as it reported a record first-half net profit.
“If there is no opportunity to create value, we will withdraw the offer,” BBVA chief executive officer, Onur Genc, told a news conference to discuss the lender’s results, ruling out a higher bid for Sabadell.
“If the takeover bid does not go through, it’s okay, we will move forward” with “our business plan,” he added.
BBVA, Spain’s second-biggest bank after Santander with a big footprint in Latin America and Turkey, launched its all-share bid for Sabadell in May 2024.
The proposed deal aims to create a European banking powerhouse capable of competing with industry heavyweights such as Santander, BNP Paribas, and HSBC.
But the bid has faced increasing regulatory and political hurdles.
Spain’s leftist government imposed strict conditions in June, requiring a three-year freeze on any merger between the two lenders to safeguard market competition — a move seen as a major roadblock to the deal.
In a countermeasure, Sabadell earlier this month announced the sale of its UK subsidiary, TSB, to Banco Santander for 3.1 billion euros and pledged record shareholder payouts in a bid to fend off BBVA’s approach.
Despite the mounting hurdles, BBVA has maintained its offer.
With additional reporting by AFP.
