Galicia

Inheritances have become the key for young people to buy a home. In Galicia they are giving them up

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The data is shocking. In a country where inheritances and donations have become the ‘key’ that allows thousands of young people to acquire their own homes, something difficult to consider without that family support, in Galicia a curious phenomenon is being recorded: a record of inheritance renunciations. Just last year almost 4,000 people They said ‘no’ to the possibility of receiving the legacy that their parents, grandparents, uncles or any other relative had left them when they died. Nor is it a new phenomenon Nor is Galicia the only region in which resignations growbut his case is paradigmatic: those 4,000 cases mark a historical maximum. The question is… Why the hell are inheritances rejected? What has happened? That at a time when inheritances have become the “ticket” that allows many young people take the leap from tenants to owners of their own home, a curious record has just been recorded in Galicia: a historical maximum of heirs renouncing their family legacies. The data has advanced it Vigo Lighthouse. In 2025, almost 4,000 people in the region said ‘no’ to the assets left to them by their deceased relatives. The media cites statistics from the Notarial College of Galicia, which also shows that the current volume of resignations far exceeds that of a few years ago. Why do they do it? The big question. As it reflects a recent report of ARAG, Galicia is one of the autonomous communities that offer a more attractive tax framework for inheritances between descendants and spousesat least those that do not exceed one million euros. There are other taxes that come into play, such as municipal capital gains that can be applied to urban properties, but it does not seem that this is the reason that explains the trickle of inheritance renunciations. What is it then? The reality is that there is no single answer. One of the reasons that most influence resignations is (as ironic as it may sound) the inheritances themselves. Its nature. When we think about them, money accumulated in savings accounts, farms, houses and vehicles comes to mind. The reality is that in many cases legacies are ‘poisoned gifts’. What does that mean? That legacy properties don’t just add up. They also ‘subtract’, either because they arrive accompanied by unpaid mortgages, loans or guarantees or simply because the value of the inheritance does not compensate for the cost of assuming it. The latter may sound strange, but it can occur in inheritances from uncles to nephews or between brothers. Bonuses aside, if the value of the legacy is not high, it may not be worth paying capital gains, notary and registrar. Year pure renunciation Resignation in favor of another person (translative) 2011 18,933 800 2012 23,235 777 2013 28,783 689 2014 34,340 741 2015 37,623 756 2016 38,826 687 2017 43,001 776 2018 46,684 826 2019 47,421 818 2020 44,582 745 2021 55,576 1,124 2022 55,509 1,099 2023 56,179 1,117 2024 54,866 1,273 2025 (until October) 46,265 1,041 Are there more reasons? Yes. Like a good part of Spain, Galicia is a territory in full change: its population tends to concentrate and uninhabited areas increase. In practice, this means that part of the inheritances left in the community are simply rural or forest properties with difficult (or no) access, buildings in ruins and plots reduced to their minimum expression in a land characterized precisely by his smallholding. In short, properties of low value, off the market and that may even entail liabilities, such as keep them clean to avoid fires. It is also not unusual for inheritances to include plots whose ownership is fragmented among different family members, sometimes unrelated to each other. Lighthouse explains People also come to the offices of notaries who want to renounce legacies simply because they had no relationship with the deceased or want to avoid family problems that could lead to lawsuits. ccaa RESIGNATIONS IN 2024 RESIGNATIONS IN 2011 Andalusia 10,889 2,443 Aragon 1,229 505 Asturias 2,033 713 Balearics 1,526 728 Canary Islands 2,123 645 Cantabria 712 210 CASTILLA AND LEÓN 3,347 1,358 CASTILLA-LA MANCHA 2,123 592 Catalonia 9,672 4,815 VALENCIAN COMMUNITY 5,502 1,615 Estremadura 1,209 311 Galicia 3,859 1,051 COMMUNITY OF MADRID 5,687 2,050 REGION OF MURCIA 1,752 390 Navarre 744 207 the Basque Country 1959 1,103 Rioja 500 197 Is it just a matter of inheritances? No. Other factors are added to the above, such as the lack of liquidity of the heirs at the time in which they must receive their legacy or simply the increase in inheritances processed in life. In the end, resignations are increasing, but so are agreements between living relatives who anticipate the process to avoid conflicts or benefit from tax advantages. In the background there is also a purely demographic component: as societies like the Galician one age deaths increasewhich in turn leads to more inheritances and the possibility of increased resignations. Is it something new? No. Nor does it only happen in Galicia. A quick search in the newspaper archive shows that rejections of inheritances have been increasing for some time and they are not rare in other autonomous communities either. just a year ago The Country revealed that the proportion of rejected inheritances had risen considerably to reach historic highs in the historical series. Their percentages must be handled with some caution because they are based on statistics in which resignations are equated with renunciants when in reality a legacy can fall on several people who do not accept it. In any case the data of the General Council of Notaries are eloquent: if in 2011 the organization recorded 18,933 resignations (“pure and simple renunciation of inheritance or legitimate”), in 2016 there were already 38,826 and in 2024 (last annual data closed) 54,866. The 2025 results are still partial, but show about 46,300 rejections through October. Why is it so shocking? Partly because of the context. The General Council of Notaries itself published a report at the end of 2025 which shows that “donations … Read more

Spain awarded 20 million euros to Stellantis to create jobs in Galicia. Europe has prevented the money from being delivered

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20,660,434 euros. That was the aid that the Government of Spain granted in 2017 to PSA (now Stellantis after its merger with FCA) as “regional incentives for the correction of territorial economic imbalances.” Just two years later, the European Commission already doubted the appropriateness of this aid. Almost a decade after its delivery, Stellantis will have to return the money. 20.7 million euros. It was the money given by Mariano Rajoy’s Government in 2017 to the automobile conglomerate PSA. The company, then directed by Carlos Tavares, had been looking for money framed within the “Industrial Plan 2014-2020” in which funds from the European Union were available. The Spanish subsidiary of PSA, known as PCAE, requested aid of 392 million euros in 2014 to carry out the necessary actions to modernize the plant and launch a new model. The aid program was expanded, with another 100 million in subsequent years because PSA was going to produce a new vehicle platform and a new SUV car in Vigo. In 2017, shortly before Mariano Rajoy left Moncloa, the Government of Spain provided the aforementioned aid of 20.7 million euros since it corresponded to the maximum percentage allowed with respect to the investment that was planned to be used. many doubts. In 2019the European Commission was already beginning to doubt the legality or compatibility of this aid. In a document submitted thenquestioned whether the subsidies provided were meeting the criteria to create employment in the area. In said letter, PSA was already invited and the Government of Spain has explained the reason for this aid. In that document, the European Commission questioned whether the positive effects of the aid outweighed the negative ones and, therefore, that the decision to financially support the company with those more than 20 million euros was not economically doping its commitment to our country instead of taking production to the Trnava plant (Slovakia) with which Vigo competed. According to the European Commission, it believed that both plants were competing on equal terms and that the socioeconomic context of the Slovaks was no worse than that of Vigo. Furthermore, they pointed out that the defense that this aid helped preserve employment in Galicia in the face of a possible relocation to Morocco (a position defended by Spain) was not sufficient because PSA had already previously relocated other vehicles that were previously manufactured in Spain. Seven years of research. Already in 2020, Europe continued to defend that the Commission had its doubts “regarding the contribution of investment projects to the development of the region in question”, as they stated in elDiario.es. Then it was thought that the company’s true intention was to improve the factory facilities with the sole objective of improving the company’s competitiveness but that it had nothing to do with an improvement in innovation and local investments. There were even doubts about the compatibility of being able to deliver these aid to a company like PCAE (the Spanish subsidiary of PSA). One of the most compelling reasons presented by the European Commission is, as they point out in The Worldthe choice of the Vigo company to the detriment of the Slovaks. And it is considered that opting for a more economically developed region to receive aid contravenes the principles of cohesion of the European Union, which prevents the delivery of this type of subsidies. Case closed. Now, the Government of Spain has notified the European Commission that it is withdrawing the subsidy of 20.7 million euros. He has done it because he cannot prove its legality. As the money has not yet been delivered, the European Commission has closed the investigation, they explain in the Galician media. praza.gal. At this time, Spain has not been able to demonstrate that the number of jobs increased after the aid was granted nor that it represented an economic boost in the region. In fact, it was possible that the number of jobs could even be reduced, as they point out in Motorpassion. During this time, the money has not been delivered because it remained frozen with the European investigation. Now we know that Stellantis will not charge it. Photo | Stellantis In Xataka | The Stellantis factory in Figueruelas has been looking for a reconversion plan for years. You already have it: make Chinese electric cars

In the cemeteries of Galicia, the Christs have begun to disappear from the tombstones. There is a suspect: “red gold”

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The surprise was capital. And sad. Mostly sad. A few days ago, when she went to the pantheon where her relatives are buried, a neighbor from Celanova (Galicia) found that the figure of crucified Christ that decorated the tomb was missing. The curious thing is that not only was his own missing. Taking a look at the rest of the cemetery he found that the same thing was happening in five other tombs. In one, in fact, the Christ had been torn off and only preserved part of one arm, as if someone had burst it by using force with a lever. The case would not have made it out of the local press if it were not for the fact that it was not the only cemetery in Ourense in which the neighbors found that image. What has happened? That in the rural cemeteries of Galicia, more specifically in Ourense, dozens and dozens of Christs are disappearing. It takes a look at the regional press to see that it is more than a simple anecdote: March 16 Vigo Lighthouse informed of the disappearance of figures in two cemeteries in Celanova, days after The Voice of Galicia spoke already of 40 Christs torn from graves and Europa Press raised the total count to more than 50 crucifixes. One of the last media outlets to take stock has been Galicia Press, which on Wednesday the 18th reported the lack of more than 70 Christs in at least five different cemeteries. But… And why is that? Cemeteries are spaces of mourning and meditation, so it is not common (at least not in Spain of the 21st century) encounter cases of missing Christs like the one that shakes rural Ourense. There are a few theories to explain it. It could be acts of vandalism. Or some practice related to esoteric rituals. The Galician authorities are not inclined towards one or the other. For them the mystery is much simpler: the Civil Guard is investigating it like robberies, beatings carried out by criminals who are not interested in crucifixes and their artistic or spiritual value, but in something much more prosaic. What interests them is brass, stainless steel and above all copper with which these pieces were manufactured, a metal that recently reached a record price. ‘Red gold’ thieves? Exact. Recently the Civil Guard recognized to Europa Press who works “without ruling out” any possibility, but the starting hypothesis is quite simple: criminals sneak into cemeteries at night, especially in winter, steal figures that are often made of metal and then melt them down and sell them. Its objective focuses above all on copper, ‘red gold’whose price has been shot after the revaluation of recent years. The idea is that the material reaches the scrap market without raising suspicions and is reused in the industry. The Region even talks about the “band of the christs” and slips that they could be traveling professional criminals. Where have they stolen? The thefts seem to focus on a specific area, in the province of Ourense. Galicia Press point basically to rural cemeteries in the Celanova region and nearby towns, which includes cemeteries such as Santa María de Pontefechas, San Xoán de Viveiro, San Breixo de Celanova or Santo Eusebio de A Peroxa. There are those who expand the affected area in the province and speaks of assaults in cemeteries in the towns of Maside, Verea or Allariz. Thieves do not hesitate either take rings or resorting to force to extract the metal pieces, which has already led them to break crosses or some Christ, as in Pontefechas, where in one of the attacked tombs only part of an arm remained fixed to the stone head. Some parish priests of the archpriest have put on alert to their parishioners to be alert to theft. Why copper? For its value. It’s nothing new. Although its price has fallen slightly in recent days, the price of ‘red gold’ has escalated notably during the last year, reaching spikes historic at the beginning of 2026. The Region specifies that a kilo of this metal can be sold at between eight and ten euroswhich explains why it has been on the bands’ radar for some time now. The interest of criminals is not limited to cemeteries. Not long ago the Civil Guard dismantled a group that was dedicated to stealing copper cables in part of Asturias and the province of Lugo. The authorities estimate that a total of 24,000 kilos valued at 115,000 euros. In 2025 it has already fallen a similar band in Ourense and at the end of 2023 the arrest of other criminals dedicated to the same activity in the border area with Portugal. Does it only happen in Galicia? No. A quick Google search arrives to find news about copper theft in other communities in Spain. Since the bands are interested in the material, it is worth as much wind farm wiring and industrial coils as telephone infrastructure, rail transport either lighting. Proof of how juicy the business is is that at the end of 2025, the Interior reported the arrest of 18 people accused of more than thirty copper thefts worth 1.7 million euros. And what happens in cemeteries? Galicia is not the only place where cemeteries (and their metallic decoration) have whetted the appetite of criminal gangs. Last fall the National Police counted around 200 tombstones from the Torrero de Zaragoza cemetery that had suffered damage. Most for the same reason: tearing off bronze figures and other ornaments. More or less similar episodes have been experienced in the Community of Madrid, Castile and León or the Region of Murcia, where in 2023 the authorities arrested several people for allegedly carrying out more than 80 robberies in a municipal cemetery. The objective is the same: to loot copper, bronze and brass for resale. Images | M. Peinado (Flickr) and Home Office In Xataka | Twenty years ago, 45% of Galician families saved money thanks to the garden: … Read more

Until 1868, an “independent” microstate inhabited the Iberian Peninsula between Portugal and Galicia: Couto Mixto

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If you travel to Santiago de Rubiasa village in the municipality of Calvos de Randínin Ourense, you can enjoy a few things: good landscapes, good food, a Romanesque church with paintings dating from the 16th century and a bronze statueinstalled since April 2008 on one side of the atrium, which shows an old man with a mustache and shaggy sideburns, wearing a hat, cape and a cane. Next to it you will find a plaque that identifies it as Delfin Modesto Brandon. This Delfín Modesto was not an Indian who returned from the Americas with his pockets lined with money, nor a confused pilgrim on his route to Compostela. Nor a particularly popular neighbor or priest. If he is still remembered today in Calvos de Randín it is because he was the last of a long and interesting line of statesmen. Of course, of a different state to Spanish or Portuguese. In the 21st century we remember Delfín Modesto because he was the last judge with executive and judicial powers of Mixed Coutoa republic that for several centuries survived as an independent territory on the peninsula. Independent of the Spanish and Portuguese courts, with its own system of administration, rights and privileges. A true historical rarity, a political hiatus in the middle of Raya that managed to survive for nearly seven centuries and there are those who point out even as one of the first European democracies. Of Couto Mixto we know better its characteristics and how it was governed and ended than its origins. Its birth usually dates back to the 12th century, to the time of the Treaty of Zamorafor which Alfonso I of Portugal (Afonso Henriques) and Alfonso VII of León They achieved an agreement that is usually marked as the birth of the Portuguese kingdom. With this backdrop and taking advantage of the birth of a new and above all extensive border between both kingdoms, Couto Mixto was created, a small portion of territory located in the intermediate basin of the Salas River who managed to stay outside the designs of Spain and Portugal. That particular “microstate” was made up only three villas: Rubias dos Mixtos, Meaus and Santiago de Rubiás, where the locals decided to establish their capital and administrative center. Small but independent Couto Mixto was small, so much so that its extension barely reached the 27 square kilometers and it did not have more than a thousand inhabitants in its census. It was probably this peculiarity, added to the fact that the place was not especially prosperous or central, that allowed it to survive with its special status for several centuries without Spain or Portugal paying it much attention. And this despite the fact that the microstate was a real rarity on the peninsular map. Because of its characteristics. And for his government system. As remember Tourism of Galiciaan organization that today promotes the place precisely for its historical interest, functioned as a kind of “federal republic” with two great administrative figures: a representative of each of the three towns, which they called “home of agreement“, and a chief judge (“xuiz“) who was elected every three years and exercised the highest authority. Its inhabitants also enjoyed a series of rights that, at least in certain aspects, made them privileged. They could choose between receiving Spanish nationality, Portuguese nationality or renouncing both and remaining as a citizen of Couto Mixto. Furthermore, they were exempt from fulfill military service. The microstate I didn’t have to provide soldiersbenefited from an interesting tax exemption and boasted freedom of trade and cultivation. Another of its oddities is that the small “microstate” enjoyed the “right of asylum”, which was applied in all cases except those of blood crimes. If we add to that peculiarity that it welcomed the “Privileged Path”a road of about six kilometers that linked Couto with the neighboring Portuguese town of Tourem and it was exempt from military or fiscal control, it will be understood why over time it became an interesting point for smuggling and fugitives. No matter how small, cornered, and ancient Couto was, it was not destined to survive forever. A few centuries after being established, Spain and Portugal decided to shelve that territorial anomaly. The negotiations were fruitful in Lisbon Treatywhich in 1864 allowed both countries to definitively establish their common border. The pact defined the Raya from the mouth of the Miño River to the union of the Caia and the Guadiana. And it swept away the microstate, which was incorporated into Spain, deprived of its privileges. Perhaps the tiny republic no longer exists, but its memory remains. In the atrium of the church of Santiago de Rubiás, the nerve center of the old republic, where its inhabitants met to decide relevant issues for the microstate, it has been built since 2008. the statue of Delfín Modesto Brandonhis last judge. Inside the church there is also a replica of the ark that guarded the archive of the old republic, a chest that could only be opened with three keys, one for each “home of agreement“. Their neighbors continue to meet even today in the atrium to celebrate a symbolic act in which they name their honorary judges. In Xataka | When the USSR declared war, Finland decided to protect its roads in a peculiar way: with flying trees In Xataka | There was an advanced civilization high in the Andes that based its dominance on one thing: feces. In Xataka | In 1888 an English doctor dissected a corpse down to its nerves. And illuminated forensic science along the way Images| Wikimedia (map by José de Castro López (1863)), Portasxures and Wikipedia (Fabio Mendes)

Marta Ortega prepares the move of the offices of four Inditex brands, but not to Galicia: to Barcelona

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The price of land within large cities makes it impossible for companies to develop their corporate infrastructure in them, and they are forced to look for that space at a more reasonable price. on the periphery. Inditex has decided to do exactly the opposite. The textile giant founded by Amancio Ortega has opted to take the opposite path and bring Barcelona closer to its next big corporate campus and build it next to the iconic Three Chimneys, in one of the enclaves of the metropolitan area What else is changing? in recent years. The project plans to move the offices that four of its brands currently have in Tordera (Maresme) to this new space, converting an old industrial land into the new business heart from an area that has been waiting for its opportunity for decades. An industrial floor that is reinvented. The land chosen for this project is the old site of the Schott Ibérica factory, in Sant Adrià de Besòs, which Inditex acquired in 2018. The local town council has approved initially an Urban Improvement Plan that covers nearly 90,000 square meters of land, where the new brand campus and a hypermarket Alcampo relocated to a new building. The new business proposal establishes a clear separation between the commercial use area, to the north, and the Inditex corporate campus, which will occupy most of the complex in the southern area, with 67,243 square meters intended entirely to house different offices of the Inditex brands. Four brands, one campus. The facilities that Inditex has in Tordera and Palafolls (Maresme) today house the headquarters of Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho and Lefties. With the move to Sant Adrià, these Maresme facilities will be able to dedicate themselves exclusively to logisticsstrengthening the group’s distribution capacity for those four chains in all its markets. The Zara and Zara Home offices are the only ones that do not change their location on the Arteixo campus, in its headquarters in La Coruñawho has also experienced a significant expansion with a complex of about 170,000 square meters. In Sant Adrià, the new Inditex campus will add a total of 164,098 m2 built distributed in four buildings with a ground floor and four floors, organized around three interior patios connected on the ground floor. These buildings will house offices, pattern-making workshops, pilot stores, audiovisual production and technology spaces. The locomotive that the neighborhood is waiting for. However, the importance of this move lies in the impact on the local economic fabric that the presence of an industrial giant like Inditex provides. The mayor of Sant Adrià, Filo Cañete, considered that the arrival of Inditex represents an exceptional opportunity to position the municipality as a benchmark for innovation and business activity in the metropolitan area, and highlighted that among the reasons that the company has valued most are the location and “good connectivity in public transport with metro, tram and train.” The campus will bring with it the arrival of around a million workers to a municipality that aspires to become one of the new economic districts of the Barcelona metropolitan area. To this end, the promoters undertake to pay the Sant Adrià City Council some nine million euros to finance two bridges that will connect the campus with the future audiovisual hub of Catalunya Media Citytransfer 10% of the urban use generated and restore the chimney of the old CELO factory, cataloged as Cultural Asset of Local Interest. Our sights set on 2030. The project still has to overcome some steps before becoming a reality. As and how I collected The Newspaperthe town councils of Sant Adrià and Badalona must consolidate the urban plan for the area, necessary by Catalan legislation to authorize large commercial areas of more than 2,500 square meters in municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants. With the municipal decree approved on February 27, 2026, a one-month public information period was opened to present allegations. If the deadlines are met, the partial opening of the campus is planned for 2028, with complete completion of the set towards 2030. Inditex has more than 8,500 employees and more than 170 stores in Catalonia, and this new campus will reinforce the axis between Galicia and Catalonia as the backbone of its global activity. In Xataka | Amancio Ortega is the landlord of Amazon, Primark and Zara: he has charged them almost 1,000 million euros in rent Image | Wikimedia Commons (Margavela), GTRES

Portugal had to choose where to take its AVE first. And between Madrid and Galicia, it is very clear

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It was October 2025 when the news broke. Then we learned that Madrid and Lisbon would be linked by a high-speed train in 2034. The objective set by Spain, Portugal and the European Commission is that both capitals are connected by a train that covers the journey in about three hours of travel. The first step to recover that connection is to have a line ready in 2030 with conventional trains that reopen traffic between both cities without having to change trains. The project rescues a line that It already existed in the 19th century but that time has erased. Furthermore, it follows the designs of a European Union that opts for the train over the plane and is that being able to cover this journey in 180 minutes would be a blow against air traffic, which is much more polluting. If the schedule is met, the AVE between both cities will be available almost three decades later than planned. The news, furthermore, seemed to indicate that Galicia was being relegated to the background. And the region has been fighting alongside Portugal for years to have a high-speed rail connection that structures the Atlantic axis. We now know that Portugal will prioritize Galicia over Madrid. First Galicia, then Madrid The confirmation came from the Portuguese Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, during the XXXVI Spanish-Portuguese Summit held in La Rábida (Huelva) who has indicated that he trusts that the Lisbon-Oporto-Vigo line will be completed in 2033 and, therefore, the deadlines prior to the agreement are met with Europe and Spain on Madrid-Lisbon. The words were collected in The Newspaper and it is confirmation that between Madrid and Galicia, The first place Portugal looks to is Galicia. The latest agreements to carry out trains between both cities seemed to put this connection between the Galician city and the two large Portuguese cities at risk. It must be taken into account that the first objective was for Madrid and Lisbon to already have a high-speed connection ready by 2030, the year in which Spain and Portugal (along with Morocco) will organize the Soccer World Cup. However, given the impossibility of meeting the deadlines, a delay until 2034 was agreed upon. This delay has not put at risk the Atlantic corridor in which The European Union has already invested 250 million euros (more than 750 million euros of European funds have already been spent on Madrid-Lisbon) and up to 3,000 million euros delivered by the European Investment Bank (EIB) in the form of soft loans. In Portugal they defend that the connection between their cities and the north of Spain is much more important than the link with Madrid. The high-speed project between Lisbon, Porto and Vigo had already consumed 11,000 million euros as of 2023 and, in the words of Carlos Fernandes, vice president of Infrastructure in Portugal, collected by The reason “develops our country and the centrality of our cities, and not the centrality of other Iberian cities (in relation to Madrid).” For the project to go ahead, it is necessary for Portugal to comply with the plans but also for Spain to have a high-speed exit between Vigo and Tui. From the Portuguese side, they have never denied that they prefer to prioritize the corridor towards Galicia. Pedro Nuno Santos, then Minister of Infrastructure, criticized Renfe in 2022 in an interview with The Countryensuring that they had maintained the night train between Vigo and Portugal but that on the Spanish side no one towed the trains. Right now, the trip between Vigo and Porto takes two hours and 20 minutes. That is, 140 minutes that would become only 50 minutes once the high-speed connection between both cities is consolidated. In fact, those 140 minutes are what is expected to take between Vigo and Lisbon, a huge leap by current standards. The big loser of the dispute is Extremadura. The region has been hearing for years about a Madrid-Lisbon connection that never seems to come. After years where trains have been a real headache, everything indicates that high speed should be completely ready in the region by 2030 but the delay to 2034 has been marked by the deadlines on the Portuguese side. The step forward in high speed is also key in Extremaduran mobility because, for example, it will allow connecting Madrid with Cáceres in one hour (right now it takes more than three hours) and Madrid with Mérida or Badajoz in just over an hour and a half when to reach the latter from Madrid you have to spend more than four and a half hours. Photo | Pedro Correia, Joaoalves0217 and Mstyslav Chernov In Xataka | Madrid and Lisbon will be linked by the AVE. It will only arrive (if it arrives) 24 years late

Shepherds have become the great weapon against fires. So Galicia has created a shepherding school

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“We have to put an end to that thought, when you say that you are a pastor, of ‘poorlook what he has to do.’” Speaks María Jesús Crespo, a 58-year-old Galician who has been working for more than a decade caring for a flock of sheep in Aranga, in the Betanzos region. It is not his only occupation. María Jesús also leads the Association of Sheep and Goat Breeders Ovicaone of the entities that has just activated a school for shepherds in Galicia. The objective, as Crespo insists, is to break stigmas, modernize the sector and demonstrate that in 2026, pastoring is still a completely viable profession. career pastor. If there are faculties dedicated to training doctors, pharmacists, engineers or architects, why wouldn’t there be specific classrooms for new pastors? To such a conclusion that they have just reached in Galicia, where the sector has launched a school focused on pastoralism. The initiative has the Galician Government and the sector itself behind it through Ovica and has the support of Fundación La Caixa. Its purpose: to instruct future pastors in the necessary skills to carry out their work in the 21st century, which involves not only knowing how to take care of flocks. To achieve the degree, students also need to assimilate knowledge about management and technology. 570 hours… and a lot of work. To demonstrate how ambitious the initiative is, the Xunta specifies that in total the training will cover 570 hours: 250 of theoretical training, designed above all so that the new pastors adopt an “agrarian business” approach; and 230 hours of eminently practical nature. Upon leaving the classroom, the students will apply their knowledge on farms spread across almost twenty rural towns in the province of Ourense. There they will soak up the knowledge of hard-working shepherds, like María Jesús, who explains that throughout his years of work he has even had to deal with wolf attacks. The idea is that during their weeks of practice the students prepare to know how to act when a cow goes into labor or limps. “There is a cycle of technical-economic management of a farm, issues of traceability and marketing, occupational risk, environmental awareness, agrotechnology, animal health, management, production, forage and feeding…”, explains the president from Ovica in Vigo Lighthouse. “When we talk about shepherds we tend to think of a person with a stick and a flock, but today they are agricultural businessmen. We have to change the chip and transfer that change in profile.” “It is very necessary”. María Jesús defends that the launch of the school is not a whim. On the contrary. With it, they hope to help vocations like theirs emerge and, above all, professionalize a profession that, they insist, cannot be practiced today as in the time of our grandparents. “School was necessary,” underlines. “It’s about preparing people to work in the 21st century.” Is it that important? Yes. And not only because of the economic impact of the sector. Grazing is directly related to some of the great challenges facing the country, such as rural depopulation, the sustainability of “emptied Spain” or even the fight against forest fires. Given that Galicia is one of the regions most affected by fire, the Xunta itself insisted on that idea a few days ago, during the presentation of the shepherding school. “The promotion of this training offer, in addition to encouraging the incorporation of professionals dedicated to grazing, contributes to promoting this type of extensive breeding that creates a natural barrier against forest fires and promotes a managed and productive forest,” claims. Beyond Galicia. The new grazing school in Galicia has generated expectations (a week after its presentation it already had 25 registered), but the truth is that it is not the first of its kind in Spain. In Aragón they have, for example, the shepherding school The Estiva and in Catalonia the School of Pastors and Pastorscreated in 2009 to “guarantee generational change” and promote the creation of sustainable and profitable livestock farms. Not long ago we told you how in the Valencian Community there are also a similar initiative to “empower” pastors. Images | José Antonio Serra (Flickr) and Xavier (Flickr) In Xataka | “Depopulation causes problems, urban overpopulation too”: Kike Collada, the twenty-something mayor and tiktoker of emptied Spain

The Canary Islands and Galicia have set off the Navy’s alarm bells. Russia’s ghost fleet has arrived in Spain with warships

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Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and, above all, after the invasion large-scale ukrainian In 2022, Russia has been perfecting a form of confrontation that avoids direct clashes and moves in the shadows of international law: hybrid war. Sabotage, energy pressure, disinformation and opaque commercial fleets have become tools as strategic as tanks or missiles, and among them the called “ghost fleet”. Now everything indicates that they have found a new route: Spain. The “fleet” arrives from the south. At the end of January 2026, a Russian tanker sanctioned by the European Union was left adrift off the coast of Almería and was escorted by Spanish Maritime Rescue to a port in Morocco without being detained. He did it despite transporting more than 425,000 barrels of refined products of Russian origin. The episode, starring a ship integrated the ghost fleet (old ships, with frequent changes of name and flag and opaque structures of ownership) showed how Spain has become a key point of passage and incident management of a system designed to circumvent Western sanctions. Something happens. In the heart of the western Mediterranean, the Russian hybrid war was beginning to materialize not with missiles, but with timely breakdowns, gray areas of maritime law and routes connecting Russian ports with North Africa under the attentive, but limited, action of the European authorities. Morocco as a hinge, the Canary Islands as an entrance. A few days later, the arrival in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria of a oil tanker from Tangier set off alarms about a possible indirect entry of Russian fuel into Spain, using Morocco as an intermediate platform. Maritime security experts stressed that it was not an illegal operation in itself, but it was an unusual route which fits with the patterns of the ghost fleet, given that Morocco lacks sufficient refining capacity and has become a common destination for oil tankers linked to Russia. The Severomorsk Destroyer in 2023 The crux. The key, they insisted, is in the loading documentation, because the origin of the product remains Russian even if there are intermediate stops. In this context, the Canary Islands appear as a vulnerable link: a lightly guarded Exclusive Economic Zone, located in the transit axis of opaque oil tankers, which reinforces the idea that Spain offers the perfect combination of geography, infrastructure and control loopholes for this new phase of the Russian economic war. Silent pressure. Finally, and in parallel to these commercial and logistical movements, the most classic dimension of Russian naval power has ended up becoming visible in Spanish waters, forcing the Navy Spanish to intensify its surveillance operations. Within a week, Spanish units have followed the transit of several Russian vessels (including the destroyer Severomorsk and a mixed military-merchant convoy) from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Atlantic, with monitoring relays off the Galician coast and constant coordination with the command centers. Hybrid war. These missions, framed in the permanent surveillance of waters of national interest, show that the phenomenon is by no means isolated: while the ghost fleet operates on the economic and logistical level, the Russian naval presence reinforces the strategic pressure about key runners such as the Alboran Sea, Gibraltar and the Atlantic coast. Spain, the perfect route. The sum of these episodes draws a coherent pattern: the russia hybrid war has left the Baltic and the North Sea to settle in the Mediterranean and the eastern Atlantic, and Spain has become one of your most effective routes. It seems clear that all those breakdowns managed without detention, indirect discharges via Morocco, fuels of dubious traceability entering through the Canary Islands and Russian military ships crossing runners strategic are part of the same logic of attrition, ambiguity and saturation that we had already seen in other parts of Europe. And as in those cases, it is not a frontal attack, but rather a constant pressure that exploits the gray areas of trade, energy and maritime security, now placing Spain at the center of a board where war is not declared, it is navigated. Image | US Navy, Mil.ru In Xataka | Russia’s ghost fleet has changed its business model. Oil has given way to a much bigger target: Europe In Xataka | For years Europe has wondered how to stop the Russian ghost fleet. Ukraine just showed you the way: with AI

Fewer and fewer teachers want to go on trips with their students. So in Galicia they are entrusting it to companies

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For students it is usually the best moment of the course, but if we talk about teachers, excursions are something else: a extra burden of responsibility and headaches. So much responsibility and so many headaches in fact that there are teachers who directly renounce participating in them. At the end of the day, a trip to the Prado, a few days visiting Barcelona or even a week in Rome is experienced differently if you are a kid willing to burn the night away than a teacher with the mission of taking care of twenty teenagers. For some faculty, this panorama is so demotivating that are turning to companies specialized. The objective: ‘outsource’ school trips. One trip, two ways to live it. Each student is a world. There are those in science and literature, extroverted and shy, responsible and brainless… but what the vast majority agree on is what is the best moment of the course: the excursions. Especially those that culminate ESO or high school, getaways of several days that involve spending nights away from home, leaving your region (maybe even the country) and savoring a dose of freedom that you normally don’t have in your daily life. It sounds exciting… unless you are not the student, but the teacher. Not given away. A few years ago Laura Gómez (Lauri Math Teacher), teacher and tiktoker, published a video which accumulates almost 145,000 likes and 2,000 comments in which he told what it is like to go on a school trip when you have to do it from the other side, that of the teachers who for a few days act as tutors-night watchmen. And its message is curious to say the least: these getaways are usually free for teachers, but even so, despite the opportunity to spend a few days of tourism in another country, many flee from that responsibility as from fire. “We’re going on a free trip” You know what? There are no teachers who want to go on study trips. In fact, many trips have had to be canceled because there were no teachers who wanted to go with them and, of course, if there are no teachers there is no trip,” the teacher reveals. The next question is obvious: Why? Why are there teachers who prefer to continue with the classroom routine rather than spend a few days in Paris, Tenerife, London, Rome… with a group of students? “You sleep between little and none.” The answer Laura’s story is quite simple: where kids see days and days of fun, freedom and more or less supervised revelry, teachers often see something else: “It’s a tremendous responsibility to go abroad with a group of teenagers, each with their father and mother. They get sick, anything happens to them… You sleep little to nothing and on top of that you have to be running around all day from one place to another.” The influencer She is not the only one who has spoken publicly about the issue. In 2024 I did it too through the pages of The Voice of Galicia José Ramón Alonso de la Torre, retired teacher from Vilagarcía de Arousa. In an article on the subject, he explained that it is one thing to accompany students on one-day cultural trips and quite another to go with them on trips of several days, often hundreds of kilometers from their homes. “The teachers back down, as has happened in some Arousa high schools, because they know they are at risk,” recognize. @laurimathteacher Would you go on a study trip?👩🏼‍🏫✌🏼🥵 ♬ original sound – ➗LauriMathTeacher➗ “What are they going to do?” “In the press there are often news stories about teachers legally accused of abandonment and abandonment because a student, while going down a slide into a pool, twisted his arm. Or because another was mugged on Paseo de Palma and had his phone stolen. And what are the poor teachers going to do, prohibit them from bathing, accompany each walker?” he was wondering Alonzo. “No, it is not easy to go on an excursion in front of 50 boys and girls ready to take on the world, especially the world at night.” Alcohol, scares, unforeseen events, nights guarding nightclubs and hotel hallways, run-ins with students from other schools… Seen that way, who would want to shoulder that enormous burden of extra responsibility? Outsourcing trips. So far nothing surprising. What is curious is what I revealed yesterday Vigo Lighthouse in a chronicle that explains how some teachers in the region are refusing to go on trips with their students. Given this scenario and to prevent kids from being left without the experience, there are centers in which the function is being outsourced directly. What does that mean? That trips are celebrated, but with teachers, but with other professionals. “Two years ago we had to call a company to travel with the children because no teacher wanted to go. This year we preferred to keep only the 4th year ESO excursions. In third year we would have to count on the company and we decided to stop doing it,” comment to Lighthouse Malores Villanueva, director of an institute in Vigo. Yours is not the only center that has covered the lack of volunteer teachers by resorting to a specialized company. “Pretty strict rules”. One of these businesses, Divertos, assures that it is not an exceptional practice, especially since the pandemic. “There are years when the same center calls us for several outings and other courses for nothing; and they call us again years later. There are promotions that are more complex than others,” comment to Lighthouse its manager, Marivíc García. The service provided not only relieves teachers of responsibility. It also marks the focus of travel. “We have quite strict rules and although at first they protest, they later get along well. They know that if they don’t comply the consequence is losing the trip,” explains Garcia before citing some guidelines they give to young people, such as not … Read more

Galicia has proposed to put an end to the “zamburiñas fraud” once and for all. So he’s already issuing fines

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The Spanish proverb warns about not being given a “cat in a hare”, but the most common deception when we talk about Spanish gastronomy of the 21st century is that they serve you a plate of volandeiras or Pacific scallops as if they were exclusive (and much more expensive) Galician zamburiñas. To an untrained eye the three bilvaves (volandeiras, scallops and scallops) are more or less similar to each other. The problem is that they are not the same and mixing their names violates regulations, represents unfair competition and (most seriously) deceives the client. That’s why in Galicia they have said enough. What has happened? That the Galician authorities they have gotten tired that in the community’s restaurants and bars they play with names, selling as “zamburiñas” dishes that actually contain two other species: volandeiras or Pacific scallops. It’s not just about passing off one thing as another. It is that, beyond the fact that the three are similar bivalves, their consideration it’s not the same. They do not match their prices. Nor its origin. Nor is its flavor exactly the same. Volandeiras and zamburiñas are shellfished in Galician banks (although with certain differences) and are usually sold fresh. The Pacific scallop is normally a frozen product that comes from aquaculture and arrives from Peru and Chile. Photos showing the exterior and interior of the right valve. Image A) corresponds to the “Mimachlamys varia” (zamburiña); B with Argopecten Purpuratus (Pacific scallop) and C with Aequipecten Opercularis (volandeira). And what have they done? Basically what the Galician authorities have done is investigate Yes, when a customer orders a portion of seafood in a bar in A Coruña, Vilagarcía, Ourense, Lugo… or any other Galician town, they are being served what they have ordered and not another product of more or less similar appearance. It’s not exactly something new. In September the local press has already advanced that the Xunta was carrying out an inspection campaign and that during the control they had found bars in which the menus advertised scallops when in reality what was served on the table were scallops or (sometimes) volandeiras. Has it stayed there? No. And that is the great news. The Voice just revealed that the controls carried out by the Resource Inspection and Control Service (SICOR) and Consumer Affairs officials have not been mere slaps on the wrist. They have also resulted in sanctions and fines. To be more precise, the newspaper speaks of the processing of just over 100 disciplinary proceedings since last summer for the use of incorrect commercial names: 53 to hospitality businesses in the province of A Coruña, 46 from Pontevedra, 14 from Lugo and 6 from Ourense. Among the ‘hunted’ there are not only bars, taverns and restaurants. There are also a few intermediaries. How much did it cost you? The Voice appointment at least one case in which the hotelier received a fine of 300 euros for advertising volandeiras and then serving scallops. The Xunta claims that before resorting to fines, a campaign was launched to remind professionals that they cannot mix terms and that a “deterrent effect” was even perceived, with hoteliers correcting their letters. Not even that has prevented there from being a hundred businesses with files. What is the problem? Basically, passing off one seafood as another (mixing commercial names) “violates traceability standards and can mislead the consumer,” the Xunta specifies. Not only does it confuse data related to traceability, but it goes against sales regulations and represents unfair competition against businesses that do respect the regulations. In fact, the problem is not limited to the zamburiñas alone. Are there more cases? That’s how it is. The majority of the files processed in Galicia are related to scallops, scallops and volanderias, but the inspectors also hunted down infractions that affect other merchandise. For example, passing off octopuses and barnacles as Galician seafood when in reality it comes from Moroccan waters. Agents also found cases in the food chain where farmed salmon and turbot were sold as wild. The Department of the Sea assures that there is no specific campaign and that the files are the result of “ordinary control work.” Regarding the sanctions, since these are minor infractions, the fines can reach 300 euros, although they remain at half (150 euros) if the offender meets certain requirements. Is there that much difference? Yes. Although in the hospitality industry we usually talk about “zamburiñas” in general, that word is reserved for a very specific species: Mimachlamys variaa sought-after bivalve appreciated for its flavor. The ‘Pesca de Galicia’ platform detailed on Monday the 26th that the kilo was priced in the markets at an average of 13.4 eurosfar above the volandeira (Aequipecten opercularis), which is also collected in Galicia, although it is more abundant. Things change when we talk about the Pacific scallop (Argopecten purpuratus), which is usually the result of aquaculture, is frozen and arrives from the coasts of Peru and Chile. The problem is that all three (scallops, scallops and scallops) are relatively similar, at least if you don’t have a trained eye. If the characteristics of their shells are known, it is easier to identify them. Does it only happen in Galicia? In 2020, a team from the University of Oviedo carried out a study which proved two things. First, the frequency with which the word Zamburiña is used “incorrectly” to refer to other species. Second, that “there exists widespread fraud in its commercialization in Asturias”. Your data is certainly compelling. After analyzing 148 different samples, they found that in 49% of the cases (73) the seafood was incorrectly labeled, presenting other bivalves, usually volandeiras, as scallops. How common is it? To complete their analysis, researchers from the University of Oviedo went to 20 restaurants and ordered dishes that were identified on the menu as “zamburiñas.” They were left wanting to taste them. “In 100% of the cases the species offered was the Pacific scallop,” reveals. The organization remembers that although there may not … Read more

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