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What the failure of the “antiapagones decree” implies for Spain

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The Congress of Deputies rejected on Tuesday, July 22 The so -called “antiapages” decree, a rule that sought to reinforce the electrical system after the blackout last April 28. The parliamentary defeat. The text, approved in the Council of Ministers as Royal Decree-Law 7/2025did not achieve the necessary support for his validation: 183 votes against 165 in favor. Among the negative votes were those of PP, Vox, Podemos, Junts, BNG and UPN, in addition to the deputy of the Aragonese Chunta integrated in Addar, Jorge Pueyo, who broke the vote discipline. This varapalo, which arrives just before the summer break, prevents the application of a package of urgent technical measures for the Spanish energy system. The norm sought, among other things, to improve the supervision of the electricity grid, to facilitate access to new industries, promote self -consumption and penalize breaches by large electricity. Not so bad. Although the Government managed to move forward six of the seven laws that led to the plenary, the fall of the most strategic decree of the day left a feeling of defeat. As RTVE picked upfrom Montevideo, where he is on tour, Pedro Sánchez tried to remove iron from the matter: “Not so bad,” said government sources recognize their “disappointment” to what they consider a vote “against the general interest.” Behind the rejection. The reasons that have ended in this situation are as diverse as the matches that have lying it. On the one hand, the Popular Party has considered that the norm was an undercover support for an energy policy that they consider failed and unre transparent, in addition to criticizing that there has been no resignation after the blackout of April 28. On the other hand, Podemos has unmarked from its government partners when considering that the decree did not contain real sanctions against the electric oligopoly and have labeled it with “legislative makeup” without transformative effects. In the case of Vox, the rejection has been ideological and frontal to any initiative of the Executive. Other formations such as Junts and BNG have interpreted the text as an excessive assignment to large energy companies and wanted to mark distances at a key moment of negotiation with the government. Together, the norm has ended up being a victim of a fragmented legislature, of cross interests and of the political distrust even within the block that supports the Executive. The origin of the decree. As detailed by the jumpthe decree was born in June after a report that was blamed for the blackout of April 28 to Red Eléctrica de España and the great generators (Endesa, Iberdrola, Naturgy). The measures, as explained by Vice President Third Sara Aagesen, intended to prevent new crises such as that and unlock pending projects in a saturated electrical system. Aagesen appealed to the “social consensus” behind the norm, which had the support of business associations, environmentalists and the renewable sector. By eating the decree. The Royal Decree-Law 7/2025 was more technical than political, but with deep implications. According to the jumpsome of its keys were greater public control (such as CNMC reports more frequent More agile authorizations, even with the possibility of sharing connection points. Despite not containing a structural transformation of the energy model or a public company, some groups celebrated it as a “first step” to decentralize the system. As noted from the same media, the Alliance for Self -Consumption, which brings together more than 60 social entities, described the decree as “the great lever” to democratize energy. It was also positively valued for allowing renewable energies to act as support energy, a function so far reserved for thermal plants. The theme is deeper. The Spanish electrical system is saturated: only one in ten requests for access to the network was met in 2024, despite the fact that there was unused technical capacity, such as have pointed out in the Energy newspaper. This rigidity is a brake for strategic industrial projects such as green hydrogen, battery manufacturing or data centers, that require agile and stable connections. The decree tried to anticipate these problems with more dynamic planning and proactive regulations, in line with the recommendations of the European Commission. Once summer ends. The Government has announced its intention to reformulate the text, but the coup is significant. Meanwhile, the PP plans to present an alternative law together with the Autonomous Communities. According to expansionthe employers of the energy sector ask for quick solutions and warn of the risks for competitiveness if it does not act urgently. Every month of delay represents lost opportunities to attract green and industrial investment. A blocked opportunity. The antiapages decree was not perfect, but necessary, according to a good part of the sector. Its rejection shows the limitations of Spanish energy policy, where faced interests, power struggles and internal distrust weigh more than climatic or industrial urgency. Now, while the country dealt with a collapsed electricity and the ghost of new blackouts, the clock is still running. And every month without a solution is a less opportunity to lead the energy transition that Europe demands and that Spain could lead. Image | José Sáez (Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License) Xataka | The mystery of light in Spain: why there is only one “cheap” time to day with the maximum

Many countries already have more mothers between 30 and 39 years than between 20 and 29. With all that implies

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On September 5, 2019, a woman named Mangayamma Yaramati went down in history: she had been the mother of twins. The key fact is that I was 73 years old at that time And it was possibly the oldest woman who had given birth. It is an extreme case, but the truth is that the world has been embarked for years in a situation in which every time Less births occurand increasingly. And these graphics that we can consult in Our World in Data They reflect that reality that is not encouraging. 2012. The tabarra was given a lot with what the world would end in 2012, but what really happened is A change of trend in births: It was when they began to give more births between mothers from 30 to 39 years and when births between mothers aged 20 to 29 years began to fall. Worldwide, this is significant because there is a good part of the world (especially developing countries) in which the weight of births falls to those women aged 20 to 29, with alarming birth figures between girls from 10 to 19 years. It is those countries that make up a world photo that shows that The birth engine is gripped. Spain. Let’s focus on Spain for a moment. Although we walk to the record of inhabitants with more than 49 million, this has little to do with more children. In fact, it is thanks to immigration, since The tables Births and vegetative balance show a very unfavorable situation for Spanish demography. And the data is devastating: more children are born of 41 -year -old women than 25. The change in global trend occurred in 2012, but in Spain we advance a little. If we put the magnifying glass in 2008, we can see the curve between the two age periods we were talking about, increasingly distancing themselves and adding Another age strip to the equation: Women between 40 and 49 years. In recent years it has stabilized in the three stripes, but in 2008 60.1% of children were born in the strip of 30 to 39 years, 32.6 in the strip of 20 to 29 years and 4.3% in the 40 to 49 years. In 2023, the figures had changed a lot: 63.3%, 24.8%and 10.2%, respectively. The neighbors are not much better. The European panorama is very similar. If we discriminating between the different countries, we see that the data and curves are very similar to those that we can find in the case of Spain, but if we group Europe, we can see two very clear inflection points. One in 2014, at which time births by girls from 10 to 19 years decreased and crossed those who occurred in women from 40 to 49 years, who have continued to increase in recent years. Another, in 2015, when exactly the same happens, but between the descending strip of 20 to 29 years and the ascendant, in a meteorically, segment of births between women aged 30 to 39. Stable latam, but eye. On the other side of the puddle, in Latin American territory, the situation is very different. It is more aligned with what we see in the world graph, with a strip of births predominant among women aged 20 to 29, but where we can already appreciate a clear increase in births between women aged 30 to 39. Then, of course, it depends on each country. Mexico is very aligned with that territorial graph, but in Argentinafor a few years the lines of 20-29 years and 30-39 years are approaching dangerously. In Chili There are more mothers from 30 to 39 years and in Colombia The good news is that birth between 10-19 years is falling. The Asian drama. And the European situation is not encouraging for the generational relay, but if we go to Asia, the graphics are devastating. It is a case of those of “It is better an image than a thousand words”, and then we leave the graphics of China, Japan and the most devastating: South Korea. China is the one that “saves”, but the two stripes of critical age are getting closer. The government is applying measures of all kinds: Looking for Women by Door, lower the legal age to marry either Finance painless birthsall in order to increase the birth rate. In Japan they are also Applying measures Not only to foster birth, but to attract foreigners who can work in different positions throughout the country. And South Korea is in a demographic winter from which it will be difficult for him to come out. In the end, it is something that depends a lot on each country, but there are more and more arrows that suggest that, most people They don’t want to have children. Within this, there are economic and conviction reasons that we will see if they are passengers or have come to stay. At the moment, in Europe the demography goes to the idle and the countries that go best … They are still a disaster. Images | Our World in Data, Jonathan Borba (UNSPLASH) In Xataka | Japan already knows when he will run out of children under 14. At least if an economist’s calculations are fulfilled

That implies more regulation in the European Union

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Everything seems to indicate that another goal application will face greater control by the European Union (EU). This is because WhatsApp already brings together the conditions to be designated a very large online platform (Vlop), A status that Facebook and Instagram have since April 2023. What are the Vlop? The Digital Services Law, that entered into force about two years agoclassify search platforms or engines with more than 45 million monthly users in the EU as Vlop. Consequently, important platforms for European users such as Amazon Store, Booking, Tiktok or YouTube are included in this category, but not WhatsApp. Why is WhatsApp now a Vlop and was not at first? While the finishing messaging service had more than 2,000 million users globally And more than 100 million users in the EUit did not enter the Vlop category. Now, A function introduced at the end of 2023 He has made things change. We are talking about the channels, which are comparable to a social network. The number of users of WhatsApp channels has been growing steadily since its launch in the EU and is currently estimated at 46.8 million. We know this because all the platforms that operate in the community block are obliged to make public this information at least twice a year, and goal has complied with the current legislation by publishing A document recently. The growth of the channels, those that we find in the News of the application and that we use to follow the media or public figures, has not gone unnoticed in Brussels. “WhatsApp has published user numbers above the threshold for designation as a very large online platform under the Digital Services Law,” said Thomas Regnier, spokesman for the commission, In a statement to Bloomberg. Vlop platforms have to face more responsibilities. The commission itself indicates that the platforms that have been designated as Vlop must comply with “the strictest standards of the DSA”. These obligations include the realization of risk assessments on the dissemination of illegal or harmful content and the implementation of strategies to mitigate these risks. In addition, they must be audited by an independent auditor at least once a year and act according to the recommendations you receive. To guarantee adequate supervision, the platforms must share their data with the commission and the national authorities, which will allow to evaluate whether they comply with the standard. They must also give access to researchers so that they can study the platform data. Waiting for formal designation. Meta now meets Vlop’s criteria, but its formal designation has not yet occurred. Once the commission of this step, the company led by Mark Zuckerberg will have four months to meet the new obligations that emerge from the DSA. If an infraction is confirmed to this strict European regulatory framework, fines can reach up to 6% of the firm’s annual billing. The regulatory ambition of the EU has been criticized both by US technological giants and the new White House administration. Tim Cook already complained with Trump Before his election, to which the then candidate replied that he would not allow abuse against US companies. Amazon, meanwhile, has rejected his designation as Vlop. In parallel, We are witnessing an unusual turn in the regulatory policy of the block. Images | Christian Lue | Goal | European Commission In Xataka | The battle between LaLiga and Cloudflare is charging many victims. Now those victims are joining strength

The extreme cold has not touched Spain for two years and experts fear that we are about to see a third. With all that implies

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Spring is just around the corner and, we like it or not, this means that we can start drawing conclusions. The first is that every minute that passes is more likely to finish winter without seeing any “cold wave.” And that is not even what most worries meteorologists. Because the real problem is that it would be the second consecutive winter without cold waves and a third would be at hand. With all that this entails. Isn’t it a bit precipitated to give the winter for dead? The truth is not. Although this week an extremely cold mass of air will cover a good part of Europe, Spain will escape from it. And on March 1 (which is when climate spring begins) is very close to be able to house realistic hopes about an extreme cold episode. And, in the background, what we are going to see this week summarizes very well what has been going on two winters: we have not suffered powerful cold irruptions. They have all stayed north. It is a story that is repeated again and again. But it’s not so weird either, right? That is true. The cold episodes become more and more rare in Spain. In fact, this January can only be described as very warm (Although we have suffered a handful of cold nights). A example that Roberto Granda puts It is that of Molina de Aragón. The average minimum between 1991 and 2020 is -3.3º, but this year it has been at -0.3. The data speak for themselves. In the end, As I pointed out A few years ago our partner Javier Pastor, “is not that it is very cold now, it is that we do not do it because it is no longer so common.” With this in mind, the question begins to be … how long can this last? “Unusual and worrying.” That is, what would happen if the winter of 2026 is still on the same line? The answer, According to Samuel Biener de Meteoredit is summarized in those two words: “Unusual and worrying.” Because we have documented other consecutive warm winters (those of 97 and 98, those of 2000 and 2001 or those of 2023 and 14); But we have not seen three consecutive yet. And we know it will arrive. Because, As Biener points outwarm winters are being increasingly frequent. It is a matter of time that we fit three. And what is the problem? More than a problem (that too), we talk about a fear: that warm winters stop being an anomaly and become the norm. That change is a large-scale disruption of the country’s socio-ecological system. It is no accident that, a few months after the drought, The data begin to be so bad. Again. Not only climatic pressures They hit us stronger than everthe thing is They don’t let us replenish. And that will lead us to the edge of the precipice again and again. Yes it’s true. The current climate is full of paradoxes: Historical ice minimums live with snow maximumstudies on The weakening of the Gulf current They coexist with others that point to nothing has changed in substantial terms and thus a long etcetera. However, there is something that Yes we know is that we are vulnerable And if we don’t prepare ourselves, Let’s be much more. Image | ECMWF In Xataka | Spain faces the driest climate in its last 1,200 years. The fault is the Azores Islands

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