pay

The price you will pay will be the dismissal of 100,000 employees and the closure of more factories

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Just a year and a half ago, Volkswagen reached an agreement with the unions to lay off “only” 35,000 employees to ensure the continuity of some factories, ensuring their operation until 2030. a bad drinkbut acceptable in order to preserve the employment of many other Volkswagen employees. Today the German group has announced that this pact it’s broken. The numbers don’t work. The German magazine Manager Magazine advanced that the group’s CEO, Oliver Blume, had presented a new adjustment plan to the board of directors. The number of layoffs is the highest that the German manufacturer has ever announced: up to 100,000 layoffs worldwide, and four factories in Germany with closure on the table. The size of the problem. Volkswagen closed 2025 with more than 662,000 employees all over the world. Losing 100,000 jobs means losing almost one in six workers. As and as highlighted the agency EFEthis is the largest restructuring in the group’s 89-year history. The plants designated for closure are those in Hannover, Zwickau and Emden, all three of the Volkswagen brand, plus the Audi factory in Neckarsulm. The plan also includes a 15% reduction in investments for the next five years and a general spending cut of 11 billion euros before the end of the decade. The accounts don’t add up. The numbers for the first quarter of 2026 explain this drastic move by Volkswagen. Operating profit fell by 14% year-on-year to 2.5 billion euroswith a margin of 3.3%, while sales fell 7%. Analysts expected almost 4,000 million in operating profit. Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz left no room for doubt in the seriousness of the situation in the results report for the first quarter of the year: “We must radically transform our business model and achieve structural and sustainable improvements.” The group has already reduced around 29,000 positions from 2023 and cut its production capacity from 12 to 9 million vehicles per year. For management, these measures are not enough to compensate for the drop in sales. Chinese pressure and tariffs. There are two sources of pressure that have accelerated the deterioration of Volkswagen’s situation. The first and most obvious are the Chinese manufacturers. In 2025, cars made in China reached 7% of sales in the EUexceeding one million units for the first time. At the same time, European exports to China plummeted by 43%. Volkswagen, which has one of its largest markets in China, has been losing share there for years due to the unstoppable push of local Chinese brands. The second key factor comes from the opposite extreme: the United States. The tariffs that Trump has imposed on European vehicles have hit hard a group that has most of its factories in countries affected by the tariffs. Blume he recognized it at last week’s general meeting of shareholders: “Never before has the risk situation been so high.” To gain liquidity, the German manufacturer has just closed the sale of 51% of its Everllence marine engine division to Bain Capital for 7.4 billion euros. This could be just one more of future asset sales to obtain more liquidity. The union wall. As might be expected, the plan has not been well received by unions. The late 2024 agreement with IG Metall promised that there would be no factory closures or forced layoffs in Germany until at least 2030. The new plan blows up those commitments. Daniela Cavallo, president of the Volkswagen works council, and Christiane Benner, head of IG Metall, reacted with a joint statement of frontal rejection of the announced layoffs: “If these plans go ahead, we will stop them with all our forces.” On July 9, the supervisory board of the Volkswagen group will debate this workforce adjustment plan, which would affect one in every six of the company’s employees. The decisions made at that meeting will decide the future of Volkswagen. In Xataka | Volkswagen cars are no longer as popular as they used to be, so Volkswagen wants to start making… missiles Image | Volkswagen

The Government is already debating whether or not to extend fuel aid. If you don’t do it we will pay 15 euros more to fill the tank

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Next Monday, June 29, the Council of Ministers will debate whether to extend the fuel tax reduction beyond June 30, which was the established deadline. If you don’t do it, filling the tank in the middle of a vacation trip is going to hurt us a lot more than it does now. Fuel aid. In March, the Government approved a package of urgent measures to stop the rise in energy prices caused by the war between the United States and Iran. The most visible for the driver was the reduction in VAT on fuel from 21% to 10%, accompanied by a reduction in the special tax on hydrocarbons. These measures expire on June 30 and the Government has to decide now what to do with them. What is being studied. According to share From ABC, the Ministry of Economy is considering maintaining VAT at 10% for at least three more months, that is, until September. A gradual withdrawal of aid is also being studied to avoid the so-called rocket effectthat is, a sudden increase in prices from one day to the next in the middle of the high travel season. What happens if it is not extended. According to the calculations of the Spanish Confederation of Service Station Employers (CEEES), the elimination of all aid would mean an increase in the price of 29 cents per liter for gasoline and 22 cents for diesel. With current prices (around 1.46 euros per liter for gasoline and 1.53 for diesel) both fuels would rise to 1.74 euros per liter. In this way, filling a 55-liter tank would go from costing around 70 euros to close to 90. And the blow would come right in the middle of the summer operation. The diesel thing is delicate. The Iran crisis has caused a liter of diesel to cost more than gasoline, something quite unusual taking into account the lower taxation of diesel in comparison. Although the price has fallen for four consecutive weeks, it still remains 5% above what it cost before the start of the conflict, according to collect ABC. If the reduction in the special tax on hydrocarbons is withdrawn, diesel has a good chance of once again overcoming the psychological barrier of 2 euros. Why it is not so easy to extend it. The Government cannot extend these measures on its own because it needs the support of Congress. That means negotiating with the investiture parties, including Junts and the PNV, something that already generated tension in March when the first decree was approved. On the other hand, there is also external pressure, since the Bank of Spain pointed out Just a few days ago, Spain has been the country in the European Union that has mobilized the most public resources in response to this crisis (0.25% of GDP), criticizing that 75% of the measures are not focused on the most affected, but are of a general nature, as is precisely the case with the VAT reduction. The European Commission and the Treasury technicians (GESTHA) also have recommended withdrawing these subsidies considering them contrary to the energy transition. What does the transportation sector ask for? The Spanish Confederation of Freight Transport (CETM) already has asked that any extension explicitly includes the transport of goods by road. In a statement, the organization warns that “leaving transportation outside of these measures would mean ignoring the sector on which a good part of the country’s economic activity is based.” In addition, the CETM demands that the commitment to pay 20 cents per liter of fuel promised to the sector be made effective. What does the president say? Pedro Sanchez has advanced that the new decree will be “to protect the productive fabric and also the citizens”, although without specifying the exact scope of the measures. The Government warns that, even with a peace agreement between the United States and Iran, the economic effects of the conflict will continue to pressure prices for weeks or months. Cover image | Roberto Rodríguez and engin akyurt In Xataka | In February, historic rains broke the roads. Málaga has just received the go-ahead to repair the A-7 and A-45

you register or you will pay the fine on the AP-68

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Spain is immersed in a campaign to eliminate tolls from our roads. Even though Europe demands the opposite from usthe Government has been eliminating all payment obligations as concession contracts come to an end. so many that Spain will add 1,000 more kilometers to the road network that we maintain with our pockets coming directly from the shadow tolls with which some sections of the first generation highways are maintained. Last year, the Government has already assured that was not going to raise new tolls or raise existing onesdespite the rumors and pressures from Europe (and within Spain) They were going in that direction. The position has been to raise the barriers and that, this year, releases the AP-68 toll. A road on which it will not be necessary to pay… in some sections. And the fact is that payment for use on this road will be maintained in the Basque Country and Navarra. A new free flow toll As pointed out by some local media such as Álava Diarythe AP-68 highway that connects Bilbao with Zaragoza will be toll-free in the Basque section. Although the rates remain the same, they point out that the step should be more attractive because starting in November the rates will be reduced. At the moment, it is stated that the intention is to reduce the toll by 70% for passenger cars and 50% for heavy transport. That is, it would go from a payment of 22 cents/km to a payment of 6 cents/km. Regarding their passage through Navarra, no prices have been defined although it has been made clear that there is an intention for the vehicles to continue paying for use, according to the latest news. The price, however, is not yet defined. But the big news is that Álava will use a system of “free flow toll” which, at least initially, will be combined with the classic barriers. This system is already used on the Basque highway A-636 between Beasain and Bergara from 2022. With it, waiting times are reduced since there are no windows but, if you have only passed on time, you must be very careful not to get a fine. And, as we say, in this case there are no barriers or booths. Here, the driver registers on a website with a license plate number and with each step the current account becomes smaller. Simply, the gantries calculate the kilometers traveled and then add them up to pass the payment. It is similar to a Via-T but, as we say, there are no barriers to stopping. In the case of Álava, as we said, the system will be combined so that those who are regular users will be able to pass without stopping and at the end of the day they will be charged for the corresponding trip. But if you pass punctually, on vacation, for example, you will have to stop at the barrier or have registered in advance. If not, you will face a fine. It remains to be seen how much the penalty is if the driver fails to register and does not pass through the barriers. In the case of the A-636, it is 150 euros, according to the Consolidated Text of the Provincial Highways and Pathways Standard of Gipuzkoa. Of course, as we say, in the case of Alava (at least for now) there will be the possibility of paying the toll at the window. Photo | Vasyatka1 (1) and (2) In Xataka | Spanish roads have a serious maintenance problem and construction companies have a solution: make you pay for it

Today, at 9 p.m., we are going to pay the most expensive kilowatt-hour of all of 2026. And this is just the first heat wave of the year

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On Sunday, June 21 at 2 p.m., electricity was almost given away: it was paid at €0.02592 per kilowatt-hour, the lowest price in months. In a while, at nine at night, we are going to pay it at €0.89142, the most expensive price in all of 2026. Just over 24 hours difference and more than thirty times the price. What is happening here? The price of light. The wholesale market The price of electricity for today has already been determined: an average of 99.89 euros per MWh. That is, 75.96% more expensive than yesterday. Although the average is misleading (there is a huge difference between 32 at noon and 177 at night), the truth is that it helps to understand the problem. And that problem boils down to the fact that we are going to have dinner with energy prices that we have not seen since the cold wave of January 2025. What is this due to? In principle, three different things: the most obvious is the heat wave. It alone will trigger energy demand 6 GW more than normal, according to the consulting firm Optimize Energy. The second is the taxes that returned at the beginning of the month. And the last one is a small technical change that makes the valleys sink lower and the peaks rise higher. Now the market moves every 15 minutes instead of every hour. This, which, on average, should give the same result would allow the system to better match supply with demand. In theory, of course. The important thing is not the energy that comes in, but the energy that comes out. According to the system, due to the heat and the work schedule, demand will barely decrease until 10 pm. However, little by little, the sun will retreat, forcing turn on increasingly expensive plants. The rest is the market functioning: in a marginalist system, the last MW that enters is the one that defines the price of the rest. This Monday we have a ‘perfect storm’ and, consequently, an exorbitant price. And what can we do? If we have a fixed price, it should not affect us. If we have PVPC (and there are 10 million who have it), it is a good idea to spend only what is essential. But above all, think of this heat wave as a proof of concept. The truth is that this situation will occur whenever heat, little air and overpriced gas coincide. It is time to think about a domestic strategy to survive Spain’s great energy problem: the fact of have a huge amount of sun, but have nowhere to store it. Image | Torpical TidBits In Xataka | Renewable, coal or nuclear: where each country in the world gets its electricity from, in a detailed graph

If he wins, the Italians will have to pay

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One of the first measures that the US and Europe adopted when the war in Ukraine broke out was to confiscate the assets of Russian oligarchs all over the world. This included the blocking of bank accounts and funds, mansions located in European countries and, of course, also all those superyachts that were moored in ports around the world. What at first seemed a succulent booty which was to be used to cover Ukraine’s support and defense costs, soon became a poisoned candy for the countries that had seized them for the enormous expense that it entailed keep them afloat. An example is found in the impressive Sailing Yacht Aby Russian tycoon Andrey Melnichenko, who has been stranded since March 2022 in the port of Trieste. Italy seized it as a measure of pressure, and four years later, the accumulated bill is close to 47 million dollars. Now, Melnichenko has decided to sue the country who has been paying for yacht maintenance and, if the lawsuit wins, he can take the boat and maintenance for free. That millionaire you told me about He Sailing Yacht A is considered as the largest private sailing boat in the world and, for four years, it has become the most famous in Trieste, where it acts as unintentional tourist attraction for visitors to the small town in northeastern Italy. At 143 meters in length and its avant-garde design, its appearance is closer to that of a futuristic submarine with sails than to a conventional superyacht. Its owner paid some 600 million dollars. The legal problem is that the ship, technically, it’s not Melnichenko’s. As usually happens in these cases, the Sailing Yacht A It is not registered directly to de Melnichenko, but is owned by a Bermuda-based company called Valla Yachts, which in turn owns it within a trust (corporate asset management instrument) managed by a Swiss company. Fishermen in the port of Trieste with Sailing Yacht A in the background In May 2024, the Lazio Regional Administrative Court (TAR) suspended its own trial and asked the EU Court of Justice to clarify something basic: can an asset be frozen when it is in the hands of a trust, not the one directly sanctioned? The European court said yes: It is compatible with European law to freeze these assets, as long as it is demonstrated that the sanctioned party has real control over them or effective access to their resources. The beneficiary of this trust is Aleksandra Melnichenko, the wife of the Russian tycoon. For Italy and the EU, this corporate network also ends with the Melnichenkos. As and how he published the italian Il GazzettinoFor the Melnichenko family’s lawyers, the yacht belongs to a legitimate and independent corporate structure, so the blockade on it had to be lifted since it was not proven that the sailboat is actually Melnichenko’s property. Maintaining a yacht is not cheap When Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU and its allies immediately reacted by imposing sanctions on the core of millionaires close to Putin. One of the most spectacular maneuvers It was the seizure of yachts, to send a clear message to the Russian power circle: touch their pockets. The problem is that no one stopped to think about the consequences of those confiscations and the expenses that those assets were going to cause them. Keeping a luxury superyacht afloat costs money. Big money. According to the most conservative estimates, the cost of annual maintenance of a yacht It is 10% of its purchase value. That is, if a yacht costs 500 million, the 10% rule It already anticipates that the annual maintenance expense will be about 50 million dollars a year. It is true that this calculation is based on a yacht that is used, but even when the yacht remains immobilized in a port, the expense account does not stop running. They know it well on the Caribbean island of Antigua, where the US authorities ordered the seizure of Alpha Black attributed to Russian oligarch Andrey Guryev. Sailing Yacht A anchored off Trieste During its stay in port, the yacht consumed a whopping $2,000 a day only on fuel necessary to keep the air conditioning running to prevent sea salt from damaging the materials and wood inside the yacht. If they did not sell the yacht, already complicated for legal purposes due to not knowing with certainty the identity of its true owner, it would be almost impossible. And returning it is not an option either because it would be a political defeat against Russia. In the case of Sailing Yacht AItaly appointed the Agenzia del Demanio to manage the ship. According to Reutersthe maintenance costs in these cases are borne by the State, which You can claim them later from the owner or recover them by selling the yacht. But to sell the largest sailboat in the world buyers are needed who are willing to embark on a long judicial process and who have enough assets to buy it…and those are not plentiful. So the mayor of Trieste has been wondering out loud Who is going to pay the 30,000 euros a day that it is costing them to maintain the Sailing Yacht A afloat. According to the specialized portal, Megayacht News The yacht will remain in Trieste and the maintenance costs will continue to be covered by the Italian treasury. The lawsuit may take months, or years, to resolve. If the Italian justice finally decides that the sanctions against the Sailing Yacht Athe Russian millionaire will be able to sail on it again and Italy will have paid him four years of maintenance free. In Xataka | We already knew that superyachts were floating mansions: Roman Abramovich’s is a fortress with an anti-missile shield Image | Flickr (Paul Fenton, adrianovero), Wikimedia Commons (Maximo Marmur)

pay the same to women

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Japan faces a unprecedented challenge. On the one hand, the labor shortage has forced companies to rethink their labor policies if they want to take advantage of the economic boom period what the future poses to them. On the other hand, its low birth rate collides head-on with the problem of labor shortage, since they would have to do without (at least temporarily) the female half of their workforce. Quite a dilemma. The complicated demographic situation has forced Japanese companies to consider a measure unprecedented in the last two decades: equalizing salaries between men and women. Two birds with one stone. While diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies have been reversed or limited in the US, Japan has chosen to take the opposite path and equalize salaries between men and women to attract female talent and encourage their professional careers. In addition to the practical point of view of attracting a skilled workforce that is in short supply, this change also responds to other economic reasons. Japan is hoarding a good part of the investments with environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria that are leaving the US after Trump’s arrival at the White House. For both reasons, Japanese financial firms such as the insurer Nippon Life Insurance or the bank MUFG have eliminated administrative professional categories Mostly occupied by womenin which between 39% and 50% of a male salary was earned. Two decades of wage discrimination. For the past twenty years, Japanese women have been paid less than men for doing the same job. According to data from the Ministry of HealthLabor and Social Welfare of 2026, on average women earned only 75.8% of men’s salaries in 2024. In prefectures like Tochigi, the gap is even greater, with women barely seeing the 70% of male salary. To put it in context, the wage gap between men and women in OECD countries was located around 11%, while data from 2023 suggest that in Japan this gap had grown from 21.3% to 22%. This discrimination has deep roots in the Japanese labor system. Traditionally, companies offered men lifelong jobs with promotions and pay increases tied to their seniority. Women, upon becoming mothers, were pushed into temporary or part-time jobs, with lower incomes and few opportunities for advancement. This phenomenon, known as the “L-curve,” reflects the sharp drop in participation and women’s salaries after motherhood, making it difficult for them to return to positions of responsibility in companies. Without labor. Japan suffers from a severe labor shortage. a study of the Recruit Works Institute, estimates a shortage of 11 million workers in 2040. The aging of the population and the decrease in the birth rate have reduced the available workforce, and forecasts suggest that the labor supply will decrease from 65.87 million workers in 2022 to 57.67 million in 2040, making it essential harness female potential to maintain productivity and economic growth. This has forced Japanese companies to reconsider your labor policies to attract more women, offering them the same salary as men to encourage their return to the labor market after motherhood, and resume their professional careers, also offering equality in promotions and rewards for seniority. More than salary: family conciliation. Women have a very marked role in Japanese culture with respect to child care. The official studies They point out that equalizing salaries is not enough to attract and retain female workers. Japanese companies have begun to offer work conciliation measuresas reduced hours and teleworking optionsso that women can take care of their children without giving up your professional career. In cities like Tokyo, shorter work days have been implemented and the four day work week for its employees, with the aim of encouraging births and facilitating family conciliation. Salary equalization can favor the adoption of these measures in other regions of the country, allowing more women to access stable jobs without sacrificing their family life. A version of this article was published in April 2025. In Xataka | Construction has been left without generational change: they have discovered that no one is a bricklayer by vocation Image | Unsplash (EMANUELE Ricciardi)

you will have to pay more to enjoy the best places

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When entering the Cinesa website to buy a ticket at some of its cinemas, which are included in this pilot experience, the seat selection process has changed. A notice appears warning that the prices of the seats will be variable depending on their position and the seat map shows areas with different colors, each with a different price. Same screen, same sound and same movie, but the price changes depending on where you sit. Cinesa test. The leading cinema chain in Spain, with 35 complexes and more than 400 rooms throughout the countryhas launched a pilot test in three complexes: Nassica (Madrid), Salera (Castellón) and Parque Principado (Asturias). The first rows and the sides have a lower price than usual, while the central area, which has the best visibility, carries a supplement. The advance notice warns: “We are testing a new system that allows you to choose where you want to sit based on the price that best suits you.” Prices in Nassica, For example, They range from 8.40 euros for the areas closest to the screen to the standard price, ending with a supplement for the central seats, with the VIP seats (a category that already exists before the pilot) being the most expensive. The pilot is neither indefinite nor generalized, and Cinesa’s own notice warns that the company is testing the response before making any decision about its extension. Currently, Cinesa has 35 multiplexes throughout the country. They already tried. Cinesa belongs to Odeon Cinemas Group, the largest exhibitor in Europe, with a presence in nine countries. And Odeon, since 2016, has been owned by AMC Theatres, the largest cinema chain in the world. In February 2023, AMC launched Sightline at AMC: a pricing system by seat location with three levels: the first rows and seats for people with disabilities were renamed Value Sightline, with a reduced price. The center seats became Preferred Sightline, with a supplement. The rest, Standard Sightline, maintained the usual price. The show premiered in three markets (New York, Chicago and Kansas City) with the intention of extending it to all AMC locations in the United States before the end of the year. Five months later, AMC canceled the show. The conclusions after analyzing the data were that three out of four spectators who previously chose the central area continued to choose it with the supplement, but lowering the price of the first rows had not increased their occupancy. Essentially, people were still sitting in the same places. Cinesa Airlines. There is a lot of reading comparison of this action of Cinesa with the airlines’ pricing policy, but it is not entirely accurate. On a flight, the difference between seats has a series of very clear additions: legroom, priority boarding… In a cinema, the difference is minimal and the different rates have been decided practically arbitrarily. The differentiation makes more sense in the theater or at a concert, where the different location can lead to considerable differences in the sound or what you see on stage, but this is not the case. The Cinesa case. Cinesa already has a differentiated pricing architecture depending on the quality of the seat or the type of experience thanks to the iSense, IMAX, ScreenX, chair-bedsPlus reclining seats and VIP seats. However, and although it is logical that the next step is to segment the rooms themselves, the reaction on social networks to the announcement has been mostly negative. At the moment, Cinesa has not responded to the questions we have sent them about this decision, so it is not clear whether the strategy it is pursuing is to earn more with the increase in the price of the central seats or to attract more audiences with the discount on the front and side seats. The door is open for competitors like Yelmo to follow in their footsteps. AMC in the US, precisely, stopped the experiment of these tiered prices because its competition kept them fixed, and the company judged that at the image level these fractional prices could be harmful. The key will be to check whether the Spanish public values ​​the location of the space or the savings for their pocket more. In Xataka | There are two reasons why Generation Z is returning to the movies: subscriptions and moving away from mobile phones

pay them extra to return to the office

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One of the advantages offered work in Administration public was that, if the position allowed it, the teleworking option was enabled. However, that is about to change for all those officials who depend on the Generalitat of Catalonia. The Government does not prohibit teleworking, but it has put some measures on the negotiating table to discourage civil servants from requesting it. To achieve this, he is even willing to pay them a salary supplement between 90 and 200 euros for those who give up remote work. The battle began a year and a half ago. In January 2025, the Government eliminated teleworking for his senior officials. The measure affected about 500 officials directly: general directors, general secretaries and similar positions. The Ministry of the Presidency, led by Albert Dalmau, argument that such positions require “effective and constant presence” to ensure effective supervision. The reaction from officials It didn’t take long to wait. More than 200 senior officials signed a manifesto in which they described the measure as a “19th century model.” That episode was only the first step of something broader. Now this measure is extended to the rest of the workforce of around 14,900 Catalan administration officials who currently have permission to telework. What exactly does the Government propose?. The Generalitat has put on the table the so-called “immediate operational assistance complement.” This is a supplement of between 90 and 200 euros per month that will be incorporated as a salary extra for those who voluntarily give up the teleworking days recognized in their position. The Catalan administration points out that the decision to take advantage of this supplement is completely voluntary and not an obligation. But monthly payroll changes depending on what you choose. The exact details about the final amount, who will be able to collect it and whether the officials whose teleworking was revoked would also receive it, are points that are still are being negotiated at the Public Service Board. The price of teleworking. The next meeting of the Public Service Board is scheduled for July 1. And everything indicates that the agreement, if it arrives, would not come into force before January 2027. In any case, with this measure a price has been put on teleworking in public administration. This represents an important change in the regulations that regulate remote work in the civil service since, until now, the general rule in the Spanish public service says that teleworking is neutral from an economic point of view: they neither pay you more for doing it nor do they deduct anything for not doing it, as stated in the article 47 bis 3 of the Basic Statute of Public Employees: “Personnel who provide their services through teleworking will have the same duties and rights.” However, with this complement, the Generalitat would give economic value to presence and opting for the office represents a salary improvement that those who opt for teleworking do not have, maintaining the same obligations. Moncloa pushes the opposite. What makes the Catalan bet more striking is that it goes against the current of the central Administration’s bet, which precisely bets for more teleworking. According to data from the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Service published by Digital Economy52.4% of employees of the General State Administration work remotely at least once a week, with more than 93,600 officials in hybrid mode. This percentage comes in full implementation of the day of 35 hours per week for civil servants. Catalonia is also negotiating the reduction of the working day to 35 hours, starting from the current 37.5. But the Government has linked this reduction in hours to the reduction in teleworking. The unions, divided. The measure has not been well received by the different union platforms. The IAC-CATAC, the center with the most delegates, is positioned “radically against.” UGT and CCOO, despite remaining against the measure, are more open to negotiating the conditions. From CCOO they assured that “we understand that this supplement should apply to everyone who works in person all day” and not only to those who expressly renounce teleworking, to avoid a remuneration offence. In Xataka | Companies have put an end to teleworking, but employees are making a move: the key is schedule flexibility Image | Pexels (Miguel Saddi Vitorino), Unsplash (Major Tom Agency)

Argentina wants to get rid of parents who do not pay their children’s pensions. So he kicked them out of the football stadiums

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To enjoy a soccer match in an Argentine stadium it will no longer be enough to have a ticket. From now on, fans must comply another extra requirementequally or even more important: being up to date with your children’s pensions. In an attempt to hit where it hurts most, the football heart of the nation that gave birth to Maradona, Messi or Di Estéfano, the authorities have activated a system that prohibits access to the fields to parents who ignore the costs of feeding their children. The Government has 13,000 people in its sights, defaulters whom it just got complicated for them also the USA World Cup. “They don’t enter the fields anymore”. The phrase is from Alejandra Monteoliva, Minister of National Security, who recently announced, via Xthe decision to close the stadium doors to those who are not up to date with their pensions. “Delinquent food debtors no longer enter the fields. Starting today, together with the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, we incorporate debtors into the Safe Tribune program. And they will no longer be able to go in to watch a soccer game,” explains Monteoliva before underlining the basic idea: “He who does not comply with his children, off the courts.” Is it something new? Yes. And no. ‘Safe Tribunes’ It is not a new program. Carry years applying in Argentina and its objective is to reinforce access control to sports events, although until now the focus has been focused mainly on violent fans, accused, convicted or with arrest warrants. It is basically dedicated to checking the documentation of those who go to the camps to check their history or even if they are carrying drugs or knives. For a while now some jurisdictions of the country, as Buenos Airesalso decided to veto sporting events for those who do not comply with the alimony of their minor children. As a reference, the Buenos Aires authorities they assure that since March 2025, 173 controls have been carried out that have made it possible to identify 150 “delinquent food debtors”, fans who were prevented from accessing stadiums or concerts. “So far in 2026 alone, 84 have already been carried out with 75 offenders.” What’s new then? That Argentina has decided to go one step further, combining and reinforcing both initiatives: ‘Safe Grandstands’ and restrictions on access to stadiums for parents with debts. For this, the Ministry of National Security and the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Años have signed an agreement that “marks a qualitative leap” in field controls throughout the country. The key is in the exchange of information, which will allow thousands of new names to be included in the ‘Safe Tribune’ red list. To be more exact, we talk about 13,000 people, “delinquent obligors” registered in Buenos Aires and 13 other provinces spread across the country, such as Chaco, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Tierra de Fuego, Santa Cruz or Tucumán. From now on all of them will have a difficult time when they want to watch games in the stadiums, at least as long as they do not catch up with the food pensions they owe. Click on the image to go to the tweet. “Consequences”. Alejandra Monteoliva has not been the only one to insist on the advantages of the system. Something similar has been done, too. via Xthe head of Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Jorge Macri: “In the city a year ago we prohibited the entry of food debtors to stadiums and mass shows. Now, in joint work with the Government, we added our database to the Safe Tribune program to reinforce these controls throughout the country. Anyone who does not comply with an obligation as basic as feeding their children must have consequences.” Where it hurts the most. In his message, dated May 26, Macri left bouncing another fundamental idea: access controls with the debtor registry in hand will not only be done in the country’s stadiums; The idea is that they will also be applied during the World Cup. Milei’s team has sent a list to the US with more than 30,000 Argentine fans who have restricted access to the World Cup stadiums, which will start in a week in Mexico. And these include, confirms Monteolivathe 13,000 delinquent parents. It is not just another announcement or a declaration of intent. The new restrictions in Argentine stadiums have become official already in the Official Gazette and the Executive has also published a resolution (444/2026) announcing the sending to the US Embassy of information on people with restrictions to access sporting events. The measure is adopted based on the cooperation agreements signed between both Governments and its list would include the “alimony debtors”. Some sources they assure that the veto will extend to Canada and Mexico, the other hosts of the FIFA Cup. Is the problem so serious? In case the 13,000 registered in the system do not give a clue, in 2024 Unicef ​​provided another even more emphatic one: that year it published a report in which it warned that 56% of mothers living in Argentina do not receive child support when the father does not reside in the home, a percentage that rises to 68% if we include mothers who do not receive it regularly. Field access restrictions will only apply when there is a judicial or administrative resolution that demonstrates non-payment and the affected person appears in the official registry of defaulters. Images | Jimmy Baikovicius (Flickr) and Wikipedia In Xataka | The World Cup in the USA is making merit to be the most expensive in history: tickets are already reselling for 2.3 million dollars

It’s the billions of cigarettes a year that pay for everything else.

by

In the midst of Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign in 2013, the Chinese Government came to officially ban that at banquets and public events of officials there would be cigarettes on the table. The detail seemed symbolic, but it reflected the extent to which tobacco was embedded in the political and economic culture of the country. The silent business that sustains too much. When talking about the Chinese economy, the conversation usually revolves around of electric cars, solar panels, batteries either rare earth. However, one of the most important financial pillars of the Chinese State remains much older, less glamorous and much more profitable: tobacco. I counted this week the new york times that China consumes about half of all cigarettes on the planet and sells about 2.4 billion units a year, a figure so gigantic that it turns the country into a global anomaly. While much of the world reduces tobacco consumption, China has gone in the opposite direction. And it is not just a cultural or health issue. Behind it there is an immense economic and political machinery: the state tobacco monopoly generates around 244 billion dollars annually in benefits and taxes, an amount equivalent to about 7% of all Chinese central government revenue and comparable to the country’s official defense budget. The personal contradiction of the “boss”. The paradox is even more striking because Xi Jinping stopped smoking years ago and, according to reported the Timesto people present in private conversations, went so far as to describe smoking as a serious problem for China. Plus: during his first years in power there seemed to be a certain political will to tighten restrictions, even banned smoking for officials during official events and Beijing adopted limitations in indoor spaces, in addition, in 2015 taxes on tobacco were raised. Even Peng Liyuan, the Chinese first lady, publicly participated in anti-smoking campaigns with Bill Gates. But the momentum quickly faded. The reason seems obvious: the Chinese State depends too much of cigarette money. The same government that promotes futuristic industries and constantly talks about technological modernization continue financing part of its stability thanks to millions of people smoking cheap three-dollar packs. The most powerful monopoly in the country. The heart of the entire system is the State Tobacco Monopoly Administrationan extraordinary structure even by Chinese standards because it regulates the sector and at the same time controls the dominant company that makes virtually all of the country’s cigarettes. That is, the regulator and the business are the same thing. Its economic power has translated into direct political influence. The heads of the organization have a rank equivalent to that of vice minister and several Chinese academic investigations have openly pointed out that the monopoly has blocked or diluted many important health initiatives. The clearest example came around 2017, when an attempt was stopped to implement a national ban on indoor smoking and moved the responsibility to local governmentswhere restrictions are usually weak or barely applied. Financing much more than tobacco. The most revealing thing is that tobacco money is no longer just supports local budgetsbut also some of the great strategic priorities by Xi Jinping. The monopoly has invested more than 1 billion of dollars to strengthen the Chinese financial system and has also participated in the giant national semiconductor fund valued in about 100,000 million. In practice, part of China’s commitment to chips, high technology and industrial independence is being financed thanks to smokers. In producing provinces like Yunnan, tobacco taxes represent more than half of the municipal budget. That explains why so many local governments resist even to moderate measures against smoking: restricting consumption means opening huge holes in finances already weakened by the real estate crisis and the economic slowdown. The great world exception. The Chinese case also breaks several global trends. While in many countries vaping has reduced part of traditional consumption, in China the State hardened quickly regulations on electronic cigarettes and limited flavors and points of sale, preventing them from eroding too much of the classic business. There are also no aggressive health warnings like in the West: Chinese packages still show national symbols and discreet messages instead of shocking images about diseases. Although the smoking rate has dropped slightly Because fewer young people are getting into the habit, the total sales volume continues to grow. Partly because China still has hundreds of millions of smokers and partly because tobacco also functions as a social valve in a context of growing economic pressure. A battle that you don’t want to win at all. The result is a deeply contradictory situation. China officially recognizes that tobacco It is a health problem gigantic and maintains public objectives to reduce the number of smokers, but at the same time financially dependent that millions of people continue to buy cigarettes every day. The Chinese political system itself has created a perverse incentive where really combating smoking would involve hitting a fundamental source of income for local governments, banks, strategic investments and even part of the national technological project. That is why China’s big hidden business is not only in the battery factories or rare earths that dominate international headlines. It is also in a state monopoly that sells almost half of cigarettes on the planet and whose revenue helps support much of everything else. Image | SoQ錫濛譙, Steve Evans In Xataka | It’s never too late to quit smoking: the lungs have an incredible capacity to regenerate In Xataka | Fertility rates have plummeted around the world. There is an unnoticed suspect: tobacco

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