Spain

Decathlon has just bought Intersport in Spain. And with this, a business model closes: multi-brand sports retail.

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Decathlon has notified the CNMC the acquisition of Intersport CCS in Spain. The operation would add some 120 stores (30 owned and 90 franchised) to the 176 stores that Decathlon already operates in the country. Now the regulator You have one month to make a statement in first phase. Why is it important. This purchase closes one business model and consolidates another: Intersport represented the retail traditional sports: multi-brand, with Nike, Adidas, Puma and company on its shelves. Decathlon is the opposite: the own brand (Van Rysel, Quechua, Kiprun…) is what dominates, with mainly low prices, or at least lower than those of the big brands, and total control of the value chain. The first has gone bankrupt and the second keeps its locations. The background. Intersport entered bankruptcy in March 2025 with a debt of between 14 and 30 million euros. Tried to get 70% cuts with banks like BBVA and Sabadell, and with suppliers like Nike and Puma, but it didn’t work. In November, Intersport France bought the business for 300,000 euros and now it is Decathlon who takes it entirely. Between the lines. The battle of retail sports is no longer so much about what brands you sell as about how many square meters you control and what you sell within. The big sports brands have opted for direct sales to the consumer (Nike closing distributors, for example, although he got a frog). Intersport was trapped selling brands that no longer needed it to reach the customer, without great differentiation of its own and with very high inventory costs. Nike and Asics are not Kalenji and Artengo. Yes, but. Decathlon buys Intersport largely because it buys key locations before they are occupied by Amazon, Shein (which is about to physically disembark in Europe) or any other e-commerce actor that needs a physical presence at least to facilitate returns and collections. In it retail 2026, the physical store continues to be differential, but only if you sell products that cannot be easily purchased online. A Van Rysel cycling set is not on Amazon. Some Nikes, yes. The contrast. This is not very different from what happens in the food sector: Mercadona dominates because it sells its few own brands and controls the chain. Multi-brand supermarkets (those that only distribute) are in a more complicated position. He retail sports follows the same pattern: consolidate or die. Stores without their own identity tend to disappear. And now what. If the CNMC approves the operation, Decathlon will reinforce its hegemony in Spain. But the news is not so much the number of stores as the model that remains standing. In 2026, those who control what they produce, how they sell it, and where they distribute it survive survive. The rest is noise. In Xataka | Wallapop taught us how to sell used things. Decathlon has learned to make money with it Featured image | Decathlon, Intersport

Spain will go from -14ºC to warmer temperatures in days

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It’s not just a feeling when you go out this morning: Winter has decided to enter through the front door at the beginning of this year 2026. After a few years of warmer patterns, the current atmospheric configuration has opened a direct corridor from the Arctic to the peninsula that has undoubtedly left many of us frozen. The temperatures. Throughout all of Spain we have been able to see really low temperaturessuch as Madrid, which woke up today at -2 °C, but the capital is almost a thermal oasis compared to the rest of the country. In Burgos, the wind has plummeted the thermal sensations down to -13 °C, and in the “proverbial” cold area of ​​Molina de Aragón (Guadalajara), the thermometer has reached -14 °C. We are facing an episode of extreme cold that has put half of Spain on yellow, orange or even red alert. What is happening. What we are experiencing is not an isolated event, but the result of a meteorological coincidence. The key is in an anticyclonic block located in northern Europe, which is a wall of high pressure that has forced air masses to circulate along its southern flank, channeling polar and continental air directly towards our latitudes. to this The storm Francis has joined itwhich has left significant rainfall and snowfall throughout Spain. Its position has acted as a suction pump, facilitating the entry of this mass of arctic air and causing not only the collapse of thermometers, but also snowfall at unusually low levels. A thermal ‘scooper’. The AEMET had to activate the red notice in the Parameras de Molina, a landmark that is not seen every winter. Some of the most notable temperatures that we have detected, for example, are the following: Molina de Aragón (Guadalajara): -14 °C. Burgos: wind chill of -13 °C due to the combination of frost and wind. Madrid (Retiro/Barajas): -2 °C, with minimums in the periphery, such as in Alcalá de Henares, dropping to -6.7 °C. Sierra Nevada: extreme minimums of up to -17 °C. How long is it going to last? The truth is that the intense cold will continue throughout the day, as it did during the early hours of January 7th. This makes the red notices in Guadalajara and orange in the northern interior They will remain active until mid-morning. But starting January 8, the Arctic air mass will begin to withdraw from the peninsula, making the weekend much milder than the previous one. In fact, forecasts indicate that by the weekend we could go from one extreme to the other, with temperatures 1 to 3 °C above average for this time of year. This will take us from ice to ‘almost hot’ in a matter of days with maximums of around 16 °C on Tuesday, January 13. A new storm. Beyond the temperatures, we must keep in mind that between January 8 and 9, Storm Goretti will form, and that it will also experience explosive cyclogenesis, as the AEMET points out. Its impact will be mainly in the central European countries and in Spain its impact will be less, although it will temporarily generate maritime wind or rain in the north. Images | AEMET In Xataka | The “tropicalization” of the atmosphere is going to change Spain and not exactly for the better

YouTube has begun to fill with AI-generated content. Spain appears in an unexpected position

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Something has noticeably changed in the YouTube experience. A recent analysis points to a notable change in the type of videos that make their way into the feed, with a high presence of content generated with artificial intelligence and with Spain standing out within that context. We are not talking about a passing fad or experimental creativity, but rather a pattern that responds to how attention is rewarded today. To understand what we are talking about, it is worth clarifying the terms that are repeated in the studies. “AI slop“is used to describe automatically generated videos, with very low standards and designed to be mass produced, prioritizing quantity over content.”brainrot” expands that idea and encompasses pieces that, with or without artificial intelligence, seek to retain the viewer based on repetitive stimuli and without a clear narrative. They are disputed labels, but useful to describe a type of content designed above all to capture attention. How the phenomenon has been measured. To put figures to this trend, Kapwing reviewed the 100 YouTube channels considered “trend” in each country through Playboard and isolated those he identified as AI slop. From there, he collected public data on views, subscribers, and estimated revenue with Social Blade and added them by country. Additionally, the team created a new YouTube account and reviewed the first 500 Shorts in the feed to see what a user with no previous history finds. What exactly does the data say about Spain. When breaking down the results by country, Spain stands out for a very specific reason. Channels of this type that fall into the “trend” category accumulate more than 20 million subscribers, more than any other country analyzed. However, the number of channels is small. The study itself indicates that this combination reveals a strong concentration of audience in few profiles, a key factor to understand why Spain appears so high in the ranking. The comparative analysis shows that there is no single global pattern. There are countries that stand out for the number of channels identified, others for the total number of views and others for the loyalty of their audiences. South Korea, for example, has a much higher number of views than the rest, while the United States is among the first in terms of aggregate volume of followers. This diversity reinforces a central idea of ​​the report: the impact of this type of content depends both on the local ecosystem and how algorithms respond in each market. Patterns that repeat in the videos. When reviewing this content, very recognizable formulas appear: animals with human features and cartoon aesthetics, with an almost photographic finish, placed in “story” mini-scenes that can be understood in seconds. Examples usually include baby monkeys that star in emotional or exaggerated situations, animals that “save” people in impossible accidents, or everyday scenes turned into fables, such as a cat shopping in a market. The Guardian highlights that many pieces dispense with a clear narrative and work by immediate impact, repetition and familiarity, three ingredients that fit well with the logic of the feed. Why this model is attractive. According to The Guardianmany creators approach this type of content not out of creative affinity, but out of pure profitability. Automated tools reduce costs and allow you to test ideas almost unlimitedly, while monetization programs promise income that is difficult to match in other local jobs. The result is a constant trial logic, where what works is replicated and what doesn’t is discarded, in an environment in which the algorithm decides more than the author. Regardless of who produces these videos, the impact is clearly perceived from the other side of the screen. Kapwing created a new account and counted the first 500 Shorts in the feed: 104 were AI-generated content, 21%, and 165 fit into “brainrot”, 33%. The Guardian summarizes that finding as “more than 20%” of AI slop in a new user experience. The data does not allow us to describe all of YouTube, but it does suggest that this material is part of the initial menu offered by the algorithm. The official response and its limits. YouTube maintained in statements to the aforementioned newspaper that videos generated with AI must meet the same standards as any other content and that it acts when its policies are violated. However, the platform does not offer public figures that allow us to know how many views correspond to this type of materials or how they influence the total. This opacity forces us to rely on external studies and leaves open the question of whether the algorithm prioritizes these videos or simply reflects their proliferation. Images | Ganes AI official 5286 | Lily Video AI | Dipto Fun Tv | Sparks Adventures (YouTube) | Kapwing In Xataka | We believed that Stack Overflow was essential for programming. AI is proving the opposite

The fight between Ryanair and Aena has left a trail of victims throughout Spain. But none as serious as Vigo

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This Sunday, January 4, Vigo airport closed its stage as an international terminal with the last Ryanair flight to London-Stansted, which took off at 9:30 p.m. The Peinador airport has thus become the only Galician airfield without connections outside of Spain, a situation that it already experienced between 2019 and 2023 after the first departure of the Irish airline. What does it mean for Vigo. The most populated city in Galicia loses its only air gateway to abroad after almost three years. Since the end of March 2023, the flight to London had returned the airport’s international status, but is now relegated to an exclusively domestic airport with routes to Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Gran Canaria and Tenerife, in addition to some specific flights to Mallorca. A stormy relationship. The divorce between Ryanair and the Vigo Council is consummated with crossed reproaches. The City Council imposed two sanctions on the company in 2025 for an amount greater than 67,000 euros, accusing it of suppressing 16 frequencies during the summer of 2024 and failing to comply with the agreed tourist promotion actions. “They are not serious people,” Mayor Abel Caballero even stated, according to collect Vigo Lighthouse. Although the contract ended in December 2025, Ryanair took advantage of Christmas to maintain the flight for a few more days. The goodbye numbers. Ryanair closes its second stage in Vigo after selling almost 1 million tickets in a decade of operations, according to The Voice of Galicia. In its first period (2016-2019), the airline received 4.4 million euros from the City Council for three years of presence. In this second phase, it received an additional 1.87 million for the three-year period that is now ending. According to account the mid-Atlantic, the route to London moved nearly 45,000 passengers in 2025 alone, its best record in these three years. Galician airports. The situation contrasts with Santiago de Compostela, which maintains twelve international destinations, and A Coruña, with four. Peinador exceeded one million passengers in 2025, although a good part of that traffic is due to Imserso trips, as collect Vigo Lighthouse. In this way, those who want to leave Spain from Vigo by plane will have to depend on other airports. It will be international again. The Vigo terminal will recover international connections in October, although in a timely manner: the Travelmakers agency has scheduled two planes to Egypt, as already happened in 2025 with charter flights to Morocco, as collect the middle. In addition, Aena and the Port Authority agreed to promote the arrival of cruise passengers at the airport in 2026 to reinforce Vigo’s role as a base port. But they are sporadic solutions, not stable routes. The battle for the north. The Peinador case has been a consequence of the pulse between Ryanair and Aena due to airport taxes, which has caused cuts of 80% in Galicia and also affected Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country. Other airlines such as Vueling, Volotea or Aer Lingus are occupying part of the gap left by the Irish in airports such as Santiago, Bilbao or Santander, but the recovery is not the same in all airports. Between the lines. Peinador also enters the list of the nine Spanish airports that operate exclusively in national territory, including Valladolid, Salamanca and Pamplona. For an airfield that in 2017 served eight international destinations and handled 1.5 million passengers in its golden age, the step backwards is significant. It remains to be seen if this status is maintained for long or if the airport will be able to attract new international flights in the future. Cover image | Wolfgang Weiser In Xataka | This is the DGT map to visualize where there are active V-16 beacons in Spain. There is another more useful unofficial map

Three chains are devouring the supermarket business in Spain year after year: Mercadona, Lidl and Aldi

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From ugly duckling to goose that lays the golden eggs. The white label revolution seems to find no ceiling in the retail Spanish. Until not so long ago, the brands associated with supermarkets carried a stigma in Spain compared to items from manufacturer brands clearly recognized by customers. It was not even strange for words like “Estandado” to be used in a pejorative way. Buying white was synonymous with buying ‘poor quality’‘option B’. Not anymore. Spanish families are increasingly betting on white label. And that is making gold for some of the country’s big chains. What has happened? That the white label is experiencing his particular revolution in it retail Spanish. And that is still striking if you take into account that until not so long ago, firms like Hacendado or Auchan carried a certain stigma compared to their competitors, the brands associated with manufacturers. It’s nothing new. For a long time we have been confirming how the white label is driving some chains of “short assortment”supermarkets that are committed to offering customers a limited selection of items. That is, instead of including a dozen different brands of cookies (or other items) on their shelves, they offer only two or one, among which they include their own brand. Chain Market share in value Difference (PP) compared to the 2024 quota Mercadona 37.0% 0.9 Carrefour Group 12.3% -0.2 Lidl 8.0% 0.5 Day Group 4.7% 0.1 Consum Group 4.5% 0.0 Eroski Group 4.4% -0.1 Alcampo Group 3.6% -0.3 aldi 2.5% 0.4 Bon Preu Group 2.4% 0.0 You save 23% 0.1 Gadis Group 1.7% 0.0 Magnifying glass 1.1% -0.1 El Corte Inglés Group 1.0% -0.2 dinosol 0.9% 0.0 Froiz 0.8% 0.0 Alimerka 0.8% 0.0 Rest of Modern distribution 12.0% -1.1 Why is it news? Because the latest data from 2025 reveal that this strategy is driving some brands to catapult them to unprecedented market shares. This is suggested by at least one recent report from Algori on consumption prepared with data from the first ten months of the year. The study shows that at the end of October the three chains that were gaining the greatest market share (in terms of value) in Spain were Mercadona (0.9 percentage points), Lidl (0.5 pp) and Aldi (0.4). Between the three, they also held a market share of 47.5%, a share clearly led by Juan Roig’s company, which alone holds 37%. DIA and Ahorramás are also growing, while others like Carrefour, Alcampo or Eroski are stagnating or decreasing. Chain % of white label sales 2023 % of white label sales 2024 % of white label sales 2025 Lidl 79.7% 81.9% 80.7% Mercadona 72.9% 74.5% 77.8% aldi 68.8% 69.1% 74.5% Day 54.2% 56.3% 65.1% consumption 33% 35.9% 37.4% Carrefour 29.3% 31.4% 33.3% Eroski 25.6% 28.4% 31.2% Alcampo 21.5% 24.3% 23.8% Why is it important? Because Mercadona, Lidl and Aldi are not just any chains. They are precisely the ones that give the greatest prominence to their own brands. At least according to another recent study from Worldpannel by Numerator, which shows that if we talk about the weight of private labels in total sales, Lidl heads the list with 80.7%, followed by Mercadona (77.8%) and Aldi (74.5%). In summary: the chains that gained the greatest market share in 2025 were the ones that most clearly opted for their own products, a strategy that often arrives backed by aggressive price differentiation. elEconomista.es precise Furthermore, Mercadona, Lidl and Aldi have increased their market shares to record figures. Their 47.5% share is more than two percentage points higher than last year, when they accounted for a total of 45.2% of the market. Everything, they explain from Algori, while the entire sector experiences growth both in terms of volume and value. And what are the forecasts? The sector is optimistic. AECOC, the consumer association, states in one of its latest reports that 44% of companies expect to close 2025 with growth data above 5%. 28% expect to increase their activity, although to a lesser extent, and 11% expect to fall. They are led by Lidl and especially Mercadona, which has been expanding its market share until it approaches or even surpasses 30% thanks to a strategy based on white label, territorial dispersion and ready-made foods. Images | Wikipedia and Vitaly Gariev (Unsplash) In Xataka | Mercadona has found a vein to grow beyond its white label and prepared food: tourism

how to use it to see which ones are activated in real time in Spain

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Let’s tell you how to use the V-16 beacon map with which you can see in real time all the ones that are activated in Spain. As of January 1, 2026, V-16 beacons They are mandatory in Spain, so that if we have an accident or breakdown we can activate them and so that the DGT signs on the roads notify the rest of the cars of our position. But you can also check the data sent by the beacons in real time with a map. It is not about DGT mapbut from a third party that uses public data from official sourcesalthough it does not seek to replace official traffic information warnings or assistants. It is also not a map linked to any specific brand of beacons, and shows all those that have been activated at any given time. It is, therefore, an information tool created by an individual. See activated beacons in real time To access the V-16 beacon map you have to enter the website Mapabalizasv16.es/#mapa. This will take you to a map of all of Spain, including the archipelagos, and you can navigate through it and zoom in to see specific areas of the country. On this map, you will be able to see currently active beacons and those that were recently activatedso that you can have a context of current problems and others that have been recent. Also, at the top you will have a button to update it at any time. When you click on one of the active beacon icons (the ones that are on) or the recent ones (their icon is off), it will open a window with event information. You will be able to see what time it was activated, the road, the direction and the province and municipality. Additionally, in the window that opens you will also have buttons to open the exact location in a map application, and you will have a share button to send the incident to someone. In Xataka Basics | V16 beacon without eSIM or connectivity: what the DGT says about them from 2026

The great plan of Chinese brands to open hundreds of dealerships in Spain: a movement against the current

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Search, compare and if you find something better, buy it It was the 80s and Colón’s detergents had snuck their famous slogan into every house in Spain. 40 years later, a BYD worker explained to me how they sought to break down prejudices in Spain: “We are letting people take the car home. We don’t want to do the typical 20-minute test with the salesperson inside the car. We tell the customer not to be afraid, to take the car and bring it to us the next day” BYD barely had a handful of points of sale in Spain those days in 2023. Shortly before we had attended the official presentation of the brand. The Chinese company arrived with three electric cars (two of them with a clear premium focus) and I saw it clearly: the brand had to attract the customer to the dealership. Let him sit in the car, touch it and feel it. It was the only way to dynamit prejudices. We are just over a month away from the end of 2025. At the end of October, BYD has sold 22,357 exclusively plug-in units in Spain according to data from Anfac. They easily double Fiat. They surpass Mazda and Volvo. They left Tesla behind a long time ago. They have Opel or Cupra on the near horizon. They begin to approach Ford. At the same time, BYD will close 100 dealerships this year (96 are already active throughout Spain) and they plan to open another thirty next year. At the same time, Chery has placed 31,493 cars in our country at the end of November between Ebro, Omoda and Jaecoo. And we are facing the first full year in which they have sold cars in our country. The sum of all of them also easily exceeds one hundred points of sale. MG adds 38,989 units between January and October 2025. With 11 points of sale available throughout Spain. The irruption is such that 10% of the cars purchased in Spain they are Chinese. It was a figure that was difficult to imagine just a few years ago. A figure that has been achieved by taking the customer to the dealership. And dynamiting their prejudices. The importance of being on the street There are many factors that explain the brutal growth of Chinese brands in our country. We can talk about its low prices, about offering a gateway to a technology (electric or plug-in hybrid) that has made the product more expensive or the extensive equipment offered in each car. But in addition to the price, which overrides all the previous arguments, we find an expansive effort by all these brands to be on the street, at the customer’s feet, with the dealers. “We had been waiting for its arrival for a long time. Already 15 years ago, in the brand’s first foray, we had one of its models, now I don’t remember exactly the name. In terms of volume, manufacturing capacity and development, it is a really excellent product. We think it is above the rest of the Chinese brands that are arriving in our country.” The speaker is José María Blitz, Project Director at the dealership that BYD has on Concha Espina Street in Madrid (next to the Santiago Bernabéu) and which belongs to Astara Retaila distributor with a presence in 19 countries and that sells you a Bentley or a Rolls-Royce as well as a BYD. This time it is the Chinese brand he is referring to. He tells us that the public has welcomed the company with open arms and that since they opened their first dealership, this one next to the Madrid stadium, interest has only increased. “The client It has already surpassed that of ‘unknown brand’. There could have been one at the beginning, three or four years ago, but I think it is practically expired. What’s more, the customer’s perception of the brand is excellent,” he explains. Added to that, “the European product was very expensive and the equipment was very fair. Chinese brands offer a quality product at a competitive price with a much higher level of equipment. We can easily be 20% or 25% below competing brands with higher equipment levels,” says Blitz. BYD is just one of the Chinese brands that sell in our country. Together with MG and the Chery Group (Omoda, Jaecoo and Ebro) they form a kind of quintet representative of the 28 Chinese brands that already sell in our country, according to Faconauto. The dealer association of our country says it has about 600 points of sale right now, between dealers and official services. Of course, they point out to us that “it is convenient to contextualize this figure: the majority of points of sale in Spain continue to correspond to consolidated manufacturers – European, Japanese, Korean or American – whose presence is structural and has developed over decades. Right now, Faconauto has 28 Chinese companies selling cars through 600 dealerships spread throughout the country. What happened to find us with this explosion? Blitz is clear, the product, he assures, is part of the success. But also who these brands have partnered with. “Their strategy has been to close agreements with large groups of dealers, people who are really professional,” they say from this dealership owned by Astara. The same is the opinion of Faconauto, who point out that “they have decided to enter our market with a ‘traditional’ model, taking advantage of the establishment of business dealers. And the key is the word ‘businessmen’, who choose where to invest their money. It is evident that many dealer groups have seen a good opportunity in investing in the distribution of Chinese brands.” This commitment generates trust in the customer, which has allowed them to grow “to the level of any other European brand,” for Blitz. The key: a disruptive product and good after-sales service. “They are very agile and they want their employees to be agile too. There is a sense of … Read more

This is the DGT map to visualize where there are active V16 beacons in Spain. There is another more useful unofficial map

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We are in 2026 and that means goodbye (or not) of the signal triangles in favor of the beacons v16 to signal accidents or breakdowns on the road. Don’t you take it? Well fine of 80 eurosalthough these first days Pere Navarro assured that “they would be flexible“(sic). In addition to avoiding accidents, the great advantage of the V16 beacons is their connectivity: it is true that It’s half-connectedness.but it does allow the DGT to notify the vehicles with signal V-27 and the rest of the drivers through light panels. And an interactive map to accurately geolocate the V16 beacons active in the state. The DGT traffic map also shows the beacons. Go ahead that the officer It is much more than the map where we can see these luminous devices: we can visualize closed roads, detours, landslides and meteorological events such as low visibility due to fog, accidents or stopped vehicles. Precisely here the beacons would come in, marked in the legend of the map with the danger traffic sign. However, if we tap on the ‘Filters’ area (the button with the three stripes in the upper right corner) you can alleviate the display a little. DGT traffic map As you can see below these lines, when you touch the icon, information appears such as the cause (by default the vehicle appears stopped), which road and direction it is on, the orientation, since when the notification has been operational, the province and the municipality. It is worth remembering that the data is anonymous as long as the DGT only receives the location of the stopped vehicle and not the identity of the occupant or other personal data such as the license plate or policy data. Beyond zooming, selecting areas or screening, this is what the DGT map allows you to create. You just have to activate it. To see your V16 beacon on the map, simply touch the button so that the signal is sent to DGT 3.0 platform: The function is technical and automatic, transmitting data such as the device ID, its GPS coordinates, the exact time of activation and the status, but not the cause (it could be a puncture, a mechanical breakdown, you have run out of fuel, an accident). The person who categorizes the cause of the incident is the roadside assistance operator, such as the tow truck, with the signal V-24 and the obligation to inform the DGT when they arrive at a service and what type of incident they are attending to. A reminder: you can fine up to 30,000 euros for a false positive, that is, activating the beacon as a test and leaving it activated for more than 100 seconds. The unofficial map of the beacons If you just want to see the beacons, there is another map. The data collected by the DGT 3.0 platform is public through the DGT 3.0 API. So the cybersecurity engineer Hector Julián Alijas has created a specific map for the beacons with some extra advantages from public data and official sources, such as explains in their FAQ. This beaconmapv16 displays all devices that are currently or recently active, regardless of beacon manufacturer and operator. The map shows active beacons in yellow and those that have recently been operational in dark, updating periodically to report changes in the status of the beacons and the activation of new units (you can check the latest update in a message located in the upper area). As with the DGT map, you can tap on the beacon icon to see information related to that device. The information provided by this alternative map is exactly the same, but it has an extra that can be useful if you want to go there: the possibility of sharing it with a GPS navigator such as Waze, Google Maps or Apple Maps. I want to see the beacons on Google Maps and Waze. GPS navigators do not offer the option of viewing activated beacons on the road per sebut they do warn of incidents on the road such as stopped cars or accidents. The DGT 3.0 platform itself explains that: “It facilitates the interconnection of all the actors that are part of the mobility ecosystem. Vehicle manufacturers, navigation service providers, mobility applications, city councils, public transport platforms, fleet management systems, etc.” Furthermore, both Google (behind Maps and Waze) and Apple uses information from the authoritiesso technically they can do it. And it has a great advantage: ruling out false incidents, which may be reported by mistake or intentionally, and which can later be verified through the platform. In Xataka | From today, connected V-16 beacons are mandatory in Spain: what should be clear between controversies and doubts about the rule In Xataka | The DGT’s great plan does not end with the V16 beacons: it wants to connect all traffic as they already do in China Cover | DGT and V16 Beacons Map Hector Julián Alijas

Poland and Spain are the European countries that have increased their contribution to space the most. For very different reasons

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“Europe wants to get its act together in space matters and become independent from States, so in 2025 it has launched the ambitious 15-year plan.”Strategy 2040: Elevating Europe’s future“, ha merged its largest companies and has approved a historic budget of more than 22,000 million euros. In this new budget of the European Space Agency, there are two countries that have taken a step forward in investment: Poland and Spain. Spain and Poland take a step forward. With a contribution of 1,854 million euros, the Spanish state goes from fifth to fourth positiononly behind Germany, France and Italy. Since 2022 it has surpassed the United Kingdom, the only member state that has been reducing its contribution since 2022. Poland has gone from twelfth place to become the eighth largest contributor. Although the objective of Spain and Poland is the same, their motivations are different: while the former’s priority is to support its industrial base, for the latter security and autonomy are essential. The success of ESA’s budget request lies in the programs it houses and how each country and its priorities can influence the general space spending trends of the old continent. The jewel in the crown: EOGS-ESA. One of the great engines is Earth Observation Governmental Service (Government Earth Observation Service), a key program of the European Space Agency focused on Earth observation with satellite data, but not only for science or climate, but also for defense and security in what they call dual use, civil and military. The economic injection from Poland and Spain was significant: 325 million euros for the Spanish state and 109 million euros for the Eastern country, more than half of what it put in 2022. But both financed different components of the project that align with their interests. Each country has its reasons. Thus, Poland was allocated to shared European systems and resilience networks (services that work even if there are failures or sabotage), which fits with its concern for national security, the protection of strategic infrastructures and obviously, the context of the war in Ukraine. For its part, Spain opted for a part of the most tangible project: building satellites, more specifically the “Atlantic Constellation“, a constellation of small satellites shared with Portugal to observe the Atlantic. Missing launchers. In Europe, traditionally the launching countries have been France, Germany and Italy through Ariane and Vega, but in recent years the panorama has become more complicated. On the one hand, the success of SpaceX has overshadowed European work and on the other, the gap in launches that has existed in recent years, as a result of Ariane 6 delaysthe breaking of collaborations with Russia and the stoppage of Vega-C. So other countries with less tradition have taken a step forward, improving competitiveness. In the case of Spain, it has allocated 169 million to miuraa reusable small satellite launcher from the company PLD Space. Poland has increased its contribution to the Future Launcher Preparatory Programme, an ESA program focused on new innovative launcher technologies. From 2022 to 2025 it has gone from providing three million to 48. Bringing historic programs to life. Although they had not previously been a priority for both countries, Poland and Spain have set their sights on older programs such as ‘Celeste’ or ‘Iris2’. ‘Celeste’ is an ESA mission based on low orbit satellites that reinforces Galileo in achieving more precise and difficult to interfere navigation, with a scope of application in the development of autonomous vehicles, drones and critical infrastructures. Poland has made its debut with a contribution of 10 million and Spain has tripled its investment. ‘Iris2‘ is something like the European Starlink, made up of a network of about 300 satellites that will provide secure, fast and resilient communications to EU governments and companies. With supervision from ESA, the objective is to guarantee European digital sovereignty. Its first launch is scheduled for 2029. In this mission, Spain has emerged by contributing much more than any other member state to Element 3, which focuses on user terminals, new services and missions, with 140 million euros. More R + D + i. Likewise, both states have gained weight in FutureEOESA’s R&D program for Earth observation focused on climate change, ecosystem collapse, human health and the impact of resource consumption. Thus, Poland and Spain went from 8.5 and 20 million respectively in 2022 to 35 and 110 million in this new budget. Poland’s space exploration. Poland has risen from 12.5 million to 61 million euros in just three years, with more than half of that increase (30 million) allocated to lunar exploration. However, they have just send its first astronaut in decades: Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, on an Ignis trade mission. The pioneer was Mirosław Hermaszewski, in 1978. In Xataka | “Elon Musk can monopolize everything,” warns Arianespace, which has been launching all of Europe’s satellites for 40 years In Xataka | A space war looms over our heads and Europe is the power that invests the least in defense technology Cover | Image from freepik

In the last three years, Spain has gained 1.2 million singles. In exchange it has added… 105,000 married people

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Spain is (increasingly) a country of singles. Although there are still more married than divorced, separated, widowed or people without an ‘official’ partner, the latest statistics from the INE reveal that the sum of these last categories already exceeds that of those who have said ‘yes I want’. Logical if you take into account that in the last three years the number of married people has grown by 0.5% while the number of single people shot up by 9.2% and the number of divorced people by another 8.8%. These are data that must be handled with some caution, but they show that something is changing. New times, new ways of living. A country of singles. That singleness is gaining strength as a vital plan is nothing new. We have been talking about the ‘great recession’ of romantic love, spin entry of traditional courtship or even how (despite the rise in prices and the difficulty of accessing credit) more and more people You choose to buy your home alone, without sharing expenses with a partner. Despite all of the above, it is still interesting to take a look at the INE statistics on the marital status of the population, especially when (how it just happened) show a newly updated photo. Year Singles Married Widowers Separated 2024 14,532,528 19,058,788 2,909,384 3,228,054 2023 14,357,158 19,017,938 2,911,402 3,141,053 2022 14,058,103 18,877,848 2,912,811 3,049,715 2021 13,304,355 18,953,251 2,899,639 2,966,450 One figure: 14,357,158. The definitive records of the INE show that last year there were 19.06 million married people residing in Spain, 14.53 million single people, 2.91 million widowers and 3.23 million divorced and separated people. If the ‘adult’ population of the country, over 16 years of age, is taken into account, the conclusion is clear: people who have said ‘I do’ continue to represent the largest group. They assume 45.8%compared to 34.9% of singles, 7.8% of divorced people and 7% of widowers. Does the marriage last? Yes. And no. It is true that it is still the largest group if we talk about marital statuses and it is also true that there are more married people in Spain today than in 2021, but the tables from the INE leave another, much less flattering reading: the married population has grown less than the single or divorced population. In 2024 there were in Spain 105,537 marrieds more than three years earlier, representing a growth of 0.55%. If we talk about singles, their number has grown by 1.23 million people during the same period, which translates into a rebound of 9.23%. The group of divorced or separated people has gained 261,604 people in three years, with a growth that is close to 8%. Year Average age of first marriage (men) Women 2023 37 34.9 2018 35.6 33.5 2013 34.4 32.2 Beyond the INE. The INE is not the only indicator that something is changing in Spanish society. Another (also of a statistical nature) is Eurostat, which has been documenting for a long time how we get married later and later. According to your dataIn 2023, on average, Spaniards said ‘I do’ for the first time at the age of 37 and Spanish women at 34.9. It is interesting for several reasons. To begin with, because these data place Spain as the European country in which we later made relations official. If we talk about men (37 years) we are tied with Sweden, but if we focus in women (34.9 years) we are above the Nordic nation, where the average is 34.8. We not only delay our passage through the altar. He has also done it motherhood. In fact, pregnancies among women over 40 years of age have skyrocketed in recent decades to represent close to 10% of the total. The way we face our life horizon has changed so much that there is more and more leisure on offer focused on singles or it is easier, for example, to meet people who decides to buy a home without having a partner. Less ‘I do’. The trend is also reflected in the last yearbook of the Spanish Episcopal Confederation, although in their case the figures reflect religious links. In 2024 the Church registered 31,462 Catholic weddings, below the 33,500 a year before and far from the more than 110,000 in 2007. They are values ​​in line with the latest statistics from the INE, although when handling them it is advisable to keep certain keys in mind: their record only tells us about “civil statuses”, so, remember in 20Minutes Pau Miret, CED researcher, does not include those singles who have decided to change marriage for “non-marital cohabitation.” That is, settled couples who share a home and function in practice as a marriage, but choose not to make it official. Image | Ismail Hamzah (Unsplash) In Xataka | The slow but inexorable “Japanization” of Spain: births have fallen by 50% since the time of the baby boom

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