SPAIN: Pushing for Daylight Savings Scraps & more – 23rd Oct 2025

Buenos días from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Spain Update from the 23rd of October twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Spain.

It’s that time again. On Monday the 20th, Spain’s government once again relaunched a push at the EU level to abandon the twice-yearly clock change, arguing the practice no longer delivers energy savings and harms citizens’ biological rhythms.

The government raised the issue at the European Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council, asking member states to agree on ending seasonal time shifts so that twenty twenty-six could be the last year of biannual clock changes.

The executive says the relaunch responds to public opinion and scientific advice, while some domestic opposition accuses the government of using the move for political point scoring.

Speaking of the opposition, on Thursday the 16th, the Partido Popular (PP) ordered President Pedro Sánchez to appear before the Koldo Case commission at the end of October.

The commission is investigating alleged pay-to-get contracts and suspected payments involving former Socialist party organizers and advisers, primarily José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García.

The PP says that new findings and continued work on the case have made it necessary to press Sánchez on the party’s alleged financing irregularities.

In policing news, on Tuesday, the 21st, the Guardia Civil, the national police, arrested a thirty-three-year-old resident of Carballeda de Avia, Galicia, eastern Spain, suspected of starting a major wildfire that began on the 15th of August and burned its way through a significant amount of woodland.

The August fires spread across several municipalities, forced evacuations, threatened lives and damaged buildings. Investigators used on-site forensics and multi-agency resources to reconstruct the ignition and expansion.

The arrest follows months of fieldwork and is part of wider inquiries into this season’s severe Galician blazes, where multidisciplinary teams have examined whether fires stemmed from neglect, arson or negligence.

Meanwhile in Barcelona, on Tuesday the 7th, three gay political influencers who call themselves Las Marifachas sat down with news outlet Coda to discuss their rise as proudly queer conservatives. Their name fuses maricón, a Spanish slur for gay men, with facha, a derogatory term for fascists.

They’re queer, conservative, and proudly aligned with the far-right Vox party. Their message? They believe that Islam threatens LGBTQ lives more than the far-right ever could and they aren't the only ones. Across Europe, a growing movement of gay conservatives has aligned with nationalist parties from France to the U.K., united by hostility toward immigration, particularly Muslim immigration. This “homonationalist” trend isn’t new — but in an age of online polarization and disinformation, its reach and resonance have never been stronger.

Next up. On Monday, the 20th, El País reported on several towns in Andalucia, Southern Spain, where groups of squatters labeled narco okupas are occupying empty properties and running drug-related activity hubs.

Details about the towns keep coming in through confrontations between occupants and police and residents’ complaints.

We’ve reported on squatter's rights in previous episodes, but in summary, Spanish law makes it really difficult to evict people quickly, especially from abandoned properties.

In health news, on Wednesday the 22nd, the government approved a royal decree allocating over 500 million euros to strengthen care for people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (or ALS) and incurable illnesses requiring twenty-four-hour assistance.

The decree will ensure full implementation of the twenty twenty-four ALS Act, guaranteeing round-the-clock professional care for patients in advanced stages, supported by at least five caregivers working in shifts.

The decision for funding ends a year-long delay that left many patients without aid. The decree will also extend benefits to others with terminal neurological conditions. With this measure, state funding for Spain’s dependency care system will reach a record 3.7 billion euros in twenty twenty-five.

Now for a star in hot water. On Tuesday the 21st, Madrid’s city council investigated pop star Rosalía, questioning whether she had municipal authorization to hold a spontaneous promotional presentation in Callao Square, a busy public square in the center of the capital.

The council confirmed that the star didn’t have the correct permits, but it has not been decided whether she will be fined or not.

Moving to Rosalia’s birth province now, but this time for news for the football fans. On Monday, the 20th, Football Club Barcelona updated its renovation timeline for the Spotify Camp Nou, confirming that the fully completed stadium will be ready by December twenty twenty-seven, but fans will be back sooner than that.

Elena Fort, the project’s Vice president, announced that fans can return to the partially finished venue next month, when capacity will be roughly 45,000 seats, later expanding to around 60,000 by the end of the year.

The project’s first phase includes new locker rooms, a modernized player tunnel, and improved safety systems. A new fan section, called Gol nineteen fifty-seven, commemorating the original date of the Camp Nou’s opening, will eventually serve as the vibrant heart of the stadium, dedicated to die-hard supporters.

Heads up, everyone! On Monday, the 20th, news outlet Euro Weekly News put out a feature highlighting Spain’s leading global position in hair-loss treatments and clinics, and its attitude toward baldness, and it's an interesting read!

According to the article, Spain tops the list as the most bald country in the world, with a little over 44% of men having no hair. Italy comes in close second with just over 44, a few decimals below Spain. However, attitudes couldn’t be more different. In Spain, baldness is largely embraced, contrasting with other countries where it’s a lot more taboo.

Check it out with the link in the show notes!

Do you know which foreign nationals own the most property in Spain? On Wednesday the 22nd, Spain’s General Council of Notaries published a report saying that British people own the most property outside of Spanish citizens, closely followed by Moroccans and Germans.

The report outlines that foreign purchases represent just over 19% of all sales so far in twenty twenty-five with interest in the Spanish market remaining strong. In the first half of the year, foreigners purchased over 71,000 homes, mostly in the Valencian Community, Catalunya, Andalucia, and Madrid.

Save a seat for this next one. On Wednesday the 22nd, Spanish police arrested seven people accused of stealing over 1,000 restaurant chairs from bars and eateries in Madrid and nearby Talavera de la Reina over two months.

The gang, made up of six men and one woman, is accused of taking stacked outdoor chairs overnight while establishments were closed. Authorities estimate the stolen furniture’s value at around 60,000 euros.

Police say the suspects resold the chairs both within Spain and abroad, including in Morocco and Romania. The investigation began after multiple restaurant owners reported missing chairs that had been left secured outside overnight.

In culture, on Tuesday the 21st, a Madrid exhibition launched showcasing five decades of democratic transitions in Portugal and Spain, marking half a century since the democratic shifts that reshaped both countries.

Titled Inquietude: Freedom and Democracy, the exhibition at the Casa Encendida uses documents, photographs, audiovisual material, and artifacts to compare the processes and cultural transformations that accompanied Portugal’s Carnation Revolution in nineteen seventy-four and Spain’s post-Franco transition, which began in nineteen seventy-five.

Closing this edition with the ancient world, as on Thursday the 16th, Archaeologists in Porcuna, Andalucia, partially restored one of the largest Roman amphitheaters known on the Iberian peninsula, which was used by the infamous Roman leader Julius Caesar.

Excavations have revealed roughly 30% of the total structure, including a fifty-meter (164 feet) stretch of façade, arena, gladiator cell, and seating tiers that experts estimate held some 15,000 spectators.

Though only a small portion of Porcuna’s footprint has been excavated, Archaeologists say the amphitheater’s partial opening will boost heritage tourism and deepen knowledge of the city’s seven-century-old Roman history.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

This past Saturday, we held a trial of a new kind of gathering. Highly structured but radically equal, very wild. No keynote speakers, no talking heads. Those who join decide who they talk to, but without knowing the identity of who they will meet, they propose and decide what they will discuss. Like we said. Wild, interested in what it was, check the show notes and if you’re interested, we can help you hold one in Spain.

¡Hasta la próxima!