2025 was the year Spain stood out in Europe over its clear opposition to the Israeli genocide in Gaza, as well as over its critical stance towards the Trump-led military spending spree in NATO. With the fall of the Social Democrats in Germany, the country’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez also reinforced his position within the EU as the major figurehead of the continent’s centre-left.

Yet, at home Sanchez has faced a series of crises and scandals within his own Socialist Workers Party while his complicated parliamentary majority hung by a thread while far-right Vox surged in the polls.

To discuss the year’s events, Alan and Eoghan are joined by regular end of year guest IE university professor and Galician beach bar owner Joe Haslam.

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Spain is the European Union’s largest fruit and vegetable producer, with exports topping €18 billion in 2024. Yet those whose work sustains this lucrative sector face widespread underpayment and labour rights violations - with some facing extreme exploitation bordering on modern slavery.

As Eoghan tells Alan, this model should not be seen as some antiqued part of the Spanish economy but rather in its employment of digital surveillance techniques and with the growing financialization of the agricultural sector, Spain is at the cutting edge of European farming.

If you like what we produce, and want more, please think of contributing and making the podcast sustainable going forward:

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The investigation discussed in this episode:

1. Revealed: EU Farm Subsidy ‘Bankrolls’ Widespread Labour Abuse

https://www.desmog.com/2025/09/29/revealed-eu-farm-subsidy-bankrolls-widespread-labour-abuse/

2. In Spain, Farmworkers Are Dying in the Heat https://jacobin.com/2025/10/spain-farmworkers-heatstroke-climate-crisis

As Spain marks the fiftieth anniversary of the death of dictator Francisco Franco, Eoghan sits down for a wide-range interview with Sebastiaan Faber, Professor of Hispanic Studies at Oberlin College and author of Exhuming Franco. They discuss the very contested institutional, political and ideological legacies of the dictatorship - as well as the continued fascination with Franco on the far-right in the United States.

⁠⁠https://buymeacoffee.com/thesobremey