Valencia News | Teacher’s Strike and New Arrivals
Bon dia! Valencia enters another week with no end in sight to the teachers’ strike, now in its third week and heading toward a major Wednesday march. On the housing front, new data shows just how far out of reach ownership has become for younger residents. And two stories this week — one from Saturday, one from today — put a human face on the city’s growing American community.
City & Politics
Strike week three: marches planned, negotiations stalled
The indefinite teachers’ strike moves into its third week with no date set for negotiations to resume after talks collapsed last Wednesday. Levante-EMV reports that the biggest demonstration yet is expected this Wednesday, with multiple marches planned across the city.
Behind the scenes, the Valencian government is counting the cost of meeting union demands. Valencia Plaza reports that raising teachers’ pay by 200 euros a month — the figure currently under discussion — would add more than 224 million euros a year to the regional government’s budget. That financial gap is shaping up as the central test of Generalitat President Juanfran Perez Llorca’s tenure.
For more, Pont de Valencia’s Mireille Morejon has an expainer on the pay divide between public and private sector workers.
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What is the Plus Ultra case — and why are people talking about it?
If you’ve heard the name Zapatero in the news lately and wondered what it’s about, El País has a useful English-language explainer. Former Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero — who governed Spain from 2004 to 2011 — is accused of receiving nearly two million euros to use his influence to steer a Spanish government bailout toward Plus Ultra, a Spanish-Venezuelan airline. The allegations involve money laundering and influence peddling, and the case is currently working its way through the courts.
It is the first time a former Spanish prime minister has faced prosecution in a corruption case, which is why it is dominating national headlines. The trial is ongoing and no verdict has been reached.
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What is former Spanish PM Zapatero accused of?: Inside the Plus Ultra case — El País Valencia
City & Housing
Ten years of salary for a 60-square-metre flat
New figures from Atlas Real Estate Analytics put a stark number on Valencia’s housing affordability crisis: the average 30-year-old would need to save their entire salary for ten years to afford a standard 60-square-metre flat in the city. Valencia Plaza reports the data, which shows housing prices have continued to outpace wages. For most young Valencian residents, ownership has effectively moved beyond reach.
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Cabanyal residents push back on summer festival season
Residents in the Cabanyal neighbourhood have filed a formal complaint against the string of outdoor food and music festivals scheduled for the Eugenia Viñes area this summer. This weekend, the Latin American food festival Sabooreofest takes place in the area — one of several events, including a local edition of Oktoberfest, that have increasingly used the space as a makeshift festival venue. Residents cite noise, litter, and blocked roads.
The complaints echo those from residents near the City of Arts and Sciences, who successfully took the city to court over noise from music events there. Both groups are calling on the city council to designate a purpose-built outdoor venue, rather than cycling through residential streets as available space.
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La cumbia harta al Cabanyal — Las Provincias
City & Society
Americans in Valencia: one trend, two portraits
Two stories this weekend profile the growing American presence in Valencia. Las Provincias reported Saturday on the broader migration trend: more than 70,000 Americans are now officially resident in Spain, up 48% since 2018. Through a series of individual profiles — including the Benitez family in Valencia — the piece explores the pull factors: better quality of life and, increasingly, what the paper calls “the Trump factor.”
Today, Levante-EMV adds a more personal portrait. Ken and Susan March, a retired couple from Florida, have made Valencia their home — and every morning they walk the parks around the Palau de la Musica with bags, picking up litter. Their reason, Ken told the paper: “it’s the right thing to do.”
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Por qué tantos americanos se están mudando a España? — Las Provincias
Immigration, public services, and who is filling the gaps
Levante-EMV reports that nearly half of newly hired doctors entering Valencia’s public health system qualified abroad — a figure that points to how dependent the region’s public services have become on foreign-trained professionals. Those doctors must still meet Valencia-specific standards, often requiring additional exams or degree supplements before they can practice.
At the national level, El País reports that the number of irregular migrants who have applied for legal status under the government’s amnesty window has nearly reached 550,000 — exceeding the 500,000 figure Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez cited when the programme opened. More than 90,000 have been formally registered so far. The window remains open until the end of June. Sánchez has argued that regularisation will allow migrants to pay into the tax system and ease pressure on public services; critics say it risks overwhelming them.
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City & Culture
Clochina season is here — and this is how you cook them
It is officially clochina season in Valencia. The local mussel — smaller, sweeter, and only available for a few months of the year — is one of the city’s seasonal pleasures. Las Provincias has a short video with Marcos Moreno, chef at Casa Pescadores, who walks through the classic preparation: garlic, lemon, and a bay leaf. Nothing more. Good for a Monday, and useful Spanish practice if you need it.
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Así se cocinan las clòtxinas: nada más que ajo, limón y laurel — Las Provincias
