Stephen Burgen

Successive heatwaves, extreme temperatures and continent-wide drought have created an unprecedented crisis for European farmers. France faces major declines in vegetable, maize, hay, milk and egg production; drought has affected around 60% of Italy’s farmland and severely damaged crops in the Po valley; and Spain is reporting large cereal losses alongside falling livestock and projected wine production. Farmers’ groups warn of catastrophic harvests, while governments are preparing costly aid and longer-term support measures.

Nueva Pescanova has abandoned its planned €65m industrial octopus farm in Gran Canaria, citing business and regulatory reasons. Activists and animal-welfare advocates welcomed the decision, while local reporting and port officials suggest the project was more likely unviable than defeated by public protest. Experts say common octopuses remain exceptionally difficult and costly to farm because of fragile larvae, complex feeding needs and their solitary, potentially sentient nature. Despite these barriers, strong global demand, rapid growth and potentially efficient conversion of feed into protein continue to drive interest in octopus aquaculture, even as hundreds of thousands of tonnes are caught in the wild each year.

Millions across Spain, the United Kingdom and Iceland watched the 2026 total solar eclipse, while partial views were visible across wider Europe. Crowds gathered at beaches, parks, festivals, observatories and sporting events; Spain provided clear totality in some areas, while weather affected viewing elsewhere. In Cornwall, London and other locations, communities shared glasses, telescopes and improvised viewing methods as temperatures fell and wildlife reacted to the sudden darkness. The live coverage concluded with a reminder that the next total eclipse visible from the UK, France and mainland Europe will occur in 2081.

Spain expects about 460,000 overseas visitors and 1.5 million additional car journeys for a total solar eclipse, raising concerns that dry vegetation, extreme heat and sparse rainfall could lead to more severe wildfires and impede emergency access. Authorities have banned roadside parking, barbecues and fireworks, while Valencia has closed natural parks and restricted rural footpaths. Hospitals are preparing for eye injuries, and six brands of eclipse glasses have been withdrawn as unsafe. NASA has installed telescopes in north-western Spain to livestream the event to more than 10 million viewers.

A consortium of European film archives, supported by Orson Welles’s former partner and collaborator Oja Kodar, is attempting to reconstruct Welles’s unfinished Don Quixote from roughly 30 hours of footage held in France, Spain and Italy. The project faces major technical and editorial challenges, including digitising extensive negatives, working without a complete script and reconciling alternative scenes and incomplete sound. Archivists aim to present Welles’s surviving vision without inventing missing material and estimate that the reconstruction may be ready by 2028.

A record-breaking heatwave is affecting much of Europe, with the UK recording its hottest June day at 36.4C, France and Switzerland also setting temperature records, and Germany and the Netherlands issuing severe heat warnings. Heat-related deaths have risen sharply, including 212 estimated premature deaths in Spain and five reported deaths in Italy. France temporarily shut down two EDF nuclear reactors to protect overheated rivers, while hospitals, schools, transport systems and emergency services across the UK and continental Europe faced serious disruption. The heat has also exposed inequalities in poorly insulated homes and immigration detention facilities, prompting calls for stronger government preparation and climate adaptation.

Spain’s supreme court sentenced former transport minister José Luis Ábalos to 24 years in prison for participating in a criminal organization, bribery, misuse of public funds, money laundering and influence peddling involving COVID-era sanitary contracts. His aide, Koldo García, received a 19-year sentence, while businessman Víctor de Aldama received a suspended four-and-a-half-year sentence after cooperating with the court. The ruling is a major political blow to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose wife, Begoña Gómez, and brother, David Sánchez, are also facing separate legal proceedings. Gómez has been ordered to surrender her passport, prompting criticism of the investigating judge from the government, judicial watchdog and national police. The cases have intensified claims from Sánchez’s supporters that rightwing groups are pursuing a coordinated lawfare campaign, while the corruption convictions have further pressured his government.

Pope Leo XIV blessed the completed central Jesus Christ tower of Barcelona’s Sagrada Família during a ceremony attended by Spanish political and royal figures, bishops and large crowds. The 172.5-metre tower makes the basilica the world’s tallest church and Barcelona’s tallest building, although the Glory façade and a controversial grand staircase remain unfinished. The visit included messages about peace, Christianity and Catalan unity, while supporters hoped the pope would address Venezuela’s political prisoners. The basilica’s role as both a religious site and a major tourist attraction, along with ongoing disputes over whether its completion reflects Antoni Gaudí’s original vision, continues to provoke debate.

Palestinian students at the devastated Islamic University of Gaza are continuing to write and share poetry online despite the destruction of campus buildings, deaths among faculty and students, and the wider war. Their poems address grief, exile, memory, resistance, dignity and hope, drawing inspiration from figures such as Refaat Alareer, Mahmoud Darwish and Fadwa Tuqan. Collections including Let’s Throw Away War and Folding a River, published with support from Wild Goose Publications and Glasgow University academics, present poetry as a means of preserving testimony, identity and cultural resilience.

Barcelona has appointed tourism academic José Antonio Donaire as its first commissioner for sustainable tourism, marking a shift away from pursuing ever-increasing visitor numbers. With the city and surrounding area receiving 26 million visitors in 2025, Donaire argues that Barcelona has reached its capacity and wants to change the composition and behaviour of tourism rather than simply expand it. Plans include restoring La Boquería market’s focus on fresh food, revoking licences for 10,000 legal tourist apartments in 2028, reducing cruise berths, restricting coach access and organised pub crawls, redirecting repeat visitors to places such as Montjuïc, and investing tourist-tax revenue in local commerce. The proposals aim to reduce residents’ alienation from the city centre, though their success will depend on cooperation from actors including the port, airport, airlines, hotels and the wider travel industry.

Ana Viladomiu, one of only two remaining tenants of Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Milà in Barcelona, has lived in the landmark apartment building for nearly 40 years. Despite the millions of visitors it attracts, she continues to regard the building as her home and occupies the apartment under a historic fixed-rent contract. The feature describes Casa Milà’s transformation from a once-derided residential building into a UNESCO World Heritage site and tourist attraction, while recounting its architectural history, changing ownership and Viladomiu’s encounters with former residents and visitors. Her book, The Last Tenant, draws on interviews with former occupants and her own family history.

A dispute has erupted between Madrid and Basque officials over a request to temporarily display Picasso’s Guernica at Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum for the 90th anniversary of the 1937 bombing of Guernica. Madrid president Isabel Díaz Ayuso opposes the move, citing the painting’s universal significance and the risk of damage, while Basque leaders argue that its historical connection to the region justifies the loan. Conservation experts warn that the fragile work has been damaged by repeated rolling and unrolling, and previous loan requests, including one from MoMA, have been rejected. The painting has been housed at Madrid’s Reina Sofía since 1992.

Donald Trump criticized European countries, particularly the UK, France and Spain, for refusing to join the US-Israeli war against Iran and urged them to secure oil and protect shipping through the Strait of Hormuz themselves. France blocked Israeli military overflights, Spain denied US access to bases and Italy reportedly refused landing permission for US bombers, exposing growing transatlantic tensions. Oil prices and inflation have risen sharply as the conflict continues, while Iran signaled conditional openness to negotiations. The fighting nevertheless expanded, with attacks in Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, and Israel announcing plans to retain territory in southern Lebanon. Pakistan and China proposed a diplomatic plan to end the war and reopen the strait.

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk and Irish prime minister Micheál Martin condemned reported conversations between Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as evidence of Hungary’s political dependence on Moscow and alleged efforts to influence EU sanctions. Czech president Petr Pavel urged Prague to restrict sensitive cooperation with Budapest, while Slovakia’s Robert Fico defended the requirement for unanimous EU approval of sanctions changes. The EU said its top diplomat reminded Szijjártó of confidentiality obligations. The live report also covered warnings about severe energy and inflationary effects from the Iran war, Italy’s decision to delay coal-plant closures, European refusals to support US military operations against Iran, and renewed EU commitments to holding Russia accountable for war crimes in Ukraine.

Spain has closed its airspace to US military aircraft involved in operations related to the war in Iran, after also denying access to the jointly operated bases at Rota and Morón de la Frontera. Defence minister Margarita Robles called the US-Israel war profoundly illegal and unjust, while prime minister Pedro Sánchez said Spain would not contribute to a conflict initiated unilaterally and contrary to international law. The restrictions will force some US aircraft to reroute through France and Germany and risk further worsening relations with Donald Trump, who has already threatened trade measures against Madrid.

Morrissey cancelled his scheduled concert at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía after claiming that noise from the build-up to the Las Fallas festival left him unable to sleep and in a “catatonic state”. He described his hotel as an “indescribable hell” and said it could take a year to recover. The singer is still scheduled to perform in Zaragoza and Seville, although his history of cancellations has prompted scrutiny: five of 21 concerts planned for 2026 had already been cancelled and another postponed. Despite the cancellations, Morrissey retains a large international following, while his new album Make-Up Is a Lie was poised to reach No 2 in the UK charts.

Spain will formally pardon 53 surviving women who were incarcerated as adolescents by the Franco-era Board for the Protection of Women and recognise them as victims of political, ideological and gender-based repression. The board, operated by religious orders and overseen by Carmen Polo, confined thousands of girls deemed sexually or socially deviant until it was abolished in 1985. A government department has received 1,600 survivor declarations, while victims’ representatives say formal recognition is insufficient and continue to demand truth, justice and reparations.

Construction workers installed the final section of the Sagrada Familia’s central cross in Barcelona, bringing the church to its planned maximum height of 172.5 metres, 144 years after construction began. The tower dedicated to Jesus Christ is the tallest of the 18 envisioned by Antoni Gaudí. A completion ceremony is planned for 10 June, the centenary of Gaudí’s death, while work on the church’s south-facing Glory façade and other details is expected to continue for roughly another decade. The basilica remains both a defining Barcelona landmark and a controversial work, attracting about five million visitors annually and generating approximately €150m in yearly income.

The Xalet del Catllaràs, a 1905 modernist chalet in Catalonia commissioned by Gaudí’s patron Eusebi Güell, has been formally attributed to Antoni Gaudí after research by the Catalan heritage department. The attribution applies only to the project’s initial design because Gaudí did not supervise construction, which diverged from his plans. The finding enhances Gaudí’s legacy during the centenary of his death, while Barcelona’s Sagrada Família is also approaching a major milestone with the planned completion of its central tower in June.

A commuter train derailed near Gelida, Catalonia, after a retaining wall collapsed during unusually heavy rainfall, killing trainee driver Fernando Huerta and injuring 41 people. The crash came days after a high-speed collision near Adamuz killed at least 43 people and injured 152, while a separate train struck a rock near Barcelona. The incidents prompted the Semaf drivers’ union to call an indefinite strike and demand urgent safety measures. Transport minister Óscar Puente said the accidents were unrelated, but opposition parties criticized the government and raised concerns about railway safety. EU statistics indicate that Spain’s rail network remains among Europe’s safest, despite reliability and funding problems affecting regional services.

Scammers are using AI-generated TikTok videos and fake profiles impersonating Spain’s heir, Princess Leonor, to promise users thousands of dollars in exchange for upfront fees. The Princess of Asturias Foundation warned that neither it nor Leonor offers financial aid, lotteries or other monetary schemes. An El País investigation found that the scam’s phone numbers were linked to the Dominican Republic and that some videos attracted more than a million views. Despite complaints about identity theft, TikTok reportedly said the content did not violate its rules.