Bye Dion, in Spain the air conditioning may not be lower than 27 degrees from today to save gas. What do the Spaniards think of that?
“There is strong opposition from various quarters. On the one hand, there is political criticism, especially from regions where the right-wing conservative Partido Popular is in power. The largest stronghold of resistance is, as is often the case, Madrid, where the right-wing regional president Isabel Ayuso is by definition against everything the left-wing government proposes. She has already said that she thinks it is all nonsense and that she will not enforce the rules.
‘The catering sector is also resisting. 27 degrees is very warm if you have to walk on the terrace all day long. I recently had a chat with the owner’s son, who was standing behind the bar at a pub near me. “They’ve been ripped off, we’re not going to follow those rules,” he said.
‘Because of that resistance, the government has now made an exception. In places where employees are constantly on the move, such as restaurants and discotheques, the rule is now applied ‘flexibly’. That means that the air conditioning is allowed at 25 degrees.’
That is still quite high, don’t you think there will be cheating?
‘That’s in there. It is a very specific measure that is difficult to control. It’s hard to send police officers across the country into shops to check. And if different regions already indicate that they will not enforce it, that does not help either.
‘The government has therefore already said that it will be lenient for smaller matters, and that it will not immediately wave the coupon book. She counts on the good will of the Spaniards.
“I don’t know if that will work in Madrid. It’s been at least 37 degrees here for five weeks. Everyone is already walking on their gums and is very warm. And then the government wants the air conditioning up: logically that is not good.’
July was the hottest month on record in Spain, and the third heat wave of this summer is imminent. Is it still nice to go to Spain in the summer?
‘Yes, there are plenty of places where it is still good to live, such as on the coast. In Barcelona, for example, it is now 32 degrees. In Spain you have a guarantee of a blue sky in the summer, that remains attractive. But I wouldn’t recommend a holiday to Madrid in August to anyone. In addition to the heat, you also have that a large part of the catering industry is closed, because the Madrilenians go on holiday themselves. So you can’t do anything here now.’
To make matters worse, there are no longer any ice cubes available in Spain. How did that happen?
‘You can still get them in the supermarket, but there is certainly a shortage. At some supermarkets, for example, you are only allowed to buy five bags. That seems like a lot, but apparently people from restaurants came by who wanted to take twenty bags with them. Those restaurants and bars in particular are having a hard time and are paying the top price for ice cubes. They then pass this on to guests, who complain that they suddenly see on the receipt that they pay ten or twenty cents for the ice cube in their glass.
‘The scarcity is a result of the high energy prices. Normally the ice cube manufacturers fill their storage during the winter and spring, but this year they postponed it in the hope that energy prices would fall. Moreover, in the spring they were not sure whether tourists would be able to come to Spain again this summer, so it was also a risk to build up a stock.
‘But energy prices are still high, so no stock has been built up. In addition, there is extra demand for ice cubes due to the persistent heat. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it’s not nice in such a summer either. In any case, it keeps things busy here. You’d think there would be enough crises to worry about, but we’ve been talking about the ice crisis here for a week.’