Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons when he announced that non-EU residents could be charged up to 100% tax on new property purchases. Homebuyers in Spain currently pay 6-13% purchase tax depending on the region.
Sanchez’ announcement last Monday (13/1/25) was part of a 12-point plan due to start in 2026 to promote public housing. It’s been reported as fact but it’s just a proposal at this time and in truth has little chance of successfully getting through parliament as he does not have a majority and all coalition partners would have to support it, which is unlikely. What’s more current European law doesn’t allow it and Spanish property taxes are in the hands of the regional authorities and those which are controlled by the opposition Partido Popular (including the Balearics) have said that they wouldn’t introduce the tax.
First of all let’s put this proposal into context. Non EU property purchases last year were only 2% of all Spanish property sales so this proposal won’t help the housing situation. Here in the Balearics, for example, the type of properties bought by non EU citizens in general are not the type of property that Spains public sector workers buy or rent.
Rather than targeting the 2% of the market it might be an idea to look at landlords in the big cities who charge crazy money for rents plus the socialist PSOE government could be proactive by introducing realistic tax incentives for those who own multiple properties to encourage them to rent. Currently the rental market is a mess with tenants allowed to stay put for up to 7 years which deters many from renting while squatters are perceived to have more legal rights than owners.
The mortgage system in Spain needs a total overhaul and locks out those who don’t have large deposits to put down. A mortgage needs to be more attainable to the younger Spanish market and while he’s at, overhaul planning laws to make them more flexible to encourage the building of social housing.
However instead of focussing on pro-active measures to encourage residents into home ownership or assisted housing Sr Sánchez has framed the blame on rich foreigners, a cheap and easy shot to keep his political partners happy.
The cold hard fact is that there’s been no creation of any social or assisted housing here in the Balearics for many years (I wrote about the housing shortage in 2017). We’ve had consecutive regional and central governments that have done nothing amid a growing population and it’s these same politicians who are now shouting from the rooftops about the housing crisis.
The Partido Popular, the government opposition in Madrid, have decried the new proposal as “xenophobic” reiterating that they would not introduce these tax laws in regions that they govern such as Andalucia, the Canary Islands and the Balearics. “The problem is not that people want to live in Spain, the problem is that there is a lack of housing,” said Luis de la Matta, director of communications of the Partido Popular (PP).
So we have a badly thought through proposal that won’t get the necessary support targeting the wrong demographic being reported as fact. When it comes to bad optics is doesn’t come much worse. To score a few cheap political points Sr Sánchez has opened a can of worms that will rumble on for months. He should be very proud of himself.
Part 2 – Privilege Ibiza 1994-2019: Manumission madness to closure
Early 1991 and the world is gripped by war in the Arabian Gulf. Kuwait has been liberated but the global collateral damage still rumbles on. One of the main casualties is the European tourism industry with bookings massively down.
In Ibiza, the biggest club in the world now has a roof due to noise restrictions and isn’t having a great time. The dynamic has changed and its hangar like interior takes thousands to fill and there’s not enough people around. Nobody realised at the time but this was the beginning of the end of the mythical Ku Club. It limped on for another year but closed its doors in 1992 and would not open again until 2 years later when a new name would appear on the enormous iconic dome.
For summer 1994 the now renamed ‘Privilege Ibiza’ was about to open its doors. Tourism was back on track and a club night was about to take the island and the world by storm. Legendary promoters Paul Dennis and ‘Mad’ Tommy Mack were putting a Monday night together to go head to head with Mad Mondays at Pacha after another fallout with their partner Alan Warman.
Paul and Tommy had brought along brothers Andy and Mike McKay who were making a name for themselves on the Manchester scene and the night was called Manumission. As is the wont of club promotors, within a few weeks there would be a big fallout including fisticuffs between the four of them leaving the McKay brothers to go it alone. The rest, as they say, is history.
1994 was the start of a new era, it had taken a few years but the penny had dropped for European club nights to come to Ibiza and create an experience that would catapult their brand into cyberspace. Ibiza’s club scene had been evolving since the mid 80’s and it was about to enter the era of the promoter.
Privilege with its enormous 10,000 capacity and esteemed history was THE venue in world clubbing. Pacha was cooler, Amnesia was edgier and Space was an eclectic madhouse but if you could crack the biggest club in the world then sky was the limit.
Summer 1994 in Privilege saw Manumission on Mondays joined by Cream on Thursdays. The Liverpool brand has jumped on the bandwagon and started filling out the club. From closure the previous year, Privilege now had the 2 biggest nights on the island.
Brands came and went but over the years Privilege unveiled new promotions that pushed the boundaries. Renaissance started in 2000 which included live music and personal appearances by world famous artists such as Kylie Minogue, M People and many more. Privilege had come full circle and was at the top of its game again, conversely the roof had given it the crackling atmosphere that an open air venue could never have.
Manumission will go down as groundbreaking in Ibiza’s clubbing history taking Privilege to new levels, full of creativity and infamous shows. The world wanted a piece of the action and Manumission were happy to oblige.
From 1994 to 2016 even through the ebbs and flows, Privilege was still seen as the pinnacle of clubland, an iconic landmark on the Ibiza to San Antonio main road. Were there better clubs? Of course but the sheer size and magnificence of Privilege set it apart from the rest.
Manumission, after putting the superclub back on the map, ran into problems with the owners (as often happens on the white isle) and petered out at the start of the new millennium but Privilege stayed relevant, putting on mega-parties such as SuperMartxe that ran from 2008 for over a decade. Radio 1 held many events there with Pete Tong leading the way and were always a sell out.
By the late noughties the era of the promoter had now given way to the era of the superstar DJ, their faces staring down at you from most of Ibizas advertising hoardings. The Tiesto residency in 2008 was massive and Resistance with Carl Cox and other top names was Privilege’s final big promotion in 2019.
It had been over 25 years of incredible parties but the Ibiza dynamic was radically changing. In reality Privilege’s business had been declining in the face of fierce competition, not least the rise of daytime venues, and the club was falling into disrepair with parts closed off by the local council due to safety issues.
Murmurs of a legal situation had surfaced in 2016 when the Matutes Group, owners of Ushuaia, who were also partners in Privilege had reportedly invoked a clause in the shareholders agreement to acquire the shares held by José María Etxaniz who was trying to sell his majority stake to a 3rd party.
In an ironic twist Sr Etxaniz had tried to get Balearic judges to close down Ushuaia citing ‘unfair competition’ arguing that the hotel had ‘a competitive advantage by violating laws’ and operating as a ‘de facto nightclub’ without the necessary licences.
Once Etxaniz showed his hand with an intention to sell, the Matutes group went on the offensive and invoked a shareholder rule where they could buy Etxaniz’s shares in Privilege as long as they matched the asking price and this is where it all went a bit Pete Tong, to use a DJ analogy.
The Matutes group disagreed with the asking price of 23.8 million euros so a court appointed auditor was ordered to value the club. In 2018, after much wrangling the Matutes group legally acquired the remaining shares to own the club outright for a rumoured amount of around 20 million euros but the court case didn’t end there as Etxaniz appealed to judges for a better payoff especially as the Pacha Group had changed hands a couple of years earlier for 350 million euros.
While lawyers and judges were being kept busy the world was about to be gripped by a global pandemic that meant that’s Ibiza’s clubs, it’s most famous commodity, didn’t open for 2 years. By the time the clubs reopened the legalities of Privilege had been settled, the owners of Ushuaia and Hï Ibiza now had another massive project on their hands.
As an empty Privilege fell into further disrepair, the online rumour mill went into overdrive fuelled by saccharine voiced ‘content creators’. It wasn’t until autumn 2023 that the Matutes Group’s plans started to filter out when it was announced that Ibiza’s Tourism Planning Commission had given the green light to a renovation project with an initial investment of around 8.2 million euros for the rehabilitation and improvements in water circularity and solar energy.
The world’s worst kept secret was out of the bag. The nightclub previously known as Ku and then Privilege was reopening but in what form? The Matutes Group were riding on the crest of a wave, Ushuaia and Hi were being internationally recognised as world leaders in entertainment so it didn’t take a genius to surmise that a new superclub would fit perfectly within their forward thinking strategy.
Fast forward to late summer 2024 and social media lights up with Hollywood ‘bad boy’ Will Smith on Privilege’s roof with The Night League’s (Ushuaia and Hï’) CEO Yann Pissenem announcing that UNVRS – the worlds first ‘hyper-club’ would be opening in 2025.
Part 3 – The Night League unveils UNVRS and Social Media goes into Meltdown.
Before Will Smith, dressed in scruffy pants on the roof, announced the opening of UNVRS Ibiza – the worlds first ‘hyper-club’, the outpouring of emotion for Ku/Privilege nightclub on social media whipped up by content creators and influencers had gone into overdrive. If you haven’t seen them then I strongly recommend you do.
Phoney AI American voiceovers, saccharine sweet statements pronouncing names incorrectly and the faux sincerities are something to behold – the ‘don’t believe what you see on social media’ trope had never been more true. In truth the worlds largest club (as previously verified by Guinness Records) is about to be taken into a whole different era by a company with a proven world class track record but before we get into that (part 3) let’s put some meat on the bone and get some context/history to the story.
Ku Club was iconic. One of life’s curiosities is how the world’s largest club became to be on a small Mediterranean island. It’s a story that catches the imagination and was in a big way responsible for putting Ibiza at the centre of the hedonistic world of 80s clubbing, so let’s start at the beginning.
The ‘club San Rafael’ morphed into Ku Ibiza (named after an Hawaiian God) in the late 70s when Spanish profesional Footballer Jose Santamaría teamed up with legendary promoter Brasilio Oliveira to exploit this open aired space by putting on edgy parties attracting the Bourgeois European crowd.
While Amnesia across the road was defining the Balearic beat that is still prevalent today, Ku focussed on the beautiful people with a polysexual ambience that drew in those that wanted to express themselves and more importantly have fun.
The old Ku photos from the 80s are spellbinding – look at these Facebook Pics for example – gorgeous well dressed people, transvestites, models, local bigwigs, pop stars, footballers, nobodies, hippies all coming together in a white hot cauldron of excess that defined the 80s.
Ku typified 80s excess, fashion and style but was largely unknown outside of the in-crowd where it was like drawing bees to the honeypot.
Then Ku went mainstream. In May 1987 an event took place that put the club and the island on the world map. To celebrate Olympic Games being awarded to Barcelona, local promotor Pino Sagliacchi fused together the 2 brands by staging ‘biza 92’ at Ku. So to celebrate Barcelona 92 an event took place in May 1987 called Ibiza 92 at Ku. Are you still with me?
Over 2 nights world renowned bands performed for an over excited crowd but more importantly it was filmed and televised all over the globe such was the power of the names involved. Duran Duran, Belinda Carlisle , Breathe, Robert Palmer , Spandau Ballet, Prefab Sprout, Natalie Cole plus a rare public appearance by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.
This was the height of the British pop takeover of the world so the names opened doors. In charge of the filming was a young, ambitious producer by the name of Janet Street Porter who was herself defining 80s youth culture in Margaret Thatchers new capitalist Britain.
If the first night was good then the 2nd night was breathtakingly iconic and would take the Ku Club into most British and European living rooms.
Queen’s Freddie Mercury still riding on a crest of a wave from Live Aid 2 years previously teamed up with world famous opera soprano Montserrat Caballe to perform and record the video for ‘Barcelona’ which would go on to become the anthem for the Olympic Games of 1992 and remains part of the Spanish psyche to the present day.
Today’s era is full of crossovers and collaborations but in the 80s it was a preposterous proposal to put these 2 together but it worked perfectly. The rich voice of Mercury and the haunting melody of Caballe blended perfectly together as they they stood together in evening dress surrounded by flowers and candles at the biggest club in the world. The song was a worldwide hit and when the video was played, Ku Club Ibiza in all its glorious and pompous beauty was beamed directly to to TVs all over the planet with presenters all to happy to fill in the blanks. Ku Club had gone mainstream.
But what goes up must come down and only 4 years later as the western world skirmished in the Iraqi desert the worlds biggest club was an empty hangar with little or no promotion and a shadow of its former self. The 80s bubble had burst and Ku was caught in the proverbial crossfire. Victim of its size as tourist numbers depleted. It’s hard to create an atmosphere with a thousand people in a club that holds 10 times that amount.
Then sailing in at sunset (well actually driving in an old transit van) came 2 brothers from Manchester who unknowingly were a about to rescue the worlds biggest club and put it on the map in a global way that Ibiza had never seen before, even in those so called 80s glory years
To be continued.
Part 2 – The Privilege Ibiza Years 1994-2019: Manumission madness to Closure
MAN IN SAN AN by Martin Makepeace 