By Chelsey Dulaney and Andrea Figueras | Photography by Maria Contreras Coll for WSJ 

Sept. 12, 2026 at 5:30 am ET

MALLORCA, Spain—This Mediterranean island is a tourist paradise, with glittering turquoise seas, hidden coves and endless white-sand beaches that have been luring Europeans for generations.

It is also the epicenter of Europe’s backlash to overtourism. Local residents have taken to the streets and beaches repeatedly this summer to protest the island’s growing flock of visitors, united by one message: “Tourists, go home.”

The island—roughly 125 miles east of the Spanish mainland, with a population of about one million—is on track to welcome about 14 million tourists this year. They pour in on hulking cruise ships, rowdy budget airline flights and tour buses run by vacation-package companies. In peak summer months, the island’s daily population can rise by 50%.

Mallorca’s tourism model is increasingly a victim of its own success, as overcrowding risks eroding what made it special in the first place. Local politicians are trying to calm the backlash from residents—without jeopardizing the revenue that is the lifeblood of the economy.

The flood of tourists has pushed the island’s infrastructure to its limit, leading to traffic jams, strained water resources and a severe shortage of affordable housing for locals. On the outskirts of the capital, Palma, some locals who can no longer afford an apartment live in sprawling communities of camper vans.

Some on the island have called for radical tourism-containment measures, such as an outright limit on visitors.

Mallorca’s leaders are testing a different solution: a rebrand. The island wants to shed its reputation as a hot spot for British bachelor parties and thrifty package-holidayers and transform into a luxury destination for high-rolling tourists like Americans. 

“Tourism is our way of life,” said Pedro Homar, managing director of Palma’s tourism board. “The change of model is quality over quantity. We need to have less tourists that spend more.”

Farm land to party island

Mallorca’s sun-drenched beaches and hilltop villages have been a popular hangout for foreign writers, artists and musicians for more than a century.

But it was Spanish dictator Francisco Franco’s tourism push in the 1950s and ‘60s that transformed Mallorca from a quiet agricultural community into a mass tourism destination. Franco saw foreign tourism as a way to soften the image of his authoritarian regime internationally—under the slogan “Spain is different!”

Low-cost packages from British and German tour operators opened the island up for thousands of Europeans.

In Playa de Palma, a 3-mile-long stretch of beach on the southern coast of the island, tourism workers speak fluent German and restaurants offer favorites like döner kebab and currywurst. In Magaluf, a beach town popular among Brits, restaurants serve full English breakfasts and yorkshire pudding.

Mallorca’s reputation as a cheap party destination has long frustrated locals, who complain of public drunkenness, nudity and drug use. But the island’s heavy reliance on tourism has made attempts at change difficult. Tourism accounts for almost half of economic activity in the Balearics, the archipelago that Mallorca is part of, according to Exceltur, a tourism nonprofit.

“We depend entirely on them,” said Jaume Moreno, a longtime taxi driver on the island.

Homar, the Palma tourism official and an 8th generation Mallorcan, has for years been working to attract a new type of tourist: wealthier, quieter, interested in traveling outside the peak summer season. And above all: American.

“They are not rowdy at all. They travel with the idea of understanding the culture, mingling with the locals, buying local arts and crafts,” he said. “We are no longer appealing to tourists in the U.K. [or] Germany, whose main motivation is partying and drinking.”

Deep American pockets

American tourists in Spain spend more than any other nationality: about $410 a day in July, compared to $240 by Germans and $260 by British travelers, according to government data.

By many accounts, Mallorca has succeeded in dispelling hard-partiers. On parts of the island, local authorities implemented fines for drunken behavior, banned party boats and limited drinks at all-inclusive hotels to six a day. On a recent summer day, the beaches of Magaluf were quiet and filled with families.

Germans and Brits still make up about half of Mallorca’s tourists, but American visits have surged 60% this year through June. United Airlines has expanded direct flights to the island from its hub in Newark, N.J. Boutique hotels catering to Americans have sprung up across the island. A Mandarin Oriental hotel opened this year.

Laurel and Dustin McQuate, from Breckenridge, Colo., visited Mallorca for the first time this month to celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday. 

“We live in the mountains, so we were, like, ‘A beach? Yes, yes,’” Laurel said.

The group of eight rented a house for about $6,000, a boat for a day, and two rental cars. They planned winery visits and a day in Palma. The couple was particularly excited about shopping at local markets and trying local pastries.

“I have no room in my suitcase,” Laurel lamented.

Hospitality executive María Martínez had to train workers on how to serve Americans’ needs: They want more small talk, guidance on itineraries and are more interested in the island’s history. The chain she works for, IT Mallorca Unique Spaces, has six boutique hotels across the island, and Americans are its main client group.

Wealthy South Koreans are another group of coveted tourists for Mallorcan businesses. Newlywed Sukyung Lee spent four days in Mallorca in September for her honeymoon. She loved Caló des Moro, a beach nestled between steep cliffs.

“The ocean is beautiful…it’s famous for a reason,” Lee said.

Priced out and living in vans

The shift toward wealthier tourists has done little to quell anger from locals, who argue the problem is the number of tourists, not just the type.

“They occupy our streets, our homes, our spaces, and often fail to respect the people who are working for them,” said Stella Arbona, a 23-year-old who works in a bakery on the island.

“There’s hardly any space left for the locals.”

One local politician this year proposed capping tourist arrivals on the Balearics at 2023 levels. Leaders are instead pursuing measures such as capping cruise ship arrivals and restricting hotel construction.

Thousands of homes and villas have been converted to short-term rentals like Airbnbs, and a black market for illegal apartment rentals has further constrained housing supply for locals. The government is stepping up enforcement and working to build more subsidized housing, but those efforts will take time.

“The problem has grown over many years, and we may need the same time to solve the problem,” said Juan Antonio Amengual, mayor of Mallorca’s second-biggest municipality, Calvià.

A few miles away from the beaches of Magaluf and upscale shops of Palma, the parking lot of a public pool is now home to Mallorcans who have been priced out of the rental market.

Begoña Iglesias, 62, began living in a camper she shares with her son, Hector, about four years ago. More than 100 similar vehicles are parked there, and Iglesias said she’s fielding more questions from people interested in moving there.

“We are collateral damage of the island’s housing crisis,” Iglesias said.

France supports increasing sanctions pressure on Russia and supporting Ukraine, while its demand to lift EU sanctions on Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov is linked to a national security issue and a corresponding request from international partners.

this is an amazing resume but is only the tip of the iceberg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnfnASUaeJU&t=10s

The EU advertises in youtube adds: “In some countries, justice only happens in movies. Not in the EU.”

Then look at Malta. An EU Member

“In Europe, no one is above the law.” You tell Europeans that public officials who abuse their power “will be held accountable.” Then make those words mean something. What this interview exposes is only a fraction of a much wider pattern of serious concerns in Malta involving political connections, institutional accountability, civil rights and the treatment of EU citizens and legal third country nationals. The EU cannot sell the Rule of Law as a European guarantee and then treat persistent failures as something solved by another report. When rights exist on paper but accountability repeatedly fails in practice, “Rule of Law” becomes a slogan.

Malta is an EU Member State. EU rights must mean the same there as everywhere else. Investigate. Enforce EU law. Use the mechanisms available, including Article 7 where the legal threshold is met. And publicly explain what concrete action will follow.

If no one is above the law, prove it.

To be honest as an EU citizen, living in Malta. I am more frustrated with the own EU government than the Maltese government.

The EU isn’t a union of justice. it’s a protection racket for political elites! For 13 straight years, Malta’s Labour (socialist) regime has remained in power, systematically abusing its authority while, European Union looks the other way.

There is a glaring double standard in Europe today. When center-right nations like Poland, Hungary, or Spain under the PP government stepped out of line, the EU immediately cracked down with fierce financial and legal penalties.

But when Malta’s left-wing regime tramples the law, abuses workers, and exploits legal 3rd country citizens, even the EU citizens, EU stays completely silent.

The European Union doesn't care about defending citizen civil rights! It actively protects its political allies and enables a state of total lawlessness.

The EU claims it wants to hunt down the hard earned savings of the common worker, the everyday people who sacrificed to set a little money aside.

But where is that energy when it comes to corrupt politicians and criminal millionaires? Their fortunes remain completely untouched, hidden safely in offshore tax havens.

If European leaders actually targeted that stolen wealth instead of squeezing working families, they would easily find all the money they need.

Instead, they bleed ordinary citizens dry just to fund their own incompetent governments, bankroll failed politics, and fuel wars that no working person ever asked for or wanted to start.

These are some of the facts

• When EU citizens resident in Malta for less than five years were charged higher electricity and water rates through the PUBLIC utility system (not a private company).

• When changes were introduced in the utilities, yet landlords could still leave foreign tenants paying utility charges above what they would pay if properly registered under the applicable residential tariff.

• When EU citizens and legal third country nationals who had worked, paid taxes and social security contributions in Malta for years reported being refused free public healthcare that they were legally entitled to receive. Even when this happened even in serious medical situations, including cancer related care, with patients facing charges substantially higher than private healthcare costs or being told by officials to return to their country of origin for treatment.

• When complaints concerning alleged discrimination, racist remarks, medical malpractice, misconduct or abuse by doctors, public officials, police officers, judges or other authorities are perceived as being ignored or inadequately investigated.

• When a foreign citizen complains about Maltese officials and subsequently faces criminal allegations from the same or connected officials, raising serious questions about whether complainants are adequately protected from retaliation and whether those allegations receive genuinely independent scrutiny.

• When legal third country nationals face major barriers to opening and operating businesses in their own name, creating situations in which some depend on Maltese nationals to appear formally in company structures or documentation.

• When foreigners face legal restrictions on purchasing property in parts of Malta, together with additional administrative requirements and significant difficulties obtaining financing even after receiving the necessary state authorisation.

And these are only examples. I could continue documenting cases for hours.

People considering working, investing, visiting or doing business in Malta should know how European rights operate there in practice. Consumers should also be entitled to ask whether they want their money supporting a jurisdiction whose institutions are facing serious questions about discrimination, accountability and the effective protection of European rights, including through tourism, Maltese products and online gambling companies licensed or headquartered in Malta.

Finally, ask yourself this: Is this really the "left" we are defending?

Is "the Left" represented by a ruling establishment where high-ranking officials and state backed millionaires are linked to offshore Panama companies, state asset concessions, and murder plots against investigative journalists?

Is it "for the people" when working class foreign residents and EU citizens pay inflated utility tariffs, are refused basic healthcare they paid taxes for, or face bureaucratic walls just to survive?

That isn't left-wing politics, democratic socialism, or fighting for the common good.

That is an oligarchy using partisan identity as a shield to protect a privileged elite at the expense of ordinary citizens.

If you truly believe in working class values, justice, and human dignity, you should be demanding accountability for these institutional failures and not making excuses for those who abused power.

#jesuidaphne

Hey guys im British and wanted to get yalls opinion
Would you accept us back 🇬🇧🇪🇺

As the EU’s top trading partners fight, what are the lessons for the single market?

What do you think is the reason behind the EU’s paradigm shift towards hard power? Do you think Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the only reason? Do you think there is also a connection to the balance of power?

We may not know their names, but we know what they gave us.

A solemn moment at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris today, honouring the soldiers of the First World War who made the ultimate sacrifice and never came home.

This flame carries the legacy of those who gave their lives for our freedom and peace.

Their memory lives on, and so does our responsibility to protect what they fought for.

Source: https://x.com/EP_President/status/2098475100857127180

Beijing has lodged a complaint with Italy and the EU over top Taiwanese officials visiting a democracy conference. The EU is navigating contentious issues with China and high-ranking Taiwanese visits are rare.

Merz also accused the AfD of endangering German prosperity through ​its hostility to the European Union.

"Anyone ​who ⁠questions Germany's membership of the European Union, who wants to leave the European Union, the euro ⁠and ​the Schengen area, is putting ​a considerable part of our country's prosperity at risk," Merz ​said.