Spain Orders Blacklist of Palantir from Public and Private Companies

I really like what Spain is doing recently. If it weren't for climate change, I'd consider moving there.

Great news for Spain. I hope more European countries wake up to what's going on.

I really like what Spain is doing recently. If it weren't for climate change, I'd consider moving there.

Much of Spain is indeed getting very unpleasant in the summer with climate change, but in the north there are still regions that are quite fine at the moment. Where I am, we recently beat the all time temperature record with 35 degrees, but that was a single day. Most days these weeks it isn't going over 25, and I don't think we hit 30 in June except for that single day and maybe one other day.

The problem is that the right is poised to win the next election and will probably undo all the policies you like. They're pretty much against everything that has been done in the last 7 years. I still have some hopes that Sanchez might clinch another term because he's a political survivor, but prospects are not great.

The current government has little chance to get re-elected, and the next one will revert most of these decisions.

Canary Islands are part of Spain and probably unaffected from climate change - we have 19-22°C all year round. If it raises to 25° still pretty livable.

Galicia is supposed to be nice

The current government has little chance to get re-elected, and the next one will revert most of these decisions.

It could be worse can only take a government so far. Eventually, just preaching to the choir catches up with you.

Canary Islands are part of Spain and probably unaffected from climate change - we have 19-22°C all year round. If it raises to 25° still pretty livable.

    and probably unaffected from climate change

No place is unaffected.

It isn't that simple, Canary Islands already counts with 2.2 million + tourists people and the fresh water is a highly risk resource even when desalinization plants are widespread, the groundwater aquifers are severely compromised. The mild weather heavily depends on the trade winds. But models predict that due to fact of being so close to Africa heat waves are prone to be more and more frequent compromising the water resources.

Islands are extremely vulnerable to climate change all over, as they are completely dependent in near-term precipitation for all their water (no rivers, no aquifers).

Galicia is supposed to be nice

It could be worse can only take a government so far. Eventually, just preaching to the choir catches up with you.

    and probably unaffected from climate change

No place is unaffected.

Islands are extremely vulnerable to climate change all over, as they are completely dependent in near-term precipitation for all their water (no rivers, no aquifers).

No rivers and no water is reality here for quite a while already. The islands rely a lot on desalination, and there is a big EU-funded project going on to create a desalination plant that not only is used to supply tap water, but the water basin of a new hydroelectric plant [0]. Desalination pretty much solves water issues, IF you have the energy (ideally renewable).

[0]: https://renewablesnow.com/news/construction-starts-on-200-mw...

Desalination solves water issues for tap water. Islands may be short on surface area.

I would also never use the word "solve", as this is just for human usage. The ecosystems themselves are irreversibly destroyed.

Desalination solves water issues for tap water. Islands may be short on surface area.

I would also never use the word "solve", as this is just for human usage. The ecosystems themselves are irreversibly destroyed.

The Spanish government has commenced issuing directives to state-controlled entities to blacklist U.S. data analytics firm Palantir Technologies.

The decision stems directly from growing official concern over the potential misuse of classified information linked to national security.

Moncloa has instructed companies overseen by the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI) to halt future contracting with the Miami-based artificial intelligence and data analysis multinational.

The directive impacts major entities responsible for high-level state communications and military intelligence, including Telefónica, Indra, and the military shipbuilder Navantia.

National Sovereignty Concerns

According to corporate board sources, the prime minister's office communicated the ban to listed companies to prevent any contracts that could jeopardize Spanish national sovereignty.

The political intervention has already disrupted advanced procurement pipelines, including a near-finalized project with Navantia and a negotiated collaboration agreement with the Guardia Civil that was vetoed by Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

The restrictions mirror recent regulatory and political pushback against Palantir elsewhere in Europe.

Former French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced on June 10 that France would cease working with the firm, while German cyberdefense authorities and secret services have increasingly favored European alternatives like the French competitor ChaosVision.

Defense Procurement Deadlock

Despite the broader public and private sector blacklist, Palantir continues to maintain active contracts with the Spanish Ministry of Defense.

The firm holds a €16.5 million contract signed in 2023 with the Armed Forces Intelligence Center (CIFAS), which is scheduled to expire this upcoming November.

Military leadership, including the Chiefs of Staff of the Army and Navy, has lobbied Defense Minister Margarita Robles to renew the contract, citing the platform's operational superiority.

However, Moncloa has yet to make an official determination regarding the defense contract extension as the expiration date approaches.

Geopolitical Friction and Domestic Alternatives

The domestic blacklist coincides with sharp geopolitical tension between Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the incoming U.S. administration.

Palantir founders Peter Thiel and CEO Alex Karp have deep financial and political ties to Donald Trump, whose political platform conflicts directly with the diplomatic positions maintained by Madrid.

In response to the perceived risks of relying on foreign defense software, Spain is accelerating funding for domestic technology platforms to preserve national data sovereignty.

The executive recently approved an €115 million investment in the Catalan firm Openchip, part of a broader €5 billion state-backed gigafactory project, financed largely by SEPI Digital.

Hacker Times