Well, once again, having just come back from a flight to Spain, I really don't understand what all the fuss and criticism is about.
Sure, people make mistakes and yes, it is sometimes a bit different than northern Europe, but I really think that there is a genuine effort to slowly increase the use of English. With more and more foreign pilots joining Spanish low cost airlines, this trend will only continue to grow.
Small example, today in Spain, the ground controller told a Spanair MD80
in English to "give way to an easyJet" in order to let us know at the same time that the Spanair would give way. Something like this would have been unheard of a few years ago, but the Spanair acknowledged in English and the problem was solved without wasting additional radio calls.
Muchas gracias!
