Spain: Economic and Political Overview
Pedro Sánchez's third government was established in November 2023 after the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Sumar secured a parliamentary majority, with external support from the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), Together for Catalonia (Junts), EH Bildu, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG), and the Canarian Coalition (CCa) following the 2023 general election. The right-wing opposition is formed by the People's Party (PP - centre-right), the far-right party Vox, the Navarrese People's Union (UPN), and the Canarian Coalition (Cca).
In 2024, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's minority government faced difficulties in passing key legislation, including the 2025 national budget. These challenges were the consequence of inconsistent support among coalition partners and regional parties, particularly Junts per Catalunya, which expressed dissatisfaction with the government's progress on Catalan autonomy issues. Moreover, allegations of corruption involving members of Sánchez’s family have further undermined the government’s stability.
In the 2024 European Parliament elections, the People's Party (PP) emerged as the largest one, securing 34.2% of the vote and 22 seats. The ruling PSOE received 30.2%, translating to 20 seats, while the far-right party Vox gained 6 seats with just under 10% of the vote. The left-wing coalition Sumar and Podemos saw weak results (3 and 2 seats, respectively), with additional competition from the newly formed right-wing party Se Acabó La Fiesta, which won 3 seats.
In foreign policy, Spain reaffirmed its commitment to NATO and the European Union, providing military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and aligning with EU sanctions against Russia. Moreover, the Council of Ministers approved the recognition of the State of Palestine and Pedro Sánchez has joined the call for an arms embargo against Israel.
Other significant political forces include:
- Republican Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya - ERC): centre-left, catalan independentism
- JxCat - JUNTS: a coalition of two Catalan nationalist parties: Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) and Units per Avançar (UA).
- EH Bildu (EHB): left-wing, Basque independentism
- Canarian Coalition (CCa): a Canarian nationalist party
- The Party is Over (Se Acabó La Fiesta - SALF): right-wing to far-right and anti-establishment, founded by the social media personality Alvise Pérez. It has no representation in the parliament but obtained 3 seats in the 2024 European parliament elections.
The President of each Autonomous Community is from the majority party of the majority coalition winning elections of the Parliaments of the Regions which take place every 4 years. The President forms a government whose «ministers» are appointed under the title «consejeros» and seconded by a cabinet and director generals, etc. who are in charge of each Department heading the sectors for which the Autonomous Community has jurisdiction in substitution of the Spanish State (single administration).
The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).
The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.
Political freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House
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Latest Update: February 2025