New corruption scandal, same old story? Why Spanish politics keeps failing to clean up its act | María Ramírez

S.N 31 May 2018, Pedro Sanchez, then the leader of the socialist opposition, delivered a strong speech that provides Spring movement This led to becoming prime minister for the first time. It was an emotional speech, with details. His goal was the conservative Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, and his central argument for the overthrow of Rajoy was the widespread corruption in the ruling party, Any criminal court in Spain Just a few days ago.

“Corruption is a deep erosion and harmful force for any nation. It eats society’s confidence in its leaders and thus weakens the authority of the state. But it also strikes in the root of social cohesion,” Sanchez said. “Corruption undermines faith in the rule of law when it leaves it for the outbreak of operation or when there is no political response commensurate with the resulting damage. Ultimately, corruption destroys confidence in institutions, deeper, in the same policy, when there is no decisive reaction to perfect behavior.”

Sanchez promised “democratic renewal” and higher standards. But after seven years, we are here, we are facing another Corruption scandalThis time, the upper characters are involved in his party. Prosecutions against party and government officials include the launching of companies that have obtained public contracts. some Work numbers He even worked with companies named in cases that overthrew Rajoy.

What made the clay worse is that the case revealed disturbing levels of MachismoWith a leaked audio tape that provides raw notes on women and Sex workers They are exchanged.

Sanchez apologized to the audience again and again, He brings himself out The Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) is one of those under investigation and internal auditing. He insists that this is not an issue at the level of the party. But the damage has already happened.

We still do not know the full scope of the scandal, whether it is those who claim to be involved for personal enrichment, in favor of the party, or both. Decally, it is still unclear whether the Prime Minister has any knowledge of what is going on. Sanchez strongly denies any knowledge and rejection of the two people in the middle of the scandal, both of whom are allies for a long time: Jose Luis Apalus, a former minister and is now independent MP, and Santos Serdin, one of the closest prime minister’s partners and a leading figure in PSOE. Both men have denied committing any violations.

Whatever comes after that, it is amazing that nearly 50 years after Spain’s return to democracy – in November, it represents the anniversary of the death of Francisco Franco – corruption maintains polluted policy.

The first major political scandals occurred for the era of democracy During the era of socialist Prime Minister Felipe GonzalezAt a time when the new administration was still immature. There was a low general scrutiny and a weak regulatory framework for the prosperous economy in the 1980s and early 1990s.

However, even after the general symposium and the supposed lessons learned, the list of corruption scandals continued to grow – in particular, but not only, within the two main parties in Spain. What is an excuse now?

Besides Kickbacks, Sánchez also competes Investigations related to his wife and brother. They all deny that any violations are committed, and these allegations appear to be thinner than others, but political losses add.

Meanwhile, the Conservative People’s Party (PP) is still contaminated with very dangerous scandals. The most famous is Gürtel, a vast corruption network It involves the general contracts that led to High -level convictions Party officials and businessmen.

In Madrid, the partner of the regional president is running A trial for tax fraud and other charges. This issue also turned into a A legal battle with the public prosecutor On media leakage.

Why is this still happening in Spain?

Part of the answer lies in the lack of strong rules and independent supervision of accountability for politicians and other public officials. Parliamentary checks are weak, low transparency standards and penalties against companies Corruption in corruption is insufficient. Censorship bodies are often without teeth or politicization, and moral symbols are either vague or unnecessary. This void creates a fertile ground for impunity.

Sanchez continues to talk about “democratic renewal”. However, like his predecessors, no real effort was made to create independent bodies to oversee public dates, regulate pressure, impose transparency rules, or protect violations. Even the basic record of the pressure group is still absent.

Sanchez is right when he says that not all politicians are himself. But his coalition government, now with only a high -ranking majority in Parliament, has not limited to providing the type of reforms necessary to make people see that every politician with the same brush is unfair.

Sanchez often expressed their concerns about wrong information and low-quality press-certainly issues in Spain, as in many European countries-but he failed to enhance the independence of the public broadcaster, as he promised in his speech in 2018. It was politicized more.

Civio, a The news port focused on transparencyThe government takes the court for its refusal to reveal the names of political advisers.

These shortcomings were highlighted just weeks before Control of anti -corruption in the Council of Europe, GRCO Which criticized the slow pace of Spain in adopting previous recommendations, such as the tougher supervision of “rotating doors” and party financing.

PP was not particularly eager to either enhance transparency or general scrutiny, and perhaps calculating that the system can serve its interests if he returns to power.

Myriam Gonzalez Durants, the founder of the Civil Group, Spain Megor, who calls for reform, presented a draft ethics law to 400 public institutions and officials after they toured the regional and local government through Spain for several months of research. As of March, one of them did not commit to adopting their proposals, She said.

No wonder that there was a collapse in the confidence of the public. Investigative studies constantly show that the Spaniards are more than people in other European democracies, they look at political parties and politicians among Less worthy of confidence in their institutions. According to Reuters Institute 2025 digital news report57 % of the Spaniards, as a major source of misinformation, determines 10 degrees Celsius higher than the 48th global average state in the study.

The vast disappointment must weaken this political participation, nourish indifference, populism and even authoritarian movements.

Since PSOE is wrestling with his current problems, a familiar question remains without an answer: Is this a case of some corrupt apples, or evidence of deeper rot? But the answer may not even matter to such an audience with disappointment. Spain not only needs a wave of resignation or separation, but structural reforms – overseeing public employees, the rules for financing the most strict parties, effective enforcement and cultural shift towards real accountability.

Without it, this will not be the last scandal. It will simply be the last time before the next.

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