Alberto Núñez Feijóo calls Sánchez authoritarian at European PPE Libertas Forum

At the opening of the Libertas Forum organised by the European Popular Party (PPE) in Madrid, Spanish opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo addressed more than 60 centre‑right parties from Europe and Ibero‑America. He warned that Spain “suffers a weakened democracy, attacked from the highest institutions” and listed the traits of an “authoritarian president”: distrust of judges, contempt for parliamentary majorities, undermining institutional independence and fearing elections. While he did not name Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the description was widely understood as a direct reference to him.

Feijóo delivered the speech before leaders such as PPE president Manfred Weber, Italy’s vice‑prime minister Antonio Tajani, Peru’s elected president Keiko Fujimori and Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado. He urged a defence of liberal democracies against populism and promised that “Spain will soon awaken to a democratic renewal”. The remarks came a day after a court ruling that sentenced Sánchez’s brother, a development Feijóo cited as evidence of the government’s alleged authoritarian drift.