Spain reaches 1,000 days without a new national budget

Spain has reached a milestone of 1,000 days without a new national budget. The coalition government, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and comprising the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Sumar, has continued to rely on the automatic extension of the 2023 fiscal budget due to a lack of sufficient parliamentary support to pass new legislation.

The Spanish Constitution allows for the extension of a previous budget if a new one is not approved before the start of the fiscal year. However, legal experts and opposition members, specifically from the People's Party (PP), have criticized this practice. Fernando Navarrete of the PP described the situation as a “democratic anomaly,” arguing that citizens are unable to decide through their representatives how public funds should be allocated.

The Spanish Ministry of Finance has defended the current approach, stating that the budget extensions have not prevented the government from implementing measures to mitigate energy and other crises. The Ministry also noted that the economy has continued to grow above the EU average and has reached record employment levels despite the absence of new budgets for 2024, 2025, or 2026.