A democratic obligation unfulfilled (ABC editorial)

The Government of Spain will again miss the constitutional deadline to present the draft General State Budget. The extension of the 2023 budget, approved by a legislature that no longer exists, has become the usual method and prevents Parliament from exercising its oversight role.

The Government of Spain will not present the draft General State Budget within the deadline set by the Constitution. The Executive itself admits it. Article 134.3 requires the budget to be sent to the Congreso (Spain's lower house) at least **three months** before the previous one expires. It is not going to happen.

## A deadline the Constitution sets and the Executive misses

First Deputy Prime Minister **Carlos Cuerpo** said the Government had piled up 'urgent matters above what is important.' What is important—presenting the budget and submitting it to Parliament—has been left beneath what is urgent. That has been the case since 2023.

The annual presentation of the Budget is not an administrative formality. It is the economic translation of the Government's programme and the instrument through which the Cortes (Spain's Parliament) authorise the use of public resources, set priorities and hold the Executive to account. Presenting it does not guarantee approval. It guarantees something prior: that Parliament can debate it, amend it, approve it or reject it.

## From exception to method: three years without a new budget

The Constitution provides for automatic extension to prevent the State from grinding to a halt when there is no new Budget. That guarantee of continuity cannot become the ordinary route. An extension keeps the Administration running; it does not renew political confidence. Even less so when the current budget comes from a legislature that has already ceased to exist: the **2023** Budget was approved by the legislature that emerged from the **2019** general election.

The Government has not presented a new Budget at any point in this parliamentary term. The fragility of the investiture majority has led to successive extensions. And in the Congreso, the fiscal path was rejected with the votes of PP, Vox and Junts. The difficulty of gathering support does not exempt the Executive from its constitutional obligations. On the contrary, when the majority is uncertain, it is all the more necessary for Parliament to speak.

## Tribunal Constitucional studies the Senado conflict

The problem has acquired an institutional dimension. The **Tribunal Constitucional** (Spain's Constitutional Court) is examining the conflict raised by the **Senado** (Spain's upper house), which argues that the repeated absence of a budget bill prevents the Cortes from exercising the power the Constitution grants them. The Tribunal Constitucional's ruling will be relevant, but the political question exists regardless of what it decides.

A Government cannot bend the constitutional calendar to suit its negotiations or the political mood of the moment. It must present the budget and submit it to Parliament, even if the vote's outcome is uncertain. And if it lacks a majority capable of backing the central instrument of its economic policy, it must draw the corresponding political consequences.

Complying with the Constitution is not a formality. It is the first obligation of anyone who governs. The rest are excuses. The deadlines and obligations mentioned are set out in the constitutional text and have been admitted by the Government itself.