Sánchez extends budget, dodges early elections

Sánchez extends 2023 budgets and avoids early elections

Pedro Sánchez will not present the General State Budgets for 2025. The 2023 accounts remain extended and, when directly asked by a journalist whether he should call early elections due to the lack of new budgets, the president responded with gestures of evident discomfort captured by Antena 3 Noticias cameras. These images have triggered a debate far beyond the gesture itself. The scene, circulated by TVE Libre, has reignited a contrast that the opposition has exploited for months: in 2018, as opposition leader, Sánchez demanded Mariano Rajoy call elections if he failed to pass the Budgets. "A government without accounts is as useful as a car without petrol," he said then. Now it is him who governs without new accounts.

What extending the Budgets means and why the law allows it

Budget extension is a legal mechanism allowing the Government to operate with previous year's accounts when new ones are not approved. It is not an anomaly or a legal vacuum: the Constitution and the General Budget Law contemplate this situation. The question raised is why some governments can resort to it without apparent political cost while others cannot. Some argue the difference lies not in the law but in parliamentary arithmetic: without a sufficient majority to approve Budgets, extension becomes the only viable exit. Opposing arguments state that the law obliges the Executive to present a draft Budget Bill before extending previous ones, which could open the door to legal demands to force its processing.

The most optimistic calculation for the Government assumes the extension has no serious practical consequences. The pessimistic scenario starts from the premise that each month without new Budgets is a month of paralysis in public investment, subsidies, and discretionary items. Available data indicated that the 2023 Budgets remain valid until others are approved.

The contrast with 2018: what Sánchez demanded from Rajoy

The most shared tweet in the debate retrieves archives. In 2018, Sánchez demanded Rajoy call elections if he failed to pass the accounts. "A government without accounts is as useful as a car without petrol," he said. The phrase has become the axis of criticism: if the criterion was valid then, it should be now. The response from the Government's circle has not been equally clear.

The discussion quickly turned personal. Much of the messaging focused on Sánchez's figure, with labels ranging from lack of empathy to clinical terms this article does not reproduce. Some argue his resistance to calling elections responds to a strategy of staying in power; others point out he has nothing to gain and much to lose. The coldest calculation: without Budgets and with an exhausted legislature, every passing month is more wear for the opposition.

Who supports the Government: votes conditioning the term

The Executive lacks a majority to approve Budgets. It needs votes from formations demanding concessions ranging from regional financing to territorial issues. Without those votes, extension is the only path. The paradox is that a Government unable to pass its own accounts continues to rule, while the opposition lacks the numbers to force a motion of censure or early elections.

Some argue the situation reveals a deeper problem: parliamentary fragmentation makes it impossible for any Government to pass Budgets without yielding to partners who do not share their program. Opposing arguments state that such fragmentation results from an electoral system that rewards territorial dispersion.

Wear and tear and the unanswered question: until when?

The term advances without Budgets and without a clear expiration date. The president has given no signs of wanting to call early elections. The opposition lacks votes to force them. Parliamentary partners have incentives to maintain the status quo while obtaining concessions. The result is a Government operating with accounts from two fiscal years ago and an opposition unable to translate its wear into an alternative.

With these elements, the budget extension could last indefinitely. No one has explained what would happen if the Government decided never to submit a Budget Bill. The law allows it, but politics does not digest it. Meanwhile, the journalist's question remains unanswered: why not call early elections? The answer, probably, is that it does not suit him. But that is not an institutional answer.