Sánchez set to complete Spain's longest term with no censure vote or budget

Sánchez runs down Spain's longest term with no censure motion and no budget

There is more to this anomaly than meets the eye: the longest legislature of Spanish democracy could close without the traditional no-confidence motion or vote of confidence that have marked the end of every previous government. In other words, the Government is diving into the pool without going through the ticket check. And it is certainly not because the opposition is happy about it.

The debate over the stability of Pedro Sánchez's government has produced a paradox. There is no right-wing majority for a censure motion, but there could be one with the PNV and Junts. The problem, according to one reading, is that the PP has failed to build that bloc. The other, more conspiratorial, view holds that no motion is needed because "everyone has been bought off": parties, commentators, media groups and even YouTubers. It is the theory of the "vendecido", a hybrid of "sold out" and "blessed" that circulates as a summary of the state of affairs.

The other front is economic. Without a budget, the Government has no room for expansionary policies, but keeps taxation at the limit, critics complain. Defenders of its record argue that the absence of a motion simply reflects a parliamentary arithmetic that sustains the Executive. Some see a hijacked Parliament; others, an opposition offering no alternative.

The legislature is heading for the end of the calendar. The question hangs in the air: if in the end there is no censure motion, no vote of confidence and no budget, which democracy is actually working: the parliamentary one, or the one based on buying votes? Nobody has explained it yet.