Spain's PP proposes full privatisation of defence firms and other critical sectors

Spain's PP is studying, according to ABC, withdrawing the State from the capital of private companies and concentrating public ownership in defence and critical sectors. It is a campaign proposal, not an approved plan.

The story is broken by **ABC**: the PP is considering "taking the State out of the capital of private companies" if it reaches government. The wording, as it circulates, is deliberately broad. It talks about withdrawing the State from stakes in private companies and limiting public ownership to **defence** and what the party calls critical sectors. It is not a finished programme or a law: it is an intention leaked in the middle of the campaign which, for now, has no published regulatory development.

## What taking the State out of company capital means

In Spain the State holds stakes in listed companies through **SEPI**, the public holding company that manages these portfolios. There are also stakes in unlisted companies and in various types of commercial entities. "Taking the State out" means selling or reducing those positions, not nationalising anything. The difference matters: the proposal is not to expand the public sector, but to cut back its shareholding footprint.

The defence and critical sectors nuance is the part that raises the most questions. It leaves the door open to keeping public ownership where national security or essential supply is involved, and to exiting the rest. What counts as "critical" is not defined in the proposal as it is known.

## Why it is being considered and what is at stake

The idea fits a discourse of reducing the State's weight in the economy, common among Europe's economic right. It also comes at a time when public finances and the deficit shape any debate about public assets. Selling stakes is a quick way of raising revenue, even if one-off rather than structural.

There is an obvious practical problem: the value of these stakes fluctuates with the market and selling at a bad moment can prove costly. And there is a political problem: touching defence raises misgivings inside and outside the party. The proposal, as it has become known, gives no details on timelines, amounts or which companies would be excluded. Without that data, any calculation of how much the State would raise is speculation.

It is a political proposal in an embryonic stage. It should be read for what it is, a campaign intention, not a decision taken.