The Italy that Elly Schlein dreams of would look a lot like Spain. Given the fiascos of Emmanuel Macron and the French socialists, the English Labor Party and the German Social Democrats, the Dem secretary, in her pantheon, next to Maurizio Landinireserved a place for a Mediterranean leader: Pedro Sanchez.
Madrid economist, 53 years old, easy-going, pleasant. The number one of the Socialist Workers Party has been prime minister since 2018, when he ousted Mariano Rajoy and the People’s Party. A year later, under his leadership, the PSOE returned to win the elections; it hadn’t happened for 11 years. Yet Sánchez’s governments were more the result of shrewd political alchemy than enthusiastic popular investitures.
The Prime Minister survived a difficult coexistence with Podemos (a 5 Star Movement that rejected the bourgeois turn); to the temporary resignation in 2023, following the rejection of the administrative elections; to a battle with the judiciary; and the recent break with the Catalan independence movement Carles Puigdemontwho after a dispute over the amnesty for secessionists, withdrew the support of his seven Junts deputies (the approval of the budget is at risk). The divorce would bring the progressive coalition to 172 seats, against the 176 needed for an absolute majority.
Clouds over the “Spanish paradise”
Black clouds loom over the Spanish paradise dreamed of by secretary Piddina. Sánchez, who has 121 seats at his disposal plus the 26 of the radical left Sumarheir to Podemos, had had to make an unholy pact with the independentists: large concessions to the regions in exchange for external support. The autonomist acronyms occupy 25 seats in the Congress of Deputies. For the leader of a group that accuses the Calderoli law of compromising national unity, venerating the man who mortgaged the legislature to the supporters of secession is a beautiful contradiction.
Voters are slowly turning their backs on the idol of the Italian left. The Barcelonan Dym Institute has released a very fresh survey: popular at 33%; socialists at 27%; sovereign conservatives of Vox to 16%; Sumar at 6%. The right, united, would have the advantage.
Economy: lights and shadows
The Iberian experiment has its limits. Even in the economy, a sector in which Sánchez shows off encouraging results. The public accounts are in order, with the report debt/GDP dropped from 124% in the pandemic period to 103% last August; in 2025, growth should stand at 2.7%, compared to 0.4% in Italy. In 2026, GDP would slow down, but would still rise by 2%; that of Rome should not exceed +0.8%. THE nominal wages Iberians, according to Eurostat data, have slightly exceeded ours since 2024: 33,700 per year against 33,523 for full-time employment. It is above all the purchasing power to be better: Madrid has suffered much less from high bills than us. But there was the “trick”.
Brussels allowed the Iberians and Portuguese to benefit from a «exception» on the method of calculating energy costs in the European market, from which Spain had already withdrawn at the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, both for the massive development of renewable and due to the low dependence on Russia.
The energy exception and the limits of photovoltaics
Madrid boasted high potential in regasification and was buying LNG instead of sourcing supplies from Moscow. Thus, the government, unlike in the rest of the continent, was able to impose a national cap on the price of gasthe most expensive item, without violating community rules. The exemption will not have been a panacea, but certainly a godsend for businesses and families. Miracle of the solar panelsTherefore? Depends. Socialist Spain, through its vice-president of the EU Commission, Teresa Riberais a champion of the ecological transition. But photovoltaic gives and takes away. Remember the sensational national blackout of April 28, 2025? From the official reports it is clear that the networks had failed, incapable of managing the voltage peaks (and drops) generated by the clean sources. Result: immediately after the accident, to stabilize the system, the green-conscious socialists “refossilized” the state energy mix, increasing the share of gas by about six percentage points. By the way: the country maintains seven active nuclear reactors. Sánchez vows that he will dispose of them within ten years; in the meantime, continue to exploit them.
Minimum wage and the labor market
And the minimum wage? Another Schlein flag is a medal with two lapels. Analysts say that, in the Iberian peninsula, the measure has helped support the lowest incomes and has also pushed up median wages. But many small businesses, to react to the surge in operating costshave cut jobs, or converted full-time contracts to part-time. Despite the decline, the unemployment remains high, at 11.4%. Policies are responsible for providing labor at a good price migratory of the left, obviously adopted in the name of humanitarianism, with a charity of cunning methods: a substantial part of the burden of the landings was placed on the Canariesgoverned by a center-right coalition and located at a safe distance from the Iberian peninsula. While all that appears to be the muscular attitude of the authorities, in the Moroccan enclaves of Ceuta and Melillahas ever softened.
Ironically: it is true that Sánchez increased the minimum wage twice, to 900 euros a month and then to the current 1,184. But do you know who introduced it in 1963? Francisco Franco.
Historical memory and Iberian “cancel culture”.
And it is precisely around the legacy of the regime that a kind of cancel culture to paella. It is not just a question of the transfer of the remains of the caudillo and the founder of the Falange, Miguel Primo de Rivera, expelled from the “fascist” mausoleums. Pursuant to law of democratic memoryapproved in 2022, the publication of a list of symbols from «resignify», to deprive them of the historical link with Francoism. A bizarre alternative to the infamous demolition of statues, which was fashionable a few years ago. Among the monuments to be subjected to the Orwellian treatment, there will be neoclassical arches and squares named after exponents of the dictatorship.
The ley trans and the LGBT derivatives
With the ley transFurthermore, Sánchez’s government has embraced extremism LGBT. The law allows the change of sex on documents with a simple self-declaration, starting from the age of 16; or, starting from 14, with the consent of the parents and, from 12, with the green light of a judge. All this, in the absence of a diagnosis gender dysphoria. The unintended consequences of the reform: from the invasion of female spaces by biological males, to the imprudent simplification of access to hormonal treatments for the very young. An example not to be imitated.
The international role: ambiguities and political calculations
The swerves to the left have also affected Spain’s international role. Madrid had recognized the Palestine in 2024; he couldn’t wait to denounce the “genocide” in Gaza; he imposed embargoes both on the transfer of weapons to Israel and on that of fuel, defense materials and goods from illegal settlements. Then, however, the prime minister accepted, with some distinctions, the Donald Trump’s peace plan. Spain supports the Ukrainian cause; but Sánchez, taking advantage of the country’s distance from the hot front, refused to sign the commitment requested by the USA to invest the 5% of GDP in defense.
After that, in Europe, the socialists still embrace Ursula von der Leyen’s rearmament plan. The counterpart of ambiguous conduct is certain marginality on the chessboard.
Judicial investigations: a siege of “Berlusconi”
But Sánchez has the biggest problems with his robes. In April 2024 an investigation was opened into his wife, Begoña Gómezfor various crimes, including corruption; in January 2025 his brother ended up under investigation for influence trafficking connected to his public office David; the case, little by little, had spread to various members of the PSOE; in September, Sánchez’s wife was indicted; in November, David’s trial was set to begin in February 2026; finally, he was sentenced attorney generalappointed by the left-wing government in 2022, due to a leak to the press. A judicial encirclement spanning twenty years of Berlusconi. If she lived in Spain, Schlein would have to agree Carlos Nordios…
