Democracy as a 'waste of time': the PSOE assumes a slogan of the totalitarians

Spain is witnessing its government take an increasingly brazen path away from the democratic system.

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The signs of authoritarianism in Pedro Sánchez's government

The government of Pedro Sánchez, a coalition of socialists from the PSOE and the communists of Sumar, began to go down that path with its attempt to control the judiciary, its attacks on constitutional rights (such as those it carried out by illegally confining Spaniards during the pandemic), its granting of criminal privileges to its allies (the most scandalous of which were those included in the amnesty granted to the leaders of the 2017 separatist coup), and its political colonization of all kinds of institutions (turning the State into a placement agency for socialist militants and sympathizers).

To the list of this government's anti-democratic attitudes, we must add its attacks on freedom of information (copying dictator Vladimir Putin's recipes for controlling the media), its lack of transparency (we have the most opaque government Spain has had in almost half a century of democracy) and its constant disregard for the oversight work of Parliament, in which Sánchez and his ministers systematically dedicate themselves to answering any question from the opposition with attacks on his rivals and without offering any explanation, in addition to being the government that has approved the most decrees in the current democratic regime, resorting on a daily basis to a mechanism that the Constitution limits to cases of "extraordinary and urgent need."

Pedro Sánchez's party lost the last general elections

This is not being done by a government with an absolute majority: it is a government of a party that lost the last general elections and that bought its stay in power by making all kinds of illegal concessions to its separatist partners, shoving the increasingly large bill left by Sánchez's eagerness to cling to power at any price onto the Spanish people. What is happening in Spain is nothing new in history: it is a typical case of belief in the idea that anything goes in politics and contempt for democratic checks and balances, two ingredients that are never lacking in countries subject to an authoritarian drift.

The government says that presenting the budget is a “waste of time”

Today we saw the latest display of disrespect for democracy by this government. At a press conference at La Moncloa Palace, government spokesperson, Minister Pilar Alegría, has implied that the government will not present the budget "in order not to waste time", as it lacks the necessary support to approve it. This is a violation of Article 134 of the Constitution, which establishes the government's obligation to present the General State Budget on an annual basis.

It should be noted that the budgets have been extended since 2023 due to the government's inability to obtain the necessary support to approve new ones. The difference this year is that the government no longer even wants to make the effort to fulfill its duty to present them. It intends to govern outside of Parliament, despite being in the minority, and to do so it adopts one of the usual slogans of totalitarians, which consists of presenting democracy as a "waste of time", in contrast to which the authoritarian model portrays itself as an example of efficiency and economy.

New elections must be called and the Spaniards must decide

We must not tolerate this. Having the government accountable to Parliament is not a waste of time: it is one of the pillars of democracy, a system of government that may have many flaws, but is far superior to all known alternatives. Those who present democracy as a waste of time are those who intend to govern like a dictatorship, which is precisely what Sánchez and his government are doing in Spain.

Faced with this authoritarian drift, we Spaniards must demand more forcefully and insistently the calling of new elections. If the government lacks the necessary support to govern, the alternative should not be for Sánchez to exercise his office as if he were a dictator. Spain is a democracy, and if the government cannot fulfill its duties, it must resign and allow the Spanish people to elect a new one. To do otherwise would be to settle into a political model that is very much to the liking of socialists (just look at what happened in Venezuela) but that should provoke the rejection of all democrats.

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Photo: La Moncloa. Government spokesperson Pilar Alegría, Socialist, at the press conference held this Tuesday, March 25, at La Moncloa.