Pedro Sánchez pretends to rule as a dictator with the excuse of defense spending

When a ruler claims to defend democracy but resorts to authoritarian methods, we should be wary of his intentions.

Governing without legislative power: Pedro Sánchez is announcing a dictatorship
This is how Sánchez and the PSOE promote antidemocratic attitudes among young people

He wants an extra spending of 10.471 billion without going through the Cortes

Today, the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, announced an investment of 10.471 billion euros in defense and security to comply with Spain's commitments to NATO to dedicate 2% of its GDP to defense. Sánchez has assured that this investment will be made "without raising taxes, without touching a cent of the investment in the Welfare State, and without incurring a larger public deficit", but he has not explained how. His history of lies is long enough for us to understand that he is lying once again. And he does so after his government and party were implicated in corruption scandals over their use of medical supplies during the pandemic. History could repeat itself.

But if it's already serious for a politician to lie, it's even more serious for him to govern as if democracy didn't exist. Sánchez has stated that this extraordinary investment "does not require the approval of the Cortes Generales", that is, he intends to approve such a colossal expenditure without explaining to Congress how he is going to do it or what the money is going to be spent on. Let us remember that Article 66 of the Constitution states: "The Cortes Generales represent the Spanish people and are formed by the Congress of Deputies and the Senate." That same article indicates their powers: "they exercise the legislative power of the State, approve its Budgets, control the action of the Government and have the other powers attributed to them by the Constitution."

In 2024 he already threatened to govern without legislative power

Since Sánchez does not have a parliamentary majority, he intends to govern without presenting the general state budget, violating the obligations imposed on him by the Constitution in its Article 134. This is intolerable in any democratic country, but it is not a surprise in the case of Spain. Let us remember that in September 2024 Sánchez already threatened to govern without the legislative power, that is, without the parliament that represents the Spanish people, as if Spain had ceased to be a democracy.

Sánchez cannot act as if Spain were a dictatorship.

Personally, I have argued and will continue to argue that Spain needs a significant increase in defense spending to primarily address the threat of Russian expansionism and, also, the threat from Morocco. What is unacceptable in a democracy is for the government to act as if it were a dictatorship, evading parliamentary oversight and refusing to explain to the Spanish people how it intends to spend our money.

The West must be defended by democratic means, because otherwise what we would be defending is the same thing Putin is doing in Russia. Sánchez doesn't seem to understand this, because he likes authoritarian ways and his foreign relations are increasingly focused on dictatorships. Of course, our democracy should not be subject to the perverse inclinations of any ruler. If Sánchez no longer has a sufficient majority to govern, what he should do is call elections so that the Spanish people can decide if they prefer a government other than the current one at a critical moment for peace in Europe.

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Photo: PSOE.