“Public procurement tenders, political party financing, and public infrastructure projects in Spain are key sectors with a high risk of corruption in Spain.” This is the verdict of the 2025 Rule of Law Report, published yesterday by the European Commission, which comes amidst a government crisis, precisely, due to corruption.
The warning is not new, but its seriousness appears to be escalating. 40% of Spanish companies believe that corruption has prevented them from winning tenders in the last three years, according to the European report, which cites the Flash Eurobarometer on Business Attitudes towards Corruption, noted by the Commission. This figure nearly doubles the level reported in the previous year’s document and is well above the European Union average of 25%.
This year’s Rule of Law Report has a cutoff date of the end of 2024. For this reason, it does not include any reference to, effects of, or opinions derived from recent scandals such as those that led the Supreme Court to order provisional imprisonment for the former PSOE organization secretary, Santos Cerdán. However, the report explicitly mentions the case of former Minister of Public Works, José Luis Ábalos, stating that “in October 2024, a former minister and member of Parliament was charged as a person of interest in an alleged corruption case related to the pandemic,” and the proceedings concerning the Attorney General.
Brussels focuses on the number of public tenders with a single bidder, as these are the most suspicious for potential rigging. In Spain, these cases rose to 33%, compared to the EU average of 29%.
“The main causes of complaints and communications regarding public procurement are alleged irregularities in contract awarding, followed by alleged corrupt practices, complaints related to contract execution, and, finally, issues related to the use of subcontracting,” the Commission states.
Service contracts, in Brussels’ view, are the most vulnerable and account for 64% of complaints regarding potential rigging.
Furthermore, the European Commission criticizes that “the financing of political parties remains a high-risk area, and no measures have been taken to reform electoral legislation in accordance with the recommendations of the Court of Auditors.”
The European Executive also emphasizes that “the preparation of the national anti-corruption strategy, provided for by law, has not yet begun.” The Law regulating the protection of persons who report regulatory infringements and the fight against corruption, approved in 2023, ordered the Government to adopt it before September 2024. However, with practically a year’s delay, the work has not yet started.
