Parliaments emerged, to a large extent, to authorize the fiscal impositions of monarchs. It was unreasonable to impose fees and taxes without those affected by them having either a voice or a vote. Hence, the oversight role of parliaments remains one of their essential tasks. Controlling the state accounts every year and demanding accountability for what has been done or left undone in each fiscal year is a parliamentary task of the utmost relevance.
This is why the leader of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, demanded that Rajoy call elections when, during his mandate, the then-leader of the PP was forced to extend the previous year’s budget. But Rajoy, at the very least, fulfilled the constitutional obligation to present them three months before the end of the fiscal year. Pedro Sánchez’s government hasn’t presented a budget since 2022—those corresponding to 2023—that is to say, since the previous legislature, which had a very different parliamentary composition.
Faced with the blatant illegality this entails, Sánchez and his Treasury Minister committed publicly to presenting a budget for 2026 before the end of the first quarter of this year. However, they have realized, once again, that balancing accounts that satisfy both their government partners—a far-left party like Sumar, along with the communists, etc.—and the partners who made his investiture possible (right-wing parties like Junts or PNV) is an impossible Sudoku.
And, using the excuse that the current priority is to approve measures to alleviate the pressure citizens are facing—due to the rise in electricity and fuel prices, etc., derived from the war in Iran—they have once again forgotten their own commitment. They now admit it will be impossible to present a set of accounts to Parliament for approval before the end of March.
As the director of the digital newspaper El Español graphically points out: “Sánchez says ‘no to war’ invoking democracy, and ‘no to democracy’ invoking war.”
