The Government spent half of 2025 arguing that a new budget was not necessary because “the 2023 accounts—approved in 2022, during the previous legislature—are good for the economy,” in the words of President Pedro Sánchez. However, throughout the year, a large part of that rollover was modified, creating a practically new budget. Furthermore, the bulk of it was done without going through Congress. This is according to data from the State Comptroller General (IGAE) reported today by media outlets such as El Confidencial and La Razón.
Specifically, the Government approved €76.9 billion in credit expansions and €41 billion in reallocations of line items, according to newly published data from the IGAE. In total, nearly €118 billion in changes were made to the rolled-over 2023 budget.
Altogether, the Government incorporated 20% in additional credits to the budgetary rollover, to which an additional 10% in credit transfers between items must be added. In total, these changes amounted to almost 31% of the initial credits with which the Government began.
These credit expansions include very diverse items, ranging from transfers or loans made by the State to the Social Security system to support pension increases, or transfers to Autonomous Communities and city councils to update financing systems, to the Defense Plan approved by the Government.
In short, the modifications to the rollover mean that the Government had new budgets, very different from those of 2023, but without the need to secure approval from Congress.
