The Prime Minister of Spain and leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), Pedro Sanchez.
Faced with ongoing allegations against his government and close circle, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has committed to incorporating Artificial Intelligence in the fight against corruption in Spain.
The Spanish government will use artificial intelligence to identify and eliminate corruption, as part of broader reforms aimed at restoring trust in Spanish public life and combating “disenchantment” of the Spanish with politics.
The Spanish Council of Ministers recently approved an initiative to increase transparency in public life, which, among other measures, provides for the public disclosure of “the agendas of senior positions, official travel and the accounts of all public entities”, says .
The plan also foresees what was described as a “deep transformation” of the process of public procurement, with the incorporation of AI for the “automation and advanced analysis” of public financial data and flows.
In the case of public contracts and the respective award procedure, a AI analysissomething that, in the words of the Prime Minister Pedro Sanchezrepresents “a profound and essential change” in the way public money is allocated.
“In public procurement, to have better guarantees, we must have better surveillance, and it has to be open, intelligent and shared”, said Sánchez in his speech at the 9th Global Summit of the Open Government Alliance. “This will allow detect irregular patterns and possible fraud”, detailed Sánchez.
“Let’s be clear: this continues the “, declared the Spanish Prime Minister, recognizing that one of the “problems” of democracy is “citizens’ disenchantment with institutions when cases of corruption occur.”
Sanchez, who defended that “the government must respond with courageideas and proposals and not cover up corruption”announced the launch of a new government “transparency portal” that will be “much clearer, opentransparent and based on the premise of the right to know, understand and participate”.
Sánchez’s government has been in place over the last year. The prime minister’s wife and brother were investigated by , as were two of his former close collaborators and the Attorney General, who were investigated, respectively, for corruption and leaking state secrets.
Sánchez’s allies accuse politically motivated judges and journalists to encourage a “lawfare” against the family of the Prime Minister. Critics argue that the confluence of processes means that Sánchez has lost legitimacy and that should resign.
The corruption probe, in particular, involved two of Sánchez’s closest allies, José Luis Ábalos and Santos Cerdán.
With evidence considered sufficient for Cerdán, former secretary of a socialist organization, will be detainedSánchez finds himself under significant political pressure, and promises to combat corruption come in response to allegations that there is a culture of corruption at the heart of your government.
