Not even economic success can save Europe’s last socialist government

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez achieved economic growth, social reform and resistance to Europe’s rightward drift. Corruption scandals and a resurgent far right could still put an end to his project.

The success of the extreme right in last month’s regional elections in Extremadura and the were inevitableexplains the specialist in international politics Claudio Gallo and professor of philosophy Santiago Zabala in an opinion article published in .

After a series of accusations of corruption and sexual harassment involving the socialist government since the summer, everyone in Spain knew that Pedro Sanchez I would never be able to achieve victory.

Although the southwest region has historically been a stronghold of Sánchez’s PSOE, is in the hands of the conservative Popular Party (PP) and the far-right party Vox since 2023.

According to Gallo and Zaballa, this alliance, which until recently governed several strategically important regions of Spain, such as Valencia and Murcia, prepare for take charge of the Spanish government in the 2027 general election, and his victory would potentially leave the Europe without any socialist government.

The government of Denmark, led by the Prime Minister Mette Frederiksenthe only other European government still sometimes cited as socialist in its guidance, it has adopted increasingly harsh rhetoric against immigration which does not fit well with socialist principles.

But why is Sánchez heading towards defeat despite having made his country the Europe’s new economic engineof leading the green transition and of being one of the few leaders to denounce Israel’s genocide in Gaza? And how does yours inevitable defeat Will it affect the European Parliament, already under threat from far-right leaders across the continent?

When Sánchez managed to form a coalition in the 2023 general elections, it was far from perfect.

Among his allies were the summera coalition of left-wing parties, and the togethera conservative Catalan independence party, both repeatedly threatening to withdraw support if the requirements were not met.

The Prime Minister managed keep the fragile coalition together until this fall, when the Catalan party withdrew its support due to differences over immigration.

Pressured by rise of a new independence party far-right, the Catalan AllianceJunts demanded the power to deport convicted migrants who reoffend, a demand that proved highly controversial.

Although Sumar has not withdrawn its support for the coalition, it has repeatedly accused the socialists of iignore a series of investigations of corruption and harassment allegations involving senior figures from Sánchez’s party.

These include serious accusations of corruption against the former Minister of Public Works and Transport, José Luis Ábaloswho was placed in preventive detention. He is being investigated for alleged bribery, influence peddling and embezzlement related to public contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They also include allegations of sexual misconduct involving Francisco Salazarwho oversaw institutional coordination at Palácio da Moncloa, the prime minister’s office and official residence, and against whom the party was unable to take decisive measures.

This negligence, together with the imprisonment of former ministerit’s starting topay for the achievements of the socialist government de Sánchez, who, among other things, mounted an effective response to the rise of the far right in Spain and abroad.

In response to the far-right plan to privatize public institutions and reduce employment, the Spanish Prime Minister advanced the welfare state through improving the material conditions of citizens.

Your labor market reform increased the minimum wage and protected pensions by linking them to the cost of living.

It was no surprise that in 2024 The Economist magazine ranked Spain in first place in your performance ranking economy of the developed world — a place that meanwhile Spain, which the magazine started to consider last year the “best economy in the world“.

Sánchez too attracted substantial investment in renewable energy, transforming Spain into one of the main European destinations for clean energy projects.

According to Spanish social security and immigration authorities, around 45% of all jobs created since 2022 have been filled by foreign-born workerswhich now represent around 13% of the workforce.

Unlike most of the center left European, Sánchez maintained a traditional socialist position against the increase in military expenditure, causing a furious reaction from many European countries and especially the President of the United States, Donald Trump.

After the Spanish Prime Minister had to pay military expenses, at a NATO summit, Trump threatened Spain in his usual rude style: “Let’s make them pay double“.

But the increase in military spending, which according to Gallo and Zabala is apparently the only solution for European elites to overcome the continent’s harsh economic crisis, is not the only front that Sánchez has opened against the Trump administration. In fact, he asked more rules about the internet and social networks.

This is a position strongly contested by Washingtonwhich recently imposed visa sanctions on a former senior European Union official and employees of organizations fighting disinformation for alleged censorship.

Behind the North American measure is obviously not any opposition to the alarming drift towards European censorship, but rather the desire to protect North American monopolistic internet giants.

No other socialist party shared Sánchez’s position, and most of the right-wing forces, with the Prime Minister’s government Giorgia Meloni in Italy the most prominent example, are completely submissive to Washington.

According to Gallo and Zabala, the European center-left crisis is a crisis that affects the very core of the idea of ​​socialism. Almost all European socialist parties have undergone a transformation over the past 20 years, a shift that has led them towards substantially liberal politics.

Let us take the cases of Keir Starmer in the UK or Elly Schlein in Italy: they are convinced warmongers when it comes to Ukraine and they are indistinguishable from liberal parties in economic solutions.

In a Christmas poll conducted at the end of December by JL Partners for The Independent, UK Labor voters expressed deep dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Starmer’s leadership.

By an overwhelming three-to-one margin, respondents said the party would have best chances of winning the next elections if Starmer was replaced.

This discontent is symptomatic of a broader crisis facing the European center-left, where even the leaders of nominally “socialist” parties are cincreasingly indistinguishable from their liberal counterparts.

Although Sánchez remains popular among left-wing voters, it will be very difficult for him to succeed in the upcoming elections in Aragon, Castilla y León and Andalusia this spring.

Thus, Gallo and Zabala conclude, the Spanish “socialist exception” could come to be remembered as the last attempt to respond to the crisis of the European left — as well as the seizure of power by the extreme right.