The far-right’s victory in last month’s local elections in Spain’s Extremadura region was inevitable. Since the summer, following a series of corruption and sexual harassment allegations surrounding Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s socialist government, everyone in Spain knew it was impossible for him to win. The southwestern region was historically a stronghold of Sanchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), but since 2023 it has been in the hands of the conservative Popular Party (PP) and the far-right Vox party.
The alliance, which until recently ruled several other strategically important regions of Spain such as Valencia and Murcia, is poised to take over Spain’s government at the next general election in 2027. If the alliance wins, Europe could be free of socialist governments. The Danish government, led by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (the only European government still often cited as having a truly socialist orientation), has increasingly adopted harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric that is unsettling about socialist principles.
But why is Mr. Sanchez, who has made his country Europe’s new economic engine, led a green transition and is one of the few leaders to condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza, heading for defeat? What impact will his inevitable defeat have on the European Parliament, already under threat from far-right leaders across the continent?
When Sanchez succeeded in forming a coalition government in the 2023 general election, it was far from perfect. His allies include the left-wing Smar party and the conservative Catalan independence party Junts, both of which have repeatedly threatened to withdraw support if their demands are not met. The prime minister managed to maintain a fragile coalition government until this fall, when the Catalan party withdrew its support over immigration powers.
Under pressure from the rise of a new far-right independent party, Alianca Catalana (Alliance de Catalunya), Juntz called for the power to deport immigrants convicted of repeat offenses, a highly controversial demand. Sumal has not withdrawn support from the coalition government, but has repeatedly accused the Socialist Party of ignoring a series of corruption investigations and allegations of harassment by senior members of Sánchez’s party.
These include serious corruption charges against former Minister of Public Works and Transport José Luis Ábalos, who is in pre-trial detention. He is being investigated on charges of bribery, misappropriation of influence and embezzlement related to public contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic. These include allegations of sexual misconduct involving Francisco Salazar, who oversaw the coordination of the Moncloa Palace, the prime minister’s office and official residence, but for which the party took no decisive action.
This inaction, combined with the imprisonment of former ministers, begins to erase the achievements of the Sánchez socialist government, which, among other things, effectively responded to the rise of the far right in Spain and abroad. In response to far-right plans to privatize public institutions and cut jobs, Spain’s prime minister advanced the welfare state by improving the material conditions of his people.
His labor market reforms raised the minimum wage and protected pensions by linking them to the cost of living. It’s no surprise that The Economist ranked Spain at the top of its ranking of the world’s wealthiest economies. Mr. Sánchez has also attracted significant investment in renewable energy, turning Spain into one of Europe’s leading destinations for clean energy projects.
According to Spain’s Social Security and Immigration Authority, around 45% of all jobs created since 2022 will be accounted for by foreign-born workers, who currently make up around 13% of the workforce, highlighting the sector’s contribution to the expansion of the labor market.
Unlike many European center-leftists, Mr. Sánchez maintains a traditional socialist position against increased military spending, provoking a furious reaction from many European countries and especially from US President Donald Trump. President Trump used his usual harsh tone to threaten Spain after the Spanish prime minister refused to allocate 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) to military spending at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit. “I’ll make you pay twice as much.”
But military buildup (apparently the only solution for European elites to extricate themselves from the continent’s severe economic crisis) is not the only front Mr. Sánchez has opened against the Trump administration. In fact, he called for more rules on the internet and social media. This is a position strongly opposed by the US government, which recently imposed visa sanctions on a former European Union official and an employee of an organization fighting disinformation on suspicion of censorship.
Behind the US move is clearly no opposition to Europe’s alarming trend towards censorship, but rather a desire to protect the monopolistic US web giants. Other socialist parties do not share Mr. Sánchez’s position, and most of the right-wing forces, including the government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, are fully subordinate to Washington.
The crisis of the European centre-left is a crisis that affects the very foundations of socialist thought. Almost every socialist party in Europe has undergone a transformation over the past two decades, leading to a substantive liberal politics. Take England’s Keir Starmer or Italy’s Ellie Schlein, for example. They are convinced warmongers when it comes to Ukraine and are indistinguishable from liberal parties when it comes to economic solutions.
A late December Christmas survey conducted by JL Partners for the Independent found British Labor voters expressing strong dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Starmer’s leadership. By an overwhelming 3-1 margin, respondents said their party would be more likely to win the next election if Mr Starmer was removed. This dissatisfaction is symptomatic of a broader crisis facing Europe’s center-left, where even the leaders of nominally “socialist” parties are becoming increasingly indistinguishable from their liberal counterparts.
Although Mr. Sánchez remains popular among left-wing voters, it will be very difficult for him to succeed in elections in Aragon, Castile and León, and Andalusia, scheduled for this spring. The Spanish socialist exception will be remembered not only for the far-right takeover but also as a last-ditch attempt to respond to the crisis of the European left.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
