The coalition interaction in the government of Pedro Sanchez in Spain (2020—2023)

Abstract

This article identifies trends in the development of coalition interaction of political parties within the center-left government of Pedro Sanchez in Spain (2020 – summer 2023). The type of the ruling coalition in Spain is determined as unstable due to the high ideological distance between the participants and the lack of previous experience of cooperation. The political agenda of the government was revealed, it included such social problems as raising the minimum wage and pensions, combating unemployment, labor reform, reducing housing and energy costs, combating corruption, achieving gender equality, and political settlement of the Catalan conflict. The author describes in what aspects of government policy compromises or contradictions prevailed between the main participants of the coalition: PSOE and “Unidas Podemos”. The participants reached compromises in the sphere of increasing citizens' incomes and combating unemployment. The contradictions between the parties are most characteristic of the perception of the Catalan conflict, foreign policy, participatory democracy, progressive taxation. The election campaigns of 2021–2023 led to a significant decline in the influence of “Unidas Podemos”, turning the PSOE into the dominant member of the coalition. The significance of the article is shown in the assessment of the procedures and practices of interaction of parties (inter-party conferences) in the government of Spain, the forecast of the possibilities of creating coalitions after the national elections on July 23, 2023. The author makes the conclusions about “forced coalitions” at the level of national and regional governments. Pragmatic compromises based on the experience of the interaction of parties are also inevitable for the activities of the future right-wing government.