Where is Spain going today?

Abstract

The spring of 2023 in Spain turned out to be hot not only in terms of weather conditions, but also in terms of the intensity of political passions. The May elections for most of the parliaments of the autonomous regions and municipalities were supposed to be the starting point for a large campaign to prepare for the nationwide elections scheduled for the end of the year. Their outcome was difficult to predict. On the one hand, most opinion polls predicted the coming to power of the centre-right People's Party. On the other hand, Pedro Sanchez, leader of the senior partner of the ruling coalition of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to regain lost ground. The triumphant victory of the PP in the regional elections forced P. Sanchez to change his plans. He dissolved parliament and called a national election for 23 July. Is such a decision justified, and has the coalition government achieved the goals that it set at the beginning of 2020, when no one thought about the pandemic or the upcoming large-scale restructuring of the global security system? These issues were at the center of the discussion on April, 25 at the situational analysis “Preliminary results of the legislature of the coalition government of Spain”, organized by the Center for Iberian Studies of the ILA RAS.