Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will not finish his term – due to end in 2027 – Ione Belarra, secretary general of the far-left Podemos party, warned on Monday.
The Podemos leader, who supports Sánchez’s government with her four deputies in parliament, told Spanish public radio station RNE on Tuesday that she found it “hard to believe” that Sánchez would finish his term.
One of the biggest challenges Sánchez is currently facing is the approval of the 2025 budget, twice rejected by the right-wing separatist JxCat party of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont. Support from both JxCat and its left-wing separatist rival, the ERC, is vital to prevent the government from falling.
The precarious stability of the government means that every vote and every parliamentary support it obtains in parliament – including from of Podemos and the Catalan and Basque pro-independence formations – is essential for its survival.
But if the Spanish PM wants Podemos’ support, the Spanish Socialist party (PSOE) would have to fulfil the promises it made to the far-left, including the approval of a permanent tax on the country’s large energy companies.
In the same vein, Podemos’ spokesman in parliament, Javier Sánchez de la Serna, warned on Wednesday that “trust has been broken” between the extreme-left party and the PSOE.
Podemos, which has two MEPs in Strasbourg, warned that “new agreements” with the PSOE are “unfeasible” at the moment.
According to Belarra, Sanchéz’s PSOE had very possibly made a direct commitment to Spanish energy giant Repsol that there would be no taxes on the sector.
“They are using their right-wing nationalist partners [JxCat and Basque PNV] to justify the unjustifiable towards their electorate,” Belarra told RNE.
Another bone of contention between Podemos and Sánchez is the ultra-left party’s demand that rent prices be lowered by 40%, as well as its request to ban the purchase of residential homes for commercial purposes.
The next general election in Spain, which will determine the 16th Cortes Generales, will take place no later than Sunday 22 August 2027.
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