Spain is set to begin 2026 without a fresh national budget for the third consecutive year, after MPs on Thursday once again voted down the minority left-leaning coalition government’s fiscal framework.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s socialist (PSOE) led government, in office since 2023, has repeatedly failed to secure enough support in a fragmented parliament to pass a new set of public accounts, restricting its scope for new spending programmes.
Thursday’s vote marked the second rejection in as many weeks of the administration’s proposed spending ceiling and its deficit-reduction roadmap for 2026–2028. ALSO READ: Spanish Congress rejects coalition government’s 2026 spending plan.
That ceiling is the mandatory first step toward drafting and presenting a new budget to replace the rollover of the 2023 accounts, which remain in force by default.
The government had proposed a 2026 expenditure limit of €212 billion, representing an 8.5% increase on the current structure, alongside a projected public deficit of 2.1% of GDP for next year.
The measure failed by 177 votes to 166, with five abstentions.
As anticipated, the right-wing People’s Party (PP) aligned with the far-right Vox and Catalan pro-independence party Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) — which recently withdrew its backing for Sánchez — to block the proposal. ALSO READ: Catalan pro-independence party JxCat to veto all Spanish government-proposed laws in Congress.
Spain’s constitution allows existing budgets to carry over automatically when new ones cannot be approved, a mechanism that has now been triggered repeatedly.
Despite the stalemate, the EU’s fourth-largest economy has continued to outperform many of its European neighbours. Spain grew 3.5% in 2024 and is expected to expand by 2.9% in 2025, more than double the eurozone forecast. ALSO READ: Brussels confirms Spain as EU’s economic engine, lifting growth forecast to 2.9% this year.
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El Pleno ✅ha aprobado hoy la ley que se regula los servicios de atención a la clientela y ha convalidado tres reales decretos-leyes y ❌ha rechazado el acuerdo del Gobierno que fija los objetivos de estabilidad presupuestaria y de deuda pública.
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— Congreso (@Congreso_Es) December 11, 2025
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