RetroFed
Nine in ten Spaniards believe corruption is widespread under PM Pedro Sanchez, survey finds
A massive majority of Spaniards believe corruption in the country has skyrocketed under the government of Pedro Sanchez.
The findings come from a new report published by the European Commission, which notes that this perception has especially worsened in the last five years – affecting not just the average citizen but companies and the judicial system.
The Special Eurobarometer survey found that Spain scores highly on the perceived corruption indexes compared to its European counterparts.
It comes after a turbulent week in which Sanchez’ family has been under fire for various corruption scandals.
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Spain scored just 55 out of 100 in the Corruption Perception Index 2025, placing it seventeenth in the European Union and 49th worldwide.
According to the new survey, 92% of Spanish citizens consider that corruption is widespread, far above the European average of 71%. Moreover, 53% say they feel personally affected by corruption, in comparison to the 30% of the European average.
The document released this Friday comes on the back of a period of chaos.
Last Thursday, a court ruled that Begona Gomez, Pedro Sanchez’s wife, will stand trial for charges of influence peddling and embezzlement.
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The ruling came just two days after a ruling against David Sanchez, the prime minister’s brother, who is now barred from public office for nine years.
He had been working a role that was specifically created for him.
Meanwhile, former transport minister Jose Luis Abalos was convicted last month over illegal pandemic mask contracts.
In response to the recent rulings, several Sanchez allies have attacked the decisions, calling them ‘a judicial conspiracy’ and ‘politically motivated cases’ which amount to ‘lawfare’.
Judges and legal professionals continue to show concern. The Constitutional Court warns that statements against judges contribute to eroding public trust in the justice system.
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The EU Commission has warned Sanchez’ government that: “All powers of the state – executive, legislative and judicial – must act with mutual respect to guarantee proper functioning.”
This is not the first time Sanchez’ government is being put on the spot by the EU Commission. Last year former attorney general Alvaro Garcia Ortiz was found guilty in a controversial case over the leaking of confidential information.
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Anyone who has spent any significant time in Spain, knows that 9 out of 10 Spaniards think that corruption has skyrocketed under every single prime minister in the past 45 years.
Anyway, I cannot take an “expat newspaper” seriously. We’ve lived through worse times than this. We had a major party involved in a kickback scheme, including their leader at the time (“M. Rajoy”, anyone?) like 15 years ago. In the early 2000s, the largest telecom company in Spain was sold for pennies by a close friend of the prime minister.
Yeah, in 2018, the Spanish socialists came to power on the promise of clean politics that works for the people.
In June 2026, Spain’s supreme court jailed Sanchez ally and former transport minister José Luis Ábalos to 24 in prison for taking bribes on public contracts.
A few weeks later, the Spanish prime minister’s brother David Sanchez was convicted of nepotism and banned from holding public office for 9 years.
Just a week ago, former Socialist prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said that €1.3 million of jewellery seized by police as part of an investigation was a personal gift he received years ago and was never intended for financial gain.
An investigation in June led to a 12-hour police raid on Socialist Party HQ in Madrid. The allegation is that the party paid member Leire Díez to carry out a campaign to discredit police, judges and prosecutors who were investigating existing cases, such as that affecting Cerdán, who has been named as a suspect in this probe.
And this is not everything.
The socialists are the same as the conservatives, the difference is just rhetoric. These politicians don’t care for the people either but rather work for themselves.
I live in Spain, but I’m not Spanish. I do not vote in Spain.
The government may be corrupt, but I feel they’re doing a decent job. It is definitely a government I appreciate more than most other European governments.
It is not strange for people in government to become corrupt, but it can be uncommon for them to deliver on their promises. The current Spanish government did not indeed succeed in all their promises, but they did enact several laws and measures I appreciated.
It’s funny the UK had COVID corruption orders of magnitude greater than Spain and nobody has faced any consequences, whereas Spain under Sanchez is punishing his allies for corruption and it’s reflecting badly on him 🤷♂️
What about?
How does he ‘punish’ his brother? His wife?
And for Sanchez’s political allies, as I wrote in this read already, an investigation this June led to a 12-hour police raid on Socialist Party HQ in Madrid. The allegation is that the party paid member Leire Díez to carry out a campaign to discredit police, judges and prosecutors who were investigating existing cases, such as that affecting Cerdán, who has been named as a suspect in this probe.
This socialist government is as corrupt as the conservatives before. The only thing the is ‘funny’ here is that so many accounts springing into action to support these traitors while at the same time accusing right-wing parties for doing the exact same thing. That’s hypocrisy at its best.
How does he ‘punish’ his brother? His wife?
Spain is the only country with a working system that is putting the people who committed COVID fraud in jail. Sanchez isn’t doing shit, it’s just funny that he’s seen as corrupt while pretty much every European country is more corrupt.
I’ll just leave this here for people who like data
The site lists more corruption cases involving PP, but no total for them (or is the total combined)
Is Zapatero’s ‘jewel case’ included in the 143 socialist corruption cases? If so, it should be deleted, becasue the former socialist PM said that the jewels worth 1.3 million euros that were found in his safe as part of an investigation are only a ‘gift’ from a foreign country, and never intended to mean financial gain.
The Spanish socialists came to power on the promise of clean politics that works for the people.
In June 2026, Spain’s supreme court jailed Sanchez ally and former transport minister José Luis Ábalos to 24 in prison for taking bribes on public contracts.
A few weeks later, the Spanish prime minister’s brother David Sanchez was convicted of nepotism and banned from holding public office for 9 years.
An investigation in June led to a 12-hour police raid on Socialist Party HQ in Madrid. The allegation is that the party paid member Leire Díez to carry out a campaign to discredit police, judges and prosecutors who were investigating existing cases, such as that affecting Cerdán, who has been named as a suspect in this probe.
And this is, as the data in you link suggests, not everything.
The socialists are the same as the conservatives, the difference is just rhetoric. All these politicians don’t care for the people but rather work for themselves.
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It was the same with the right wing Popular Party, the only difference is that the populist far right parties didn’t care then.
The Popular Party is by far the most corrupt party in Spain, and they happen to have majority of votes in there judiciary, so they have the power to open corruption cases to political adversaries.
In a just state, this party would have been illegalized.
Whether the current government in office is corrupt or not cannot be dictated by the most corrupt party possibly in Europe.
Pedro Sanchez and his socialists don’t care either. It’s the same thing, the only possible difference is the rhetoric.
Is it even possible to vote your way out of this if both sides are guilty?
Populism is fixed by being more involved on politics, everything in life is politics, the perception that politics id complaining daily and voting every four years is one of the root causes of populism. We need to be more involved on politics on a daily basis, protest, educate, syndicate, join local communities, dont let politics on just the media
I was willing to give Sanchez some benefit of the doubt given that most if not all of the allegations came from the far right who have a habit of inventing theories or blowing things well out of proportion.
That may still be true but it seems fair to say that Sanchez et al were up to some very shady stuff. If they’re found guilty by an independent court than that’s that.
It’s extremely disappointing. I can’t really speak to Spanish politics but on the EU level Sanchez has been pretty much the sole voice pushing back against the US and in favour of further integration including a united EU defence force.
I personally believe this is a show, a distraction from his own corruption cases. I also think that some of the allegations against Sanchez and his allies are blown out of proportion, but the most is true. And, as you say (if I interpret you correctly), the courts handed over some verdicts already.
Sanchez wasn’t even consistent when it comes to deeper EU intregration. He stood against a tougher stance against China, and while Spain prohibited Chinese tech company Huawei from its 5G network, it contract this same company for the country’s judiicial wiretap system. It seems that after Hungary’s Orban ousting, Sanchez is Xi Jinping’s biggest useful idiot in the EU.
It seems you have a better grasp of Sanchez but to me he comes across as sincere when it comes to everything EU, and he has been fairly consistent for years. The China thing may be the exception, I know it baffled me when I read about the closer ties Sanchez was seeking.
I wrote it wrong, sort of. I know there have been some verdicts from the courts already but I also meant any verdict that Sanchez may face. As far as I know there’s no active case against him (yet), but then again when both your brother and wife are in hot water…
Sanchez has said he plans to run for re-election in 2027, curious to see if that still holds in a few months.