Pedro Sánchez

Prime minister of Spain

• Born: February 29, 1972
• Place of Birth: Madrid, Spain

Education: Complutense University; Free University of Brussels; IESE Business School; University Camilo José Cela

Significance: Economist and politician Pedro Sánchez of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) became the prime minister of Spain in 2018 following a no-confidence vote that unseated Mariano Rajoy.

Background

Pedro Sánchez was born on February 29, 1972, in Madrid, Spain, to a wealthy family. He grew up in Tetuán, a district in Madrid. He attended IES Ramiro de Maeztu, a high school in Madrid, where he was a member of the students’ academy. An avid basketball player, he played with the student youth club Estudiantes until he was twenty-one. Foregoing his dream to become a professional basketball player, he studied economics and business at Complutense University. Sánchez joined the PSOE in 1993 while an undergraduate student. After he graduated in 1995, he earned a master’s degree in political economy from the Free University of Brussels in 1998, a master’s degree in public leadership from Spain’s IESE Business School, and a Ph.D. in economics and business from the University Camilo José Cela in Madrid in 2012.

Political Career

Sánchez began his career teaching economics at the university level. He also became active with the Madrid branch of the PSOE. In 1999, he joined the United Nations as the chief of staff to the UN high representative to Bosnia during the Kosovo conflict (1998–1999). After the conflict ended, he worked as a business consultant for various companies and as an economic adviser to the PSOE’s federal executive committee. In 2000, he served as a delegate at the PSOE’s thirty-fifth national congress.

Sánchez first entered public office at the municipal level. He became a city councilor in Madrid in 2004 when he was appointed to fill the seat of a councilor who had resigned. He left that seat in 2009 to become a member of the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Spanish Parliament, again to fill a vacancy created by a resignation. After the People’s Party landslide victory in 2011 that brought Mariano Rajoy to power, he lost his seat in the Congress. He returned to school, earned a doctorate, and resumed working as an economics professor and consultant.

In 2013, Sánchez once again became a member of the Congress of Deputies by taking the seat of a member who resigned. The next year, he was elected leader of the PSOE. Relatively unknown, he won over PSOE members by traveling around the country and campaigning on progressive issues, including constitutional reform and expanded public services. After he took the reins as the leader of the center-left party, infighting among party members broke out, with some questioning Sánchez’s direction and accusing him of being too far left. Things worsened after the PSOE took a beating in the 2015 election and lost seats in Parliament. After another dismal showing in the 2016 general elections and his standoff with Prime Minister Rajoy’s efforts to form a government, Sánchez lost a party assembly vote and resigned as the PSOE’s leader in October 2016.

After a road trip in which he reconnected with party voters, Sánchez was once again elected the leader of the PSOE in May 2017. On June 1, 2018, Sánchez called for a parliamentary vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Rajoy. Rajoy’s People’s Party had been embroiled in a corruption scandal, and just the week before, his former treasurer and several top members of the People’s Party had been found guilty of taking illegal kickbacks. The no-confidence vote passed with 180 of 350 votes. In accordance with Spain’s system, which requires the initiator of a no-confidence vote to propose a new prime minister, Sánchez succeeded the ousted Rajoy and was sworn in on June 2, 2018.

Sánchez faced numerous challenges as prime minister. In order to gain the necessary votes to succeed in the no-confidence vote, he had reached out to several smaller parties to gain their support. Four parties, including the left-wing Podemos party, two pro-Catalan independence parties, and the Basque Nationalist Party, agreed to back him, with the latter agreeing to support Sánchez in exchange for his promise to address the issue of Catalonia’s independence. Catalonia is a region of Spain with a distinct culture, its own language, and autonomous government since 1975. In October 2017, it held a referendum that supported separation from Spain and shortly after declared its independence. Spain then withdrew Catalonia’s autonomy, and no nations have recognized Catalonia’s independence.

Despite the backing of these parties for the parliamentary no-confidence vote, Sánchez did not have a majority backing in the Congress of Deputies to carry out his intended policies and reforms. Of the 350 seats in Congress, only 84 seats were held by the PSOE. The party gained strength following Sánchez's arrival in office, buoyed by his popular policies like raising the minimum wage and filling his Cabinet with female appointees. In January 2020 Sánchez narrowly won a confidence vote in parliament by a margin of 167 votes to 165 and became the leader of the first coalition government in Spain since 1978.

One of the largest challenges faced by Sánchez was the coronavirus pandemic. He faced criticisms and calls to implement more stringent measures from Spanish citizens and leaders as cases rose in 2020 and Spain became the first European country to pass the one million mark of officially recorded COVID-19 cases. Sánchez imposed lockdowns and curfews to try to curb infection rates following a second wave of the virus in October 2020, while also giving regional leaders the authority to make decisions for their constituents in an effort to offload some of the burden of the pandemic from the office of prime minister. The impact of the pandemic was harder on Spain’s economy than most countries in Europe, but within two years of the onset of the illness, the economy had recovered. Because the country has a low dependence on Russian oil, it was spared the economic consequences of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In March 2023, Sanchez survived a no-confidence vote by a large margin. The following year, Sánchez's wife was charged with influence pedding and corruption.

Impact

Since taking office, Pedro Sánchez has managed to avoid debilitating political instability, but he has been thwarted in accomplishing several goals he expressed in June 2018 when he became prime minister. Immediately after taking office, Catalan president Quim Torra demanded Sánchez come up with a plan for Catalonia’s independence. Sánchez promised to engage in dialogue with the Catalan nationalists, but his failure to make substantial progress by October 2018 resulted in Torra threatening to withdraw his support for Sánchez’s government.

Sánchez had announced his plan to use the Rajoy budget, which included several austerity measures to help Spain maintain its recovery from the economic crisis of 2008. While the economy had grown, unemployment and the national debt remained high. He was unable to pass the budget within the first hundred days after taking office, as the Podemas MPs demanded less austerity. By November 2018, a Spanish poll showed the public had lost its support for Sánchez, with over two-third of the respondents disapproving of his performance. During the coronavirus pandemic, Sánchez grappled with additional challenges as he managed restrictions to help decrease infection rates. His policies were well received by 2022.

Personal Life

Sánchez and Maria Begoña Gómez Fernández married in 2006. They have two daughters, Ainhoa and Carolota. Sánchez is an avid basketball and soccer fan. He is fluent in French and English.

Bibliography

Gallardo, Cristina. "Spain's Pedro Sánchez Adopts More Hands-Off Approach to Second Coronavirus Wave." Politico, 28 Oct. 2020, www.politico.eu/article/spain-coronavirus-pedro-sanchez-adopts-more-hands-off-approach-second-wave. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.

Jones, Sam. “Honeymoon Over for Spain’s Socialists as Rivals Seize on Scandals.” The Guardian, 25 Oct. 2018, www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/25/honeymoon-over-for-spain-socialists-as-rivals-seize-on-scandals. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.

Minder, Raphael. “Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s New Leader, Returns from the Political Wilderness.” The New York Times, 3 June 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/06/03/world/europe/spain-pedro-sanchez.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.

Sommerlad, Joe. “Pedro Sanchez: Who Is Spain’s New Prime Minister?” Independent, 1 June 2018, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pedro-sanchez-who-is-spain-new-prime-minister-mariano-rajoy-no-confidence-a8378886.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.

"Spanish Court Summons PM Sanchez's Wife Over Corruption Allegations." Reuters, 4 June 2024, www.reuters.com/world/europe/spanish-court-summons-pm-sanchezs-wife-over-corruption-allegations-2024-06-04/. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.

Torres, Diego. “Pedro Sánchez’s 100 Days of Commotion.” Politico, 13 Sept. 2018, www.politico.eu/article/pedro-sanchez-spain-100-days-of-commotion. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.

“Who Is Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s Prime Minister-Designate?” DW, 6 Jan. 2018, www.dw.com/en/who-is-pedro-sanchez-spains-prime-minister-designate/a-44041431. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.