The Spanish government remains alone defending the lobbying law

MadridThe Spanish government faces a new vote in Congress this Wednesday that will translate, if nothing changes, into a new defeat. The Spanish lower house will strike down the royal decree law of Pedro Sánchez's executive to regulate pressure or interest groups, popularly known as lobbies. These are groups that seek to influence the legislative agenda of politics by weaving ties with political parties, the parliamentary groups in the Congress of Deputies or the Senate, or the Spanish government itself. During the debate, the PP, Vox, and Junts have announced that they will vote against it. The PNV will abstain and the rest of the groups, in principle, will vote in favor, although ERC, Bildu, the BNG, and even Sumar, the junior partner, have been critical of the Spanish government, which has been left alone in the defense of the text.

Among other things, the reform, approved in the first council of ministers after the summer break, includes the creation of a state, public, and mandatory registry of interest groups. It also attributes the management of the registry and sanctioning power to the Council for Transparency and Good Governance. "I do not understand why they would vote against it," lamented the Minister for Public Function and Digital Transformation, Óscar López. During his speech, he announced a last-minute change to try to appease the parties, in particular Sumar, by excluding the agents of "social dialogue" from the reform—unions and employers' associations—, although he did not specify the scope of the modification.

Lack of negotiation

The main complaint from Junts, but also from the rest of the political parties, has been the "lack of negotiating will" of the Spanish government. The Junts members have denied that there has been any negotiation, contrary to what the PSOE spokesperson, Patxi López, as well as the minister, have said: "Do not perform gymnastics. You know that I myself have negotiated this [with your party] in Barcelona," stated López. Junts, on the other hand, asserts that their proposals have not been included. In particular, those that would allow small and medium-sized enterprises or non-profit associations or private citizens to be left out of the interest groups registry.

"The president of a neighborhood association is not the same as Pepe Blanco," said Junts deputy, Josep Pagès, during his speech. Pagès did not hesitate to point out that those who must be controlled are the large corporations or consultancies that engage in lobbying and meetings with them. This would include, for example, Repsol, with whom Junts met after voting against the extraordinary tax on energy companies. During the processing of the tax, the party took on the pressure from the oil company.

All parties, even those that have indicated they will vote in favor of the rule, have criticized the Spanish government for bringing a closed royal decree-law, while a bill on transparency and integrity of interest group activities that sought, precisely, to regulate lobbying has been sitting in a drawer in Congress since January 2025. "This is negligence," asserted PP deputy Edurne Uriate. "The alternative is not non-legislation, do not confuse the population. Let's reactivate the bill," proposed Uriate.

The Spanish government, however, reproaches the PP that it is "difficult" to understand their vote against it, especially after having defended it in "Brussels". López, who recalled cases such as that of former minister Cristóbal Montoro, has insinuated that deep down the Popular Party does not want there to be transparency: "I only [understand the vote against it] if there is a dark motive, if someone does not want there to be transparency".

Safeguarding social dialogue

"Social dialogue is shielded," the minister defended. In recent weeks, the Spanish executive had also received criticism from the majority unions, CCOO and the UGT, and the Spanish business association CEOE for not having excluded them from the regulation, considering that their role is shielded in the Constitution. Finally, the Minister for Public Function has announced that they will approve an amendment throughout the month of October through a new regulation to exclude "social dialogue." The lack of specificity regarding this has been denounced by ERC deputy Francesc Marc-Álvaro.

The speed of the processing – approving a royal decree and not attempting to unblock the bill – is the result of the link between this reform and the arrival of European anti-pandemic funds, as the minister himself has acknowledged. Specifically, it is one of the milestones that the Spanish government must meet to receive the final disbursement (about 25 billion euros, mostly transfers), which it plans to request this month of September. Sources from the Ministry of Economy have not made a calculation of the money that could be at stake.