Why do politicians (almost) never resign?

BarcelonaAustria's Minister of Labour, Christine Aschbacher, had not planned to resign from her post until, 48 hours prior, accusations of plagiarism were leaked on a blog by a professor commenting on her final thesis in 2021. Nor did French Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux, who in 2017 had hired his daughters as parliamentary assistants during the summer, even though French law still allowed the hiring of relatives. Nor Peter Magnus Nilsson, who in 2023 resigned as chief of staff to the Swedish Prime Minister for fishing eels without a license and denying it to the authorities when discovered. The culture of resignation is widespread in Nordic and Central European countries and contrasts with the attitude taken by politicians in Southern Europe.A clear example of this resistance are the presidents of the Spanish government in a context where the president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, remains in office despite the judicial cases surrounding his party and the constant demands for resignation from opposition parties, some of them until now parliamentary partners. Sánchez, however, is not the exception. While the United Kingdom, in ten years, has seen six prime ministers pass through number ten of Downing Street, in 51 years of Spanish democracy only the first Spanish president, Adolfo Suárez, resigned from his post.This same inertia is transferred to Catalan politicians. Precisely in recent months, the word resignationin the opposition parties' mouths and also from the teachers' groups protesting against the Government: they have pointed out the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, and the Director General of the Mossos, Josep Lluís Trapero, as well as the head of Education, Esther Niubó, who the opposition has demanded resign now for the error in the PISA tests.

Carlos Mazón took a year to resign over the management of the 'dana' in the Valencian Country and, although they have also been pointed out for the crises in Rodalies and for the accident in Adamuz, neither the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, nor the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, have found it pertinent to leave office. José Luis Ábalos clung to his seat in Congress while he could collect his salary as a deputy, despite being investigated for alleged corruption during his time as minister; Fernando Grande-Marlaska has collected a string of resignation requests in the eight years he has been Minister of the Interior, and Alberto Núñez Feijóo did not consider it opportune to step down when his photographs on the yacht of a known Galician drug trafficker were made public. Cristina Cifuentes also resisted resigning due to accusations of corruption in the Madrid government, until a video was made public proving that she had stolen some facial creams in a supermarket.Josep Maria Reniu, professor of political science at the University of Barcelona, highlights, in conversation with ARA, that in Catalonia and Spain, "voluntary resignation in the face of an error, a problem, or a particularly negative situation for the collective is interpreted more as a weakness, when it would really be an example of political and personal honesty," he indicates. "Our system does not incorporate the demand for resignation as a positive and healthy element," he adds resignedly.Cultural difference

The difference with the countries of Northern Europe "is not by chance", highlights Reniu, and places it in the religious and cultural legacy. The Protestant Reformation versus the Catholic Counter-Reformation. "In cultures of Protestant origin, the conception of public service is significantly different and better. There, the politician is understood, first and foremost, as a public servant", he affirms. In this mentality, "a public servant cannot lie or deceive. If they make a mistake related to their actions, asking for forgiveness is not enough. The best way to assume responsibility and seek forgiveness is by leaving office"."This is like trying to explain why people go into politics," highlights Carol Galais, a professor of political science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. "On the one hand, there is the motivation for public service. A rather altruistic impulse according to which the politician is willing to sacrifice their personal and professional life for the common good. In this case, if their reputation is called into question, the politician quits because their goal is no longer achievable," she explains. At the other extreme, however, we find political ambition. "Politics would thus be a way to boost one's personal career," she says. We are facing what Galais calls "dark personality traits," specifically narcissism. These are profiles that "enjoy public exposure and are rather impermeable to public criticism." "These politicians have such a high opinion of themselves that they lack self-critical capacity, and they have to be forced out because they will hardly leave voluntarily," she highlights.This narcissistic shielding that Galais describes finds in the Spanish state an ideal ecosystem to perpetuate itself. As Reniu points out, the idea of resigning for a minor offense is so foreign that, "if we mention it in a radio or television talk show, the first reaction would surely be a smile of skepticism instead of an demand." In this context, "the resignations that finally occur almost never respond to an assumption of direct responsibility, but rather the explanatory factor must be sought in "accessory issues" alien to the quality of public service," he explains.