Austria's Minister of Labour, Christine Aschbacher, had not planned to resign from her post until 48 hours earlier, when accusations of plagiarism surfaced 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 mouths of the opposition parties and also from the teachers' collectives who are demonstrating 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, from whom the opposition has demanded that she step down.now for the error in the PISA tests.

Businesswoman Anna Navarro, who was Carles Puigdemont's great bet in the 2024 elections, is leaving Parliament. In a statement, Junts has announced that the party's number two candidate has resigned her seat, taking advantage of the end of the current session. She did so during a meeting of the parliamentary group, citing "personal and professional" reasons, according to the text released by the party. Navarro, however, will remain linked to the organization: she will continue to be part of Junts' permanent leadership and executive committee. Before making it public, she had communicated her decision to the party leader, Secretary General Jordi Turull, and the parliamentary group leader, Mònica Sales. During this legislature, Navarro had not played a prominent role in Parliament or in the party's major day-to-day decisions, despite being presented at the time as the Junts' great signing.  

Why do legislatures not run their course? The uncertainty of elections weighs heavily, and a good part of executives intend to see things through to the end, but many governments end up going to the polls ahead of time. In the case of European democratic systems, around 40% of elections are held before the end of the term set by current legislation. Therefore, holding elections before they are due is quite common. One might be tempted to think that early elections mainly occur due to negative factors, such as a corruption case, but this would not be the case. When a party governs alone, without a majority in the chamber, and especially when the economy is doing well, calling an election is usually a sure bet that governments use to obtain the desired majority of seats.

More than a year after the devastating DANA storm and his controversial handling of the situation, the Valencian president, Carlos Mazón, has resigned. He announced his resignation this Monday without even using the word "resignation." "I can't take it anymore," Mazón stated in an early morning press conference, speaking entirely in Spanish. The Valencian president offered self-criticism, but also blamed the Spanish government for the handling of the storm. However, he will not call elections, instead leaving it up to his party to negotiate a deal with Vox to choose his successor. This scenario will not be easy for Alberto Núñez Feijóo, as Mazón's resignation comes at one of the worst possible times for the People's Party (PP), with stagnant poll numbers and Vox gaining ground. In fact, Santiago Abascal's party hinted at their willingness to reach an agreement with the PP.

Monica Oltra has announced this Tuesday that she is resigning as vice president of the Valencian government as a result of her indictment in the case investigating the actions by the Ministry of Equality and Inclusive Policies over the abuse of a minor who was under Oltra's ex-husband Luis Eduardo Martínez's guardianship. The leader of Compromís said she took the decision in order "not to compromise the project of change initiated in 2015".