Prime Minister of Spain

Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain

Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón has served as Prime Minister (formally President of the Government) of Spain since 2 June 2018, when he became the first person to take the office through a successful motion of no confidence, ousting Mariano Rajoy of the Partido Popular. He has since led four governments: the minority PSOE cabinet of 2018–2020, the first post-1977 left-wing coalition with Unidas Podemos (January 2020 – November 2023), and the current second PSOE–Sumar–regionalist arrangement that followed the 23 July 2023 general election, in which he was re-invested by 179 votes to 171 on 16 November 2023. A second snap vote called in late 2023 had looked likely to put the PP’s Alberto Núñez Feijóo in power, but Feijóo fell short of a parliamentary majority and Sánchez assembled a cross-bench coalition including ERC, Junts, PNV, EH Bildu and Canaria Coalición — the last in exchange for a controversial amnesty for the 2017 Catalan independence referendum.

Sánchez was born on 29 February 1972 in Madrid. An economist by training — with a doctorate from Camilo José Cela University — he taught at Madrid universities, worked briefly in the European Parliament and the UN office in Kosovo, and served as a Madrid city councillor before entering the Cortes in 2009. He won the PSOE leadership in 2014, lost it in an internal revolt in October 2016 (over his refusal to let a PP government take office), and regained it dramatically on 21 May 2017 in a grass-roots primary — becoming the first ousted party leader in Spanish history to return to the same job.

The 2023 Amnesty and Catalonia

The defining bargain of Sánchez’s current mandate was the Organic Amnesty Law, approved by the Cortes in May 2024 and finally declared mostly constitutional by the Constitutional Court in June 2025. The law extinguished criminal proceedings linked to the 2017 independence push, enabling former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont — a fugitive since 2017 — to return legally to Spain. Parliamentary support from Junts and ERC remains conditional, fragile, and frequently rebellious; Junts withdrew confidence in July 2025 over tax-transfer negotiations, forcing Sánchez to govern on a vote-by-vote basis.

Economic Performance

Spanish GDP growth has been the strongest of the major EU economies — 2.7% in 2024 and 2.5% in 2025 per Bank of Spain data, driven by a tourism rebound (record 94 million visitors in 2024), post-pandemic EU recovery-fund disbursement (€163 billion allocated through 2026), and vigorous labour-market reform. Unemployment, which peaked near 27% in 2013, has fallen to roughly 10.5% in early 2026, the lowest since 2007. Inflation has moderated to 2.1%. Wage gains, a 2022 labour-market reform that curbed temporary contracts, and record immigration (Spain’s population passed 49 million in 2025 for the first time in history) have together redrawn the macroeconomic picture.

Foreign Policy

Sánchez has positioned Spain as a pro-Ukraine, pro-European-integration voice. Spain was the first G20 and largest European state to formally recognise the State of Palestine (on 28 May 2024, jointly with Ireland and Norway), and has been among the most outspoken European governments against the Israeli conduct of the Gaza war. Spain has pushed for the adoption of Catalan, Basque and Galician as EU languages. Relations with Morocco — recalibrated in 2022 when Sánchez endorsed Morocco’s Western Sahara autonomy plan — remain central given joint migration management. Spain crossed the NATO 2% of GDP defence threshold in 2025 and has pledged to reach 2.1% by 2029.

Political Turbulence: Corruption Probes and the King

Sánchez’s wife Begoña Gómez, brother David Sánchez, and former PSOE organisation secretary Santos Cerdán have all faced judicial investigation since 2024 on influence-peddling and corruption allegations that the government has characterised as lawfare. In April 2024 Sánchez briefly suspended his public duties for five days to “reflect” on whether to resign, ultimately deciding to continue. Under the constitution, King Felipe VI is head of state; Crown Princess Leonor turned 20 in October 2025 and is in active military training.