Institutional decay, once it takes hold, is far harder to repair
For the fourth consecutive year, the European Commission has looked at Spain's democratic machinery and found it wanting — a judiciary left in limbo by political deadlock, and a legislature that governs increasingly by emergency decree rather than deliberation. The Hay Derecho Foundation, a civil society voice for institutional integrity, has answered with a ten-point roadmap that asks a timeless question: do a nation's institutions serve the public, or do they serve the powerful? As Spain approaches elections, the answer it gives will shape not just policy, but the durability of democracy itself.
- Brussels has issued its fourth straight warning to Spain, citing a paralyzed judicial appointments body and a flood of decree-laws padded with unrelated amendments — signs of a governance system bending under partisan pressure.
- The dysfunction is bipartisan: the conservative opposition has weaponized judicial renewal as a political bargaining chip, while the governing left has bypassed parliament with emergency legislation, and both have eroded the institutional trust they were elected to protect.
- The Hay Derecho Foundation has stepped into the vacuum with a concrete ten-point manifesto, demanding that key institutions — from the General Prosecutor to public broadcasters — be insulated from electoral cycles and party control.
- Specific reforms proposed include removing politicians from public procurement, extending real legal protection to whistleblowers, modernizing secrecy laws, and depoliticizing state media — measures the foundation frames not as radical, but as the minimum infrastructure of a healthy democracy.
- The incoming government faces a convergence of external pressure from the EU and internal civic demand: implement structural reforms now, or risk institutional decay that no future election can easily undo.
Spain's next government will inherit a clear mandate from Brussels: repair the machinery of state. The European Commission's fourth consecutive rule-of-law report delivers a familiar and damning diagnosis — the country has blocked renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary for years, leaving courts understaffed and the appointments system frozen. Meanwhile, the government has legislated by emergency decree at a pace that alarms European observers, loading urgent measures with unrelated amendments and bypassing the deliberative scrutiny that gives laws their legitimacy.
The blame is shared. The conservative People's Party has used judicial renewal as political leverage in a polarized parliament. The governing left has responded with decree-laws rather than consensus-building. Both behaviors corrode democratic foundations, and neither party emerges innocent from Brussels' assessment.
The Hay Derecho Foundation has gone further than the Commission's report, drafting a ten-point manifesto that names the deeper disease: Spain's institutions have grown too entangled with electoral politics, too willing to serve whoever holds power. Its proposals are specific and structural. The General Prosecutor should be selected through a process shielded from party influence, with a term decoupled from the electoral calendar. Politicians should be removed from public procurement decisions — a straightforward measure that would close a major corridor for corruption. Whistleblowers need real, uniform legal protection aligned with European standards. State secrecy laws, relics of another era, require modernization. And public broadcasting must be freed from the grip of whichever party governs.
What gives this moment weight is the alignment between the foundation's roadmap and the Commission's recommendations — but the foundation goes deeper, offering incoming leaders not vague aspirations but actionable steps. The question it places before voters is not one of left versus right, but of whether Spain's institutions will serve the public or serve themselves. Policies can be reversed by the next election; institutional decay, once entrenched, is far harder to undo.
Spain's next government will inherit a clear mandate from Brussels: fix what's broken in the machinery of state. The European Commission has now issued its fourth consecutive report on the health of Spanish democracy, and the diagnosis is familiar and damning. The country stands accused of blocking the renewal of its General Council of the Judiciary—the body responsible for appointing judges—leaving the courts understaffed and the system degraded. At the same time, the government has been legislating by emergency decree at a pace that alarms European observers, stuffing these urgent measures with amendments that have nothing to do with their stated purpose. The result is a kind of institutional rot: laws passed in haste, without proper scrutiny, their quality compromised by the speed and the political opportunism baked into them.
The blame, as Brussels carefully notes, is distributed. The conservative People's Party has blocked judicial renewal for years, a form of leverage in a polarized parliament. The left-leaning government, meanwhile, has resorted to decree-laws as a workaround, legislating by fiat rather than building consensus. Both behaviors corrode the foundations of democratic governance. Neither party is innocent, and both have contributed to a system that increasingly serves partisan interests rather than the public good.
But the European Commission's report is only part of the picture. The Hay Derecho Foundation, a civil society organization focused on institutional integrity, has gone further. It has drafted a ten-point manifesto diagnosing the deeper problem: Spain's institutions have become too political, too tied to the electoral cycle, too willing to bend to whoever holds power. The foundation's proposals cut to the heart of what good governance actually requires. The General Prosecutor, for instance, should be chosen through a process insulated from party politics, with a term that does not track the electoral calendar, and with clear limits on the prosecutor's power to hire, fire, and promote. The same logic applies to other institutions meant to check and balance executive power. If these bodies remain hostage to political majorities, the quality of democracy itself declines.
The foundation's ten measures extend into other critical areas. Public procurement should be stripped of elected officials and politicians—a simple rule that would eliminate a major vector for corruption. Whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing should have real, uniform legal protection across the country, aligned with European standards. The law on state secrets, a relic of an earlier era, needs modernizing to allow genuine transparency and accountability. And perhaps most fundamentally, public broadcasting should be depoliticized, freed from the grip of whoever controls the government. These are not radical demands. They are the basic infrastructure of a functioning democracy.
What makes this moment significant is that these proposals from the foundation align closely with the European Commission's recommendations, but go deeper and more systematically. They offer incoming political leaders a concrete roadmap—not a vague call for reform, but specific measures that could be implemented. The foundation's argument is that voters deserve to know where each party stands on these questions before they cast ballots. The stakes are not about left versus right, not about which party's policies will prevail. The stakes are about whether Spain's institutions will serve the public or serve themselves. That distinction matters more than any single policy, because policies can be reversed by the next election, but institutional decay, once it takes hold, is far harder to repair.
Notable Quotes
More important than concrete policies, whether left or right, is good governance— Implied from Hay Derecho Foundation manifesto
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does Brussels keep coming back to this same problem? Why the fourth report?
Because nothing has changed. The judicial council still isn't renewed. The government still legislates by decree. It's not that Spain is uniquely corrupt—it's that the system has no brakes.
And the Hay Derecho Foundation's manifesto—is that a real alternative, or just wishful thinking?
It's concrete. They're not asking for revolution. They're asking for the prosecutor to have a fixed term, for public contracts to exclude politicians, for whistleblowers to have legal cover. These are things that work in other democracies.
But if both major parties have benefited from the current system, why would either one agree to these reforms?
That's the real question. The foundation's point is that voters should demand it. Make it a condition of support. Right now, the parties can ignore it because nobody's holding them accountable.
So this is about public pressure, not about law?
It's about both. The law has to change, but the law only changes when people insist on it. The European Commission can scold, but Spain has to choose to listen.
What happens if the next government ignores all of this?
The institutions get weaker. The courts stay understaffed. The government keeps legislating in the dark. And Spain drifts further from what a real democracy looks like.