During a recent press conference following a leadership committee meeting, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the president of the Popular Party, has announced plans for a legal change aimed at preventing future government budget extensions. He stated that if the General State Budgets are extended more than once, it should automatically lead to the dissolution of parliament and subsequent elections. Feijóo branded the continuous extensions as a ‘mockery’ and an example of ‘budgetary despotism’, asserting that Spain cannot continue without approved budgets.

Feijóo highlighted that the last approved budget by the government was from the year two thousand and twenty-three, with the current administration relying on temporary extensions. His statements follow criticisms of President Salvador Illa’s recent meeting with former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, which Feijóo claims demonstrates Illa’s unreliability and undermines the trust of Spanish voters.

In response to Sánchez’s suggestion of a state pact on climate change, Feijóo dismissed the idea, noting the government’s past failures to uphold such agreements. He emphasised the Popular Party’s commitment to addressing rural issues, including a need for legislative change based on feedback from agricultural communities to combat rural depopulation and environmental challenges.

The committee meeting aimed to refine the party’s strategy in anticipation of potential early elections, with discussions also covering ongoing judicial cases relating to the Sánchez government and monitoring electoral competition from Vox. Feijóo’s comments reflect a strategy designed to prepare the Popular Party for upcoming political challenges in late two thousand twenty-five or early the following year.