Madrid Office

Mar 14th, 2024

Eight years of political change in Barcelona

The election of housing rights activist Ada Colau as Barcelona mayor in 2015 represented a political earthquake for the Catalan capital. Colau and her party pushed for extensive urban and social transformations. But they also faced strong resistance from the political and economic elites, as well as the inherent limits of municipal institutions in Spain, and the vagaries of party politics. Looking back at eight years of political change in Barcelona.

Mar 11th, 2024

Portugal: high instability and a shift to the right

Portugal’s national elections last Sunday saw the centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) led by Luis Montenegro, win by a very narrow margin. Even if the AD will be able to form an alliance with the Liberals, the new government will be far from a parliamentary majority. According to Andrea Peniche, as a result, the government will be left in the position of an electoral committee preparing new early elections, as this instability generates short political cycles without a clear leadership.

Jan 30th, 2024

“Choosing people’s lives over profits and high rents”

Early legislative elections will be held in Portugal next March 10th. The President of the Republic dismissed the government on December 7th and dissolved Parliament on January 15th, bringing an end to a Socialist Party government with an absolute majority elected on January 30th, 2022. The outgoing government was unable to resolve the population’s main difficulties - the housing crisis and bankruptcy for several public services, specifically health and education. This, together with several court cases and investigations into financial misconduct by members of the government, has brought Portugal to these early elections.

Jan 30th, 2024

The international alliances of the Spanish far right

Spain’s far right has lagged behind its counterparts in other European countries in gaining a foothold in Spanish political institutions. After the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, far-right platforms experienced failure after failure, and only starting in 2011 did they begin to gain representation in small town councils. Academics like Xavier Casals described this anomaly as an 'absent presence', meaning that the extreme right existed with a subset of voters, but these were mostly encompassed within the main conservative party, the Popular Party (PP). It was only in 2018 that Vox burst onto the scene and into several institutions, first in Andalusia and later across Spain.

Dec 18th, 2023

The Spanish far right mobilizes against the new progressive coalition government

In October 2023, the Spanish extreme right saw its biggest popular mobilizations for years, coinciding with the pacts between social democrats and pro-independence parties to give the Spanish presidency to Pedro Sánchez, the candidate of the social democratic Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).

Nov 8th, 2023

Vox's Public Policy

After the extreme right-wing party Vox entered the regional government of Castilla y León alongside the conservative Partido Popular (PP) in April 2022, the party gained more representation in the local and regional elections of 28 May 2023, allowing the PP-VOX coalition to be replicated in other autonomous communities previously run by progressive coalition governments. This has been the case in Extremadura, Aragon, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. Vox also entered the government of Murcia, until that time governed solely by the PP. Are the Spanish regional governments becoming laboratories for far-right public policies?

Oct 20th, 2023

What Can the Left Learn from the Spanish Elections?

The PSOE and Sumar have not developed a discourse whereby the “social” issues of the left-wing urban bourgeoisie are set against the social issues of the working classes. On the contrary, they have taken responsibility for their choices in the face of the right-wing offensive. They have continued to defend progressive values while stressing the importance of putting in place ambitious social measures, and this has in no way affected their electoral results among the working classes.

Oct 20th, 2023

The Spanish far-right's strategies to oppose women's rights and social advances

The struggle for women's rights has always generated reactionary waves from all those who refuse to question their privileges, relinquish power and unsettle the patriarchal structures on which capitalism is based. The far right, intent on reversing social policies and agreements on human rights as well as halting any progress being made, has put into action a whole raft of strategies being implemented across the globe.

Oct 3rd, 2023

In Portugal, the Left Is Rebuilding

With less than nine months to go before the 2024 European elections, democratic socialist parties across the continent are gearing up for campaign season. Conditions for the Left vary across Europe, with some parties poised to maintain or build on previous results, while other parties are struggling to keep their heads above water — to say nothing of the EU member-states where the Left has no parliamentary representation whatsoever.

Jun 16th, 2023

The Portuguese Left chooses Mariana Mortàgua as new leader

On 27 and 28 May, the Portuguese Bloco de Esquerda held its 13th National Convention in Lisbon. Its new leader Mariana Mortàgua reaffirmed the party's commitment to the popular struggle, the commitment to strengthen social movements and to the unity of the left. She also gave a name to the Left Bloc’s political project: socialism.

Nov 30th, 2022

Capping Prices, Taxing Profits

An analysis of the Spanish government’s response to the cost-of-living crisis

Oct 5th, 2022

Building a Strong Democratic Left in the Spanish State

Yolanda Díaz’s new coalition seeks to unite a broad front for transformational change

Feb 10th, 2022

Portugal’s leftwing on the wane

Contrary to all expectations, the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) won an absolute majority in the general election on 30 January

Dec 13th, 2021

Portugal's parliamentary election can be traced back to the Socialists' refusal to make a pact with left-wing forces

Socialist Prime Minister António Costa is calling an election in an attempt to secure an absolute majority

Nov 15th, 2021

LA PAH: A Handbook

How should we welcome people at assemblies? How should an assembly-based, decentralized movement be organized?

Oct 1st, 2021

In the Portuguese local elections, an easy win for the center over a split left and a fragile far-right

In the 2021 Local Elections, held on the 26th of September, PS held onto the strong lead its accrued since 2013, despite losing some key battlegrounds to PSD

Dec 2nd, 2020

Spain Recovery Plan: What is really in it?

The measures taken to deal with the health emergency arising from the spread of COVID-19 have led to an unprecedented economic slowdown. As a result, public institutions have activated plans, mechanisms and instruments that are intended to stop the shock, reactivate the economy and restore pre-pandemic normality

Analysing the Spanish Minimum Income Guarantee

Jun 24th, 2020