Pedro Sánchez
Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón is a Spanish politician and economist who has served as Prime Minister of Spain since 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party since July 2017, having previously held that office from 2014 to 2016, and has also been serving as the ninth president of Socialist International since 2022.
Sánchez began his political career in August 2004 as a city councillor in Madrid, before being elected to the Congress of Deputies in 2009. In 2014, he was elected Secretary-General of the PSOE, becoming Leader of the Opposition. He led the party through the inconclusive 2015 and 2016 general elections, but resigned as Secretary-General shortly after the latter, following public disagreements with the party's executive. He was re-elected in a leadership election eight months later, defeating internal rivals Susana Díaz and Patxi López.
On 1 June 2018, the PSOE called a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, successfully passing the motion after winning the support of Unidas Podemos, as well as various regionalist and nationalist parties. Sánchez was appointed prime minister by King Felipe VI the following day. He went on to lead the PSOE to gain 38 seats in the April 2019 general election, the PSOE's first national victory since 2008, although they fell short of a majority. After talks to form a government failed, Sánchez again won the most votes at the November 2019 general election, forming a minority coalition government with Unidas Podemos, the first national coalition government since the country's return to democracy. After the PSOE suffered significant losses in regional elections in May 2023, Sánchez called a snap general election, which saw the PSOE hold all of its seats; despite finishing second behind the People's Party, Sánchez was able to again form a coalition government, and was appointed to a third term as Prime Minister on 17 November 2023.
Early life and education
Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón was born in 1972 in Madrid to well-off parents, Pedro Sánchez Fernández and Magdalena Pérez-Castejón. His father was a public administrator who spent most of his career at the Ministry of Culture's Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y de la Música. He later became the owner of an industrial packing company. His mother also worked as a civil servant, in the social security system, and later studied to become a lawyer, ultimately graduating alongside her son at the same university. Raised in the Tetuán district, he went on to study at the Colegio Santa Cristina. According to Sánchez himself, he frequented breakdancing circles in AZCA when he was a teenager. He moved from the Colegio Santa Cristina to the Instituto Ramiro de Maeztu, a public high school where he played basketball in the Estudiantes youth system, with links to the high school, reaching the U-21 team. As a teenager, Sánchez spent time in Dublin to learn English.In 1993, Sánchez first joined the PSOE, following the victory of Felipe González in that year's general election. He earned a licentiate degree from the Real Colegio Universitario María Cristina, attached to the Complutense University of Madrid, in 1995. Following his graduation, he moved to New York City to work for a global consulting firm.
In 1998, Sánchez moved to Brussels to work for the PSOE's delegation to the European Parliament, including as an assistant to the MEP Bárbara Dührkop. He also spent time working in the staff of the United Nations High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Carlos Westendorp. Combining studies with his employment, he earned a second degree, in Politics and Economics, in 1998, graduating from the Université libre de Bruxelles. He also earned a degree in business leadership from IESE Business School in the University of Navarra, a private university and apostolate of the Opus Dei, and a diploma in Advanced Studies in EU Monetary Integration from the Instituto Ortega y Gasset in 2002. In 2012, Sánchez received his Doctorate in Economics from the Universidad Camilo José Cela, where he lectured in economics.
Political career
Madrid councillor and member of parliament
In 2003, Sánchez stood for Madrid City Council as a PSOE candidate, under the local leadership of Trinidad Jiménez. He was 23rd on the proportional representation list, but missed out as the PSOE won only 21 seats. Sánchez joined the council a year later by co-option when two of the PSOE councillors resigned. He quickly rose to become a close confidante of Trinidad Jiménez, who sought the leadership of the council. In 2005, he was seconded to help lead the PSdG campaign in the Galician regional election, which saw the PSdG win enough seats to allow their leader, Emilio Pérez Touriño, to become President of Galicia. As well as his career as a Madrid City Councillor, Sánchez also worked as a university lecturer at the Universidad Camilo José Cela in 2008, lecturing on Economic Structure and History of Economic Thought.Via co-option, Sánchez was elected to the Spanish Congress of Deputies for Madrid to replace the retiring Pedro Solbes, who has served as Finance Minister under PSOE Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. However, his first period in the Congress would be short, as at the 2011 general election, the PSOE suffered a large defeat and only elected 10 deputies for Madrid; with Sánchez 11th on the proportional list, he lost his seat in the Congress. He subsequently enrolled at the UCJC to study a Doctorate in Economics, earning his PHD 18 months later by writing a dissertation entitled Innovaciones de la diplomacia económica española: Análisis del sector público , supervised by María Isabel Cepeda González. In 2018, Sánchez was accused by the ABC newspaper of plagiarism in his doctorate. Refuting the allegations, Sánchez published his full thesis online. However, these allegations have been disputed by Markus Goldbach, CEO of Plagscan, a plagiarism checker software previously presented as evidence.
In January 2013, Sánchez returned to Congress representing Madrid, replacing Cristina Narbona, who resigned to accept appointment at the Nuclear Safety Council.
After the resignation of PSOE leader Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, following poor results at the 2014 European Parliament election, Sánchez launched his campaign to succeed him on 12 June 2014. He was elected as PSOE Secretary-General on 13 July, winning 49% of votes against his opponents Eduardo Madina and José Antonio Pérez Tapias. He was formally appointed Secretary-General after an Extraordinary Congress of the PSOE was held on 26 July to ratify the result, becoming Leader of the Opposition.
Leader of the Opposition
Presenting a platform based on political regeneration, Sánchez called for constitutional reforms establishing federalism as the form of administrative organisation of Spain to ensure that Catalonia would remain within the country; a new progressive fiscal policy; extending the welfare state to all citizens; increasing the membership of labour unions to strengthen economic recovery; and regaining the confidence of former Socialist voters disenchanted by the measures taken by Zapatero during his term as prime minister amid an economic crisis. He also opposed the grand coalition model supported by the former PSOE Prime Minister Felipe González, who lobbied in favour of adopting a more German system to prevent political instability, by instructing his European party caucus not to support the consensus candidate Jean-Claude Juncker of the European People's Party for the role of President of the European Commission.Upon taking office as PSOE's Secretary-General, Sánchez quickly faced a political crisis following the formation of a new left-wing party, Podemos. Polling approximated that 25% of PSOE supporters would switch their support to Podemos. Sánchez responded by pushing his proposed federal model to replace the devolution model, and calling for the further secularisation of Spain's education system, including the removal of religious-affiliated public and private schools. He later named César Luena as his deputy leader. On Sunday, 21 June 2015, Sánchez was officially announced as the PSOE candidate for prime minister in the upcoming general election. At the election on 20 December, the PSOE won 90 seats, ahead of Podemos who won 69 seats, but coming second to the People's Party, who won with 123 seats. As the PP could not form a government, Sánchez was formally requested by the King in January 2016 to attempt to form a coalition, but he could not win the support of a majority of representatives. This led to a snap general election in June 2016, where the PSOE lost several seats and remained second to the PP.
Resignation and comeback
Following the 2016 general election, Sánchez argued the PSOE should refuse to allow the PP to form a government, which would break the national political deadlock. Susana Díaz, the President of Andalusia, began to lead criticism of Sánchez's leadership, arguing that his hardline position on government formation was harming the party. After poor results for the PSOE in the September Basque and Galician regional elections, numerous PSOE figures followed Díaz in calling for Sánchez's resignation. The situation quickly developed into a party crisis, dubbed by some in the media as the "war of the roses", after Sánchez called a special PSOE congress for the autumn to settle the issue. This prompted half of the PSOE executive committee to resign, and on Saturday, 1 October 2016, Sánchez lost a vote in the PSOE federal committee to support his proposals for an autumn congress; he immediately resigned as Secretary-General and was replaced by an interim "caretaker committee" while a fresh leadership election could be organised.Soon after his resignation, the PSOE caretaker committee decided to abstain in the investiture vote, which would enable the PP's Mariano Rajoy to be re-elected as prime minister. Saying that he could not obey this directive as it would mean "betraying his word" not to allow Rajoy to be re-elected, Sánchez resigned his seat in the Congress of Deputies, and declared he would stand in the upcoming leadership election. 15 PSOE MPs broke party discipline in response, by refusing to abstain in the investiture vote and voting against Rajoy, yet as Rajoy only needed an abstention from 11 PSOE MPs out of 84, he easily won the vote to be invested as prime minister.
After resigning as Secretary-General and from the Congress, Sánchez began a national tour, driving his own car around to visit party members throughout different parts of Spain. After an energetic campaign, during which he criticised the caretaker committee for allowing the investiture of Rajoy, on Sunday, 21 May 2017, Sánchez was re-elected Secretary-General by the party membership, taking 50.2% of the vote, and defeating his rival Susana Díaz, who took 39.94%, as well as Patxi López, who won 9.85%; his position was affirmed at a PSOE executive meeting on 17 June, and the following day he was confirmed as Leader of the Opposition, despite no longer holding a seat in the Congress.
As Leader of the Opposition, Sánchez joined Mariano Rajoy in opposing the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, and supported the Spanish Government's decision to dismiss the Catalan Government and impose direct rule on Catalonia in October 2017 following the crisis.
Throughout 2017 and 2018, the Gürtel trial caused controversy for the Rajoy Government; finally, after critical verdicts were announced in May 2018, Sánchez announced that the PSOE would file a motion of no confidence against Rajoy. Under the Spanish Constitution, such motions are constructive, meaning those bringing the motion must simultaneously propose a replacement candidate for prime minister. If the motion carries, the replacement candidate is automatically deemed to have the confidence of the Congress and ascends as prime minister. Accordingly, the PSOE nominated Sánchez as the alternative prime minister. Sánchez led negotiations with other political parties, and ultimately secured the support of enough minor parties in the Congress to guarantee passage of the motion. On Friday, 1 June 2018, 180 Deputies supported the motion of no confidence, clearing the required threshold of 176, forcing Rajoy's resignation. Rajoy recommended Sánchez as his successor.