The democratic quality of a country It is not measured only by the periodic holding of elections, but by the degree of transparency, integrity and real participation that it offers to its citizens, and the solidity of democracy itself depends on the level of trust of citizens in their institutions. In Spain, despite specific progress, during the last decade important shortcomings have persisted that limit social trust and institutional effectiveness. The arrival of 2026 should serve as a turning point to address a comprehensive package of reforms that, far from being symbolic, are essential to guarantee a modern, reliable State aligned with the most demanding international standards.
Below are a series of measures and reforms that we consider to be pending issues that must be addressed for this purpose in our country. First of all, a thorough reform of the Transparency Lawwhich continues to show important gaps: excessive exceptions (it would be necessary to expand the obligated subjects, including parties and constitutional bodies), insufficient capacity of the Transparency Council, an excessive obligation to motivate access to information and a structure that favors opacity more than active publicity. Furthermore, the regulation of the regulatory footprint and the publicity of agendas and meetings of senior officials must stop being a partial recommendation and become a generalized legal obligation at all levels of government.
On the other hand, Spain urgently needs a complete legal regulation of the activity of lobbiesas exists in other European countries and advanced democracies, that establishes a single and mandatory registry at the state level, regulatory traceability of meetings and clear limits on revolving doors. Institutional integrity also requires the professionalization of public appointments, guaranteeing processes based on merit, technical competence and publicity, instead of the all-too-frequent partisan quotas.
Another of the fundamental areas in this context is public procurement, which concentrates high corruption risksand regarding which numerous cases continue to arise in the media and police and judicial reports. Thus, unified and understandable contracting platforms are essential, allowing the complete spending cycle to be followed, identifying cost overruns and singular concentrations of suppliers, reinforcing risk analysis and facilitating citizen and institutional audits. At the same time, the public sector at its different levels needs robust internal controls capable of detecting irregularities before they generate economic losses or institutional scandals.
On the other hand, it is as necessary as it is urgent a drastic reduction in capacity and other procedural privileges, with Spain being among the countries with the highest number of people protected from ordinary jurisdiction. And we continue to see cases in which political representatives of both parties take advantage of this capacity. Limiting this legal figure to a very small group of senior officials (and only in the institutional, non-personal sphere) would be a clear sign of equality before the law and zero tolerance for impunity.
Furthermore, effective transparency is only possible if it is supported by accessible information. For this reason, Spain must promote an ambitious open data policy, with mandatory standards and interoperability, which would allow citizens, journalists and researchers to exercise greater control over public administration. Likewise, the periodic accountability of the executive branch It must cease to be a voluntaristic exercise: mandatory and public reporting on key policies would strengthen democratic culture.
A strengthening of social auditing, still very incipient in the Spanish system, would foster, among other things, a stable system of public monitoring of electoral promises and government programs, articulated through mixed observatories and publicly accessible indicator panels. In this context, the transparency of the parties and the electoral financingas well as the traceability of your expenses and greater clarity in donations.
And to guarantee the effective separation of powers, a reform that ensures judicial independence would be essential, in accordance with recommendations from international organizations such as GRECO, especially in the appointment processes of the State Attorney Generalhe General Council of the Judiciaryand other constitutional bodies.
The digitalization of the State poses, on the other hand, new challenges. Spain must implement solid control systems use of artificial intelligence in administrationguaranteeing auditability, non-discrimination and the right to explanation. At the same time, it is advisable to strengthen surveillance of compliance with the rules on incompatibilities, extending the cooling-off periods and centralizing information at the national level.
Another significant area is transparency in public subsidies and aid: the existence of multiple windows and heterogeneous criteria generates mistrust and makes public evaluation difficult. A single ad hoc platform, with clear criteria and periodic audits, would allow for more rigorous supervision, with a special line for universal access to detailed information on the European aid from Next Generation Fundsfacilitating open searches by criteria of institutions, geographical areas, public administrations, etc. Finally, Spain needs a national framework for evaluating public policies, mandatory and truly independent, that accompanies each law with clear objectives, rigorous and credible economic reports, verifiable indicators and real social participation throughout the life cycle of public policy.
Furthermore, Spain needs to finally provide itself with a true and effective National anti-corruption strategycoherent, evaluable and resourced, which should integrate and coordinate all levels of administration, setting clear objectives, indicators and deadlines, and be subject to periodic public review.
All of these reforms also require a substratum and social awareness of civic culture and a systematic incorporation of content on transparency, anti-corruption and social participation in the educational system at different levelsas well as citizen, business and public employee training programs.
In short, Spain needs to urgently address measures such as those mentioned above in 2026 if it wants to reduce areas of corruption and live up to European standards and citizens’ expectations. Transparency, integrity and participation must be basic and strategic objectives of political representatives and institutions in this country, which needs strengthening. political responsibility and open institutions to more demanding, informed and effective citizen control, which allows a recovery of the currently low citizen trust.
