Spain needs a deep upgrade. Our representatives devote more energy to fighting each other than to sealing the cracks through which public money leaks away, and the institutions meant to curb corruption rarely succeed. Against this worn-out version of the country we propose another: Spain v2.0, a genuine rule-of-law State where the law binds everyone equally.
A system that does not correct itself
We live in a country where scandals follow one another while the rules that made them possible barely change. Parties trade accusations but rarely agree on the reforms that would shrink their own areas of impunity; their priority seems to be keeping their own side's ratings up. The result is a widespread feeling among citizens that corruption is part of the landscape and that reporting it achieves nothing.
That feeling is well founded. The European Commission's annual Rule of Law Reports keep identifying outstanding issues in Spain, from the system for appointing the judiciary's governing body to the regulation of lobbying and other integrity tools. The Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) devoted an entire evaluation round to preventing corruption among parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors, and its recommendations have been implemented unevenly.
All three branches in the mirror
Corruption is not the preserve of a single branch of power. It shows in the legislature when it passes laws tailored to particular interests or blocks those that would limit its privileges; in the Government, when it uses public procurement, appointments or subsidies as bargaining chips; and in the judiciary, when corporatism or political dependence prevent the investigation of those who ought to be investigated. When all three fail at once, citizens are left without a referee.
The rule of law is not proclaimed in a constitution: it is proven every day in the way the State treats the powerful who break the law.
What Spain v2.0 means
Spain v2.0 is not a slogan but a minimum programme of renewal. At the very least, it means:
- Returning what was stolen: public officials and private individuals convicted of corruption must be effectively required to pay the money back, with swift mechanisms to trace and confiscate assets.
- Answering for crimes: nobody should be beyond the reach of justice because of their office, party or connections, and cases must not lapse because of slow courts.
- Ending privileged jurisdiction: respecting Article 14 of the Constitution, which proclaims the equality of all Spaniards before the law, and abolishing the special procedural forums of politicians and judges.
- Real transparency: Law 19/2013 on transparency, access to public information and good governance must actually be enforced, with effective penalties for those who withhold information.
- Protecting whistleblowers: those who expose corruption must not end up as the accused, and the protection authorities provided for in Law 2/2023 must act independently.
We will keep adding to this list with proposals from our members and from the like-minded organisations we work with.
From outrage to action
The current version of the country is not an inevitable sentence. Every request for public information, every well-founded complaint, every appeal that forces an administration to give reasons for its decisions and every citizen who refuses to look the other way is a line of code in Spain v2.0. The reforms we propose do not require miracles, only political will, and that will only appears when society demands it persistently.
We invite you to join ACCYDED, share this proposal and demand concrete, verifiable commitments from your representatives. The upgrade starts with us.