Welcome to SpainLandia, a happy country where judges, politicians and institutions scrupulously respect the law and citizens' rights, and where the rule of law is the envy of the world. Or so we are told. Beyond our borders, however, international corruption indices paint a very different picture that hardly anyone here dares to look at.
A picture-postcard country
According to the official narrative, we are a model country: a flawless judicial, political and institutional system, solid democratic values and exemplary respect for those who think differently. Everyone would like to copy our model. Or would they?
Reality is less kind. In Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, Spain scored 60 out of 100 in 2022, and in the most recent edition it has fallen to 55 points, ranking 49th out of 182 countries. What stands out is the contrast between that outside perception and how little attention our public debate pays to the facts that place us there. Is anyone in Spain corrupt? Is it not news? Is corruption really prosecuted?
Recovering the money: the great unfinished business
One piece of news from August 2023 went almost unnoticed: the closure, in the Valencian Community, of the office created to recover the assets diverted in the so-called Cooperación case, justified on the grounds that it had «met its objectives». According to reports, that office had managed to recover the roughly eight million euros defrauded.
The fact, which might seem positive, carries a troubling message. If a dedicated office has to be created to recover the money from a specific corruption case, it is because the ordinary system —one of whose functions is to protect public funds— finds no incentive of its own to do so. The major cases bear this out. According to figures published in the press:
- Malaya case: around 60 million euros reportedly recovered from looting estimated at 500 million.
- Andalusian ERE case: some 23 million recovered against around 1,200 million defrauded.
- Aid for digital terrestrial television: it took Europe's intervention for the European Commission to declare the aid unlawful and order Spain to recover it from the companies that benefited.
Any search engine will yield many more examples. The conclusion is the same: in Spain, stolen money rarely makes its way back to the public purse.
A country is not measured by the anti-corruption laws it passes, but by the money it manages to return to its citizens.
A half-finished anti-corruption map
Even more worrying is the structural root of the problem. Only a handful of autonomous communities have their own anti-fraud office or agency: the Valencian Community, Catalonia, Navarre, the Balearic Islands and Andalusia, among other more recent initiatives. What about the rest of the regions? Do they not dare? Is it not in their interest?
Without independent bodies with real investigative powers, preventing and prosecuting corruption is left in the hands of the very administrations that should be scrutinised. And when cases reach the courts, lack of resources, delays and the procedural privileges of many public office-holders do the rest. Corruption knows no boundaries between powers: it shows up in a legislature that passes tailor-made laws, in an executive that manages funds without oversight, and in a justice system that does not always pursue everyone with equal vigour.
What SpainLandia needs
- An independent nationwide authority against fraud and corruption, with powers of investigation and asset recovery.
- Anti-fraud offices in every autonomous community, with genuine autonomy and adequate budgets.
- Public, regular and verifiable statistics on the money diverted and actually recovered in each corruption case.
- Legal and fiscal priority for asset recovery, so that a judgment is not the end of the road but the beginning of redress.
Waking up from the fairy tale
SpainLandia is a comfortable fairy tale, but citizens deserve the truth. Every euro not recovered is a euro less for healthcare, education or pensions. Demanding transparency, effective anti-fraud offices and a justice system that pursues everyone equally is not utopian: it is the bare minimum in a state governed by the rule of law. Get informed, speak out and join those of us who refuse to live in a cardboard country.