The European Commission is preparing a serious warning to Spain for its limited progress in the fight against corruption. The draft 2026 Rule of Law Report, whose official publication is scheduled for this Friday, calls for accelerating pending reforms and strengthening the bodies responsible for monitoring, investigating, and sanctioning irregularities.
…
The report reflects that nine out of ten Spaniards believe that corruption is widespread in the country. Social perception has worsened over the last five years and places Spain in 17th place among community partners and 49th in the world ranking.
The concern has also spread to companies that work with administrations. Four out of ten companies participating in public tenders believe that corruption has prevented them from securing a contract during the last three years, ten points above the European average.
Brussels also detects a rapid deterioration of business confidence in the functioning of awards. The percentage of companies that consider the Spanish public procurement system independent has fallen from 61% to 44% in just one year.
…
Public procurement continues to be for Brussels a “high-risk area for corruption”. 34% of Spanish tenders receive a single bid, compared to the 28% registered as the average in the European Union, a difference that limits competition and increases the risks of irregularities.
…
The Anti-Corruption Plan advances too slowly
The European Commission acknowledges the approval of the State Plan against Corruption announced by Pedro Sánchez in the summer of 2025, after the investigation of the Koldo case reached the then Secretary of Organization of the [ruling Socialist party] PSOE, Santos Cerdán.
The plan includes measures in five main areas: the prevention of irregularities, the strengthening of controls, the protection of whistleblowers and informants, the recovery of assets from crimes, and the increase of transparency and citizen participation. Brussels considers its approval positive, but calls for faster execution and verifiable results.
The Community Executive also analyzes the Public Integrity Bill, which proposes grouping the Office of Conflicts of Interest, the Independent Authority for the Protection of Informants, and a future National Anti-Fraud Agency. The intention is to bring together in a single body the competencies currently dispersed among different institutions.
For Brussels, this future supervisor will have to have true independence and sufficient powers to investigate and impose sanctions. A formal structure without budget, personnel, or executive capacity would be insufficient given the volume and complexity of the irregularities detected.
…
No real progress in lobby regulation
Spain also continues without approving a complete regulation of interest groups … The Independent Authority for the Protection of Whistleblowers has also not managed to fill its entire staff despite the increase in work. Since September 2025, it has received around 400 complaints, while its budgetary limitations hinder the management and protection of those who report possible irregularities. Brussels asks to guarantee the necessary resources to prevent complaints from getting caught in administrative delays.
Major corruption cases continue to last too long
The duration of high-level corruption proceedings once again appears among the main community concerns. Cases such as Gürtel, Púnica, Lezo, or Kitchen remain open or awaiting definitive resolutions more than a decade after their investigations began.
During 2025, 19 new corruption cases were opened at the state and autonomous community levels. Of the 76 procedures analyzed, 52 ended with convictions and 19 concluded with acquittals, according to the data collected in the draft.
…