MADRID, Spain – Spanish politics has entered a new phase of heightened tension following the Ceuta crisis, triggered by the arrival of more than 70,000 migrants from Morocco to the Spanish autonomous city in late July, an event that drew harsh criticism from numerous European Union countries against Pedro Sánchez’s government, particularly from Italy and Denmark, and combined with mounting corruption cases to prompt the Popular Party to renew its call for a change in the legislative course.
Spanish Congress Urges Sánchez to Resign or Face Confidence Vote
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, president of the Popular Party, has again insisted on the possibility of presenting a no-confidence motion if the Basque Nationalist Party and Junts would support it, but the parliamentary partners who backed Sánchez’s investiture, including the two centre-right formations led by Aitor Esteban and Carles Puigdemont, are resisting a step that would break the equilibrium sustaining the PSOE and Sumar coalition government.
Feijóo’s proposal to present a no-confidence motion within 48 hours if PNV or Junts withdraw their support for the executive has reopened debate on the real viability of such an initiative, but the response from both parties has been clear: there will be no no-confidence motion, as the operation would require the support of Vox, a party from which the Basque and Catalan nationalists maintain an insurmountable political and territorial distance.
The PNV, while having declared the legislature finished following the prison sentence of former minister Ábalos, has publicly reiterated that it will not back any no-confidence motion that depends on Vox’s votes, with Aitor Esteban insisting that his party will not participate in any manoeuvre implying alignment, even indirectly, with a party that questions Basque self-government and advocates deep recentralisation of the state, adding that the PNV seeks to avoid a super-Sunday election in 2027, aware that a failed motion could destabilise the political calendar and open a scenario of institutional uncertainty.
The Basque nationalists consider that a potential endorsement of a no-confidence motion in the Congress of Deputies, supported by the PP and also Vox that would topple Sánchez’s government, could carry a significant electoral cost for the PNV in the Basque Country, where the party currently governs the regional executive in coalition with the Socialists, along with the three provincial councils, the three largest city councils, and dozens of medium and small municipalities.
Bildu, which also supported Sánchez in Congress, represents another key partner for the Socialists in sustaining the Spanish government, having facilitated the approval of key legislation such as the Housing Law and labour reform, while also securing major agreements including the full extension of social shield measures and winning the Pamplona mayoralty through a no-confidence motion backed by the Socialists.
The PNV is aware that Bildu is on the rise in the Basque Country, with opinion polls showing a near technical tie between the two formations, and fears that a potential endorsement of the PP and Vox in Madrid could be exploited by the pro-independence leftist formation to overtake them electorally, while also opening the possibility of the Socialists reaching an understanding with Otegi’s party should they feel betrayed by the PNV, prompting Bildu’s leader to warn that supporting a no-confidence motion or calling early elections would open the door for PP and Vox.
Pues que 5 diputados del PSOE apoyen una moción de censura. Sólo eso arregla el problema. Tienen huevos o van a seguir siendo las putas útiles del Gobierno criminal? https://t.co/SW69GLdx5p
— Hispaᴎo • 🐦🔥 (@hispano__) August 16, 2026
In Junts, the position is equally forceful, with the party leadership stating that a motion promoted by the PP has not even been considered and that the party will not enter any operation requiring Vox’s votes, as Santiago Abascal’s party represents the negation of their political project through frontal opposition to independence, rejection of plurinationality, and defence of a territorial model incompatible with any agreement.
However, the Catalan nationalists, who also benefit from politically wearing down the Socialists both in Madrid and Catalonia, have not entirely closed the door to supporting a hypothetical no-confidence motion, provided it were of an instrumental character, meaning to appoint a technical president who would simply call new elections rather than to invest Feijóo as the PP desires. Feijóo has attempted to pressure both parties by appealing to the judicial situation surrounding the socialist camp and the idea of a burst of dignity, while also seeking the backing of the Basque and Catalan business class, insisting that Sánchez is living in a cycle of corruption and calling for his resignation and the calling of elections, declaring that this is the end of the road.
But neither PNV nor Junts are willing to become the lever for a motion that, to succeed, would require a majority that currently appears impossible, as the parliamentary arithmetic is clear: without Vox, the PP does not have the numbers; with Vox, the nationalists will not be there. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, aware of the nearly insurmountable difficulties for any no-confidence motion to prosper, has responded firmly in various interventions in Congress, despite being equally conscious of his extreme weakness due to corruption cases, asserting that his partners will not withdraw their support and that only two paths exist to end the legislature, neither of which will materialise, maintaining that parliamentary stability is guaranteed and that he does not contemplate early elections, with his strategy focused on resisting media and political pressure while trusting that PNV and Junts will maintain their commitment as long as judicial red lines are not crossed.
Voices from former prime ministers have added more noise to the debate, with socialist Felipe González stating that following the Ábalos-Koldo-Aldama case sentence, Sánchez should already have called elections, while conservative José María Aznar also called for early elections but noted that he would not present a no-confidence motion because it would not be won, a reflection that contrasts with Feijóo’s strategy and underscores the real difficulty of the operation.
The political board is moving between cross-pressures, with the PP seeking to wear down the government and project the image of a president in a situation of extreme parliamentary weakness sustained by uncomfortable partners both on the left and the centre-right, while Abascal accuses Sánchez of feeling impunity thanks to his allies’ support and Junts and PNV harden their discourse but maintain parliamentary stability as the government attempts to resist in a climate marked by judicial cases, internal tensions, and evident wear.
Sánchez to Take Full August Break Amid Political and Legal Storm
The conclusion is clear: the no-confidence motion does not appear to have real traction, not by numbers, not by strategy, and not by political coherence, as PNV and Junts will not support an initiative that depends on Vox, and Feijóo cannot build an alternative majority without them, leaving the legislature standing, fragile but sustained, and the debate over the motion becoming yet another symptom of the tension running through Spanish politics even in the height of summer.
