Europe | Unfair play

Spain’s institutions are groaning under partisan pressure

The left, the right and separatist movements all play a role

Demonstrators hold a banner which reads ‘R.I.P. Spanish Democracy 1978-2023’ during a protest against the amnesty deal in Madrid.
Photograph: Getty Images
|MADRID

IN A WELL governed country, who runs the statistical agency or the courts is not a partisan issue. But in an increasingly embittered Spain, the basic functions of government, and especially trust in the judiciary, are being poisoned by politics. Things are not as bad as in Poland under its just-departed populist government, but they are moving in the wrong direction.

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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Unfair play”

From the December 16th 2023 edition

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