The president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has harshly criticized the Popular Party and Vox after their vote against the law aimed at regulating interest groups — the known 'lobbies' — reproaching them for refusing to reveal "who their masters are".
At the beginning of a video released this Wednesday on his 'X' profile and reported by Europa Press, the head of the Executive lamented that the right and the far-right have blocked a regulation that, in his opinion, "improves the transparency and democratic quality of Spain". "Unfortunately, they are once again revealing themselves by voting against a law that (...) improves the transparency and democratic quality of Spain," he stated, before accusing them of acting this way because "they do not want us to know who they meet with, who they work for, who they serve".
Sánchez emphasized several key points of the project, such as the implementation of "a state, public, and mandatory register" of the 'lobbies', the obligation to make public the "meetings of senior officials" with these pressure groups, the creation of a "normative footprint" to identify "who has tried to influence" the drafting of each regulation, and a system of sanctions for those who violate "the rules".
The socialist leader defended that these were "advances" in terms of public integrity, "demanded" by "international organizations" and "the European Union", and that are already implemented in "several countries in our environment". In conclusion, he accused PP and Vox of aligning with the lack of institutional clarity: "Today PP and Vox have voted in favor of opacity and against transparency," he concluded.