Long Reads: Pedro Sanchez and Spanish Politics w/ Eoghan Gilmartin (Part 1)

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🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

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Summary

Long Reads continues our recent focus on the politics of southern European countries over the last decade. This week and in our next episode, we’re looking in detail at what’s been happening in Spain.

In contrast with Greece and Portugal, Spain still has a government today headed by the center left. The Spanish Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez has attracted a lot of interest from the international media for appearing to buck the trend as many European countries shift to the right. He’s been unusually outspoken on the subject of Gaza. And Sanchez was the only European leader to directly challenge Donald Trump over his demand for a big increase in military spending.

Sanchez may be gaining admirers as well as enemies on the international stage. But his position at home is quite precarious. His governing coalition with the left-wing party Sumar doesn’t have a majority in parliament. And some of his political allies have been accused of corruption.

Over the next two episodes, Long Reads will concentrate on how Sanchez came to power, what his record in office has been, and whether his government is likely to endure.

Eoghan Gilmartin is an Irish journalist based in Madrid. He’s a regular contributor to Jacobin, and he co-hosts the Sobremesa podcast about Spanish politics.

Find his recent articles, including “Spain Is Right to Reject Increased Military Spending,” on the Jacobin website: https://jacobin.com/2025/06/trump-nato-spain-military-sanchez

Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This week's episode is supported by W.W. Norton.
0:04.6	They've just released a new book that explains why the tech industry keeps producing dangerous and exploitative software.
0:14.0	Fatal abstraction, why the managerial class loses control of software, is written by Daryl Campbell, a former tech insider and a contributor
0:24.4	to The Verge. Campbell argues that a revolution of tech workers is needed to stop our drift
0:31.6	towards a technological dystopia because industry executives and investors will never do it themselves.
0:40.3	Fatal abstraction is available now wherever you get your books.
0:46.6	Hello, you're very welcome to Long Reads, a Jacobin podcast where we look in depth of political
0:51.9	topics and thinkers. My name's Daniel Finn on the Features
0:55.9	here at Jacobin and I'll be presenting the show. We're continuing our recent focus on the politics
1:03.5	of southern European countries over the last decade. This week and in our next episode, we're looking
1:10.3	in detail at what's been happening in Spain.
1:13.6	In contrast with Greece and Portugal, which we've looked at before, Spain still has a government today headed by the centre left.
1:21.6	The Spanish socialist leader Pedro Sanchez has attracted a lot of interest from the international media
1:28.3	for appearing to book the trend as many European countries shift to the right.
1:34.3	He's also been unusually outspoken on the subject of Gaza.
1:39.3	The data speaks for itself, 63,000 people dead, 159,000 injured, 250,000 people at risk of acute
1:51.0	malnutrition, and nearly 2 million people displaced from their homes, half of these underage.
2:01.6	This is not self-defense.
2:04.6	It is not even an attack.
2:06.6	It is the extermination of a defenseless people.
2:10.6	It is breaking all the rules of humanitarian law.
2:14.6	Sanchez was the only European leader to directly challenge Donald Trump over his demand
	...

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