Spain has been operating without an approved budget for three years.

Omissions

• The claim omits that Article 134.4 of the Spanish Constitution provides for automatic prorogation of the previous year's budget when a new one is not approved by January 1. Spain therefore operates with a legally valid extended budget, not in a budgetary vacuum.
• The US News source confirming the third year without a budget (2026) was published on 2026-07-23, after the session date of 2026-06-17, though it describes the situation as it already existed at that time.
• The claim uses 'sin presupuestos' (without budgets), which in Spanish political discourse idiomatically means 'without newly approved budgets,' but could be misinterpreted by non-specialist audiences as implying a total absence of spending authorization.

Sources

• PrimaryLa Moncloa (Official Spanish Government)The Government of Spain approved the draft General Budget for 2023 on October 4, 2022, and presented it to Parliament. Law 31/2022 of December 23 ultimately enacted the 2023 Budget, published December 24, 2022.
• SecondaryReutersSpain's government has decided not to send an already delayed budget bill for 2024 to parliament and will focus instead on next year's spending plan, rolling over the 2023 budget for the rest of the year.
• SecondaryRTVE2025 begins without budgets and with the 2023 accounts prorogued for the second time ('2025 empezará con los presupuestos prorrogados por segunda vez').
• SecondaryU.S. News & World ReportSpain has not passed a new budget since 2023 because the minority coalition lacks sufficient support in a fragmented parliament.