Countdown to the 2026 General State Budget: The Treasury must approve the order to begin preparing the accounts within fifteen days and mitigate its image of weakness.

The Ministry of Finance has half a month to approve the ministerial order that kicks off the 2026 General State Budget (PGE), a move that marks the beginning of its preparation and will mean definitively abandoning the possibility of approving new accounts for this year.

After two consecutive budget extensions —the country is still operating today with the budgets designed in 2022 for 2023 based on credit modifications—it will be crucial for the government to secure support this year to push through a new budget. If it fails to do so, it could continue governing, but its image of weakness will be unprecedented.

The budget calendar stipulates that between May and June , the Ministry headed by María Jesús Montero must approve the order for the preparation of the General State Budget (PGE), which is considered a work plan that establishes the criteria and deadlines for the various ministries to submit their proposals to the Treasury. The order bypasses the Council of Ministers and is published directly in the Official State Gazette.

Its publication usually coincides with the Council of the European Union's adoption of its country-specific recommendations for the Stability Programme, which must be taken into account in the preparation of the financial statements. This Friday, the 20th, the Economic and Financial Affairs Council is scheduled to exchange views on the European Semester Spring Package and approve a horizontal note on these recommendations.

The next milestone in the budgetary calendar will be the establishment of the targets for budgetary stability, public debt, and the non-financial spending limit —known as the spending ceiling, which sets a maximum limit—which will be approved by the Council of Ministers. Last year, the government approved them in mid-July, but they were then rejected in Congress. In September, the government ultimately withdrew their processing due to a lack of support.

Until the order is received and, above all, these targets are approved, the specific preparation of the accounts does not really begin, since the Treasury must know the maximum spending limit in order to deal with budget increase requests from the various departments. This is when internal negotiations between the ministries and the Treasury begin until a draft is obtained.

Ideally, with the above approved, the Program Analysis Committees would meet in July and begin to shape the draft, which will be finalized in September. This way, the government can approve it and submit it to Parliament before October 1st , thus meeting the deadlines and devoting the last quarter of the year to the approval process, which revolves around negotiations with the other political parties. This way, the accounts can be approved in a timely manner so they can come into effect on January 1st.

Over the past two years, completing this process has been an impossible task for a government that suffers from significant parliamentary weakness and requires the support of parties as diverse as Junts, Bildu, the PNV, and Sumar.