The long summer of 25

The headquarters of the Ministry of Finance on Alcalá Street in Madrid preserves one of the dreams of the Restoration: a harmonious regional Spain perfectly unified by the Public Treasury.

This is the meaning of the paintings decorating the ceiling of one of the building's large halls, the obligatory anteroom to the minister's office. (Today, Minister Marçia Jesús Montero .) While visitors wait, they can amuse themselves by observing the figures and allegories in The Spanish Regions , a work by Juan Comba García , a painter and draftsman from Cadiz who was known in Madrid as "the graphic chronicler of the Restoration."

A court draughtsman, Comba worked for the Spanish and American Illustration, one of the leading magazines of the time. He drew current events from the monarch's entourage. If Alfonso XII visited Paris, Comba was there to capture the moment. If the King was dying, Comba was allowed into the monarch's room to take notes on the grave moment. Comba drew current events while awaiting a photograph, a technique he also began to use to improve his drawings.

The Restoration chronicler was chosen to decorate the most noble hall of the Ministry of Finance, housed in the former Royal Customs House, with a grand allegory of regional Spain. A noble building erected by the architect Francisco Sabatini in the image and likeness of the Farnese Palace in Rome, in homage to Princess Isabel Farnese (Spanishized Farnesio), second wife of Philip V and mother of Charles III .

The palatine draftsman delivered his first sketch in 1897, after the failed attempt to fully unify the Spanish public treasury with the elimination of the Basque and Navarrese charters. The liberal minister Germán Gamazo attempted this in 1893, but was unsuccessful. Since then, Pamplona's Plaza de los Fueros has been known as the Plaza de la Gamazada , in memory of the great popular mobilization in favor of the Navarrese charter. Systole and diastole. The eternal movement of Spain. After a centralizing contraction, an attempt at relaxation. With the Cuban War raging, Antonio Cánovas del Castillo wanted to imagine a harmonious Spain. And so the hall was decorated.

More than a century later, under those same paintings, the Minister of Finance Cristóbal Montoro resisted the general tax cut that his party had promised in the electoral campaign at the end of 2011, in the midst of the economic crisis, a cut that was imperatively demanded by the liberal wing of the PP, still led by Esperanza Aguirre , godmother of Isabel Díaz Ayuso .

Tensions and moods are building up that could lead to a state crisis.

Faced with the enormous severity of the crisis, Montoro wanted to maintain tax revenue to avoid a further collapse of public services, with the consequent political cost of that collapse. A cost that Mariano Rajoy failed to avoid paying in 2018. We always return to 2018. The long summer of 2025 is a return to May 2018, the moment of the vote of no confidence that just over seven years ago changed the course of the country and opened the door to pardons for the hundreds of Catalan independence supporters on trial, to the detriment of the prevailing line in the Spanish capital, which advocated "exemplary punishment." An exemplary punishment for future generations.

Let's not be distracted by all the noise. The great political dilemma of recent years has been forgiveness or exemplary punishment. And it has been resolved in favor of forgiveness. Everyone in. While the furious propaganda battle against the Amnesty Law continues, the Popular Party has already consolidated a mechanism of permanent communication and negotiation with Junts, as Cristina Sen reported in La Vanguardia last Friday . Everyone in.

"Montoro is a Movement blue ," said the most prominent liberals of the Madrid PP in 2012 and the following years. Now they write that Montoro was already a supporter of Sánchez before Pedro Sánchez came to power, even a communist, recalling his leftist sympathies when he was an economics student. The son of a family from Jaén who emigrated to Madrid in precarious circumstances, Montoro now finds himself at the center of a judicial investigation that has caused a huge stir .

For the first time in many years, a judge from the outskirts of the powerful Spanish judiciary is delving into one of the most secretive chambers of the state apparatus: the inner workings of the Treasury. They didn't see it coming in the Salesas quadrilateral. Between Plaza de la Villa de París and Las Salesas, between Castellana and Calle Sagasta, everything is there: the powerful National Court, the Supreme Court, the General Council of the Judiciary, the State Attorney General's Office, and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. They all know each other. They all keep an eye on each other. Almost all of them have lunch once a week in the restaurants scattered around the area, adjacent to the Chueca neighborhood, the epitome of Madrid's gentrification. On Calle del Barquillo, among fashion stores, exquisite cafes, and vegan grocery stores, they sell togas and cuffs.

The investigation by Tarragona's Court No. 2 into the alleged influence-peddling network woven around the Ministry of Finance during Montoro's term has surprised everyone. It hadn't appeared on anyone's radar. As judicial police, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) have delved into one of the most sensitive areas of the state apparatus. The case covers 18 volumes. The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) are investigating the Treasury. Everyone is in.

Let's be clear. A silent, seven-year investigation like the one conducted by the Tarragona judge would have been unlikely to prosper in Madrid. The Iron Dome would likely have intercepted it. In 2017, a Madrid court already nipped in the bud a complaint against the consulting firm Equipo Económico, now accused by Judge Rubén Rus of collecting commissions in exchange for decisively influencing Treasury decisions.

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The Tarragona investigation is somewhat reminiscent of the Italian judicial system, where there is no central court exclusively dedicated to serious cases that could affect state security or involve large-scale criminal networks. Courts similar to the National Court do not exist in many European countries. The Mani Pulite trial against corruption began in 1992 in Milan and was always conducted by the Milanese judiciary, without being centralized in Rome, alongside the major state institutions. The publication of the Tarragona case is having a major impact because it touches on a very sensitive nerve: the payment of taxes and the behavior of the powerful machinery that collects them.

The reputation of the Public Treasury is essential, and the Tarragona investigation touches a nerve. The ceiling painted by the court chronicler Juan Comba could be blurred. This week, the investigating judge himself prevented individuals who believe they were harmed by the leak of their tax data to Minister Montoro from appearing in the case. An attempt is being made to avoid a "general case" against the Treasury.

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A nerve is being touched at a moment of extreme political tension, the long summer of 2025, at the beginning of which the ruling party of the Popular Party believed the immediate collapse of the government was within reach. In recent weeks, we have witnessed a full-scale assault maneuver, with powerful air support, that is, media support.

A legion of lawyers will be working in the coming months to obtain the annulment of the Tarragona case, and the credibility of the State will be at stake. The Tarragona case could also provoke internal tensions within the PP, since Alberto Núñez Feijóo has relied on people close to Montoro to reconfigure his economic team, calling on Alberto Nadal , former Secretary of State for Budget and Expenditure at the Ministry of Finance. The Liberal barbs against Montoro—a pro-Sanchista!—are also barbs against Nadal.

Does the Montoro case tie with the Cerdán case? They add up to a detrimental effect on the political system.

Does the Tarragona case balance the imprisonment of Santos Cerdán and the uproar sparked this weekend by the Koldo García audio recordings? No. Everything adds up. Everything adds up to the detriment of the credibility of politics and institutions. Spain isn't currently facing early elections; it's facing the possibility of a medium-term state crisis if the anaemia of the political system worsens at the same time as the European Union's dismay at the new international scenario grows. There is unease, pessimism, and perplexity on the streets right now.

(On the roof of The Spain of the Regions, the Catalans appear. Three guys wearing berets with a smoking factory in the background. Two have their backs turned and the third looks from the railing of history with a sour face. It's the català emprenyat . The Basques fish.)