Reforming party finance in Spain

This article analyses the law on party funding passed by the Spanish parliament in 2007, setting it in the context of the evolution of political finance regulation in democratic Spain. The 2007 law extends public subsidies to pay for the routine running of parties, bans anonymous donations and attempts to reinforce public control over party accounts. The thesis of the article is that the stated aims of the reform – to generate sufficient resources in order to avoid corruption around party funding and to improve transparency in the accounting of the financial activities of parties – are unlikely to be achieved. The main obstacles are to be found in the loopholes concerning the regulation of political donations and the reporting requirements inserted into the law by the parties in order to preserve the techniques they use to monetize their political power.