Spain Refuses to Disclose PM Sánchez's Holiday Security Costs

The Spanish government has refused to disclose security costs associated with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's summer holidays last year in Lanzarote and Andorra, citing risks to national security and personal safety.

In a decision from Spain's Transparency Portal, reported by Servimedia, officials denied a public request for details on per diem expenses for agents protecting Sánchez, as well as former prime ministers José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Mariano Rajoy, José María Aznar, and Felipe González during their respective breaks. The government argued that releasing such figures would allow precise calculations of security team sizes, creating a "vulnerability gap" that endangers the prime minister's physical integrity and that of his protection detail.

The resolution invokes Article 14.1 of Spain's 2013 Transparency Law, which permits withholding information if it harms national security or efforts to prevent, investigate, or punish criminal, administrative, or disciplinary offenses. It emphasizes that the prime minister's role is continuous, referencing Articles 99, 101, 112, and 113 of the Spanish Constitution and Article 12 of the 1997 Government Law. No fixed period exists when the officeholder sheds responsibilities between appointment and departure.

Per diem payments, governed by Royal Decree 462/2002, would reveal operational scales for these deployments, the document states. Similar data on ex-prime ministers' security could expose patterns in team structures and methods, undermining current protections.

The denial applies equally to all requested periods, prioritizing operational secrecy over public access to expenditure details.