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How much does Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez earn?

Sánchez and his ministers have agreed to increase their salaries in 2022, a rise rejected for deputies and senators. How much will the Spanish PM and his ministers now earn?

Published: 14 October 2021 10:36 CEST
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, seen here at the EU-Western Balkans summit in Slovenia in October 2021, will increase his wages by 2 percent in 2022. His salary (Photo by Joe Klamar / AFP)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, seen here at the EU-Western Balkans summit in Slovenia in October 2021, will increase his wages by 2 percent in 2022. His salary (Photo by Joe Klamar / AFP)

Spain’s coalition PSOE and Unidas Podemos government has decided that the 2 percent salary increase agreed for civil servants in 2022 should also apply to the Prime Minister and his ministers.

This same salary bump-up was rejected a few weeks ago in the Spanish Parliament and the Senate for deputies and senators, but members of the Spanish government have included a wage increase for themselves in the country’s 2022 general budget, as presented by Tax Minister María Jesús Montero on Wednesday.

Three million public workers (funcionarios) in Spain will also benefit from a 2 percent wage increase in 2021.

Last year, the Spanish government had also initially decided it would raise ministers’ wages but u-turned on the decision at the last minute.

How much will Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez now earn?

Pedro Sánchez’s annual wages will go from being €84,845 per year to €86,542 per year, both gross amounts. 

That represents an annual wage increase of €1,696.92, making it a gross monthly salary of €7,211.

Spain’s three Deputy Prime Ministers Nadia Calviño, Teresa Ribera and Yolanda Díaz – all of whom hold other ministerial roles – will each earn €81,341 if the rise is finally approved.

All other ministers that form the Spanish Council of Ministers will see their wages climb from €74,858 to €76,355 gross a year.

The average gross annual salary in Spain in 2021 is €24,009, although there are big regional differences.

RANKED: Where are workers’ salaries highest and lowest in Spain?

Interestingly, Pedro Sánchez’s wages are not the highest among all Spanish officials. 

The salaries of members of Spain’s Constitutional Court are the highest among all the high positions of the Spanish State and the president of this body, Juan José González Rivas, has the best paid position of all: €160,728 gross a year. 

How do Pedro Sánchez’s wages compare to other world leaders’?

Sánchez’s proposed €86,542 gross a year is slightly lower than Boris Johnson’s annual PM earnings, of £79,496 (€93,803), and an additional £81,932 (€96,672) for being an MP.

It’s also less than half of what French president Emmanuel Macron is earning in 2021 – €182,400 – a far cry from the $400,000 (€344,486) US President Joe Biden gets and the departing German Chancellor Angela Merkel – €350,000 – the third highest in the world.

The highest paid head of state is Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong, with annual earnings of €1.38 million, followed far behind by Guy Parmelin of Switzerland with €456,900.

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POLITICS

‘Pedro stay!’: Thousands of Spanish PM’s supporters take to the streets

Thousands of supporters of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez rallied at the headquarters of his Socialist party imploring him not to step down over a graft investigation against his wife.

Published: 27 April 2024 15:50 CEST
'Pedro stay!': Thousands of Spanish PM's supporters take to the streets

The 52-year-old, who has been in office since 2018, stunned Spain on Wednesday when he put his resignation on the line after a Madrid court opened a preliminary investigation into suspected influence peddling and corruption against his spouse Begona Gomez.

Sanchez said he would suspend all public duties until he announces his decision on Monday. The normally hyperactive premier has since remained out of sight and silent.

“I need to stop and think whether I should continue to head the government or whether I should give up this honour,” he wrote in a four-page letter posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Supporters on Saturday held up placards saying “Spain needs you”, “Pedro don’t abandon us’, and shouted slogans such as “Pedro leader”.

“I hope that Sanchez will say on Monday that he will stay,” said Sara Domínguez, a consultant in her 30’s, adding that his government had “taken good steps for women, the LGBT community and minorities”.

Jose María Diez, a 44-year-old government official who came from Valladolid in northern Spain to express his support, said there was a real possibility that the far-right could take power if Sanchez quit.

“This will mean a step backwards for our rights and liberties,” he warned.

Inside the party headquarters, there were similar passionate appeals.

‘Pedro stay’

“Pedro stay. We are together and together we can … take the country forward, Spain can’t step back,” said Budget Minister Maria Jesus Montero, the government number two.

“Today all democrats, all progressives, are summoned to Madrid against a pack whose only aim is to overthrow a democratic and legitimate government,” said Felix Bolanos, Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations.

At one point, Socialist leaders took to the streets to thank those gathered. “They won’t succeed,” government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria told the crowd.

The court opened the investigation into Sanchez’s wife in response to a complaint from anti-corruption pressure group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), whose leader is linked to the far right.

The group, which has presented a litany of unsuccessful lawsuits against politicians in the past, said on Wednesday its complaint was based on media reports and could not vouch for their veracity.

While the court did not give details of the case, online news site El Confidencial said it focused on links Gomez had to Spanish tourism group Globalia when carrier Air Europa was in talks with the government to secure a huge bailout.

The airline sought the bailout after it was badly hit by plunging paseenger numbers during the Covid-19 crisis.

At the time, Gomez was running IE Africa Centre, a foundation linked to Madrid’s Instituto de Empresa (IE) business school, which had signed a sponsorship agreement with Globalia in 2020.

Spain’s public prosecutors office on Thursday requested the dismissal of the investigation, which Sanchez said was part of a campaign of “harassment” against him and his wife waged by “media heavily influenced by the right and far right”.

If Sanchez decides to remain in office, he could choose to file a confidence motion in parliament to show that he and his minority government are still supported by a majority of lawmakers.

If he resigns, an early election could be called from July — a year after the last one — with or without Sanchez at the helm of the Socialist party.

The right-wing opposition has accused the prime minister of being irresponsible for putting the country on hold while he mulls his decision.

“It’s very clear to us that this is all a tactic… We know Pedro Sanchez and things with him always turn out like a soap opera,” Cuca Gamarra, the number two of the main opposition conservative Popular Party, said on Friday.

“He is making us all wait and the country is at a standstill,” she added.

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