It is not often that you hear a prime minister announce a 670% increase to a portion of the national budget, effective immediately. But that's what happened this week, when Pedro Sánchez promised to meet Nato's defence spending goal of 2% of GDP by the end of this year, rather than 2029, as previously agreed. To make that happen, the Socialist leader unveiled a new €10.5 billion investment plan - almost €9 billion more than his government allocated to defence in 2024.

This was one of two developments this week that further damaged Sánchez's already fragile partnership with leftist alliance Sumar. The other was the Spanish government's order for millions of bullets from an Israeli company, despite its promise last October to cancel all military contracts with the country.

Sumar is understandably furious. It called the massive hike in defence spending "incoherent" and said that the ammunition order was a "flagrant breach" of the agreement it made with the Socialists last year. Both developments highlight Sánchez's autocratic, opaque method of governing, which his junior partner has complained about many times before. Decisions are made in secret, sometimes enforced by decree - and not open to scrutiny when announced. Journalists are now routinely forbidden from asking questions at press conferences. Sánchez prefers instead to announce some world-saving piece of legislation before making a dramatic exit.

The huge increase in defence spending - which Sumar rightly

called "exorbitant" - is a classic example of government-by-announcement. Sánchez insists that the extra billions won't raise taxes, increase Spain's budget deficit or detract from the welfare state. Magic money, then? Well, not exactly. The new defence budget will be funded, he says, by public savings from last year's bumper GDP performance, as well as unused funds from the national budget and the EU's Covid recovery payouts. There are all kinds of problems with these claims.

If there are billions left over from the national budget, that's presumably because Sánchez has recently been unable to pass new fiscal blueprints, lacking as he does a parliamentary majority. How, then, will he be able to increase the country's defence spending to unprecedented levels? Will this be put to a vote in congress?

And secondly, why is there anything left over from the EU's Next Generation payouts (some of which, incidentally, are loans, and therefore will increase the deficit)? This money was reportedly pumped into some of Spain's biggest-ever budgets, to help the country recover from lockdown. Was it not spent in that way after all?

Sumar's own positions on defence spending and Israel-Palestine aren't without problems; but you don't have to agree with the leftist platform's policies to understand its anger. Sánchez wants to govern alone, and Sumar, like congress, just gets in the way.