Spain's Constitutional Court plenary has decided to maintain the suspension of a law modifying the institutional participation of unions and employer groups in the Murcia Region. The Government appealed it in October 2025 for invading state competencies and removing the parity principle in subsidies. The suspension will last until a final ruling.
Spain's Constitutional Court has ruled to keep inoperative a law passed in July 2025 by PP and Vox in the Murcia Region, which changes rules on institutional participation by representative unions and employer organizations. The initial suspension was ordered on October 29, 2025, when President Pedro Sánchez, at the urging of the Labor Ministry and through the State Attorney, filed an appeal against it. The Government claims the changes invade exclusive state powers on freedom of association (Constitution articles 28.1 and 81) and labor legislation (149.1.7). Specifically, it removes the requirement to fund these groups via nominative subsidies to cover participation costs, scrapping the parity principle that treats unions and employers equally. This could allow subsidies only for businesses, per the appeal. Second Deputy Prime Minister and Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz announced plans to challenge the law on October 22, 2025, at a UGT event on union freedom, criticizing a far-right push to dismantle social dialogue. A week later, the Council of Ministers approved the appeal. The Court's order, accessed by EL PAÍS, supports extending the suspension as its enforcement would cause 'grave harm to the general interest', damaging unions' and employers' roles in representing social and economic interests.
