“Today you have risen from the left.” The phrase, not without a certain irony, was said by the ERC spokesman in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, to the Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, at the state of the nation debate held in mid-July. That appointment was one of the main milestones of the apparent new strategy of the leader of the Executive. A turn to the left that his partners had been demanding for a long time. Tuesday’s appearance in the Senate, with Alberto Núñez Feijóo in front, was one more step in the consolidation of a new stage that began after the elections in Andalusia. The social response and the fight to stop inflation is the real priority right now.
Last June 18 was a fateful night in Ferraz. The candidacy led by Juan Espadas obtained the worst result in the history of the Socialists in said territory. Despite public attempts by the PSOE to reduce the blow, nervousness began to surface. The management of the Government does not reach the citizens, was one of the most used reflections at that time. The party leadership assigned some duties in this regard to its general secretary and prime minister.
The crystallization of that came on July 12 with the aforementioned debate on the state of the nation, the first of the legislature and the first of Sánchez as president. The socialist leader took the opportunity to announce a series of measures that reflected this expected turnaround. especially eye-catching It was the tax on the large electricity companies and on banks. “This government is not going to tolerate that there are companies or individuals that take advantage of the crisis,” he said then.
The marked line of verbal confrontation with large corporations continued in Ferraz. In a speech before a Federal Committee marked by internal changes in the party’s reference positions, he returned to the charge. “We are not going to allow the suffering of many to be the benefit of a few,” he said of the new taxes. Sánchez wanted to activate the PSOE in electoral mode.
Nor did the president hide this speech from the Palacio de la Moncloa. In his balance sheet at the end of the course before the media, he left several highly commented brushstrokes. “We are going to continue to approve measures to protect the most vulnerable, although doing so let’s be uncomfortable for some powers“, he highlighted. In this sense, he even explicitly mentioned Ignacio Sánchez Galán, president of Iberdrola, and Ana Patricia Botín, president of Banco Santander. “If they protest, we are going in the right direction,” he said.
At the turn of the summer the PSOE started a new initiative called “The Government of the People”, in line with the claim to “put one more march” requested by Sánchez to his party. Go out into the streets to have more contact with citizens and directly combat right-wing hoaxes. All this mixed with an explanation of his measures. In his first act in Seville, Sánchez again attacked the economic powers, also against the “media right”.
The intentions were also reflected this Monday in Moncloa, in an act shared with citizens who had previously contacted the president. “We must combat a generalized perception that some voices that do not appear in the elections influence and decide on policies,” said Sánchez. The president also criticized the “voices of economic power who believe they are above that power that emanates from democratic power”.
“This government, and neither do I, he has no animosity towards the banks and the big electric companies“, the president pointed out in the Senate. Something that caused a stir in the PP bench. Sánchez contracted. “You are taken for granted when we talk about the bank and the big electric companies,” he said ironically. The president then defended the ” will of the people through the vote” above what happens in “madrilenian cenacles”, in reference to these powers.
The Executive makes an effort to communicate its measures, from free transport passes to the “Iberian exception”.
“The State and all its financial resources are going to be at the service of the citizenry and not the other way around. We are going to put the interest of the people ahead of everything,” said Sánchez in the upper house on Tuesday. Moncloa had been warning for several weeks in a message: the way out of the crisis promoted by this government will be “different” to the answer given by the PP years ago. The Executive makes an effort to communicate the measures taken, which range from free transport subscriptions to the “Iberian exception” to lower the electricity bill.
Government sources highlight that Sánchez’s speech was focused on “the central issues that concern citizens: energy, prices, economy and employment”. “The president has shown determination to face uncertainty. He has defended a country that prefers hope and solutions to fear and omens,” they add in Moncloa.
For their part, from the PSOE leadership they harshly charged against the role played by Feijóo. “He does not have the political stature to govern one of the great economies of the European Union such as Spain. His vision is that of minimal politics and not that of a strong and solid leader who is capable of negotiating achievements in the international arena that benefit Spanish citizens,” they stressed.
unfinished business
In any case, there are some pending issues that United We Can has been revealing to really crystallize this turnaround. They are, for example, the Housing Law. From the Ministry of Social Rights, headed by Ione Belarra, they disfigured the PSOE’s resistance to some issues on Monday. Last week Podemos called for more ambitious and progressive measures within the energy saving plan.
Also pending is the ‘gag law’, the regional financing reform and the much-demanded tax reform, cooled by the Treasury due to the European situation. In between, the negotiation of the General State Budgets (PGE)which has not yet officially started and with the increase in military spending as a backdrop.
In this sense, from Podemos, according to party sources Public, they take off their role in the coalition. “It seems that the only thing that bothers the PP of this government is that Podemos is in it. And that shows who is the main engine of the deepest transformations in this country“, they affirm in reaction to the appearance of the Senate.
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