It already smells like a congressional election. But not general elections, which Pedro Sánchez insists he has no intention of calling before 2027. It’s more like elections in the various autonomous regions – Extremadura, Castilla and León, and Andalusia in the coming months, for now – and Pedro Sánchez’s speech this morning was a clear example. The President has begun a kind of advance campaign with a very detailed condemnation in La Moncloa, with dozens of statements, of the privatization and deterioration of public services in the autonomous areas of the Popular Party.
Sánchez wants to compare the progressive model with the conservative model, and to do so he presents a lot of data, with one idea: the coalition government gave an additional 300,000 euros to the autonomous regions, but the Popular Party government – which controls 11 regions – uses it to give tax gifts to the rich and privatize health, education and subordination. The president summed it up with a direct attack on Isabel Díaz Ayuso, whose partner was doing business with Quiron, the private healthcare giant. “They have turned Madrid into a casino where Quiron always wins and the Citizens always lose,” Sanchez said amid the discontent of the popular bench.
“This government has given 300,000 million euros more to the autonomous regions than the Rajoy government. Why are waiting lists and the quality of public services deteriorating? Because regional governments use this money for the benefit of the elites, to do business, perhaps legal but immoral. Madrid reduced taxes on the upper class by 5,700 million euros, and gave 5,000 million euros to contracts with Quiron. One out of every three euros of health care in Madrid goes to concerts with the private sector. And what has it achieved Ayuso? The opposite has happened. Confidence has fallen by 23 points compared to 2019. Therefore, more than 360,000 Madrid residents have bought private insurance, an increase of 16% from concerts in private clinics. At the moment, 848,787 Andalusians are waiting for the operation.
Sánchez focused his speech on this ideological battle with the PP and Vox. He concluded by saying: “Defending Spain does not mean raising the strongest flag, or spending 5% on defense or attacking immigrants. Defending Spain means investing in public schools and investing in public housing. This is the Spain that deserves to be defended, the luxury Spain that our fathers and grandfathers built. It is the Spain of the public. You will not destroy it, and we will not allow that.”
The president also had a very clear message for Ginz, who has now declared a siege of the legislature. “Spain has suffered a devastating opposition, joined the absurd and surrendered to the far right. How else can we explain why they voted against the revaluation of pensions? Against the labor reform that brought more jobs and reduced temporary employment to historic lows? That they reject debt write-offs that could ease the financial burden on the regions they govern? Now it seems that other parliamentary groups want to join this blockade,” referring to Vox. “But, for as many reasons as you can find, what are the reasons not to pass a law that protects our children and teenagers in digital environments? What are the reasons not to move forward with the Family Code in a country like ours that is experiencing a demographic winter? And the law on the universality of the National Health System? “We are talking about politics with capital letters,” he concluded, looking at the deputies of Gaunt. Moreover, Sánchez once again called for elections in the Valencian Community, and he did so by directly appealing to the leader of the Vox party, which is very unusual. “Mr. Abascal, do not agree with the right, allow the citizens of Valencia to go to the elections. The government will be vigilant so that none of the PP-VOX agreements violate the rights and freedoms of the people of Valencia.”
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