Pedro Sánchez faces his first debate on the State of the Nation as president
To the economic crisis is added the internal political mess that the government coalition has been experiencing for some time.
One of the reasons for the confrontation between Unidas Podemos – the left-wing formation – and the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) is the increase in military spending to which Pedro Sánchez committed himself with NATO at the end of June as a result of the war in Ukraine.
The increase represents about 2% of GDP, and in the midst of an inflationary environment, the criticism does not stop.
However, Sánchez defends himself and argues that “those who doubt the need to intervene in the conflict in Ukraine forget that not participating in the war effort would not free us from the economic effects of the war, on the contrary, it would isolate us from the rest of the countries.”
Meanwhile, apart from the war in Ukraine and its economic consequences, it is expected that in the next two days of the debate the health and economic measures approved to alleviate the effects of Covid-19 will also be addressed, the other great juncture that Sánchez had to face during the legislature.
These measures include the minimum living income, specifically, the increase in the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI), as well as an eventual labor reform.
Other issues in the pipeline are recovery policies after the eruption of the volcano on the island of La Palma, and the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2023.
It is the first debate to be held in seven years due to the impossibility of forming a government after the 2019 elections and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since former President Mariano Rajoy, the government and the opposition had not had this key appointment for Spanish democracy.
This meeting lasts three days and already leaves important announcements in economic matters a year and a half before the end of the mandate of the socialist Pedro Sánchez.
This Tuesday began one of the rituals of democracy in Spain since 1983.
The debate on the State of the Nation seeks to examine the performance of the Government and proposes a discussion of proposals for the country by the ruling party and the opposition.
The relevance and the issues to be discussed must be defined by the Executive through a text that is put under review by the members of the Lower House of Parliament.
In this edition, the 26th of the debate, the most relevant for the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, was inflation, which he described as the main cause of the current economic crisis.
Due to the crisis, the pockets of Spaniards have been affected by high levels of inflation, which in June exceeded 10%; something that has not happened for 37 years. So Sánchez opened the debate with a speech that sought to connect with citizens.
“I am fully aware of the daily difficulties of most people … I understand the anguish, the frustration and also the anger of many,” the president said in front of the parliamentarians.
