With the peace of mind of having this exam already approved in advance, thanks to the agreements already sealed and the ongoing negotiations with the ERC or the PNV, among other groups from the investiture bloc, María Jesús Montero appeared this Wednesday in Congress to defend its third consecutive project of general budgets of the State, that the Minister of Finance has trusted that they will obtain the definitive green light “in a timely manner”, that is, before the end of this year so that they can enter into force on the 1st of January.
Being able to approve the accounts for 2023, despite the global “complex and volatile scenario” to which the energy and inflationary crisis caused by Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is leading, will thus be, in his opinion, the best sign of “strength, reliability and solvency” of the country. And the greatest guarantee of the stability of the coalition government led by Pedro Sánchez until the end of the legislature, scheduled for December of next year.
Despite the fact that the Government will manage to pass the first acid test of the new budgets, in the vote that will be held tomorrow on the amendments of the totality registered by the Popular Party, Vox, Citizens, Junts or the CUP, Montero has warned, looking to the right-wing benches, that this parliamentary debate will serve to contrast “the model of society promoted by each political formation”. Thus, the also deputy general secretary of the PSOE has accused the rights of betting on “a minimum welfare state”, in addition to the fact that, according to her, she has lamented, “they deny dialogue between different people as a formula for coexistence”. In opposition, the minister has assured that the Government will put “all the capacity of the State at the service of the general interest”, in addition to advancing in rights and freedoms, always seeking the “majorities that strengthen our democracy”.
Montero has denounced, however, that the right wing is still immersed in “a very dangerous dynamic”, by trying to delegitimize this coalition government, and also the agreements it reaches with the groups of the investiture bloc to endorse its laws and budgets. “They harm democracy and politics,” warned the Minister of Finance. “Just for trying to wear down this government,” she lamented.
But the Minister of Finance has used the 1977 Moncloa pacts and Enrique Fuentes Quintana’s warning that precisely what “gave their strength” to those agreements was that they were signed from “disparate ideological positions.” Montero has thus defended “dialogue between different”, against the PP’s complaints about the Executive’s agreements with ERC or EH Bildu. “This government is going to reach out to everyone who thinks of the general interest,” she assured. And she has defended her new budgets against the “shock doctrine” that has ensured that she has taken over the right-wing benches.
Montero has assured that his accounts have “an antidote against inequality”, which in his opinion is the best breeding ground for “extreme populism”, and has assured that they are based on two basic premises. “Social justice and economic efficiency are two sides of the same coin,” she argued. And he has defended a “fair, supportive and equitable” distribution of the burdens of the crisis, against a PP that, in his opinion, only seeks to “privilege the richest 1%” of the population.
