Before heading to Kyiv, where today he will meet again with the Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenski on the first day of the Spanish presidency of the EU, Pedro Sánchez rebutted yesterday from Brussels the approaches that the day before to defend Alberto Núñez Feijóo, also in the capital of the community club, to refloat an economy that, contrary to the speech of the President of the Government, he equated with “a motorcycle that does not work”.
The data on the economic evolution of Spain, in Sánchez’s opinion, “logically invite a very positive recognition”. “The figures are extraordinarily positive, we are the main European economy in terms of economic growth, job creation and reduction of inflation”, emphasized the head of the Executive. “It’s something we should all be happy about”, he reproached Feijóo. “Without falling into the slightest complacency”, he warned, nevertheless.
Sánchez contradicted the leader of the Popular Party, in the face of the economic alarms he expressed the previous day in Brussels due to the increase in the deficit and the debt in Spain. “On the contrary. The recognition given to me privately by several leaders, both social democrats and conservatives and liberals, is that of the extraordinary aptitude of the Spanish economy”, replied the socialist leader.
And he insisted on the positive evolution of economic growth, job creation and the reduction of inflation. “Spain is the first of the main economies to have an inflation below 2%”, emphasized the president. “We are growing, we are creating jobs and controlling inflation better than other trading partners and, as a result, we are not losing competitiveness”, he said.
Sánchez, in any case, assured that he does not fall into complacency and that he knows very well the challenges that must be faced. “We are aware of the difficulties faced by Spanish society”, he alleged. And thus he justified the recent extension of many of the measures of his anti-crisis package. “But we must also recognize what the Spanish economy is achieving”, he defended.
The head of the Executive warned again about Feijóo’s derogatory promises if he arrives in Moncloa. “What works is not repealed”, he asked. He assured in this way that a labor reform that promotes stability in employment and the record of almost 21 million members of Social Security cannot be repealed, with social peace and an agreement for the increase of salaries, a fact that he assured is “very well recognized by all the member states”.
Sánchez, however, allowed himself a “sarcasm” following Feijóo’s change of position for a labor reform that the day before he recognized as “substantially good”, despite the fact that the PP tried to overturn it in Congress, although paradoxically he was the one who saved her due to the wrong vote of one of her deputies. “It is curious that they have gone from wanting to repeal Sanchism to recognizing that the Sanchist labor reform is good for Spain”, he quipped.
A pension reform agreed with the European Commission cannot be repealed either, he insisted. “You cannot repeal what works”, he reiterated. “And the Spanish economy is doing better than many other economies. If what works is repealed, we run the risk of slowing down an economy that is creating a lot of employment in circumstances as complex as the ones we are living through”, assured Sánchez.
The head of the Executive, on the other hand, noted at this European Council the difficulty of reaching an agreement on migration and asylum, which is one of his priorities for the Spanish semester of the EU presidency that begins today . The intense discussion that arose and the unmovable discrepancies of countries such as Poland or Hungary prevented the issue from being reflected in the final conclusions of the summit. Sánchez expressed, however, his determination to continue moving forward in a debate that he recognized as “highly sensitive”, and with positions very much at odds with the countries of entry of irregular migration, such as Spain or Italy.
During his European mandate, Sánchez will seek to reconcile border security with solidarity and cooperation with the countries of origin and transit of this migration, in search of the aforementioned unanimous agreement. However, the Prime Minister criticized “the blindness of some” for denying the need to strengthen cooperation with the countries of origin and transit, as Spain has agreed with Morocco, Mauritania or Senegal.
“The war in Ukraine will be one of the great priorities of our presidency”, assured Pedro Sánchez yesterday in Brussels, before embarking on his third trip to Kyiv since the Russian invasion began, in February 2022 The Spanish president will celebrate the first day of the rotating presidency of the EU this Saturday alongside Volodymyr Zelenski, and will also speak before the Ukrainian Parliament, to once again stage the community club’s support in the face of Russian aggression. Another milestone of the Spanish semester promoted by Sánchez is the summit between the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which will take place on July 17 and 18 in Brussels. Zelenski himself revealed yesterday that Sánchez invited him to participate in this summit, but that some Latin American countries “blocked” his presence.
