PM meets new PP leader
THE NEW leader of the principal opposition party, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo of the Partido Popular (PP), has met with Socialist (PSOE) Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the government’s Moncloa palace.
Relations with the government had been especially fractious under his predecessor Pablo Casado, who had refused to support or negotiate practically any issue.
While both said it had been ‘cordial’, they clashed over economic measures, with the government criticising the PP’s lack of written proposals and Sr Feijóo demanding tax cuts.
The government brought 11 proposals, including asking the PP to back its measures in response to the economic effects of the war in Ukraine, while Sr Feijóo called for a ‘selective and temporary’ reduction of income tax (IRPF), and a further cut to IVA (VAT) on electricity and gas from 10% to 4%.
Government spokeswoman Isabel Rodríguez emphasised afterwards that the war response plan had been agreed with social organisations, especially affected business sectors, regional governments and town halls.
It includes direct aid for these sectors, energy tax cuts and the petrol price reduction, she noted, and rejected the PP’s insistence on imposing an IRPF cut rather than being willing to negotiate their proposals.
However, Sr Feijóo insisted the PP would not support it, without specifying if this meant they would abstain or vote against it, arguing that the situation had been misdiagnosed because the war had exacerbated ‘already worrying’ problems.
They made more progress on agreeing to discuss the long overdue renovation of the general council of the judiciary (CGPJ), which Sra Rodríguez noted has been blocked for over three years by the PP, and the Constitutional Court.
Sr Feijóo maintained the PP’s call for the method of electing the CGPJ to be changed, but without Sr Casado’s insistence that this was an absolute necessity.
The government reminded that renewing the CGPJ is a constitutional obligation and both agreed a deadline of June 12 for them to reach an agreement.
The other issue emphasised by Sra Rodríguez was gender violence, especially since the PP has just formed a coalition regional government with far-right party Vox in Castilla y León.
She noted that all parties, except Vox, had agreed a state pact against gender violence, to tackle ‘one of the principal blemishes on our society today’.
Nevertheless, Vox is insisting the issue of male violence against women be conflated with all other forms of ‘intrafamily’ violence.
“The government is asking the principal leader of the opposition to say which side he is on, that of Vox or that of the immense majority of political parties in this country who are fighting against this blemish,” said Sra Rodríguez.
Also at the meeting, Sr Feijóo criticised the PSOE’s recent decision to recognise Morocco’s plan for governing the disputed Western Sahara – which also angered their coalition partners – but said Sr Sánchez promised to keep him informed of any important foreign policy decisions from now on.