this mood of the deputies can be measured by the statements of a select group of parliamentarians who, with experience, common sense and intuition, often define the most shared views. One of them is PNV spokesperson Aitor Esteban.
Last Tuesday, at a press conference at Congress, he said: minister’s initiative Yolanda Diaz limiting certain prices foods: “I feel like we’ve been patching for a long time; jump patchesHe reassured before expanding in this way: “I am surprised that it has not been a well-studied approach by the Government if it is seen as a necessary measure. It amazes me that Díaz comes out on one side and there are demonstrations from the other side of the government on the other. And all without anything tangible.
Then they asked him about another more recent proposal: run into mortgage variablesrising due to the rise in interest rates. Euribor is, once again, embedded in an upward spiral that clearly worries those paying for a house. This was an announcement made a few minutes ago by United We Can spokesperson Pablo Echenique.
And Aitor Esteban said:another patch. It didn’t give me time to carefully view the proposal, but it’s not easy. Let’s see if such a measure is legally possible, let’s see who will compensate (…) Maybe the government can examine it, but now do it unilaterally and without specifying it… we are in the election campaign, is becoming more and more evident, because the regional and municipal elections in May 2023 are also general elections. This can be frustrating.”
Succession (apparently) improvisation
This Tuesday, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) delivered bad news. this food and soft drinks were 13.8% more expensive in AugustAccording to the same month of 2021. Milk, cheese, eggs, meat, bread and cereals are the products most affected by the increase in prices.
Inflation at the interannual rate was 10.5%, three-tenths below the July percentage. An insignificant drop that does not change the view of the evolution of prices: fixed in double digits. Concern in March and April as a result of the war in Ukraine; What used to be a fear in the spring due to global economic conditions, all these cost-of-living-increasing dynamics has finally become a reality. June, July and August recorded inflationary rates of over 10%.
Sources from various parties of the progressive bloc in Congress have been warning this mediator about this environment for weeks. terrible effects inflation. Negative effects on selection options. Some front-line MPs perceive such an emotional gap between their party and citizens of similar ideology or political inclination that they begin to see the next legislature as dark.
In private, these MPs are more lively than the public, with exceptions like Gabriel Rufián, who told president Pedro Sánchez this Wednesday at a control session in the Lower House: if the measures proposed to contain the rise in prices, they wouldn’t be agreed upon and crystallize, “disappointed. they will serve to disappoint and disappoint. “Disappointment is the ‘kryptonite’ of the left and the gasoline of the right‘ he pointed down.
When an ERC spokesperson spoke Wednesday about measures that were not agreed upon prior to their announcement, he referred to creating a basket of basic and fresh food at limited prices and limiting the rise in floating mortgages. “Roughly”, both measures satisfy the left, and indeed, if the PSOE were to convert them into decree laws, they would be approved by a parliamentary majority. The problem is PSOE doesn’t seem very willing.
Luis Planas, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, is the person who most clearly defines the position. In the control session, he stressed that the Government had nothing in their minds like a proposal to control prices like the basic food basket Díaz advocated.
The most important law supported by the Planas Department is the food chain law. Reducing the difference between the product’s cost to farmers and the amount it goes on sale. This regulation, which is currently in force, is essential for the Andalusian minister. Aitor Esteban recalled in his usual eloquence this Tuesday: “Some prices are controllable, but of course we are making legal attempts to ensure that producers are properly paid (…) It’s very complicated.”
PNV spokesperson was not surprised that Díaz had single-handedly lowered that flag. as an event rather than a proposal. Rufián took this opportunity to investigate the wound. This Wednesday he said: “What’s the point of blowing up a shopping cart and talking about getting it cheaper if you’re not talking amongst yourselves, and some are not talking about it with their own parties?”
The day before, he spoke with a sharp tooth: “Apart from Díaz talking to the televisions and you – the journalists – that’s fine, talk more to your own party because if not, the offer will be this. on a cover.”
mortgage
The party Rufián is talking about is United We Can, where formations come together rather than a party. There are IU, PCE, En Comú Podem… and Podemos, which are the main organizations in terms of number of seats. Pablo Echenique made this very clear. We can support the idea of the Minister of Labour..
But on Tuesday, the spokesperson stressed a different recommendation, not the food basket: Limit floating rate mortgages in Spain. As he explained, Euribor went from navigating negative numbers to moving around 2% in just nine months, which is Increased monthly payments up to 200 Euros. The 1.25% spike in interest rates set by the European Central Bank doesn’t help either. For Echenique, doing nothing about it could lead to non-payments and defaults that are so damaging to the financial system.
United We Can’s assistant stated that the proposal was sent to PSOE last Monday afternoon. The socialist parliamentary leadership acknowledged acceptance and promised to examine it. He didn’t say more. patxi lopez limited himself to assuring that the analysis would be done with “love”.like saying nothing.
Given that he’s had another “trolling” about United We Can offers ending in forgotten drawers (For example, the law on freedom of expression), Echenique claimed that if the negotiation with the socialist wing does not work and the idea is not included in the emergency plan decree on energy saving, they will propose a special law. and to ensure that it is considered by the general assembly.
Rufián liked the measure, although he wanted more ambition. A tax reform would embody this passion. ERC now has a roadmap. He suggested its creation to Pedro Sánchez. mortgage recovery fund This allows families unable to pay themselves to bear these costs.
Stop variable mortgages. Mortgage recovery fund. A measure of United We Can. Another from CKD. Finance Minister María Jesús Montero was questioned about both, to see if Patxi López was in a more juicy position than her loose position. No luck, but he noted that there are “regulatory frameworks” that make it difficult to limit food prices and, by extension, mortgage prices.
Nadia Calviño, vice president of economics, shed more light. He mentioned the mortgage law passed months ago that makes it easier (cost less, he stated) to convert variable mortgages to fixed mortgages, and it’s already known when a member of the Government said there was a rule about an opposition proposal. force going more or less in the same direction…
Therefore, the upper limit on food prices and the upper limit on variable mortgages sounds good to PSOE members. However, they were annoyed by how the two proposals came to the scene. EH Bildu stated that they are going in the “good direction” in this regard, but they are insufficient. For the Basque formation, it is better to freeze mortgages. Congress spokesperson Mertxe Aizpurua issued a statement:The concept of ‘vulnerable family’ is insufficient for the future”.
Perhaps for this reason, Íñigo Errejón of Más País encouraged the Government to take these two measures to the full. “There is social consensus, there is the support of the Chamber; We must move forward,” he concluded.