Alberto Núñez Feijóo was caught in Zaragoza, to talk about the problems of families at the beginning of the school year, by Pedro Sánchez's announcement that he is reducing VAT on gas to 5%, as the president of the PP has been asking since April. "Even if it's dragging us, and after insulting us," he said, the PP is glad that "he listens to us in something" and that "the proposals we sent him in April are useful for something."
Feijóo did not fail to show his satisfaction, because he can continue saying that the PP "is the party of proposals." "We're getting something done, even if it's months late." and he considers that it is "a shame that if we proposed it in April, it has taken five months" to adopt a measure, he stressed, that is good for families.
The president of the PP also believes that "it has been useful for us to request Sánchez's appearance in the Senate", because it has made him "continue to assume, drop by drop, measures of the PP, after criticizing them", and recalled that when in April he proposed the lowering the VAT on electricity and gas, the answer was no, because it would be charging public services, although in June the VAT on electricity was lowered from 10 to 5% and now it is lowering that on gas.
But he is not satisfied, because he considers that the economic situation is bad, with very high inflation and not only because of the energy crisis, since if energy is subtracted it would be 9%, and he wants Sánchez to continue assuming some of his proposals, especially the one that uses the 16,500 million euros that he has collected more due to inflation in the first semester, to alleviate the pockets of the Spanish, deflating the personal income tax rate and lowering the withholdings since January.
He also said no to that in April, but nevertheless, Feijóo stressed, he has approved it in the Basque Country and in Navarra, where he governs with the PNV because the PNV "wants the same as us." What the PP asks is to deflate the income tax rate for those who earn less than 40,000 euros, which he considers would be good for families.
And since the act that he starred in when he received Sánchez's announcement was about the start of the school year, the president of the PP, who will attend Tuesday's debate in the stronger Senate, after seeing one of the proposals he was going to make fulfilled, He proposed to Sánchez four measures related to going back to school.
The first, to double the fund for the purchase of textbooks from the 48 million with which it is endowed now, to 100 million, which added to what the autonomous communities put in will be a relief for families, who face an increase 800 euros on average in spending for the start of the school year.
It also asks the Government for help for the municipalities and the autonomous communities, through the corresponding fund, to address the increase in dining room and school transport costs. Another measure is to increase aid for free nurseries from zero to 3 years.
And the star measure would be for the Government to give a check of 200 euros to each child or young person who studies in nurseries, schools, institutes or vocational training, to be able to face the increase that their parents will have to face at the beginning of the school year .
Given these proposals, Moncloa sources reply that when Feijóo arrived at the Xunta de Galicia, he cut aid to buy textbooks for public education students by 75%. In addition, they allege that when the PP governed, he suffocated the municipalities by denying them that they could use their surplus to invest in social policies. Finally they remember that the PP asks for a check a few days after voting against the extension of school scholarships by 400 euros until the end of the year, and saying "no" to free and discounts on public transport.
