Yesterday afternoon, the two forces that make up the government coalition were hastily negotiating the new shock plan that the Executive has promised to approve this Saturday in an extraordinary Council of Ministers. All the seams are tightened for the Government at a politically critical and economically bad moment with a tendency to worsen.
On the political side, after the Andalusian fiasco, the manuals recommend forceful actions. On the economic side, inflation is still soaring, central banks are tightening economic policy and the slowdown in growth is already more than a fear.
In this context, the first shock plan against inflation expires next week and the Government is determined not only to renew it, but to go further. The difficulty is also to agree between the two political forces that have been publicly disagreeing for days about the most appropriate measures, with Yolanda Díaz disagreeing, without acrimony, but disagreeing, both with María Jesús Montero and with Teresa Ribera.
The last public divergence was experienced yesterday. Where the Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, had demanded to raise the corporate tax on electric companies by 10 points, the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, replied that neither as quickly nor as clearly as doing it. Montero said that they share an objective, that is, that the electricity companies contribute more given their extraordinary profits, but added that the tax figures have to have a real return and that sometimes, corporate tax is not the one that provides the greatest return. “It is fair that the electric companies pay a part… We are working on the vehicle that allows the electric companies to contribute more. What we want is more important than the form and the technicians are the ones who have to say how we can do it better”, said Montero.
The idea of the Minister of Finance is that the new instrument, whatever the chosen one, she did not specify, can be applied as of January.
For her part, Yolanda Díaz acknowledged the differences, but affirming that both Montero and her “have expressed our differences with absolute respect”, and adding that she is convinced that they will reach an agreement. “We are negotiating within the coalition. We are two different spaces, with different views. We are proposing measures that have to do with the impact on people's lives,” Díaz said at the press conference of the Council of Ministers. She also acknowledged that there is little time left, but that "I am sure that we will reach an agreement."
It remains only until Saturday, when an extraordinary Council of Ministers has been convened on the first feasible date, given that Pedro Sánchez is in Brussels from today until Friday to attend the European Council. The truth is that he was interested in accelerating the calendar, both because the shock plan must be renewed before June 30, and to show reaction capacity, take out new measures to turn the page on the Andalusian elections.
In this sense, on Monday Yolanda Díaz already published her panoply of proposals via Twitter, with more details than those previously given. She highlights the 10-point rise in corporate tax for electricity companies, with which she hopes to raise between 1,500 and 2,000 million euros. It is a measure to which the socialist party has objected, at least formally, although they say they generally share the objective.
Díaz also calls for the 20-cent discount on gasoline to cease to be generalized, that is, to be adopted based on the consumer's income. On this point the Socialists have not spoken, although yesterday Montero said that the protection of the most vulnerable had to be reinforced but also "accompany the middle class and the working class."
On the other hand, what is taken for granted is a 15% increase in non-contributory pensions until the end of the year. It is a concession that the Government made to Bildu to obtain approval in the Congress of Deputies of the law on employment pension plans. The Escrivá department also considers it certain that the 15% rise in the Minimum Vital Income will be maintained until the end of this year. For the rest of the measures, it is open if they are extended for a quarter or longer.
