The Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, made his debut this Wednesday in a control session since he was promoted to first vice president replacing María Jesús Montero. In his exchange of views with the parliamentary spokesperson for the Partido Popular, Ester Muñoz, he reproached her that the Popular Group has shown no interest in debating the Spanish economy and revealed a curious fact.
“We see the agreement between PP and Vox in Extremadura, where the word self-employed, in 23 pages, appears zero times”, Cuerpo reproached, with Pedro Sánchez beside him nodding proudly at the speech.
Indeed, it did not appear in the document, it did not appear in the document. However, they have remedied it in the one for Aragon.
“The Government of Aragon will continue to assume the commitment to defend those who create employment, take risks, and sustain our real economy. Faced with continuous attacks from the Central Government, materialized in indiscriminate increases in fees that stifle initiative and penalize effort, and in an increase in bureaucracy, in Aragon we will continue to place the self-employed at the center of our political action,” the text states.
Thus, they propose the following:
- Zero fee for new self-employed and micro-enterprises during the first 12 months, progressively extendable up to 24, through regional compensation, prioritizing those who maintain their real activity, so that viability depends on the market and not on the initial tax burden.
- Reinforcement of protection in case of illness, subsidizing two months of fees, through economic compensation in situations of medical leave.
- Boost of new regional tax deductions in personal income tax, favoring transfers, successions and business transmissions, as well as the continuity of self-employed activity in municipalities at risk of losing services, thus contributing to structuring the territory and retaining population and favoring business succession by avoiding business closures.
Back and forth with the “national priority”
Self-employed workers no, but what is included in the agreement is the already famous and controversial concept of "national priority", coined in the Extremadura agreement.
Basically, it consists of the priority allocation of public resources to those who maintain a real, lasting, and verifiable connection with the territory.
The debate on this concept revolves around the issue of nationality. The Government and its usual partners consider the agreement to be "unconstitutional" and "racist" for violating the right to equality before the law and non-discrimination, a matter that we analyzed last Tuesday in Demócrata.
The PP emphasizes that the pact travels solely in line with the roots, therefore it is framed within "legality". However, Santiago Abascal does not quite share this interpretation of Feijóo's party, because in his opinion it is clear: "Priority for Spaniards in access to social aid and housing".
The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, even questioned the legality of the point. "It is not legal," she maintained; to which the parliamentary spokesperson for Vox in Congress reacted: "We find it a lack of respect that there are regional leaders of the PP who dedicate themselves to boycotting a party colleague for reaching an agreement that was what the people of Extremadura were demanding at the polls".
Interpretations aside, the truth is that the document in Aragon cites it and very clearly:
“National priority in access to public aid. Access to all public aid, subsidies, and benefits will be inspired by the principle of national priority, which seeks the preferential allocation of public resources to those who maintain a real, lasting, and verifiable connection to the territory. This system, in accordance with current legality, will include:
- Establishment of a reinforced minimum period of residence, registration, and connection with the territory.
- Linking access to aid to the contribution record, permanence, and contribution to the system.
- Exclusion from access to structural social benefits and services for those in an irregular situation, limiting their access exclusively to cases of vital urgency.
- In parallel, the modification of Organic Law 4/2000 and any regulatory provisions that hinder the effective achievement of the foregoing will be urged.