The PP has received Carlos Cuerpo this Wednesday in the control session of Congress accusing him of having accepted to be the first vice president of a "corrupt" government. The also Minister of Economy has replied denouncing that the 'popular' bench does not deal with the main problems of the citizens, such as the economy, housing or the situation of the self-employed.
In his debut as first vice-president in the Lower House, Cuerpo has responded to an oral question from the PP spokesperson, Ester Muñoz, focused on the alleged corruption cases affecting the Executive. The deputy has ironically congratulated him for succeeding María Jesús Montero in the Vice-Presidency and added: "Seeing how the right-hand men of Mr. Sánchez have ended up, two in prison and another exiled in Andalusia to lose for him, perhaps it's better that I offer you my condolences."
After that introduction, Muñoz has questioned Cuerpo why, if he is "outraged" by that corruption, as he recently stated, he has accepted becoming first vice president of the Government.
Only 3% of PP's questions are about housing
In his reply, Carlos Cuerpo has avoided commenting on the judicial situation of Ferraz and has wanted to underline that the PP's priorities in the last two years "move away" from the real concerns of the population. He has pointed out that Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party barely shows interest in the economy or housing and has indicated that, according to his calculations, in two and a half years less than 3% of the questions asked by the Popular Group in control sessions referred to the housing crisis.
The minister also recalled some PP votes in Congress, such as its rejection of the decree-law to curb United States tariffs or the abstention before the decree with tax rebates due to the Iran war, despite, he stressed, the latter being "exactly" what the PP itself demanded.
Cuerpo has also taken the opportunity to criticize that in the Government agreement between PP and Vox in Extremadura the word self-employed appears "zero times" in 23 pages. In her rebuttal, Ester Muñoz insisted that Cuerpo cannot declare himself indignant about corruption and at the same time "be the right-hand man" of Pedro Sánchez. The head of Economy defended that the Executive promotes a culture of "zero tolerance" for corruption.
Body claims Montero and Calviño's economic management
Furthermore, the deputy secretary of Treasury of the PP, Juan Bravo, has asked the vice president if he intends to maintain the economic policies of his predecessor and when he plans to present the General State Budgets for 2026. Cuerpo has responded by highlighting the "excellent" work of Nadia Calviño and María Jesús Montero, and has underlined that both drew up a roadmap that, in his opinion, has allowed them to face the different crises of recent years —covid, war in Ukraine or in Iran— being leaders in economic growth and reduction of unemployment.
In his last turn, Bravo has taken the opportunity to warn about the deterioration of the railway network, the difficulties of the self-employed and SMEs, and the fact that almost 20% of the population in Spain considers themselves lower class or poor, according to the CIS. To close the exchange, Carlos Cuerpo has replied that two-thirds of Spaniards perceive their economic situation as good or very good, also according to the CIS, and insisted that in Spain there is increasingly "more employment" and of higher quality.