The still First Vice President of the Government, Minister of Finance and PSOE candidate in Andalusia, María Jesús Montero, appeared this Tuesday at the regional headquarters of the socialists to launch the first electoral offensive ahead of the elections next May 17, announced this Monday by the President of the Junta, Juanma Moreno. “In these elections we are playing for health and life,” Montero asserted in that a press conference in Seville, warning that the elections next May 17 will be “a referendum on public healthcare.”
Puffs out his chest about his healthcare management in the Board
The socialist candidate has harshly criticized the health management of Moreno Bonilla, highlighting recent crises such as failures in breast cancer screenings and the increase in private insurance, which, according to Montero, is “the antechamber of co-payment” and of the privatization of healthcare in what, "she is aware", that the Andalusian Executive "is working on". “I am aware, and Moreno Bonilla knows that I am aware”, the socialist leader has stressed.
As a doctor by profession, with a position at the Hospital Virgen del Rocío de Sevilla, Montero has assured that her experience managing public policies surpasses that of Moreno Bonilla: “I have been managing the Junta de Andalucía for more than 15 years. I have been managing public policies twice as long as Moreno Bonilla”, she underlined.
Thus, Montero, who was former Minister of Health of the Junta, has claimed that “healthcare and health management” constitute her “professional specialization”, and has recalled that, before joining the political frontline, she dedicated her “life to health management, to eliminating waiting lists, to administering hospital centers, to being able to work on new services, to measuring the quality of public services.”
In her first electoral commitment, Montero has promised that she will approve an urgent plan to reinforce public healthcare in the region if she is elected president. The candidate has reiterated that the early election is a defensive attempt by the PP: “It is a defensive maneuver by Moreno Bonilla, because every week that passes, it becomes an uphill struggle for him”, she has stated.
“We are going to reverse the healthcare collapse that Andalusia is suffering today” and that “is expressed in those waiting lists”, “the largest in all of Spain”, or “in the breast cancer screening crisis, or in diagnostic tests that take so long”, he added.
Claims that his/her departure from the Government is "imminent"
Likewise, Montero has confirmed that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will be fully involved in the socialist campaign in Andalusia during the 15 days of campaigning, which will start on May 1, highlighting the importance of the community for national politics: “Given how important Andalusia is in the national sphere, being able to reconquer the Presidency of the Junta de Andalucía is very important”.
Nevertheless, the candidate has avoided detailing the exact date of her departure from the central Government, although she has assured that it will be “imminent”, and that she will maintain her seat in Congress until she assumes her position in the Andalusian Parliament to keep her position at the hospital.
The budget project is "prepared"
On another note, Montero has indicated that the draft of the General State Budgets (PGE) is “prepared” to be registered, although it will be the person who replaces her in the Executive who will finally present them before the Cortes.
In this regard, the socialist candidate has stressed that she considers her work in the Government concluded, both in relation to the PGE and to the anti-crisis decree due to the war in Iran which is submitted for validation this Thursday in Congress.
“I have finished my task in the Government of Spain, I have left the task completed”, he insisted, stressing that the essential thing now is to achieve the approval of the accounts with the support of the parliamentary partners. “But it will be the person who replaces me who will present them”, he added.
According to what the still number 'two' of the Executive has explained, it will be the new Minister of Finance who details the content of the Budgets, which prioritize, she stressed, the main concerns of the citizenry: “housing, vocational training or infrastructures”. “These are public accounts worth seeing,” she concluded.
The Government had set as an objective to approve the PGE project in the first quarter of the year, but finally the calendar will be extended, since the Executive itself admits that the war conflict can modify the macroeconomic framework and the forecasts for growth, consumption, and other variables necessary to design accounts adapted to the situation.
This very Tuesday, the spokesperson Elma Saiz has explained that the Executive is going to “take time” to study these effects in detail, although she has reiterated that they maintain the commitment to send the General State Budgets to Congress once that analysis is completed.