The president of the Government and general secretary of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, has urged to group the progressive vote under the socialist initials to safeguard social rights against the growing fragmentation of the left. "Everything to red," he has claimed, defending that his party is the most effective option to stop a regression.
In this context, he has reiterated his commitment to increase the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI) not only this year but "every" year in which the PSOE continues at the head of the Executive. This is how he has responded to the criticisms from the PP, which has labeled this measure as "electoralist" and has demanded that any increase comes from a prior agreement between employers and unions.
During a pre-campaign rally held this Monday in Valladolid, at the millennium dome, alongside ministers Óscar Puente and Ana Redondo —heads of the list for Congress for this province—, Sánchez has called for broad participation in the general elections on November 29. In his view, in that appointment, a decision will be made between two models of the country, "one that protects and another that leaves people exposed."
"Everything to red to have the best result, the largest parliamentary majority and continue governing for another four years," he has proclaimed before a packed venue, emphasizing that "because this is what these elections are about, there will be many initials, but there are only two models of society."
For this reason, he has called to opt for the so-called useful vote, after the Frente Amplio and Podemos did not reach an agreement to run in coalition and the ballots to the left of the PSOE multiply.
He believes they are mobilizing and the right is "afraid"
Sánchez has assured that he feels satisfied with "the mood and spirit" he perceives in the socialist ranks during this pre-campaign, in which, he has said, they are "mobilizing" the electorate while the right has "fear" and "insults and lies more." "Even the right itself believes that the PSOE is going to win and that we are going to continue governing," he has pointed out.
He has accused the PP of "insulting, lying, and cutting when they can," recalling the "cuts they made when they governed." Now, he has warned, the popular aspire to go "further" by intending to govern "with the chainsaw guy," referring to Vox, which he has linked to the Argentine president, Javier Milei. For this reason, he has insisted on the need to preserve what has been achieved in the last eight years and "continue that trajectory of social advances."
"Tranquility" with pensions and defense of the SMI
In terms of pensions, he wanted to send a message of "tranquility" both to current retirees and to future ones, guaranteeing that the public system "is solvent, is healthy, and enjoys extraordinary health." He challenged the PP to, "if they are concerned about its solvency," pressure the employers' association to sit down with the unions and "improve the salaries of the middle and working class."
At this point, he defended the extraordinary regularization of half a million migrants who are already working and contributing to Social Security and who, he said, "brings an improvement" to public accounts.
Regarding the SMI, the head of the Executive reiterated that they will increase it "every year" that they remain in power and criticized the PP for claiming that "it is the employers who have to raise it."
"I already tell the PP and Vox, and of course the workers, that this year we are also going to raise the SMI. And the next, and the next, and the next, every year that we are governing we will raise the Minimum Interprofessional Salary, we will not leave it to anyone," he insisted.
Thus he responded to statements from the PP's Deputy Secretary of Finance, Juan Bravo, who described the announcement of raising the SMI once the elections are called as "electoralist" and argued that any increase should be based on an agreement between employers and unions to determine "what is the maximum that can be reached."
Against vulture funds in housing
In housing policy, Sánchez has once again highlighted the initiatives of his Government and has denied that they seek to pit tenants against small property owners. "It is just the opposite, what we want is to unite small property owners and tenants and fight against those at the top," he stated.
In that group, he placed "the big penthouses," referring to the apartment acquired by the Community of Madrid that, according to the PSOE, was going to be the residence of the regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and also to "the vulture funds." "Those are the ones we want to stand up to, with their abuses and their threats," he emphasized.
Sánchez did not refer to the resignation of the former PSOE spokesperson, Montse Mínguez, who left the position amid controversy over her husband's real estate dealings, owning around thirty homes where evictions would have taken place.
Message to those affected by the DANA
At the beginning of his intervention, the leader of the PSOE addressed some words to the victims of the "Adam" dana in the Comunidad Valenciana and Andalucía, where the floods and torrential rains have already caused five fatalities.
"All our solidarity, all our empathy, all our commitment from the General Administration of the State of the Government of Spain to those affected by the dana in the Mediterranean," he expressed.
He attributed the strength of these storms to the effects of climate change, pointing out the increase of several degrees in the temperature of the Mediterranean, which causes the storms to turn into danas and "become more lethal."
For this reason, he called on the rest of the administrations to become aware and join the State Pact against the climate emergency proposed by the PSOE, in order to prevent and not just react to the consequences of these extreme phenomena.