The president of the Government and candidate for reelection for the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that he will promote a reform of the Constitution in order to safeguard the updating of pensions based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), as long as he can remain at the head of the Executive after the general elections on November 29.
During a pre-campaign rally held this Monday in Gijón (Asturias), in front of about 6,000 people among attendees in the venue and those who were left outside, Sánchez made this commitment "in the face of the threat from PP and Vox," whom he accuses of wanting to cut and move towards the privatization of the public retirement system.
The socialist leader recalled the protests of pensioners during the previous financial crisis and defended that, upon arriving at the Government, he reintroduced the annual revaluation of pensions linked to the cost of living, thus reversing the "counter-reform" approved by then-president Mariano Rajoy (PP).
In this context, he proclaimed: "And now, in the face of the threat from PP and Vox, I assume the following commitment: In the next legislature we will reform the Constitution to safeguard pensions and their revaluation according to the CPI," emphasizing that he does so in an autonomous community with a high proportion of retired population.
Reinforced majority to change the Constitution
Last Saturday, at another PSOE event held in Granada, Sánchez had already indicated that, if he continues in La Moncloa, he will promote a modification of the Magna Carta to safeguard the right to abortion, after the PP candidate, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, expressed his willingness to review the current regulations to require that minors inform their parents if they wish to terminate their pregnancy.
The Constitution can only be modified with qualified majorities in Congress: 210 deputies are needed for an ordinary reform and 234 seats when it comes to an aggravated review that affects fundamental rights.
"We come from very far back, but in these last 50 years we have come a long way," Sánchez stated, referring to the Franco dictatorship and defending that, if he continues to govern, new social advances will occur in the next four years.
Criticism of the PP-Vox pact in the Senate
In his intervention, Sánchez has also attacked the agreement between PP and Vox to run coordinated for the Senate, with the aim of maximizing their results in the Upper House against the joint candidacy of PSOE and Frente Amplio.
"Voting for Feijóo is the same as voting for (Santiago) Abascal and I’m not saying it, they are saying it with their pact and their unique list for the Senate," the head of the Executive reproached. Under this understanding, Vox renounces to present lists in six provinces, while the PP will not run in Guipúzcoa, Gerona, and Tarragona.
Sánchez has censured that the leader of the PP closes agreements with Vox when, as he recalled, in countries like Germany the right "wants nothing" to do with the far right. "And here, on the other hand, the PP with Feijóo at the helm has pushed back the democratic right 50 years." He warned that they will not allow the same to happen in Spain and has called to concentrate the vote on the PSOE to "stop them at the polls."
In this line, he has cited Lula da Silva in Brazil as an example, who this Sunday won in the second round of the presidential elections and will return to the head of the State for a fourth term. "We are going to do the same that Lula has done in Brazil," he emphasized.
Objective: absolute majority in Congress
Sánchez has asked the citizens for "176 seats," the number that marks the absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies, arguing that it is the necessary condition to "govern and advance Spain."
In the final stretch of the rally, he has charged against Alberto Núñez Feijóo for defining himself as "feminist" claiming that he has been "raised among women," recent statements from the PP leader that the president has ridiculed with irony: "Of course, I am an astronaut because I saw a man walk on the Moon."
"One is not a feminist for being raised among women, one is a feminist for not cutting women's rights, which is what you want to do with Abascal if you reach the Government," he concluded, guaranteeing that the socialists will prevent that setback.