The General Secretary of the PSOE and President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has gone to Bilbao, the epicenter of pensioners’ protests, to reaffirm his “solemn commitment” to guarantee by law the adjustment of pensions in the next legislature. Faced with this challenge, he called for voting “en masse” next November 29 for a progressive executive with the goal of “going much further in the next four years” on social progress, which, as he said, is why “they attack” them, the right and the far right, both Spanish and from other countries.
At a pre-campaign event held this Sunday in a packed Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao, under the slogan “The strength of the Country,” Sánchez defended that in Spain “we have gone far” in social rights while the economy grew, and he insisted that it will be possible to go “much further” in the next four years “with a new progressive government.”
“That’s why the right attacks us, but not only the right of Spain, but also the far right of Spain and international far right. That’s why they come here to Spain, because we are the living proof, not only of words, but also of facts, that hope is much more efficient for the prosperity of societies than the hatred they spread and promote from administrations,” he stressed.
Backed by attendees, who chanted “president,” Sánchez reiterated that, as long as he continues at La Moncloa, he will increase the Minimum Wage Interprofessional Salary (SMI) every year and reiterated his intention to “lock in the Constitution” the update of pensions.
“If you want us to go further and sooner in social gains, especially in housing, I’m not asking for a simple majority; I’m asking for a broad and progressive majority in the next Parliament, to reach sooner and go further in social gains,” he said.
A decisive moment for Spain and Europe
For the head of the Government, “it is also felt here in Bilbao,” which is going through “a particularly important moment, not only for Euskadi, not only for Spain, but also for Europe and for the world, for Western societies.”
For this reason, he has appealed to citizens to be aware that one is living "a historic moment in which Western societies face a transcendental dilemma for the coming years: whether we advance or regress as a society." In his view, "Spain is going to demonstrate once again" that it will "advance with more determination than ever."
"We have been a country which, coming from far back, after a long night of the Francoist dictatorship during these last 50 years, has advanced much farther than other societies. We have achieved rights that, for many of those who are here present, the most veteran, and for our ancestors who are no longer with us, today would be unthinkable," he said.
Pedro Sánchez has stated that the PSOE will do on 29N "the same thing as in the United States," where citizens mobilized after becoming the "epicenter of all the international far-right." "We’re going for the Congress and for the Senate because there’s a lot of work to do," he asserted.
Sánchez recalled that the Spanish Government, "during these harsh years of the far-right wave," has said "no to the war in Iran, that what is being perpetrated in Gaza is a genocide; it said no to spending 5% of the budget on defense because it wanted to continue paying for the education of our sons and daughters." "We’re going to mobilize again and we’re going to defeat regression again," he said.
Criticism of Feijóo and Abascal
The PSOE candidate for the presidency has recalled that Alberto Núñez Feijóo has pointed out that, "if he governs, the music lists on Spotify are over." "That is being concerned with what’s important, that is state policy, that is a hymn to joy. Feijóo is no more sad because he doesn’t want to," he added.
Sánchez has accused his opponents of going "very brave" and has reproached that the PP leader "is not going on public television so that they ask him about pensions," and that Vox leader, Santiago Abascal, "doesn’t go on Broncano, and if he does go, it’s with an audience that he decides."
"Are these going to dare to tell Trump no to 5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) if they govern? These swallow everything, the 5%, the war in Iran, the genocide in Gaza, anything. That’s why, next November 29, we have to vote with force to have a courageous government that will defend Spain’s interests," he emphasized.
In this line, he has ensured that they will say "to the one who builds the 'sheriff' of the world (Donald Trump) that what happens in Spain is not decided either in Whashington or in Tel Aviv or in Buenos Aires or in Moscow; that Spain is a sovereign country and that it is not going to be the back yard of any ultra-right-wing international".
Therefore, he has insisted that it is not enough to "repeat a parliamentary majority and curb the ultra-right and the right that has clearly caved in before the ultra-right", he has said, to remind that the popular party is asking for the vote in Guipúzcoa, in Girona and in Tarragona for Vox. "But don’t insult people’s intelligence, man," he has emphasized.
He has also accused PP and Vox of "listening only to businesspeople" and of "spreading the alleged collapse of the public pension system", and has reiterated that, if they win the elections, their next government will raise the SMI every year, and will entrench in the Constitution the right to abortion and the revaluation of pensions. "We are going to demand it of all the parliamentary parties," he has stressed.
Pedro Sánchez has reiterated the need for "a broad and progressive majority" against "the ultra-right-wing wave embodied by Feijóo and Abascal", because "no society moves forward by traveling to the past". He has asked what the leaders of the PP and of Vox are proposing and what they have been proposing, and has answered that "the only thing they do is insult".
"They only remember my mother. I also remember yours when we raise pensions, the salary, when we strengthen the public service, when we talk about the health of dependency," he has ironized.
He has referred to the review of the right to abortion to point out that it is one of the two "main achievements" of women "in these last 50 years", a right "inalienable".
He has cited, specifically, the call to vote from "a punkie, Patti Smith, one of the great American singer-songwriters", and he has also referred to the Pope, who has participated in the electoral process in the United States. "By the way, he has voted by mail," he has clarified.
Sánchez has highlighted the causes defended by the pontiff, such as "the rights of migrants" or "the human awakening in the face of the challenge of artificial intelligence, standing up to the technoligarques" or "in the face of the climate emergency". "I don’t know how the Pope will have voted, but if the Pope and the punk have voted, then we have to vote next November 29," he has encouraged.
The PSOE candidate, who managed on numerous occasions to get the rally attendees to rise from their seats, has called for voting "en masse so that mobilization defeats regression" on 29N. In this regard, he has warned that "the only border between progress and regression is called the vote." "And I appeal to that vote, to the mass vote, to be an example again. Let’s make history, let’s vote, let’s win, and four more years of progressive government," he concluded.