The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has lashed out at the "hypocrisy" of the PP regarding the regularization of migrant people, recalling that the proposal arose from a Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP) that at first had the support of the party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo. In his opinion, this change of stance is not strange because a "party that was financed in B, what it wants are workers who are paid in B".
"The PP said yes to the ILP and now says no. The employers and unions say yes, and even the Episcopal Conference in Spain and the Catholic Church in the Vatican. It is a sign of hypocrisy, although it does not surprise us because a party that financed itself in the black economy what it wants are workers who are paid in the black economy," Sánchez assured this Sunday at an event held in Gibraleón (Huelva), where he was accompanied by the Deputy Secretary General of the PSOE, Secretary General of the PSOE-A and candidate for the presidency of the Junta de Andalucía, María Jesús Montero.
During his speech, the head of the Executive has underlined that Spain has faced six migrant regularization processes throughout its history, one of them under the mandate of former president José María Aznar, and has defended that advancing in the legalization of these people constitutes a "historical claim, of coherence, commitment and justice" with previous generations of Spaniards and with the young people who have been forced to leave the country.
"Spain was and is the daughter of migrants and will not be the father or mother of xenophobia and racist discourses like those the PP is practicing," he claimed, contrasting the country's migratory trajectory with the messages he attributes to the right.
The socialist leader has also resorted to his family experience to illustrate his position, evoking the figure of his grandfather, who during the Franco dictatorship had to emigrate to Germany "to seek the opportunities that that dark Spain denied him". "I am convinced that if you think about your grandfathers and grandmothers, you would wish that those host countries had recognized the rights for them that we also proclaim for our nationals," he indicated.
On the same line, he has brought up a trip to Chile prior to his arrival at La Moncloa, in which he conveyed to the then-president Michelle Bachelet the need to guarantee rights for young Spaniards who left due to the economic crisis and the "failed response of neoliberalism." "If we ask for that for our grandparents and for our young people, how can we not ask for it for the people who contribute to the stability and prosperity of our country?" he has reflected.
Furthermore, Sánchez has highlighted that Spain has become this weekend "the capital of progressive forces in the world" and has railed against the right and the far-right, whom he holds responsible for the "catastrophe" derived from "wars, inflation, poverty, and confrontation between nations".
Digital Vindication and Critique of the Technologarchs
In another part of his speech, the president has focused his criticism on the "oligarchs" who, as he said, play with the mental and democratic health of the citizens, especially the youth, sheltering themselves under the slogan that "freedom of expression must be protected".
"Under the guise of protecting freedom of expression, what they allow these technocrats to do is line their pockets at the expense of our young people's mental health. It is not freedom of expression to manipulate images of girls and women with artificial intelligence applications to show them naked on social media. That is not freedom of expression, that is a violation of people's rights and freedoms," he stated, denouncing the abusive use of technology to violate fundamental rights.
In this context, he added that he cannot invoke freedom of expression to "denigrate and stigmatize" migrants who, as he has highlighted, contribute "honestly to the prosperity and economic development of nations". "And it is not freedom of expression to also position oneself on social networks with lies about the outrage and violation of international law by the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, while there is suffering, pain, and death. That is not freedom of expression," he added, in reference to the situation in the Middle East.
Faced with these dynamics, Sánchez has defended that the left does not "bend the knee" to the elites and assumes the task of "putting them in their place". "Faced with these dilemmas about what to do with technology, about what to do with housing, about what to do with women's rights, about what to do with public services, that is where ideology comes in, whether one is left-wing or right-wing. And what we left-wing people do is not bend the knee to the elites, to those who are above. We put them in their place," he added, vindicating the progressive response against economic and technological power.