Pedro Sánchez: "We ask the employers for a dose of responsibility to unblock the collective agreements"

The President of the Government has appealed this Tuesday night for the collaboration of employers against the energy crisis and rampant inflation with a rise in wages that the unions are demanding: "We ask the employers for a dose of responsibility to unblock the collective agreements ”, he pointed out after asking the employers to “put their shoulder to the wheel”.

The Government has been increasing the pressure on employers to raise wages.

In August, the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, stated that this "is not up to the task" of the country.

Sánchez has not been so harsh but has placed himself close to the position of the unions, and has avoided criticizing Díaz, while several of her ministers did clash with the vice president when she attacked the bosses.

Sánchez has inaugurated, speaking on television, the new political course and has mentioned the blocking of the renewal of the Constitutional Court.

He has been convinced that "in a few days", the "proposal of two candidates from the Judiciary" will be ready, referring to the legal term to appoint the new members of the court of guarantees, which has expired this Tuesday without the Council has agreed on the names of the two new members to be designated.

Sánchez has assured that he shares the "indignation" of the president of the CGPJ, Carlos Lesmes, who last week threatened to resign if the organization is not renewed.

In an interview on TVE, Sánchez has aimed several criticisms at the main opposition party.

“The PP

so that the Iberian mechanism would not start up”, the president accused.

“The PP makes a desperate defense of the interests of the electricity companies”, he has come to say.

Sánchez has assured that the Iberian exception has allowed the Spanish and Portuguese to save 2,000 million euros.

"The PP is not that it has voted against the taxes and has even refused to debate it in Parliament," the president has censured, who this Tuesday has seen the new taxes on banking and energy companies supported in Congress.

Pedro Sánchez, during the interview on RTVE.

RTVE (RTVE)

The president has also focused on the list with proposals from the PP to tackle the economic and energy consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Monday.

"We study all the proposals, and of course also those of the main opposition party", although, he has said, "we have to respond to two crises: and they cannot be contradictory".

"We have to be consistent with the challenge of Putin's war in the energy field, but also with the climate emergency" and he has mentioned a "definitive" commitment to renewable energies and increasing self-consumption.

“The proposals that are being made known by the PP and particularly its opposition to the Iberian mechanism represent, on the one hand, a certain insolvency and a desperate defense of the interests of our country's electricity companies.

"We haven't had this inflation for decades," Sánchez acknowledged, interviewed by the journalist Xabier Fortes in

from the Palacio de La Moncloa.

“From there, the Government studies all the variables to defend the vast majority of this country.

With all due respect to that country, my reflection is that the power of money is great, but in a democracy there is no power greater than that of the majority”.

The president is very determined to point out that the progressive coalition government is the one that is protecting the working middle class and places the PP as a party that defends the interests of large energy companies and banks and therefore votes against taxes on windfall profits in these sectors.

And on the possibility of putting a cap on food prices, Sánchez has assured: "What we have to do is appeal to shared responsibility, as the vice president [second, Yolanda Díaz] is doing", whom she has avoided criticize during the interview.

Here again, Sanchez has stood with the citizens against big industry, while other socialist ministers have been more critical of Diaz's proposal.

Sánchez has mentioned three uncertainties regarding the coming autumn and winter: that of the energy crisis —pending the closure of the gas supply from Russia—, that of rising prices —inflation stood at 10.5% in August— and how this increase will affect the evolution of the economy and employment.

“The Government of Spain is going to use all the resources and levers of the Administration to defend the middle and working class”, he stated.

The president has underlined that the European Commission has agreed to adopt many of the approaches of the Spanish Executive.

“It is evident that we are certain that this evolution of prices is affecting the whole of Europe”, pointed out Sánchez, who has described two tasks on the part of the Executive: “implement measures that protect the middle and working class” (has mentioned free or reduced transport costs) and that the costs of this crisis be distributed between society and large companies.

.

"Today in energy matters there is no country more credible than Spain," said Sánchez, who was asked about the diplomatic conflict with Algeria on account of the position on Western Sahara.

“We have a disagreement with Algeria”, he acknowledged, later asserting that “in the supply of gas, the supply “is guaranteed”.

“I hope we can convince the French government [about the MidCat gas pipeline]”, he added, because, he said, it is a matter of European interest.

France has opposed the construction of the infrastructure.

Asked about the polls that give the PP better results than the PSOE, Sánchez has been confident: "I take the polls seriously, I analyze them, but I work to turn them around."

He has pointed out as a purpose that citizens understand that the Government defends their interests, although he has claimed to understand "even the anger of citizens" after a global pandemic and a war that shakes the economy.

Sánchez believes that the opposition is trying to get the progressives to come down because of the criticism: “The political and media right wing wants us progressives to give up.

And we're not going to give up."

The leader of the Executive has referred with a note of humor to the time that he has had to preside over La Moncloa.

"Barring a zombie invasion, this government has had to deal with tremendous situations."

Regarding the sentence of the ERE, not yet published, and the conviction, known in July, of the former president of the Junta de Andalucía José Antonio Griñán, sentenced to six years in prison for embezzlement and prevarication, Sánchez has not been against: “ We do not know the content of the ERE sentence, a sentence that seems to have been discussed.

The President of the Government is going to respect the procedures and the decision we make will be in accordance with the law and with absolute transparency”.

And he has avoided ruling on the presence of the king emeritus at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth of England, which will be held next Monday in London and attended by the current Kings, Felipe VI and Letizia.