Changes in the Council of Ministers, in his team closest to Moncloa and in the leadership of the PSOE. And the commitment that the Government has no other horizon than to complete its mandate with a program of progressive reforms that deepen the path taken in the last six years. With this message, Pedro Sánchez tried this Wednesday to practice a kind of electroshock therapy on a legislative body in suspense due to the lack of a clear majority in Congress that would provide stable parliamentary support to the Executive. A difficulty that the president was determined to face in his speech at the opening ceremony of the political course.
“There has been a government for a long time. If this Executive has learned anything, it is to sail against the current. And we will take advantage of the time as we have always done,” he assured in the face of the uncertain panorama of essential partners such as Junts or ERC and whose internal situation even complicates the possibility of negotiating the general budgets of the State.
And in the face of the legislative paralysis caused by his precarious majority, Sánchez has dusted off some key flags of left-wing policies, such as taxation and housing. He has promised more taxes on the rich, measures against speculators and a regional financing system based on squaring the circle: that all the Autonomous Communities win. He has not specified what the formula would be.
“In these seven years, the Spanish government will have transferred a total of 935 billion euros to the autonomous communities; that is, 300 billion more (32%) than what the Rajoy government transferred at the same time. We are complying. The problem is that the autonomies governed by the right have not dedicated these resources to the citizens. They have dedicated them to increasing the contracts of a few companies and financing their tax gifts to the richest,” he noted as a starting point for his approach to financing the reform.
The Prime Minister even specifically pointed out some autonomous governments of the PP, such as the case of the Community of Madrid. “Between 2018 and 2023, the Madrid community received almost 100 billion euros from the Spanish government. 21% more than what the Rajoy government transferred to it. But, at the same time, its tax cuts, always intended to benefit the highest incomes, reduced Madrid’s income by 31 billion euros. In other words: out of ten euros that the Spanish government gave to the Community of Madrid to improve the lives of the people of Madrid, the regional government used three to give tax gifts to the rich,” he criticized.
Faced with this context, Pedro Sánchez promised that the reform he will undertake, based on the agreement between the PSC and the ERC on Catalan taxation, will end up benefiting all territories. “Decentralisation is perfectly compatible with guaranteeing solidarity and equity between territories, as well as guaranteeing the sufficiency of resources, provided that regional governments assume greater fiscal co-responsibility. In fact, I assure you that I am committed to ensuring that with the reform we will propose, all the autonomous communities of the country will receive more resources than they received under the PP government,” he said.
Regarding the future of Parliament, he promised that the Executive would present to Congress a draft General State Budget, even if it does not have the guaranteed support to carry it out. And also for next week, the Council of Ministers will approve a new spending ceiling to send to Parliament.
In addition, Sánchez promised in his speech to deepen his government’s tax policy so that the rich pay more taxes. “We will continue to move towards a more progressive tax system, with taxes that weigh on those who have the most and that guide the production model. We will launch new actions aimed at limiting the disproportionate privileges of certain elites and taxing those who already have enough money in the bank to live a hundred lives. We will do this, I insist, not to harm millionaires, but to protect the middle and working classes from an unjust system.” For the moment, this announcement has not yet materialized into measures that will be promoted in the short term.
The president also highlighted the difficulties of access to housing and announced that this would be the main point of the Conference of Presidents to be held in Cantabria on a date to be determined in the autumn. “We want our young people to become independent at a younger age. That is why we will do more in the coming months. “We will promote new measures to expand the social housing stock, to continue speculation, to establish a better balance between tourist activity and the well-being of residents and to ensure that housing is a right for all and not the business of a few”. he defended himself.
Sánchez, who announced a series of bilateral meetings in Moncloa with all the regional presidents, also confirmed this Wednesday the changes in his executive and in his closest team: the minister José Luis Escriva is now officially the new governor of the Bank of Spain and his position will be occupied by the current chief of staff of the president, Óscar López. In replacement of López, Sánchez’s shadow for three years, the leader of the Executive appoints Diego Rubio, former director of the National Office of Foresight and Strategy and Secretary General of Public Policies, European Affairs and Strategic Foresight.
These will not be the only changes because in December the third vice-president, Teresa Ribera, will leave, who will occupy one of the new vice-presidencies of the European Commission in Brussels. And Pedro Sánchez also plans to move Ferraz’s chips. This Saturday, the party leadership will officially convene the PSOE congress that will take place on November 30 in Seville and in which the changes in the party leadership will be discussed. This congress will also give way to the regional congresses for which there is also the renewal of a good number of territorial leaderships for the next political cycle that, barring any surprises, should start in June 2026 in Andalusia.
