Pedro Sánchez affirms that the 2023 budgets favour the social majority and fight inequality

Lower House of Parliament, Madrid

In the control session of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez stated that, as was the case during the pandemic, the Government of Spain will "put all the resources of the state at the service of the social majority". The General Budgets for 2023 submitted to parliament for processing are "social" and "protect the middle and working classes of this country", said the president in his reply to Concepción Gamarra, a member of the Popular Parliamentary Group.

The chief executive has indicated that, in comparison with the 2018 public accounts, the last of the previous government, social spending has grown by 35.4%, the item earmarked for education by 62%, and scholarships and study grants by 60%. The increase in dependency is over 151%, "in other words, in four years we are going to have reversed all the cuts in the national dependency system", he said.

Furthermore, Pedro Sánchez stressed that, vis-à-vis the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine, the government has already deployed €35 billion.

In the opinion of the chief executive, to say that it is old-fashioned to talk about rich and poor in a country that, according to the National Statistics Institute, has 27.8% of the population at risk of poverty shows "a lack of empathy.. The old way was to lower taxation on the rich," he said.

Guarantee of public pensions and record number of scholarships

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech at the control session in the Lower House of Parliament | Pool Congreso

In his reply to Inés Arrimadas, a member of the Ciudadanos Parliamentary Group, the president also stressed the issue of inequality, "a real problem" that the government is tackling by "easing" the tax burden on the middle and working classes and demanding that "those who have more should do their bit. The draft General Budget," Sánchez explained, "is committed precisely to the interests of the majority and to social and territorial cohesion".

For the first time in many years, the public accounts for 2023 provide economic resources to the pension reserve fund "to guarantee the sustainability of today's and tomorrow's pensions", said Sánchez, who defended the public system against those who advocate its privatisation.

The president also highlighted the policies in favour of youth included in the draft budget, such as a record investment of over €2 billion in scholarships, the 300 million euros allocated to the Escuela 4.0 programme for learning programming and robotics, and the consolidation of the youth rental voucher with 200 million euros.

Commitment to regional and local funding

With regard to the need for a new regional funding system, an issue raised by Joan Baldoví, a member of the Popular Parliamentary Group, Pedro Sánchez pointed out that the reform of the current system requires agreement with a "negationist" opposition.

Pedro Sánchez attends the control session in the Lower House of Parliament | Pool Congreso

Faced with this position, the government is being "pragmatic" and increasing the resources of the regional governments, which have competencies in fundamental pillars of the welfare state such as dependency, health and education, as the chief executive explained.

Specifically, the draft General Budget for 2023 states that the communities will receive a record amount of €135.3 billion from the financing system, 24% more than the previous year. For their part, local councils will receive €23.24 billion, an increase of 5%. "The government's commitment to regional and local government funding is total and absolute," he concluded.

Non official translation