Ángel Collado
After bringing forward the announcement of the relaxation in the use of masks, Pedro Sánchez is preparing to counteract the negative effects that the pardons for the independentistas will have on his image with other positive news, the “milestone” of vaccination, before going on holiday.
The President of the Government is committed to the operation to please his separatist partners in order to continue the legislature while at the same time delaying the major reforms and pending laws (pensions, labour legislation and the State Budget) that have yet to be finalised in any text so that Congress can get down to work. The Executive is also trying to save the summer.
After approving the pardon measures for Oriol Junqueras and others convicted of sedition and embezzlement, the Moncloa Palace is planning, without consulting the autonomous governments, the beginning of the official end of the masks. And weeks later, when the figures add up, they will “sell” as Sánchez’s personal success the breakthrough of the vaccines bought by the EU, which have been administered by the autonomous regions’ health systems.
The date for launching this next imaging operation depends on the pace of vaccination, which has accelerated since May, but is still pending weekly shipments from pharmaceutical companies. The initial objective set by the government was to ensure that 70 percent of Spaniards would be vaccinated “in the summer”. The season starts today without the full doses having reached a third of the population, and the original plan could be fulfilled in August, before the Council of Ministers goes on holiday.
The health systems of the autonomous regions administer, in total, some 600,000 vaccines a day and use up between 90 and 99 percent of the consignments that arrive each Monday to the regional governments every week. In addition to registering the lowest number of deaths from Covid since last summer’s figures (when Sánchez boasted of victory over the pandemic), the rate of immunisation of citizens is the most positive figure in the national panorama and by the middle of the summer could reach the 70 percent set at the beginning, especially if the criterion of the complete pattern is taken into account.
Before the end of this week, the Moncloa Palace will have another round figure to encourage citizens with the fact that half of the population already has a dose administered. It would encourage the idea that by August it may be a reality to achieve so-called “herd immunity” with the “full course” (two doses) of the drug administered to a large majority of the population.
The progress and positive news about the pandemic administered by the government contrasts with the legislative paralysis and Sánchez’s clash with the judiciary, the opposition and sectors of his own party over the pardons for those responsible for the separatist attempt in Catalonia.
The Executive delays the drafting of the General State Budget and the main pending reforms, which are also committed to the arrival of the 70 billion in European funds for economic recovery. The first payment arrives in July, but Sánchez has still not sent to Congress a project to support the pension system or the announced pending labour counter-reform, both of which are prerequisites for the subsequent deadlines for financial assistance to be maintained.
Next week, the Cortes will end the current session without the parties of the coalition government having reached an agreement on the content of the two major projects, and they are also still entangled in parallel negotiations with the trade unions and employers’ organisations on the same issues. The Minister of Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, acknowledges the accumulated delay (March was his first deadline for presenting the pension reform) and limits himself to commenting that it is possible that Congress will have to work during the holidays, which is confirmation that the Executive will leave the main issues of the year until September.
