<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>President of the Government Pedro Sánchez delivered a very optimistic assessment of the last political year this Monday, halfway through his term, in which he asserted that Spain is emerging as "the largest European economy with the greatest growth." He also defended his "firm but constructive" position on the 5% NATO spending, warned that his government's stance on Gaza is a "moral imperative," and expressed his "unenthusiastic support" for the latest tariff agreement between the EU and US President Donald Trump.</strong></h4> "Spain is working; it is a safe, developed, undiscovered, open, and tolerant country," he declared at the press conference held at the Moncloa complex. According to Sánchez, the economic data "are very positive," and forecasts from international organizations indicate that "Spain will be the largest European economy with the greatest growth for the third consecutive year." Thanks to this, he asserted, household income is “9% higher than in 2018.” However, he admitted that “we are far from closing the economic gap with Europe, but we have gotten back on track after decades of not doing so” and have achieved economic growth “above that of the European Union as a whole and advanced economies.” According to Sánchez, Spain is “the European Union country that has received the most non-repayable funds from the Next Generation funds.” “Two weeks ago, the fifth disbursement was approved, worth more than €24 billion,” bringing the total received by Spain to “€55 billion, or 70% of the allocated transfers.” “The international media are talking about the new 'Spanish dream.' That is our image abroad,” asserted Sánchez, who cited The Guardian, the Washington Post, and Forbes among the foreign media outlets that speak positively of Spain. Continuing on the economic topic, the president expressed, during the media question period, his "unenthusiastic support" for the EU-US tariff agreement announced on Sunday. "We Europeans have to get our act together in all areas," warned Sánchez, who reiterated, in this regard, the need to close the agreement between the EU and Mercosur. <h5><strong>Military spending and Gaza</strong></h5> On the other hand, Pedro Sánchez defended his government's "firm but constructive" position after rejecting, at the last NATO summit, attempts by the US and the Alliance to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP. Likewise, and in relation to the other major international focus of the moment, the Prime Minister reiterated his call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to open the humanitarian corridor, declare a ceasefire, and put an end to this "barbarism." According to Sánchez, "the famine in Gaza is a disgrace for all humanity" and "stopping it is a moral, political, and humanitarian imperative." Therefore, he announced that the Government is preparing "a shipment of thousands of kilos of food to the Strip which, if circumstances do not change, will arrive this Friday from Jordanian territory using parachutes and A400 aircraft from our Armed Forces." "The condemnations of Netanyahu's genocidal regime" in the European Commission and the United Nations are part of an "ambitious foreign policy" that acts "with coherence and the same determination in the Middle East and in Europe, toward humble countries and toward leaders of powerful countries," declared Pedro Sánchez, who also cited among the achievements of the political year the agreement with the United Kingdom on Gibraltar and the new €1 billion package of military assistance for Ukraine. The increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza was announced this Monday by Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares from New York, where he is participating in a UN meeting on Palestine. In his statements to the media, Albares announced his intention to "denounce the induced famine in Gaza," which is causing the death, "every day," of "human beings due to lack of access to food that is piling up on Gaza's borders." "100,000 children, 40,000 of them babies, are at risk of death in the coming days," he warned. "That's why Spain, through the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation, is going to send an initial shipment of 12,000 kilos of food. This amounts to approximately 5,500 food rations, in addition to the trucks with Spanish humanitarian aid already waiting at the border. We need massive humanitarian aid, and starting August 1, that Spanish aid will certainly be very present," the Foreign Minister added. <h5><strong>Domestic issues</strong></h5> Regarding domestic issues, Pedro Sánchez highlighted the dynamism of the tourism sector, with "352,000 tourists heading to our country by car, boat, or plane." “This year, we're going to welcome more than 100 million people, according to all projections. Millions of people can't be wrong,” he added. He also asserted that the Spanish labor market has reached an unprecedented level of Social Security affiliation, highlighted the incorporation of women into employment (“we've never had such significant or overwhelming female affiliation figures as today”), and affirmed that, although “some insist on saying that Spaniards are poorer than seven years ago, the data doesn't show this.” He also highlighted the historical record of foreign direct investment. “Since 1993, we haven't had figures as significant as those we're seeing in 2024,” he asserted. “The IBEX 35 has risen 22% so far this year,” Sánchez affirmed. In any case, Sánchez assured that he will present a draft General State Budget for 2026, which will be better from a social perspective and which includes "a fantastic tool, which is European funds." He also ruled out any early elections: "The elections will be in 2027, and I can already tell you that the day after, the PP will request an early election, although I don't know if it will be Mr. Feijóo. They are a broken record; the alternative, given our data, is a government of Feijóo and Abascal." The Prime Minister also assured that the government is working to approve the measures of the "anti-blackout decree" and specified that the third vice president of the government, Sara Aagesen, is working to approve them by royal decree. On the other hand, Sánchez described the Constitutional Court's endorsement of the amnesty law as "extraordinary news" and asserted that the government has responded "promptly" to the corruption cases within the PSOE. <h5><strong>Feijóo critica los “berrinches de la OTAN” con Sánchez</strong></h5> Tras la rueda de prensa de Sánchez, el presidente del PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, declaró que el jefe del Ejecutivo ha convocado un mitin “para volver a mentir a los ciudadanos” y decir lo bien que se gobierna “sin mayoría, sin palabra, sin vergüenza porque solo tiene corrupción, mordidas y audios”, y afirmó que Moncloa tiene al presidente “más débil, con menos apoyo social, que más ha degradado las instituciones y más rodeado de corrupción” de la historia de España. Asimismo, describió al Ejecutivo de Sánchez como el Gobierno “del apagón”, de los Koldos, Leires y Jéssicas, de la corrupción, de la prostitución y de los “berrinches de la OTAN” y aseguró que su partido proporcionará a España el Gobierno, las reformas y la política que merece: “España recuperará el rumbo cuando cambie el Gobierno”.
