<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The president of the People’s Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, presented a devastating assessment of the political course this Thursday, accusing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of having become “an international problem for Europe, for NATO, for allies, for partners, and for Western democracies.”</strong></h4> “No matter how you look at it in Spain today, everything that depends on the government is functioning worse, and not all of Sánchez's propaganda can hide what Spaniards see, experience, and suffer every day” in the institutions, the economy, public services, and on the streets, Feijóo told the media at the PP headquarters in Madrid. The opposition leader's intervention came three days after Pedro Sánchez presented his own balance sheet at Moncloa Palace, in which he asserted that Spain is emerging as "the largest European economy with the greatest growth." He 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. He declared that "the condemnations of Benjamin Netanyahu's genocidal regime" in Israel are part of an "ambitious foreign policy" that acts "with coherence and the same determination in the Middle East and in Europe." According to Feijóo, during this "black two-year period" (referring to the current term), "the great international farce of the Prime Minister has collapsed." Pedro Sánchez, he asserted, "has never been an international leader, but now he is an international problem for Europe, for NATO, for the allies, for the partners, and for Western democracies." “When Europe faced its most momentous debates, Sánchez only worried about fulfilling agreements with his partners. When Europe and NATO agreed on its security and defense, Sánchez was the least reliable ally. When Europe needed more unity, Sánchez prioritized saving his problems and his friends' businesses,” he continued. “This government is accumulating setbacks in Europe with the failure to meet European Fund milestones, with the defeat in the Eurogroup Presidency, and the report on the rule of law and self-amnesty,” he denounced. Furthermore, he stated, the government is not only accumulating setbacks in Europe, “but is also piling up headlines about its scandals and accumulating distrust among its partners.” “Sánchez has destroyed his international image and has dragged down Spain's credibility,” he added. On the other hand, Feijóo warned that, “when Sánchez says we are the fastest-growing economy, I want to tell you that we are exactly in the middle of the table: 14 countries in the Union have grown more than us, and we are in the middle of the 27.” “I also doubt that social progress can be celebrated when we are the country with the highest percentage of children at risk of poverty, above Romania (34.6%), we are the second country with the highest rate of early school leaving, energy poverty is growing, the ELA Law remains unfunded, and public services are functioning increasingly worse,” he declared. In response to Sánchez’s economic “triumphalism,” the PP leader asserted that debt is “skyrocketing,” food prices have risen 39%, there have been 97 tax increases, the minimum wage is the most common wage, and the average housing price has increased by almost 40% in the last decade. <h5><strong>"They didn't come to power to fight corruption, but to benefit from it"</strong></h5> Furthermore, the PP president stated that just three days after Sánchez's "fake balance sheet" and "Moncloa rally," the Supreme Court has brought the State Attorney General to trial, the government commissioner for the DANA has had to resign "because he was caught committing a crime," and "new alleged bribes" have come to light for a third PSOE Organization Secretary, after having one charged and another in prison. "They never came to power to fight corruption, but to benefit from it," Feijoó denounced, accusing the government of having gone from talking about exemplary behavior to "sharing out bribes," from talking about equality to "sharing out privileges," and from talking about feminism to "sharing out women." "Sánchez has not only coexisted with brothels in the family economy, but his government has paid for prostitutes with public money," he asserted. He also denounced the "weak situation" of the Sánchez government, which "has robbed" Spain of the budget debate because it would not have passed it, and of the State of the Nation Debate because it "does not have a stable majority" and has not even had "the courage" to call elections because "it knows it would lose them." "No democratic government can remain entrenched forever," Feijóo warned, adding that the Spanish people "will choose freely, when they are allowed to." In response to a question from journalists, Feijóo reiterated his condemnation of Hamas's terrorist attacks against Israel, but described what is happening in Gaza as "unacceptable" and "reprehensible" and called for the opening of humanitarian corridors. "We cannot look the other way," he warned.
