The socialist Pedro Sánchez, promised to respond to social emergencies em Spain, a practically unattainable objective for a weak government with no room for action due to its commitments with Brussels, at a delicate moment on the economic horizon, according to economists.
Coming to power on Friday after removing conservative Mariano Rajoy with a motion of censure, Sánchez assured this Wednesday (6) that his government will fight “against all types of inequality”.
Low wages and pensions, job insecurity, lack of gender pay equality, cuts in public health: he himself listed his challenges.
At 46 years old and with no government experience, Sánchez welcomes a country that, after overcoming the crisis, had four years of growth, three of them above 3%, but which continues to have the second worst unemployment rate in the euro zone, 16. 7%.
With the European Union (EU) record number of employees on temporary contracts (26.8%), the fourth largest economy in the euro zone has a deficit in its retirement system of 18 billion euros.
With the expected increase in interest rates from the European Central Bank and rising oil, “the scenario in two years’ time could be one of economic slowdown and the pace of job creation, and this is the scenario that Pedro Sánchez will have to manage” , says Emilio González, professor of Economics at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas ICAI-ICADE.
Immediately “Sánchez does not have much room for action because he has committed to implementing the 2018 budgets” of the conservative government and to complying “with the public deficit objective set by Brussels”, summarizes the professor of Economics at IE Business School, Juan Carlos Martinez Lázaro.
The 2018 budgets include an increase in public spending of almost 3%, although the previous government guaranteed the reduction of debt to 97% of GDP and the deficit to 2.2%, thanks to a projected growth of 2.7% this year. year.
With only 84 socialist seats in Parliament, far from the absolute majority of 176, the “first headache” for Sánchez will be to obtain support to set the spending ceiling, essential for preparing the 2019 budget, warns Antonio Barroso, from the Teneo Intelligence office .
Weeks ago, socialists outlined the possibility of increasing spending through new taxes on high incomes, banks, or transactions, the latter to support pensions.