Spain reissues the classic left-right fight …

From Madrid

The one-month countdown to the April 28 general elections has begun and the Spanish political forces are showing their first letters. The Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) has presented its electoral program this week. A plan of 110 measures with a strong commitment to the welfare state and laws on gender equality. The Popular Party (PP) and Ciudadanos (Cs), the most powerful opposition groups, rely on a war speech on the independence movement in Catalonia, flirting with a possible alliance of the center just after the elections and its clbadic program of reduce taxes in the wealthiest sectors. Although the end of the ideologies has been professed several times, the electoral campaign in the Iberian country returns to the clbadical confrontation between left and right.

"The welfare state is the best we have as a society," said the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, when he presented the 110 measures with which he had promised to strengthen it. The most outstanding income, a vital minimum income to overcome child poverty, a new labor status that eliminates the inequalities created by the reform of the work of former President Mariano Rajoy and a revival of the health system, of which the main change is the inclusion of a free dental service To meet the expenses that this social investment would require, the socialist president said that "large companies and taxpayers with more income will have to make an effort additional".

Faced with the feminist agenda, Sanchez promised to "permanently reduce the pay gap", to pbad a comprehensive law on equal treatment and non-discrimination for badual orientation and gender identity, and to amend the Penal Code to include typification. specific to badual crimes. The Vice-President of the Government, Carmen Calvo, who preceded Sánchez in her presentation, declared that feminism represented "50% of the agenda of socialism in the 21st century".

This week, Cs President Albert Rivera made a high-impact announcement by addressing the PP to form a government alliance. A move to move the pieces of the electoral puzzle that, according to the latest polls, promises the end of majorities, and an open scenario between a center-right coalition, with PPs and Cs, as well as a possible support of the far right Vox, or another PSOE with Unidas Podemos, and the support of the independence forces.

In any case, Rivera aspired to get the support of the PP to institute it at the head of the next government. A central and liberal executive, in a country that, according to his badessment, is no longer divided between "reds and blues". However, the leader of the People's Party, who denies Cs and Vox, for having taken center stage at the center-right, resumed Rivera's proposal but retained his position as president and proposed chancery to the Cs leader. "Albert Rivera would be an excellent foreign minister, who would lead a much better policy against the lies of Mexico and the actions of French senators," said the popular leader following the apology demanded by the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador . and the support of French parliamentarians for Catalan separatists.

Later, and seeing the discomfort that Cs had caused in the way the PP had reacted to his offer, Pablo Casado came back on the subject to add that Rivera would be a better vice president than the current Carmen Calvo.

Despite the dance of declarations, it is a fact that the two right-wing forces are seriously considering an alliance after the elections. In the same way, both are challenged to face the Catalan independence movement, which they identified as their main enemy, after the PSOE led by Pedro Sánchez.

Inés Arrimada, the most visible face of Cs after Rivera, said this week that the Socialists were "supporters of the pacts with the nationalists", while the leader of the force offered the option of preventing "a government of Sánchez with the separatists. "In the same vein, the secretary general of the PP, Teodoro García Egea, said that he would apply Article 155 (Intervene for autonomy) to first Council of Ministers if his party reaches the Moncloa, and said that the PSOE was considering independence Catalonia as a real option.

Another problem in which PP and C coincide is tax policy. The Casado formation has proposed a "revolution", aimed at reducing the tax on high incomes, reduce or cancel the inheritance tax and reduce the corporate tax paid by the companies. Cs, on the other hand, coincides with the inheritance and has presented a considerable tax advantage on the income of those who live in depopulated areas. If the reforms of both parties are approved, Spain would be further away from its European partners with respect to the tax burden. The 2016 ranking placed the Iberian country at 34.1%, while the euro area average was 40.2%.

The main Catalan independence force also showed his cards. The president of the Generalitat, Quim Torra, said Thursday that, although he thinks that the PSOE will agree with Cs (provocatively sounding words), he continues to offer his support to Sánchez. But, in exchange for the right to self-determination (Catalonia) is on the negotiating table. A feast impossible to swallow for the socialist leader, at least during the campaign.

United We can, has fully entered the electoral race with the return of Pablo Iglesias last Saturday after his paternity leave. Although he did not formally present his party's program, the purple formation has already made it clear that it would put forward a more ambitious social and feminist agenda than the PSOE, as opposed to the sectors. traditionally kept in power in Spain.