The opposition leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, pointed out that Sánchez was the third president who had created the least employment during his legislature. Sánchez, for his part, assured that his government had created more jobs than ever. Neither one nor the other was entirely correct in his statements. Data from the Social Security reveal that during the eight years of José María Aznar’s government (1996-2004) the affiliation increased by almost 4.5 million people, so Sánchez’s statement was not true. But neither is it true that -as Feijóo said- the current president is one of those who has created the least employment, since he is on a par with the seven-year government of Mariano Rajoy (2011-2018), when employment grew in 1.72 million people, a figure slightly lower than that of Sánchez.
Feijóo reproached President Sánchez that food prices have increased by 30% in his legislature. However, the INE data indicate that the group of food and non-alcoholic beverages have risen 27% from January 2020 to May 2023, three points less than what the opposition leader said during the debate, which rounded off the figure.
Sánchez argued that inflation has skyrocketed in Spain only because of the war in Ukraine, since when the conflict broke out (February 2022) the rate was 2%. This is a false statement because already in January 2022 the CPI was at 6.1%. Inflation began to pick up in September 2021, when it was already above 4%, due to the end of the pandemic and the ‘boom’ of consumption. Of course, it reached its maximum with the war in Ukraine already underway, in July 2022 when it reached 10.8%. Currently inflation in Spain is 1.9%, according to the latest data from the INE.
Sánchez reproached Feijóo that his party voted against the revaluation of pensions according to the CPI. However, the PP voted in favor of said revaluation within the framework of the Toledo Pact, and the only party that voted against it was Vox. What is certain is that the PP voted against the latest pension reform, which also included an increase in the contributions paid by companies for their workers.
Feijóo argued that a teacher was sentenced to 6 years in prison for sexually abusing several minors. With the “only yes is yes” law, his sentence was only one year and he is free, and this information is true.
Sánchez assured that Vox did not sign the gender pact, when Abascal’s party did not have representation at that time in Congress. The party that did not sign it then was Podemos. Feijóo was right about this and Sánchez lied.
Sánchez claimed during his speech that the labor reform has managed to reduce the temporary employment rate to the historical minimum of 14%. An exact figure according to the latest Social Security data and even slightly higher than that presented by the Funcas study cabinet, which speaks of a temporary employment rate in May of 13.2%.
Feijóo blamed Sánchez that Spain is the last in economic growth in the eurozone. A fact that is not entirely correct, since Eurostat reveals that our country is currently one of the fastest growing (+0.6% in the first quarter compared to -0.1% of the euro area average). What is certain is that Spain has been one of the last countries in the bloc to recover its pre-pandemic GDP, something that it has just achieved when the main powers reached it in the final stretch of 2022.
Feijóo assured that the rise in the Euribor to 4% in June implies increases in mortgages of 300 euros per month for families that signed at a variable rate. It must be taken into account that it depends on the year in which it was signed and how much has been amortized, but if you think of an average mortgage based on a loan of 150,000 euros over 25 years and an interest rate of Euribor plus 1%, the fee will go up. from 625 to 877 euros if the review is annual, that is, more than 250 euros per month or 3,000 euros per year.
The PP candidate indicated that in the Sánchez legislature the public debt has increased by 16%, compared to the 8% average for the European Union. The Bank’s data reveals that the indebtedness of the Public Administrations was 1.23 trillion euros in January 2020, while in the month of April -the latest data available- it reached 1.52 trillion, around 22% more in absolute values in these three and a half years, so the data for Spain is even higher than that provided by Feijóo. However, it is not twice the increase in debt in the EU, since in the block the debt has increased by 22% in this period and by 21% in the euro area.
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