Conservative opposition criticizes proposed Sánchez government law for hundreds of thousands of impoverished households
Since the onset of the Corona crisis, the Spanish government has launched several aid programs to support entrepreneurs and employees. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez now wants to take the most vulnerable under his wing. Over the next few days, the cabinet in Madrid plans to pass a statutory basic income of EUR 450 per month for single people and up to EUR 950 for families. The aid would benefit around a million households, said the responsible minister José Luis Escrivá on Easter Monday.
The situation of the Spanish labor market is dramatic. In March alone, the economic standstill caused by the coronavirus caused the number of unemployed to increase by almost a million to around 3.5 million. 900,000 micro-entrepreneurs and the self-employed have also asked for help from the state because they have almost no income. The planned basic income should continue to be paid after the end of the Corona crisis, Escrivá announced.
The demand for a basic income for all Spaniards was one of the main demands of Pablo Iglesias, leader of the Left Party Unidas Podemos (UP), to agree to a coalition government with the Sánchez socialists in early January. So far, there has been no such aid at the state level, but only in wealthy regions such as the Basque Country, Navarre or Catalonia.
The legal initiative coincides with Sánchez’s appeal to Europe to show solidarity with southern EU countries such as Italy and Spain, which are particularly hard hit by the pandemic, and to issue so-called “corona bonds”. There was immediate criticism from the conservative opposition. “The solution that the government is putting on the table is to call for more state and the EU to pay the bill,” wrote Cayetana Alvarez de Toledo, spokeswoman for the conservative Partido Popular, on Sunday in the newspaper “El País “. The conservatives accuse Sánchez of deciding to take measures against the coronavirus on their own and not to consult the opposition. Opposition leader Pablo Casado complained that Sánchez had only spoken to him in the past three weeks.
Tourism has completely collapsed
Most Spaniards are likely to agree to the introduction of a basic income. The country’s most important sector, tourism, is completely idle. Not even the Spaniards were allowed to visit the beach or their natural parks and cathedrals during Easter week. In one of the most important vacation weeks of the year, 70,000 flights were canceled and 15 million overnight stays canceled. At least 20 percent of tourism revenues have already been lost. It looks bleak for the rest of the season too, especially since EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently advised Europeans not to book a summer vacation.
After four weeks of strict curfews in Spain, the number of people newly infected with the coronavirus has now declined. The situation in the congested hospitals also eased slightly. In his Easter message, Prime Minister Sánchez gave his compatriots no hope of returning to normal soon. The strict curfew will be maintained until at least April 25 and then probably extended again.
