foreign policy
Feijóo: “The judge closed the Pegasus case for lack of cooperation”
Because?
The Judge of the National Court, José Luis Calama, filed this Monday the investigation into the alleged infection of the mobile phones of the Prime Minister and several ministers with the Pegasus spyware due to the “complete” lack of legal cooperation on the part of Israel , the country of manufacture of the program, and not of the Spanish government, as Núñez Feijóo said in the debate.
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Feijóo: “You shamelessly lied to us that you could not govern with Podemos and could not sleep”
Because?
What Sánchez said in LaSexta on September 19, 2019, amid the difficulties of forming a government with the results of the April general election of the same year, was that he would have accepted Podemos’ terms if he had had to accept, “that the minister for finance, for energy policy, for our country’s pensions and for social security was a person from Mr Iglesias’ close and trusted circle with little political or managerial experience.” It would be a governor who would not sleep at night .
Training
Feijóo: “The only place in Spain where early childhood education is free is currently Galicia and I feel very honored.”
Because?
Galicia is not the only Autonomous Community where the first cycle of early childhood education (0-3 years) is free. It is also in La Rioja. In addition, other municipalities such as Asturias, Cantabria, the Valencian Community or Madrid have limited places in their public schools. The second cycle (from three to five years) is free throughout Spain. Feijoó mixes both phases.
equivalence
Sánchez: “All the laws related to women, their freedoms and equality, and also to the LGTBI collective threatened by Vox and their governments with the PP, bear the seal of the Socialist Party and you all voted against or against .” have appealed against them to the Constitutional Court.”
Because?
So far the PP has voted for one of all bills, the Gender Violence Act (2004), which was unanimously approved by Congress. He abstained on two cases: the so-called Trans Law and the Equality Law (2007). And he voted against the Equal Marriage Act, the Only Yes-is-Yes Act and the Abortion Act in both 2010 and 2023.
Business
Feijóo: “From the time you took office in 2019 until the first quarter of 2023, you have not been able to recover GDP”
Because?
The Spanish economy recovered the gross domestic product lost due to the pandemic in the first quarter of 2023. It was one of the last countries to catch up, according to Eurostat data, and Spain currently ranks second to bottom in the EU in terms of cumulative real GDP since early 2019, ahead of only Germany, whose economy has slipped back into recession. Spain is barely 1% above Covid registered levels, putting it very close to the Czech Republic. Poland is 10% above; Greece, 7.7%; Portugal, 6.3%; Italy 2.3% and France 1.9%.
Sánchez: “So far this year we have quadrupled the gross domestic product”
Because?
This sentence is wrong. Sánchez probably compared Spain’s economic growth rate to that of Europe. According to Eurostat figures, the Spanish economy is growing at 3.8% year-on-year, compared to 1% in both the euro area and the EU. And at the quarterly rate, Spain gains 0.6% between January and March 2023, compared to -0.1% in the euro area and the EU. While the data is correct, there are other numbers that don’t paint such a positive picture. Compared to before the pandemic, Spain is at the end of the recovery together with Germany and the Czech Republic. As for the growth forecast for 2023, the IMF expects growth of 1.5% for Spain, which is higher than the forecast 0.8% for the euro area and 0.7% for the EU.
Debts
Feijóo: “He is the president who has increased the European Union’s debt the most, namely by doubling it. The EU has increased its debt by 8% of GDP and you by 16%.”
Because?
The PP leader explained that the current government is the one that has accumulated the most “debts” among EU countries. Specifically, twice as much: if the community bloc as a whole has increased its liabilities by 8%, Sánchez has done so by 16%. Feijóo seems to have confused the sentence with the absolute level of liability. According to Eurostat, the debt ratio in Spain increased by 15 percentage points (not 16%) from 98.2% to 113.2% between 2019 and 2022, in the EU it increased by 6 points. In absolute terms, the differences are small: from 2019 to the end of last year, debt in the millions increased by 23% in Spain, by 22% in the Union and by 21% in the euro zone.
place of life
Feijóo: “Between 2018 and 2019, more than 2,500 subsidized houses in Galicia were qualified”
Because?
Feijóo gives a number that does not answer the question Sánchez asked him and is very far from reality. According to the statistical series of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, only twelve houses were definitely classified as VPO in Galicia in 2018 and 2019, two more than Sánchez said and 2,488 fewer than the PP chairman. If you look at the preliminary qualifications, which are becoming more and more extensive, the number is 67 houses.
Feijóo: “The squats have increased since you became President”
Because?
When Núñez Feijóo referred to housing policy, he alluded to the controversy over squatting and assured that the numbers would have believed since Sánchez was president. According to the Interior Ministry-dependent crime statistics system, this was between 2016 and 2022, a period that also included the government of Mariano Rajoy and not just that of Pedro Sánchez. However, in 2022, the phenomenon showed the first signs of a decline, registering a decrease for the first time, namely 3.2% compared to the previous year. This trend has intensified in the first four months of 2023, with 11.8% fewer cases recorded compared to the data from the same period last year.
Sánchez on the government’s pledge of 183,000 social homes: “We are implementing them”
Because?
Plans to increase the social and affordable rental park in 183,000 apartments were announced by the government in the run-up to the last local and regional elections. In reality, it is a series of measures that combine houses that are already under construction with others that could be built soon and others that will take a long time because they are on plots that are currently not can be built once. And some existing floors are also included in the total. This is the case, for example, with the 21,000 apartments that Sareb is selling and that are being offered primarily to autonomous communities and town halls. However, these 21,000 homes are unlikely to end up in public hands as many are of no interest to the administration due to their location or the state of preservation in which they are found.
energy
Feijóo: “The Iberian exception will be lifted by the European Union”
Because?
Feijóo has assured that the EU will repeal it and that it is not true as Sánchez claims that it saves the Spaniards 5,000 million.
According to the calculations of the executive, only the following figures are available: since the mechanism was launched in mid-June and until it became inactive due to the sharp fall in gas prices, the cumulative savings for households and Spanish businesses exceeded 5.100 million compared to what they would have without it would have paid. The PP candidate also reiterates that the Iberian exemption will be lifted by the EU, which is at least controversial: Spain and Portugal have agreed with Brussels to extend it until the end of the year if gas prices rise again. From there it would be logical that the measure would go back. This is not the same as confirming that the block will “unlock” it.
Feijóo: “He is the European Prime Minister who buys the most petrol from Putin”
EU countries do not buy natural gas, traders and private companies do. While Spain is among the countries that has most increased purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG, which arrives by ship) from Russia, it is also the country with the most regasification plants (six). But it’s not the executive making these purchases. In fact, the third vice president and minister for ecological transition, Teresa Ribera, wrote a letter to energy companies in late March urging them to stop importing gas from the Eurasian country.
Steer
Feijóo: “They increased taxes 42 times”
Because?
Feijóo has confirmed that the PSOE-Podemos government has made 42 tax increases. The tax office’s summaries at the end of each year do not contain as many upward adjustments. In 2021 there will be six and in 2022 there will be nine. In addition, there are the three temporary taxes that came into force this year (on banking, energy and large wealth taxes), the increase in the savings rate for income tax and the limitation of up to 50% of corporate income tax on the possibility of offsetting losses of the subsidiaries of the consolidated groups. The PP boss has probably also included changes in the account management, such as the changes made to the capital gains tax.
inflation
Sánchez: “Spanish inflation was 2% at the start of the war in Ukraine”
Because?
In January, monthly inflation was -0.4% and year-to-year inflation was 6.1%; and in February 0.8% and 7.6% respectively.
Feijóo: “When people leave the house, they see that the groceries have increased by 30% since you arrived.”
Because?
Analyzing INE data using consumer price indices, between June 2018 and May 2023, the price of groceries increased by 30%.
employment
Feijóo: “According to the EPA, we have fewer self-employed than in 2019. 43,000 fewer”
Because?
The most recent EPA, which corresponds to the first quarter of the year, puts the number of self-employed at nearly 3,099,000 people. In the same quarter of 2019 there were 3,106,000 self-employed, around 7,000 more. Therefore, it is not true that, as Feijóo asserts, there are 43,000 fewer self-employed than in 2019 (nor would it be true if you compare the fourth quarter of 2022 with that of 2019). In any case, the people’s leader may have been confused with the comparison with a year ago: from January to March this year there were 43,000 fewer self-employed than in the same period of 2022. In any case, it’s a number that has fluctuated quite a bit for years , but always hovers slightly above three million, a mark from which it has not fallen even during the pandemic.
Feijóo: “He was the third district president who created the fewest jobs. President Rajoy created more jobs, President Aznar created more jobs… They just beat President Zapatero.”
Because?
The statement is correct when using the active population survey. During the five years of Sánchez’s presidency, 1,108 million jobs were created, according to the EPA. Around 90,000 more were generated with Rajoy in six and a half years: 1,191 million. At Zapatero in Moncloa, employment increased by just 135,000 between 2004 and 2011. And at Aznar, employment grew by more than 5 million between 1996 and 2004. On the contrary, the data changes when you join social security because, according to this statistic, 1.95 million jobs were created with Sánchez compared to the 1.66 million created by belonging to Rajoy.
Sánchez: “In the last five years we have created jobs like never before. We employ almost 21 million people, two million more than five years ago.”
Because?
This statement depends on the data used: if one takes into account social security affiliation, the number of jobs created during President Sánchez’s administration is 1.954 million members as of June 2018. On the other hand, if you look at the active population survey, over the entire term of President Sanchez, 1,108 million long-term jobs were created. Comparing Sánchez to the worst moment of the pandemic, the most favorable period for Sánchez in this statistic, occupancy in the EPA is up 1.8 million.
credits
With information from: Elisa Silió, Isabel Valdés, José Luis Aranda, Laura Delle Femmine, Manuel Planelles, Antonio Maqueda, María Martín, Ignacio Fariza, Óscar López-Fonseca, Pablo Linde, Reyes Rincón and Sergio C. Fanjul
Graphics: Yolanda Clemente, Montse Hidalgo Pérez and Jorge Marzo
Video: Alejandro Guerrero
Design: Fernando Hernandez
Development: Carlos Munoz
Coordination: Guiomar del Ser, Jesús Sérvulo and Brenda Valverde Rubio
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