MADRID, 26 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The general secretary of the CCOO, Unai Sordo, regretted this Monday that the Government has dispensed with the social agents for the elaboration of the Royal Decree-law of anti-crisis measures, which will be approved in the Council of Ministers this Tuesday.
“The social agents are not being counted on. I don’t know what the government is referring to with an income agreement if it later negotiates these measures without even consulting us,” Sordo said this Monday, in an interview on RNE, collected by Europa Press.
Despite the criticism of the Executive’s way of acting, the CCOO General Secretary has recognized that some of the measures adopted by the Government to deal with the crisis have been effective, especially those related to energy, while others are, in his opinion, “insufficient”, such as those relating to the mortgage market.
The union focuses its concern on the decisions that are made regarding the price of food, which accumulates an increase of close to 15%, as Sordo recalled in the interview.
Sordo has been skeptical of a drop in VAT on food, since many already have “super-reduced VAT”, although he has admitted that it can be useful “temporarily” and “when they are highly targeted”.
However, the CCOO leader advocates price controls and tax measures aimed at the highest incomes “so that the Administration as a whole does not suffer a decline.”
Regarding fuel discounts, Sordo has indicated that the 20-cent bonus showed “some sign of significant regression”, since it resulted in an “excessive use” of fuel by high-income people. For this reason, the general secretary of the CCOO has opted to direct this aid to people who need fuel to work and to the lowest incomes.
The Council of Ministers will approve this Tuesday, December 27, the third aid package to alleviate the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine, which will enter into force on January 1 and will include measures to deal with the escalation of the prices of food.
Despite the fact that in recent months Spain has managed to moderate the rise in prices and is already the country with the lowest level of inflation in the euro zone, the Executive has decided to promote a third support package to deal with the current situation, which will include the extension of some of the measures currently in force and that expire on December 31 and other new ones related, mainly, to the shopping basket.
One of the new initiatives that gains the greatest force to include in the decree law that will be approved by the Council of Ministers next Tuesday is the reduction in VAT on certain products in the shopping cart, with the aim of cushioning the impact of the increase of inflation.
Sources familiar with the negotiations have explained to Europa Press that all possibilities are open, although the one that, apparently, has the most options to succeed is the VAT reduction on some foods that have a tax rate of 10%, including the fish, and that could go down to 4%.
In addition to the VAT reduction, the leader of Podemos, Ione Belarra, announced a few days ago that her space is negotiating with the PSOE, within the extension of the anti-crisis measures decree, an aid check of around 300 euros to alleviate the cost of the shopping basket, which will benefit around eight million people.
Although the Executive has not contemplated almost any extension measures in the 2023 General State Budget (PGE) to respond to the consequences of the war in Ukraine, sources from the Ministry of Finance assume that “quite a few measures” will have to be extended currently in vigor.
The only exception that is included in the public accounts for next year is the free CercanÃas and Media Distancia tickets for frequent travelers, which will amount to around 660 million euros throughout the year.
Among the measures that have already been confirmed to be extended, the 2% limit for updating rental income and the 15% increase in non-contributory pensions stand out, after the Government’s agreement with EH Bildu to achieve their support for the General State Budget (PGE) of 2023.
In fiscal matters, the Government promoted a battery of measures aimed at containing the rise in prices on the electricity bill. Of note is the drop in VAT on the electricity bill from 10% to 5%, which is applied to consumers, companies or individuals, with a contracted power of up to 10 kilowatts, the application of the tax rate of 0.5% of the Special Tax on Electricity, and the extension of the temporary suspension of the Tax on the value of the production of electrical energy.
