In all electoral campaigns, the issue of retirement pensions and their revaluation usually appears as a central issue due to the problems in covering their financing and the impact it has on the electorate - there are ten million beneficiaries. And, in this case, Alberto Núñez Feijóo wanted to close this Thursday the debate on the PP's position in relation to pensions. "Pensions are non-negotiable and it's over. They will be updated according to the CPI, without a doubt," he said, speaking to the media from Brussels, where he attended a meeting with the leaders of the European People's Party.
Feijóo, in addition, has counterattacked the PSOE for questioning the PP's commitment to the revaluation of pensions and recalled that, in 2011, the one who voted against was the PSOE with Pedro Sánchez as deputy. That year, pensions were frozen. "We will guarantee the public pension system and its viability, without a doubt. And if there is someone who does not have credibility in terms of updating pensions, it is Sánchez, who froze pensions in 2011 with his favorable vote. Therefore, Sánchez is disqualified from giving lessons on the viability and freezing of pensions," he concluded.
Feijóo also wanted to close the debate after Ester Muñoz, spokesperson for the party, assured in an interview that the pension system, as it currently exists, is going to “collapse.”
The leader of the PP has also addressed another important issue, which is the crisis in Ceuta. In this sense, it has asked the European Union for two things to be able to quickly expel the more than ten thousand immigrants who remain in the autonomous city irregularly: it has demanded a greater presence of Frontex and Europol on the border and the inclusion of Ceuta and Melilla in the Committee of the Regions; and, improve the legal instruments of defense in situations of this type to be able to suspend the right of asylum and carry out mass returns - now each immigrant must be treated individually through a file with its deadlines, which consumes more time and resources for expulsions.
Furthermore, he has promised that, if he reaches the Government, he will promote an investigation into what happened at the end of July, both with the entry of immigrants and the incursion of Moroccan warships into Spanish waters. The results of the investigation will be shared with the European Commission.
"I have committed, of course, to using all the resources that the European emergency response framework will give me to evict people who remain in Spanish territory irregularly," said Feijóo, who has conveyed to European leaders that "not only the security is at stake" of Spain but that of Europe. “Europe has to be consistent with this attack on its own sovereignty,” he added.
The Ceuta crisis has unleashed a diplomatic problem with Giorgia Meloni's Italy by introducing passenger controls for immigrants. In this sense, Feijóo understands Meloni's position because "Spain is a country that is not reliable either in security policy or in border defense or in immigration policy." "Spain still does not comply. Returns (of irregular immigrants) are below the European Union average," he added.
“You will understand the doubts of neighboring countries like Italy in the face of these constant events,” he stated, after also citing the regularization of immigrants. In front of Sánchez, Feijóo has committed to improving relations with Italy and has indicated that "he would talk to Mrs. Meloni and this would not happen." "I am a reliable person. And what is asked here is reliability and trust. And Mr. Sánchez gives neither reliability nor trust," he added.
Feijóo has also defended the candidacy of Pablo Hernández de Cos as president of the European Central Bank to replace the Frenchwoman Christine Lagarde. “We need a replacement who is solid, solvent, who has experience, who is a reputable economist, who has proven experience and management in public banks,” he noted. "I not only propose a Spanish candidate, I propose a president who is capable of guaranteeing the solvency and viability of the euro. And in my opinion Pablo Hernández de Coss is the person," he added.
