Rocío de Meer: "13 million people live at risk of poverty with a Government that boasts of a social shield"

We are already in injury time for this legislature. What social policies have you missed in recent years?

Well, what we have missed most is that so many people have been left stranded, that almost 80 people continue to die a day on a dependency waiting list, that this has almost doubled to a million people in the case of surgical operations, that we are in a catastrophic situation in terms of the general purchasing power of society, that the shopping basket is increasingly expensive, that there are 13 million people at risk of poverty and social exclusion and, furthermore, under a Government which on top of that boasts and delights in saying that it is the government of the social shield. The most painful thing is precisely that: that there is a government that hypocritically claims that its priority is the most vulnerable people and that at the same time is the protagonist of these terrifying figures.

Immigration is and will undoubtedly be one of the main issues in the electoral campaign. It usually occupies second place as the country's main problem pointed out by citizens in CIS surveys. Is it becoming a problem of coexistence in Spain?

Naturally, massive and uncontrolled immigration has been a problem of coexistence in many places for many years and Vox is the only speaker of that reality. We have not discovered any gunpowder, just take a walk through El Puche, through Nou Barris, through Usera, through Talavera, through Delicias in Valladolid, through some of the most affected neighborhoods. It is bringing a problem of insecurity and it is undeniable. In many places we see it when there are rape rates that have increased by 215%. We see it in Usera, with the elderly people who encounter a killer when they go to collect their pension from the tellers. If there is uncontrolled immigration of people who have little or nothing to do with our customs, obviously we also encounter the criminal realities that are imported from those countries. And to say otherwise is to have a blindfold.

What do you think, then, should be Spain's immigration policy in the next legislature? Is there a possibility of addressing the migration crisis by striking a balance between human rights and border control?

Man, borders must be controlled and it is perfectly compatible with human rights. Of course, Spaniards have the right to know which people enter or do not enter their homeland, especially when what is at stake are the most essential services. If in the last five years it turns out that six million people enter our country, it is a mass issue, that not everyone fits, and you cannot suddenly address public services with the same professionals. Spain is a country with limited resources. There has to be control at the border, which would be the first step, but the internal migration issue must also be resolved and a remigration process initiated, precisely to be able to restore to Spaniards not only confidence in their country, but also the quality of their own public services.

Moving on to the field of healthcare, what do you think is the biggest problem facing our healthcare system right now? There is a lot of talk about waiting lists, about talent drain...

These are issues that worry. Our doctors are trained here and are going abroad. This Government, so protective of labor rights, has been the greatest precarious in public health. Doctors face exhausting hours, an unsustainable chain of temporary contracts and their contractor is that very unionist government. And in the case of waiting lists, I'm going to go to that person with a mental health problem and they give them an appointment for 95 days or more later. Who can endure depression when they receive the first consultation more than 100 days later? What we are seeing in public health is a national emergency and there is an elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about, which is border control. It is impossible to defend public health for Spaniards while we have an open-door policy because Spain cannot, due to its limited resources, be the hospital of the world. It's impossible.

The privatization of healthcare has also been highlighted a lot...

Man, of course we have to focus on the fact that Spaniards are privatizing their healthcare, but why are Spaniards increasingly accepting private policies? Because when they enter an emergency room, in the overcrowded waiting room, they themselves are the ones who choose to go to the private room. That father who sees that his daughter, who may have attempted suicide, and is given a consultation with a psychiatrist for 95 days later, will of course decide to take out a private policy. How can you not do it? If four months later, maybe he is risking his daughter trying to commit suicide again. What is happening on waiting lists in general and in specialist consultations is huge. The Government is expelling Spaniards from public health.

Would you say that our welfare state is in crisis?

Of course. Yes, I mean, we are full of the welfare state, but the Spaniards who have to fill the shopping basket know perfectly well that this welfare state is a chimera. And I'm not going to go to healthcare anymore, I'm going to go to access to housing, to the most basic services, to energy poverty. Now that it's starting to get cold in the houses, families and pensioners are already shivering, thinking about whether or not to turn on the heating. Spaniards know that this welfare state is a nice word that politicians say, but they, when it comes to turning on the heating, filling the shopping basket or making an appointment with any specialist, do not live that welfare state.

The educational community has been demanding a State Pact for education for years. Is it something that you defend in Vox or do you rather advocate for a new comprehensive reform?

We have not seen any specific formula in educational matters that is a State Pact. We will analyze them tomorrow. But we have been mistreating our education for decades, and one of the main problems is that there are 17 different departments managing what could be done from a ministry at the national level. The same people who demand public education are not actually in favor of quality because they are in favor of 17 different systems. The EBAU, for example. Why is there a different level in Andalusia and in Madrid? If public education became a social elevator, why is it different depending on whether you are a Spaniard living in Seville, Almería or Barcelona? And in education we are also very concerned about bullying and, above all, the bullying of children with autism in the classrooms. The percentages are very serious; They are children who are suffering from unsustainable realities that public administrations are not taking care of.

To finish. What does Vox have to offer in social policies?

Well, I think that with the set of answers that I have given it is perfectly clear that there are many elephants in the room that no one is talking about and that Vox has decided to focus on the discomforts and talk about what matters to the Spanish people. And we are an instrument and a tool for them, which is why I believe that this is the best guarantee to know that this welfare state is not pretty words from politicians in committees, but realities that Spaniards can pay for in their shopping basket.