Sánchez criticizes Feijóo for snubbing Felipe VI: "He's using a fake conversation with the head of state to excuse himself."

MadridPedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo met again this Wednesday in the first session of the new political year in Congress and, just as the previous one ended, the dominant note was confrontation. The PP leader reminded the Spanish president of his judicial ordeal – this Tuesday the Supreme Court sent the Attorney General to trial and Begoña Gómez testifies this Wednesday in court – and Sánchez returned, assuring him that he represents a "clean" government and criticizing him for his absence. the opening ceremony of the judicial year. "He used a private and false conversation with the head of state to excuse himself," he reproached him, in reference to Feijóo's revelation that, supposedly, Felipe VI had told him that he "understood" why the opposition leader did not attend the event.

The head of the State's executive is trying to change the agenda with government initiatives such as the proposal for a state pact against the climate emergency or the toughening of measures against Israel –"Repeat after me: 'It's genocide,'" he told Feijóo–, shortly before the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Strasbourg, He moved closer to the Spanish theses, hardening his position against Benjamin Netanyahu.But the PP is counting the days until the courts' offensive against the Spanish president's entourage ultimately overthrows him. "Corruption hasn't gone away because you're here," the PP leader said. "It's only driven by fear. Fear of the judges for what they know, of the media for what they publish, that your associates will let you fall, that people will speak at the ballot box, or that you yourself will appear in court," he added. The first vice president of the Spanish government, María Jesús Montero, responded with the long list of pending convictions and trials that the conservative party has ahead linked to corruption.

The reduction of the working day

This Wednesday, in a marathon plenary session in Congress, the State executive will lose an important vote, that of the reduction of the working day, once Together has already announced and justified its vote against. It will be another parliamentary defeat for Sánchez – this Tuesday he did manage to push through the extension of paid paternity and maternity leave – which highlights the fragility of the Spanish government. "He doesn't have a majority or a budget," Feijóo recalled.

The current Spanish government is dragging along the accounts it approved at the end of 2022 and the prospects for approving new ones for 2026 are poor, considering that Esquerra and Junts believe the commitments made to the Spanish government are not being met and Podemos is established. In response to a question from Gabriel Rufián, Sánchez pledged to "fulfill the investiture agreements," and the Republican insisted that progress is needed on one-off financing and housing. The Spanish president has promised that the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, will put a new proposal for regional financing on the table and has called for theApproval of debt forgiveness by the Council of Ministers.