Sánchez, on Feijóo: "If there ever was a black fund, it's in his party."

MadridPedro Sánchez did not expect Alberto Núñez Feijóo to leave aside his usual Macedonian questions in the control session in Congress, in which he mixes all kinds of attacks on the Spanish president to portray a government on the verge of death, and focus on the New contributions for the self-employed for 2026"He has turned Spain into a country that is expensive for workers and cheap for scoundrels," Feijóo protested, warning Sánchez that citizens are "tired of paying for the embezzlement and privileges of their people." "With you, it's worth being a snitch. If you work, you pay; if you steal, you get paid," he denounced, also alluding to the alleged corruption case involving his two former organizing secretaries in the PSOE, Santos Cerdán and José Luis Ábalos, the latter summoned to testify this Wednesday before the Supreme Court.

Sánchez has made no reference to the controversy over self-employed contributions that divides the PSOE and Sumar. He has recalled that the International Monetary Fund has improved its forecasts for the State and has taken up the arguments he had already prepared against the PP. "Stop talking about black boxes, because if they have existed, they have been in your party," said the head of the State's executive, responding to Feijóo, who had complained that "families who struggle to make ends meet see how the PSOE and the Ministry of Transport, headed by José Luis Ábalos, are running out of money."

Social Security has begun negotiating with social partners, unions, and employers' associations for new contributions for self-employed workers for next year and until 2028. This negotiation was already anticipated due to the reform of the self-employed regime approved in 2022, with votes in favor until 2025. Since that year, self-employed workers contribute based on their net income.

The political spat around this arose because this week the ministry headed by Elma Saiz (PSOE) has launched an initial proposal for new contributions and contemplates a gradual increase in these, something that was already anticipated when the reform was approved in 2022. Sumar has shown its disagreement, and not all organizations have discussed it. ATA, linked to the CEOE, rejects it, while UPTA approves, reports Núria Rius Montaner.

Counterattack on Feijóo

Since the Spanish government's judicial agenda is not in line with the current situation, the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) has found a loophole in abortion to divert attention, and Sánchez has counterattacked Feijóo on this issue. "What's indecent is your silence. We've seen Isabel Díaz Ayuso tell women that, given this right, they should have abortions outside the Community of Madrid, and you haven't said anything," the Spanish president complained. Along the same lines, Sánchez criticized the opposition leader for not having said anything about the breast cancer screening scandal in Andalusia, which has sparked a crisis in Juanma Moreno's government, and for not having commented on the fact that the PP endorses the lies of the head of the cabinet of A, the Attorney General of the State.