Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. | Emilio Naranjo

Humphrey CarterPalma16/01/2020 12:01
TW
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The new Spanish PM, Pedro Sanchez, and his band of brothers, have wasted no time at all in putting up pensions, perhaps that was the pay off for having just given him enough sway to squeeze in to the top chair at the government’s table but what the country really wants, and fast, is a budget.

Despite having been unable to have formed a government for the past two years, Sanchez has also been unable to have a budget approved and it has cost regional governments, such as the Balearics, millions. The public deficit has continued to rise and now, at some point, will have to be reduced.

But, until there is a national budget, that is going to be extremely hard to achieve.
A few kites have been flown such as increasing taxes on high earners, cracking down on tax havens for Spanish nationals and foreign residents, lowering taxes for the self employed and small businesses and increasing the minimum wage, but as yet nothing concrete has been put on the table.

Big business bodies, such as the business confederation here in the Balearics, have all sent letters to Sanchez urging him to get on with the budget and do so with prudence amidst fears that his coalition government of independence parties, nationalists and communists may harm the interests of the big boys. Never mind them, what about the electorate?