The president calls on the Lower House to approve the response plan to the war

During the control session held in the Lower House of Parliament, the president called for a vote in favour of ratifying the measures approved by the Government to mitigate the effects of the war in the Middle East. Spain deserves to have a government and an opposition that defend the general interest "in circumstances such as those the world is currently facing", Pedro Sánchez replied to Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the People's Parliamentary Group.

The head of the Executive has called on the opposition to "pull together" in the face of a war that "has already cost the public and private sectors 100 billion euros in less than a month".

Furthermore, Pedro Sánchez highlighted the benefits of the green agenda implemented in recent years by the Government and has estimated the savings achieved on consumers' energy bills at 24 billion euros. The president also defended the Executive's planned defence spending in the face of calls to raise it to 5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as such an increase would entail expenditure of 350 billion euros over the next decade.

Healthcare

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, speaks during the question period in the Lower House of Parliament | Pool Congreso

During the control session, Pedro Sánchez also highlighted that, since he became president of the Government of Spain, Spanish State transfers to the autonomous communities to fund their public policies have increased by 300 billion euros.

Furthermore, the president pointed out that powers regarding healthcare management have been devolved to all the autonomous communities. The head of the Executive was responding to Santiago Abascal of the Vox parliamentary group. Pedro Sánchez called on him to strengthen public healthcare wherever his party is in government.

Non official translation