Calviño challenges Feijóo to an economic debate and criticizes that his program "is nothing"

The economy is already a clear axis in the campaign for 23-J. The minister of the sector, Nadia Calviño, has verified this in her first intervention since Ferraz, in which she has vindicated the PSOE model and challenged the opposition leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to a debate “with the person who [since the PP] is going to coordinate that space”. In this way, he urges Genoa to make its strategy clear: “What proposal does the PP have, how is it going to reduce the debt if it lowers taxes?”. Calviño, who is not affiliated with the PSOE and works as an independent, has avoided answering other organic questions from the Socialists, such as when he was asked about the party's poor prospects in the pre-election polls..

Instead, he has focused on confronting the popular or flagging his management in the Government. “The PP does not want to talk about the economy because the Spanish economy is doing very well,” summarizes. It conditions a future victory in the elections that these tasks can be “completed”, knowing that there are barely six weeks left after the president announced an electoral advance, after losing almost all his regional power on 28-M.

Calviño's first intervention at the PSOE headquarters comes after a meeting to organize the party's electoral program before 23-J. This has been Sánchez's decision despite the fact that the head of Economy does not have a socialist card and even having summoned other ministers who do have it to the meeting. Beyond claiming what has been achieved, it has practically not revealed new measures or given details of what could have been agreed upon in the committee. Yes, it has announced an extension in the VAT reduction on food and guaranteed that it has been a “productive” and “fruitful” appointment.

It also downplays the role that its minority partner in the Government, Unidas Podemos, has adopted in the deployment of the economic agenda throughout the legislature: “It has had practically no influence”. A dart that now also touches the Minister of Labor and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, who took office promoted by this group and has been the architect of the labor reform.

Calviño's role

Claiming its economic model and giving prominence to the minister who promoted it is one of the fundamental cards with which the PSOE will try to take advantage of the PP after the fiasco of 28-M, which turned the regional map blue. In addition, Calviño's technocratic and independent profile – which even so has adopted an increasingly political discourse – makes her an important asset for the Socialists, since she can attract a more moderate voter.. However, and despite his involvement in the campaign, he will not go on the electoral lists that his party approved two days before, in a federal committee that the main critical barons of the PSOE, Emiliano García-Page and Javier Lambán, did not attend..

“They are personal decisions”, he answers the reason for this decision.. “Going on an electoral list or not has nothing to do with my commitment”, the minister reiterated, who does not close the door to repeat within the Executive if Sánchez wins after 23-J and asks him: “We are very comfortable working together, now and in the future”. The challenge now, he says, is to “consolidate what has been achieved”. He claims star measures such as aid for public transport or actions to lower inflation and “relieve the pockets of families”, and assumes problems when it comes to “communicating” the Government's management, which he attributes solely to an “environment of tension and noise”.

The meeting this Monday with the coordinators of the electoral program, behind closed doors, began at around 11 in the morning. The initial forecast was that Calviño would go out to present it an hour later, but the negotiations were delayed and finally it did not happen until almost one thirty. In an informative note prior to the appearance, it was reported that other members of the Executive such as the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños; the third vice president and head of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera; the person in charge of the Treasury, María Jesús Montero, or that of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, José Luis Escrivá, who is not a member of the party either, have been at the meeting. The president of the PSOE, Cristina Narbona; the Secretary for Studies and Programs, Idoia Mendía, and the MEP Lina Gálvez.

The instant jump from one campaign to another has opened a frantic and time-trial path for 23-J. However, that Sánchez opted for a minister without a socialist card to speak from her headquarters and about her program is not by chance. The president seeks to take advantage of his most recent good macroeconomic data – the OECD has just increased its forecast for Spanish GDP growth, for example – to reinforce the idea that Spain has improved during his term despite two serious crises such as the pandemic or the war from Ukraine. Under this premise, a recognized profile such as Calviño's intends to be an asset against Feijóo, who is still finalizing his lists.

“What is very important is that Spanish citizens know who is the person that Mr. Feijóo considers the most qualified to lead and design the economic policy of the PP”, this has been his conclusion. The popular leader, for his part, has also announced this morning those designated as heads of the provincial list, among whom he places members of the economic team of Juan Bravo, his deputy secretary in the matter. Among them, the Minister of Economy of the Region of Murcia, Luis Alberto Marín; or the Secretary of Industry, Tourism and Commerce in Genoa, José Vicente Marín, who is leaving the Senate to be number one in the Lower House for the Balearic Islands.