Podemos criticizes the PSOE for rejecting its public supermarket proposal days before Sánchez's meeting with Mamdani

The Congress of Deputies has rejected this Wednesday the seven points of the motion presented by Podemos to reduce the cost of rents, food, and school supplies. The vote has shown different positions within the coalition government and a particularly striking coincidence in the two measures related to the shopping basket.

The PSOE has voted together with PP, the far-right Vox, and Junts against the creation of a public supermarket and against the establishment of limits on the profit margins of large food distributors. Sumar abstained on both points.

The motion reached the Plenary at a time marked by rising prices. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached an annual rate of 4.3% in August, the highest since February 2023, while food and non-alcoholic beverages have become 2.3% more expensive compared to the previous year, according to the latest data published by the National Institute of Statistics.

A different vote in each bloc

The text registered by Podemos demanded a 40% rent reduction by law and the incorporation into the public housing stock of illegal tourist housing and 650,000 properties in the hands of large owners. PSOE and Sumar abstained on these three sections, which also did not gather the necessary support to move forward.

Both government partners adopted the same position regarding the state plan to guarantee free textbooks and school supplies. The initiative contemplated a public system of lending, exchange, and reuse, in addition to material banks in educational centers and durable and sustainable pedagogical resources.

Podemos has received the result with "surprise and disappointment". The purple party considers that the rejection leaves families with greater difficulties in covering basic expenses without a response and reproaches the PSOE for having coincided with the right on food proposals. It also regrets that the socialists and Sumar have chosen to abstain on housing and education measures.

The text was a motion resulting from an urgent interpellation addressed to the First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo. Its approval would have meant a political mandate to the Government, although it lacked by itself the capacity to modify laws or immediately activate the proposed measures.

The contrast with the meeting between Sánchez and Mamdani

The vote has taken place seven days before the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, shares an economic event in New York with the city's mayor, Zohran Mamdani. The meeting will be held on September 23 under the title 'Building an Economy for the Majority' and has been organized by the Global Progress Foundation and the New York mayor's office.

Podemos has used this event to highlight the contradiction that, in their opinion, rejecting a public supermarket in Spain entails while Sánchez meets with one of its main defenders. Mamdani's administration has initiated the project N.Y.C. Groceries, a network of five municipal establishments, one per district, which will be managed daily by private operators under conditions set by the City Council.

The plan presented by the New York Government foresees average discounts of 30% on fresh products and basic foodstuffs. The first store is expected to open in late 2027 in the Bronx and the network should be completed by 2029.