Sánchez promises to shield pensions in the Constitution and points to PP and Vox: "Voting for Feijóo is the same as voting for Abascal"

Pedro Sánchez has brought a new commitment to Gijón this Monday for 29N. The President of the Government has promised to reform the Constitution to shield pensions and their revaluation in accordance with the CPI if he continues in La Moncloa. He announced it hours after the electoral agreement between PP and the far-right Vox for the Senate, which he has made one of the main arguments of his speech.

"Now, faced with the threat of the PP and Vox, I make the following commitment: next legislature we will also reform the Constitution to shield pensions and their revaluation in accordance with the CPI," he stated before a full Pabellón de las Naciones, in the Luis Adaro fairgrounds. According to the organizers, some 6,000 people followed the event between the interior and the screens installed outside.

The socialist leader has brought back the memory of the mobilizations of pensioners during the financial crisis and of those who took to the streets also thinking of their children and grandchildren. "You don't have to be a pensioner to mobilize for pensioners," he defended. The proposal also comes two days after the demonstration in Madrid in defense of the public system, with pensions once again at the center of the pre-campaign.

Sánchez has linked this protection to his economic record. He has claimed the increases in the minimum wage, the reduction of temporary employment, and the recovery of the Reserve Fund, and has defended that reinforcing healthcare, education, and dependency is compatible with reducing debt and deficit. For the next legislature, he has set among his objectives to continue increasing the SMI, boost industry, and bring unemployment to 8%.

The shielding requires more than 176 seats

The revaluation with the CPI is already included in the law. Article 58 of the General Social Security Law links the annual update of contributory pensions to the average inflation of the twelve months prior to December. Sánchez's promise aims to elevate this guarantee to constitutional rank and protect it against future legislative changes.

The Constitution already establishes in its article 50 that pensions must be adequate and updated periodically, although it lacks an express reference to the CPI. For a reform by the ordinary procedure, the general rule requires three-fifths of each Chamber, including 210 deputies in Congress. The 176 seats that Sánchez has claimed to govern would fall below that threshold and would require seeking additional support.

The announcement adds to the commitment to enshrine the right to abortion in the Constitution, which he reiterated this Saturday in Granada. With both proposals, the PSOE is placing the protection of rights at the center of its campaign and taking the discussion about parliamentary majorities beyond the investiture.

In Asturias, Sánchez has been accompanied by Adrián Barbón, Adriana Lastra, and Lara Martínez. The president of the Principality has rejected pitting young people against the elderly over pensions. Lastra, head of the list for Congress, has claimed the defense of women's rights and recalled the Freedom Train, born in Asturias against the abortion reform promoted by the Rajoy Government.

Feijóo and Abascal's pact enters the campaign

"Voting for Feijóo is the same as voting for Abascal", Sánchez launched. "And I don't say it, they say it with their pact and their single list for the Senate". The president used the agreement announced this Monday to question the distance that the PP leader tries to maintain with respect to the far-right.

The coordination between both parties affects certain candidacies for the Upper House. The far-right Vox withdraws in six provinces and the PP in Gipuzkoa, Girona and Tarragona, while Abascal's party will present a single candidate in fourteen others. It also contemplates incorporating candidates proposed by Vox into PP ballots. The pact responds to the alliance of the PSOE, Frente Amplio and other progressive forces for the Senate.

Sánchez has accused Feijóo of setting back the democratic right "50 years" by making a pact with Abascal. "We are not going to allow them to do the same with Spain," he stated, before asking for votes for the PSOE to stop them at the polls.

Feminism was the protagonist of another of the toughest moments of the speech. Faced with Feijóo's statements, who defined himself as a feminist for having been raised among women, Sánchez responded with irony. "I am an astronaut because I saw man walk on the Moon," he said. Afterwards, he accused the PP candidate of wanting to cut women's rights if he reaches government with Abascal.

Against that scenario, the president sought to instill confidence in his own with Lula da Silva's victory in Brazil. "If Brazil could, Spain can," he proclaimed amidst chants of "yes we can". His call to reach 176 deputies combined the defense of his management with the request for a broader majority to promote new social advances.

Music has also been part of that staging. Sánchez has danced to the rhythm of '¡Cómo ye!', by Rodrigo Cuevas, with an assistant who went up on stage, and Covadonga de la Rúa has performed 'España camisa blanca de mi esperanza'. Wearing the 'La fuerza del amor' t-shirt, the candidate has once again responded to criticism for his dances and gestures in electoral events. "Everything bothers them: if we dance, if we celebrate, if I kiss my wife…".