It was a single decree, but it benefited a huge number of people. Almost ten million pensioners, two million people covered by the minimum vital income (IMV), some 20 million users of transport aid, more than 1.6 million beneficiaries of the social electricity bonus and tens of thousands protected by the anti-eviction moratorium, among others. The so-called ‘omnibus decree’ that PP, Junts and Vox overthrew this week included a wide range of social measures that have declined and that groups of pensioners, social and union organizations demand to reactivate urgently.
“None of the measures that were incorporated in the decree are dispensable and all of them must be approved as soon as possible,” claims José Javier López, director of EAPN-ES, a network that includes anti-poverty NGOs. As the previous figures introduce, the total number of people affected by the cancellation of the omnibus decree is very large, but in some cases, the aid now canceled is vital for the daily lives of many families.
At the EAPN they remember that Spain is a country with a high rate of poverty and social exclusion, which reaches 12.7 million people, with record levels in some indicators, the result of years of inflation. In many of these households, the increase in the minimum living income, the pension, the electricity bonus or the discount on the transport pass can make the difference between buying basic goods such as meat and fish or not being able to do so. Between having your gas turned off or keeping your house warm. Between ending up on the street or preventing your family from being evicted.
“We must keep in mind that poverty and social exclusion are multidimensional problems that affect very different areas in the lives of the people who suffer from them. Although we divide poverty into areas such as energy, work or child poverty, that does not mean that a family suffers from energy poverty and not work poverty, for example. They go hand in hand,” explains López.
“Disappointment” and “disappointment” in those affected
Pedro (not his real name), a retiree who lives in the south of Madrid, checked his bank account this Friday and the pension had already been deposited to him and his wife. The January payroll has arrived with the 2025 increase approved by the Government, but has declined heading into February after the ‘no’ to the omnibus decree. In his case, it is 22 euros more per month, with a benefit of almost 1,500 euros, when the general increase of 2.8% is applied, but the increase in his wife’s benefit is higher: 50 euros, 6% more , since he receives the minimum pension (about 866 euros).
Although in general he tends to vote to the right, Pedro recognizes that he is “very disillusioned with many things that are happening.” “Really, if I had to vote now I wouldn’t know who I would vote for,” he points out. However, as the PP has said, Pedro believes that the Government should have only brought the pension increase to a vote. He acknowledges that he does not know what other measures are in the norm, nor which ones justify the PP, Junts and Vox having voted against, but he believes that it may be because “the Government has set up some trap.”
Mª Carmen, in Barcelona, has not yet received her pension, but she has already received the letter from the Ministry of Social Security informing her of this year’s increase now in suspense. Its increase is also 50 euros, with a pension close to the minimum, 890 euros. “It has also increased due to the increase in the child pension supplement,” explains the woman, which this year was 7.8% and which has also been cancelled.
“I am very angry, very angry. You cannot mix these things with flag politics. Many people have been harmed. This is not my case, but there are families in which grandparents help with their children’s pensions,” says Mª Carmen, in her case a progressive voter.
As a Catalan, and although she is not a Junts voter, she maintains that the party led by Carles Puigdemont has “disappointed her greatly.” “I didn’t expect it at all,” he says about the vote against the independence movement that has brought down the pension increase. “I don’t think your negotiations with the Government can be mixed with these social measures, they would have to be separate things,” he maintains.
The majority unions CCOO and UGT have also denounced the votes against the omnibus decree, which they consider an exercise in “political opportunism” that will have “very high costs” on the backs of citizens. For this reason, they have organized mobilizations on February 2 throughout the country, which will also demand that the Government urgently approve these social measures again.
The entire “social shield” in danger
Once the decree has expired, the Government studies how to re-approve the measures it contained. The PP and Junts have demanded that the pension increase or transport aid be raised separately, for which they assure that they would now vote in favor.
However, the President of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, has shown this Friday that he is in favor of keeping the “social shield” together. Some left-wing political groups fear that some measures, especially the anti-eviction moratorium, against which the PP is charging, will remain in the pipeline if the Government separates the content of the omnibus decree into several regulations.
In Cáritas, as well as in the EAPN, they point out the importance and urgency of recovering all canceled social measures. “The revaluation of pensions or transportation aid, which affects many people, is just as important as resuming the suspension of evictions, which can affect a very small population, but with great need. That is why we ask for the same order of priority for all measures,” explains Raúl Flores, coordinator of the Cáritas Española Studies team.
Flores points out that the “disparity of opinions of each party” is “natural” and “good,” but Cáritas asks “all political parties to put the needs of the people at the center of any consideration.”
Social organizations ask for “a State Pact against Poverty that has a broad consensus of the parliamentary arch, and that addresses poverty in a structural way,” adds José Javier López. “It is necessary for political formations to have high vision,” they claim from the EAPN, who also warn that “betting on social policies works,” as demonstrated by studies on how the State, with policies such as pensions, protect the population. of falling into poverty.
Source: www.eldiario.es
