The Minister of Finance,

María Jesús Montero

, has rejected Podemos' demand that "direct aid" focus on the 11,000 million plan and has affirmed that debt relief measures must be given weight in the package.

"We have to prevent companies from closing

due to a solvency problem

", he has assured at the end of the Council of Ministers, influencing the problem of business" over-indebtedness. "In this way, he has implicitly put an end to Podemos' request that at least 8,000 million of the 11,000 be for direct aid and not for measures debt restructuring There will be "direct aid", as confirmed by Montero, but not, as Pablo Iglesias defends, predominantly to the detriment of the fund to "accompany the debt restructuring" of the companies.

In fact, Montero has ruled out that pressure from Podemos has delayed the approval of the plan, originally scheduled for today.

He has justified this delay in the endless implementation of the 11,000 million aid plan -announced two weeks ago- by its "complexity in the legal field."

"It is necessary to refine elements (...) there is a lack of touches," said the minister.

And he has rejected that it is due to "pressure" or "tension" between government partners.

Montero has in fact settled that the figures already assigned to the direct aid fund will not increase, below the 8,000 million that Podemos is asking for, although he has not wanted to specify them.

The minister has not denied, however, that she herself is behind the delay, but has stressed that it has not been her alone: ​​"

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are going hand in hand

and it seemed prudent for a few days plus".

The Andalusian socialist has avoided explaining what obstacles have arisen for approval, but has slipped the need for "co-governance" in the chapter on direct aid.

The resistance of the Ministry of Finance to this section being the responsibility of the State and not of the Autonomous Communities was decisive last Monday for the plan to be approved this Tuesday in the Council of Ministers, as EL MUNDO has published in its edition this Tuesday .

"The delay is due solely and exclusively to technical reasons", has been one of his few resounding affirmations.

He has hinted that sources in this coalition partner give misinformation about the reasons for the plan's delay.

"I do not doubt your professionalism, you write what they tell you," he told journalists after denying time and again that the delay was due to the desire of the PSOE wing to respond to pressure from Podemos.

The minister has confirmed that it will be approved "next Friday in an extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers."

Moncloa rejected that it could be delayed to next week after the expectation created by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.

The announcement was made by the president on February 25, during a parliamentary debate, but he himself could not specify it beyond that they would be "

actions for companies, SMEs and the self-employed"

and without mentioning the words "direct aid".

He pointed out that they would only be financial debt relief measures, but the internal debate in the Executive has been evolving towards a fund of direct aid to defray fixed expenses of companies in the face of social pressure and the deterioration of the economy.

There will be another for the aforementioned financial relief measures with the possibility of cuts in credits guaranteed by the ICO;

and a third to capitalize small and medium-sized companies.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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