unsupportive budgets

Although the Government intends to present the General State Budget project that was approved yesterday by the Council of Ministers as accounts dedicated to social spending and aid to the working classes, the significant increase announced in the pension bill makes them

The Executive foresees a rise of around 8.5% for all Spanish pensioners, within the framework of expansionary budgets clearly marked by the year the

upcoming sector.

The problem is that

-because the Government insists on not lowering their taxes-, but they will also see how public spending is concentrated on improving pensions for the retired population, whether these pensioners have high or low incomes.

To the increase in pensions is added the one that will be applied to civil servants (3.5%).

only reasons

They can explain why the State linearly increases the purchasing power of groups that have a guaranteed income, instead of concentrating its efforts on the weakest social layers.

The fact that one out of every two euros of public spending by the central State goes to pay pensions and interest on the debt is the opposite of equitably distributing the burdens of a crisis like the one we are going through.

The budget project contemplates, on the other hand,

to which the Government would face with bulky income (18,000 million euros more) about which doubts plan due to the threats that hang over the economy.

A risky bet when the evolution of the war in Ukraine and the imbalances it is generating in developed and emerging countries add factors of uncertainty.

The deficit forecasts (3.9% in 2023) and the debt (112.4% of GDP, somewhat lower but still skyrocketing) are not good news either.

It is possible, yes, to recognize

.

On the one hand, the increase in defense spending, with which President Sánchez fulfills his commitment to NATO and confirms Spain as a reliable ally.

On the other hand, he positively highlights the extension of Renfe's free subscriptions for suburban and medium-distance trains, a measure that is being well received and that also discourages the use of fossil fuels.

Still, the project's lights don't overshadow its shadows.

This is a bad starting point, likely to worsen in the negotiation that the Government must undertake with its parliamentary partners from ERC, PNV and Bildu to approve the accounts in Congress.

The citizen, in short, witnesses astonished a considerable increase in the

when prices go up and it's getting harder and harder to make ends meet.

This is not how a country is structured;

quite the contrary.

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