CUTTING electricity bills, increasing pensions and the minimum wage, limiting presidential terms of office, reducing waiting lists for care allowances and scrapping the harsh Public Safety Reform, known as the'gagging law', are among Pedro Sánchez's ambitious plans for his 18 months as Spain's leader before his job is up for vote again in the next general elections.
State pensions, thanks to a reform that has meant annual rises never exceeded the legal minimum of 0.25% since January 2012, have become one of Spanish society's greatest concerns, and Sánchez has pledged to ensure they increase in line with inflation at the very least.
Sánchez's party, the PSOE (socialists) have been insisting for years that the minimum wage needs to increase – at €735.90 per month, it is half that of France and, at €24.53 per day, works out at just €3 per hour.
This is based upon workers getting 14 payslips a year – a double one in August and at Christmas – meaning the minimum annual wage is €10,302.60, or €858.55 a month with 12 payslips, and below the minimum taxpaying threshold of €12,000 per annum.
Increasing this, and setting up a complex package of measures to help young people – defined as the under-35s – into the job market in equal conditions, and a reform of the Formación Profesional (FP) system, Spain's answer to BTECs, are on Sánchez's agenda and he will seek support from left-wing party Podemos in doing so.
Also on family finances, Sánchez wants to address the issue of tenants being priced out of the rental market with ever-increasing costs, which experts fear could lead to a new housing 'bubble' if unchecked.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com