The approval of the Amnesty Law represents significant wear and tear for the PSOE and the Government. Among the actions to neutralize this effect, from The Moncloa An important social agenda is being prepared to mark the start of the new Government and a meeting is requested with the vice president of the European Comission, Vera Jourováand the Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reyndersto request a meeting and explain the law that establishes forgiveness for those involved in the process. While waiting to make these appointments, the Executive is already deploying that social agenda that neutralizes the erosion of its political decision:: 1.1 billion for long-term care.
This distribution of 1,100 million to the autonomous communities was approved last October within the Territorial Council of the System for Autonomy and Dependency Care (SAAD). But the Council of Ministers approved and publicized it this Tuesday, in its last meeting before the new Executive is formed, in the run-up to Pedro Sánchez’s investiture and as a letter of introduction to the new cabinet. “The action of this Government has had a great impact on the social policies implemented by the communities,” said Isabel Rodríguez, spokesperson for the Executive. Although it is an investment that belongs to Social Rights, the titular minister, Ione Belarra, has not appeared.
This “billion-dollar” investment, as they describe it in La Moncloa, comes from the funds of the European Union Recovery Plan, to dedicate them to implementing the Shock Plan for the care economy. The autonomous communities will be able to execute the funds with projects related to the care economy such as those contained in the long-term care and support plan. These are: the provision of new public facilities for long-term care based on a new architecture centered on the person and on care in community settings, and remodeling and adaptation of existing facilities.
Also the incorporation of new technologies at the service of care, through the introduction of home equipment that favors the promotion of personal autonomy through the use of advanced telecare, as well as any other technological means that allows the provision of support and care in connected homes and inclusive care environments, also in rural areas. Likewise, the technological transformation of social services will be financed, through the implementation of comprehensive programs to introduce new technologies in the provision of social services.
This measure culminates the coalition government sealed in January 2020 between the PSOE and Unidas Podemos, but it also anticipates that among the first decisions of the new Executive that Pedro Sánchez will announce in the coming days, the social agenda will have a great role. To mark the path and to neutralize the amnesty, in order to convey that the Government’s action will go the other way. In fact, Yolanda Díaz, who will also be vice president in the new cabinet, has already anticipated that she will “immediately” call unions and employers after the inauguration of Pedro Sánchez to address a new rise in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI). Thus, this new increase is intended to be one of the letters of introduction, as already happened with the Executive that is now ending its journey.