Alegría frames Podemos's criticism of Planas and military aid to Ukraine in the vicinity of the electoral process

MADRID, 20 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister of Education and Spokesperson of the PSOE, Pilar Alegría, has framed today in the proximity of the electoral process the criticisms that United Podemos has made against the meeting of the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, with the actors of the food chain and against aid military from Spain to Ukraine.

The general secretary of this political formation, Ione Belarra, already accused the socialist wing of the government on Friday of following the US and hinted that Spain could send soldiers to Ukraine.

And today, the spokespersons for the purple formation have charged against Planas's meeting with the representatives of the supermarkets, in order to contain food prices, assuring that they do not expect any valid measure because they consider that the large distribution sector it is part of the problem as they act as "looters", "speculators" and "ruthless capitalists".

When asked about these two issues, Pilar Alegría did not want to add fuel to the fire of the discrepancies that the two government partners have been maintaining and has limited herself to saying that these manifestations must be framed in the "procedural moment" in which Spain is, prior to the electoral process, "less than 100 days from the municipal and regional electoral contest."

In this sense, he has indicated that in these demonstrations and comments of the purple party there is "certain props": "When we get closer to these dates, the words and expressions must be framed in this context." Having said this, he wanted to make it clear that "if there is something that this government has done, it is serious management on issues that have arisen" both in the pandemic and with the consequences of the war in Ukraine.

The socialist spokesperson has defended that Luis Planas meet with the representatives of the food sector and has recalled that the Government already approved a Food Chain Law before the war to avoid sales at a loss. She also recalled the reduction in VAT on basic foods that the Government has approved, as well as direct aid to farmers and ranchers to protect them from the significant rise in fertilizers.

In this sense, Pilar Alegría has stressed that the Executive has always put "important and solvent" measures on the table that, in her opinion, are having positive effects on inflation, but that she considers that time must be allowed for them to have a "full deployment".

In fact, he assures that the statistics reflect that "indeed, the VAT reduction is having a positive translation", but he added that they are verifying the progress of the application of these measures.

When asked if she believes that the Podemos measures are serious and solvent to contain the doping of food prices, the socialist spokesperson has indicated that "when studying certain proposals" the Government values ​​everything, but stressing that they have been measures have been put in place that seek to contain prices and that Planas is going to continue working in the direction that it is doing.

However, it has not wanted to rule on whether the Executive is considering lowering the VAT on meat or fish, products on which there has been no fiscal measure so far.