He does not stop and in fact these days he is preparing the economic proposals that will come out of the convention that his party will hold at the end of the month and holding meetings with civil society and the Chatham House rules. She has spent the summer in Torrelodones as a family, as she likes, but keeping watch at the PP with the whole issue of the exorbitant price of electricity bill, but she does not complain.
An economist by profession and one of the first female tax auditors, Elvira Rodríguez Ferrer (Madrid, 1949)He returned to the first political line again under the guidance of Pablo Casado, who appointed him deputy secretary general for sectoral action. Or, what is the same, the person in charge of economic affairs – and also as a black leg deputy – in Congress, where she has been the spokesperson for the economic reactivation group. She is a realistic and vital woman, who has a just reputation as a tireless worker.
Able to square the circle, attend to his professional work and, furthermore, not neglect his family, his four children and his seven grandchildren. Perhaps that is why when you ask her if having been almost everything in politics – general director, Secretary of State for Budgets with Cristóbal Montoro or Minister of the Environment, among other positions – she makes her place herself above good and evil, she usually says, without more than ”
Could the uncontrolled rise of light be, in the end, Sánchez’s political grave, as some say?
The uncontrolled rise in the bill is a reflection of Sánchez’s inability to respond to important problems. The electricity bill affects us all, and the government’s inaction is evident. Your only answer is to do nothing.
They do not want, cannot, or do not know how to face this issue?
The Government has an internal political problem to provide an adequate response to this issue. It should do what other countries have done, such as Germany, which has better withstood the pull of the rise in gas using its nuclear power plants, or resisting with coal from Poland. Here, for a purely ideological question, we have become much more vulnerable to the rise in gas. In addition, they should download the receipt for certain issues that are paid opaquely through our monthly bill.
What things should be taken out of that electricity bill to make it cheaper?
What are called charges that do not have to do with electricity or energy consumption, but with public policies. There is the tariff deficit, the compensation cost of inter-island consumption or the generation tax, which should not be there. What have we asked for? That the VAT on electricity is definitely 10%, and that the income from CO2 rights, which amounts to 2,600 million, lower the cost of the bill. In addition, that the deficit annuities, which on the receipt represent 7% before taxes, are paid out of Budgets. They are the consequence of a socialist public policy that was disastrous with first generation renewables. We also ask that the extra cost of the non-peninsular generation, which appears in the statutes of the islands, be in charge of the Budgets.
Is it true that you proposed to reduce the bill by 20% and the Government rejected it?
The Government rejects by system any proposal that comes from the PP, although it is, as in this case, very beneficial for citizens. After listening to Vice President Ribera, I believe that the Government does not think it bad that the receipt is expensive, because that way people do not consume. Sánchez is installed in the no es no, which was something they attributed to us.
Is the real cost of the 50% increase real if everything you raise is eliminated?
It is real. For example, in the receipt that I received on August 20, which already includes everything, including off-peak hours, etc. 52.9% is energy, and the rest are other charges, in addition to transport and distribution tolls, etc.
Is penalizing nuclear and coal just an ideological question? Because it gives the feeling that the first ones are from the right and another type of energy, from the left?
Here they make everything ideological, and with the ways of producing energy the left has done the same. It is true that Europe is moving towards decarbonisation, because fossil fuels generate or emit CO2, but it is also true that Spain wants to be first in line, shedding coal before other countries, which has made us very vulnerable, compared to other fuels such as gas. France, for example, does not have any nuclear complex, and we do not have it when we buy it from them. The problem is not only that they want to charge nuclear, but also hydroelectric energy, and they do not like wind either because it spoils the landscape. So what is the option?
Would the solution be to take resources from the electricity sustainability fund that can be debated in Congress?
The sustainability fund is not the solution. It takes a cost off the electricity bill and puts it on the bill for diesel, fuel oil and diesel. That is, we are downloading one receipt to upload others. They are counting something half of the electricity bill, because they do not say that this would mean an increase in the butane cylinder, diesel cars, or diesel for heating. What are we talking about? This is nonsense.
Come on, what in the end is left behind the most vulnerable citizens?
This government, which was not going to leave anyone abandoned, is ultimately harming the most vulnerable. They are specialists in making vulnerable those who are not, and then they say that they subsidize them to have a manger and buy captive votes. They repeat the usual strategy.
What do you think of the option of Podemos to nationalize the electricity companies or create a public company?
A public company is not created overnight. It is nonsense, but since they do not like private property, except their own, they make unviable proposals. They want the model of Cuba or Venezuela and impoverish everyone.
Could the rise in the SMI this year break the social dialogue? Because businessmen flatly refuse?
I think the entrepreneurs have been very clear and I share their position. At the moment, despite the data for August, the global employment figures we have are really bad, there are more than 3,300,000 unemployed Spaniards, 272,000 people in Ertes and 226,000 self-employed persons receiving a cessation of activity benefit. If at this time the costs of companies are raised, increasing the SMI and its impact on social contributions, it will be a mistake that will be paid in jobs. What you have to do is help companies to be more stable and solvent, lowering taxes. This way, more would be consumed and there would be more activity. In addition, the rise in the SMI in sectors such as agriculture and domestic service causes unwanted collateral effects because they shift to underground employment.
“The increase in the minimum interprofessional salary will be a mistake that will be paid in jobs”
Do the Ertes have to have an expiration date and go to other models?
The Ertes must be given a ride. The rules can always have exceptions, but, in general, the company that has not been able to move forward after the summer is very difficult to achieve in the future. Companies must restructure, and if instead of 15 workers they only need 7, they must be able to get ahead. It is not necessary to continue helping zombie companies and, if necessary, that part of their workers have to collect unemployment benefits: this is better than putting everyone’s future in solfa. The Ertes must be raised in another way, to, from a more healthy position, pull forward.
“It is necessary to give a return to the Ertes, it is not necessary to continue helping zombie companies”
Pedro Sánchez says that next year we will be at employment levels prior to the beginning of the pandemic. Is that a wish or can it come true?
We will have to see it. He also said that we were going to pay the same electricity bill at the end of this year as in 2018, discounting inflation, and the bill is skyrocketing. The president says beautiful phrases every day, but they are empty words that are blown away by the wind, and the citizens know it. It should be concerned with improving our productive fabric so that companies are not destroyed. There will be more jobs when this is over, but the conditions will have to be seen.
Are the inflation data worrisome or are there no reasons for the alarm bells to go off?
Vice President Calviño says it is a temporary situation. What worries me is that, via wage increases or the minimum wage, we will receive inflation. We may find ourselves in a situation that is the most pernicious of all: what economists call stagflation. That is to say, that it does not grow but that prices grow, and that there is no added value to be able to raise wages in a healthy way. This does not generate employment, and for the economy it is lethal. Core inflation is quite lower, it is around 0.7%, but you have to be very careful with the measures you take.
What there will be, apparently, are Budgets, because the Government has guaranteed support, right?
Yes, the Government can carry out some Budgets, but I do not even want to think what they will cost us, because their partners are going to charge them with very high interests. We already saw last year how to get Bildu’s support he signed the repeal of the labor reform. The president is willing to do anything, and if it is necessary to lead us to ruin, he will lead us.
Are European funds going to be the manna for the economy of the autonomous communities?
European funds are not a manna, far from it. Regardless of the distribution criteria for one or the other autonomies, the money is being given for projects predetermined by the Government that in many cases are not what each autonomous community needs. A regional councilor told me: “They have given me 760,000 euros to protect the power lines and protect the birds, because that has touched me because of the distribution coefficient, but I do not need that specific money for that destination, and I would it remains to be used in other things. ” That is an example of what is happening.
Do you also believe that there is a risk of repeating the mistakes that were made in the distribution of the famous ‘plan E’?
Yes, the mistakes that were made with the famous roundabouts can be repeated. Some of the lines in which they are working closely resemble a plan E, which generates employment in the very short term but does not become stable over time. The most powerful environmental projects are so long-term that in 20 years we may be greener, but also much poorer.
“In 20 years, we may be greener, but also much poorer”
Is it a democratic anomaly that the CGPJ continues without being renewed? The Government accuses you of torpedoing it?
I think that not renewing the CGPJ is an anomaly, but the democratic reproach would be done to the Government, which has no institutional respect. There are some red lines that cannot be crossed, which is what Sánchez intends to do with the judiciary. The objective is not to change the CGPJ, but a system that allows us to have an independent judiciary. It is the balance of institutional powers that makes democracies prosper, and it is also required by Europe.
“The Government has no institutional respect, not renewing the CGPJ is an anomaly”
Are you ashes, as the Government says?
In the PP de cenizos we have nothing, but we are a responsible opposition. We sincerely believe that things are going wrong. We have alternatives and we provide solutions. The Government would prefer to have a silent and gagged opposition, and that is why it intends to disqualify us by calling us ashes and other things, but it does not strain. Neither the change of government nor its remodeling have helped Sánchez to overcome in front of the citizens. It has lost all credibility.
Hey, is the Madrid tax model the one that the PP intends to implement in other autonomies?
Madrid has eliminated taxes that frankly were in excess. One of them was not charged, the other, like that of the game, is already a general tax, and with the waste we will end up having a national tax. Madrid is a guarantee of legal security and international investors know what to expect in terms of taxation, and we will do the same at the national level. The tax reduction generates activity and, therefore, collection to meet social expenses. Inheritance, Patrimony and Donations taxes are unfair taxes. We are also committed to reducing personal income tax and reviewing the Corporation Tax. We need to generate activity, make our companies competitive, lower their costs, and that cannot be done when taxes are very heavy.
“Lowering taxes in Madrid generates activity and collection to face social expenses”
A curiosity, are we going to see a competition, a duel between Almeida and Ayuso, to preside over the PP in Madrid? What will you do when it is your turn to vote?
I am from Madrid and I will have to vote, but that will happen in the first semester of next year. Fortunately, we have great people in Madrid, a president of the barbarian community and an impressive mayor. We can boast of having teams.
Is the convention that you are going to celebrate in Valencia the starting gun for you to arrive at Moncloa? Because two years in politics is an eternity?
Citizens want less marketing and more management. If the Government is unable to manage, what it has to do is call elections, as Zapatero did in his day, due to his disastrous management. Sánchez can leave, resign whenever he wants, but I am not very optimistic, because he likes being in Moncloa too much and spending the summer in La Mareta to leave, even if he is ruining this country. The PP is a serious, reliable and responsible government alternative, and I have no doubt that Pablo Casado will be the next Prime Minister.
“The PP is a serious, reliable and responsible option, and Casado will be president”
Perhaps the president likes La Moncloa, but neither in the crisis in Afghanistan, nor in that of Ceuta, have explanations been given in Parliament?
The Prime Minister has an allergy to Parliament. He only shows his face when things are half fixed. What is already going from dark brown is that he does a performance, brings together what he calls civil society and the Ibex to explain his proposals, and does not do it in Parliament. Sánchez should bravely face a Debate on the State of the Nation. If he does not, it is because, in addition, he is a coward who prefers to hide behind the ministers.
