Reducing the working week is the main obstacle to a quick government agreement between the left-wing Sumar platform and the Socialist Party of acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the progressive party’s spokesman Ernest Urtasun warned on Monday.
At a press conference in Madrid, Urtasun, who is also an MEP, said that PSOE (S&D) is not facilitating an agreement, although he did not clarify whether Sumar, led by acting Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz would be willing to accept a reduction in working hours to 37.5 hours a week.
At the moment, the Spanish Workers’ Statute fixes this working week (37.5 hours a week) in most agreements and the public sector.
Despite these political hurdles, Urtasun stressed that negotiations with PSOE are “advancing” at a good pace. For their part, socialist sources consulted by EFE stated that the coalition agreement is imminent and should be announced before the end of the month.
In addition to cutting the number of working hours, the control of rent prices and the increase in the minimum wage to €1,500 are also “essential”, Urtasun stressed.
It is also important to link dismissal to objective causes and the approval of a Statute for Scholarship Holders, he added.
Sumar sources consulted by EFE stressed on Monday that an agreement with the PSOE was close to being reached to extend the temporary tax on financial institutions, increase free schooling for children aged 0-3 and introduce eight weeks of paid leave to care for minors or dependents, among other issues.
Urtasun reiterated that Sumar and the PSOE had not yet discussed the structure of the future government, minister portfolios, the reduction of ministries or the names of possible ministers.
It is taken for granted however that Díaz will be Sánchez’s “number 2”.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)
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