According to Diaz’s left-wing political platform, Sumar, which announced the program ahead of the July 23 general election, the initiative would cost 10 billion euros. It must be funded by a wealth tax.
Sumar explained that the objective is to guarantee “equal opportunities” regardless of income. Payments, which would start at age 18 and last until age 23, would be monitored by experts to help young people realize their ideas.
“It’s about giving young people a future and giving them the opportunity to study or start a business without depending on their last name or family,” Díaz told media in Madrid on Wednesday afternoon: “That’s what it’s all about. on July 23rd. ”
AP/Europa Press Diaz is running for parliamentary elections with the political platform Sumar
All young Spaniards are entitled to this “universal inheritance” and, according to Díaz, it must be financed by taxes from people who earn more than three million euros a year. Sumar estimates that the plans would cost about 0.8% of Spain’s gross domestic product (GDP).
“Future regardless of surname”
The minister, who, according to the British Guardian, grew up in a strictly communist family, said she was unable to fulfill her own dream of becoming a labor inspector because she did not have enough money to study for years.
“It would take about five years to become a labor inspector in Spain,” she said. “I am not a labor inspector because I am the daughter of working-class parents and I could never allow myself to be. This is a redistributive measure that will allow young people in our country to have a future regardless of last name.”
criticism from many quarters
Diaz’s proposal caused an uproar in Spain. Nadia Calvino, economics minister in the Socialist-led coalition government, questioned how these policies would work in practice. “Anyone who proposes to give subsidies or donations without any restrictions on income levels or targets needs to explain how this will be funded, because we need to be fiscally responsible in the coming years,” Calvino told Onda radio on Monday.
The conservative opposition of the Popular Party (PP) became even clearer. A spokesperson for the PP accused Sumar of getting the priorities wrong and suggested that the government address other issues in a country where “27 percent of the population is at risk of social exclusion, where the unemployment rate is the highest in the country where Europe is where families can’t make ends meet and where the self-employed are struggling to stay afloat.”
Change of government expected
The PP leads the polls and could overtake Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party (PSOE) as the strongest force. In the event of an election victory, however, the Conservatives are likely to rely on the support of the far-right Vox party to form a government. Diaz’s political platform Sumar, which unites the left beyond the PSOE, is fourth in the polls.
Spain currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU. In Brussels, especially in the EU Commission, Spain’s possible shift to the right is viewed with concern. The reason is that Vox wants to stop climate and environmental protection projects promoted by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and, like the partner parties in Hungary and Poland, has an understanding of the rule of law that is partly contrary to EU law.
Another concern at the EU Commission is that the expected difficult formation of a government in Madrid could delay ongoing EU legislative projects. Longer delays would be problematic, among other things because of controversial plans to reform the European asylum system. If Spain goes from pro-reform to anti-reform, that could mean the end of the plans.