The decision to fully reopen schools poses immense dangers to children, educators and parents and will lead to a predictable surge in infections and deaths.
Spain’s PSOE-Podemos government raises electricity prices
The Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government has passed a new measure to increase electricity prices, already among the highest in Europe. It represents a new attack on the conditions of the working class, taking place amid a wave of austerity and anti-working class measures.
The measure was introduced days before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen travelled to Madrid to meet with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to approve Spain’s plan to use nearly €70 billion ($85 billion) in grant money. The electricity hike is just the first of many, including new pension reform to extend the retirement age and a labour reform to cut wages and job security.
Podemos supports ending social distancing amid “fourth wave” in Spain
The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government has announced that it will end the state of alarm on May 9. The state of alarm is the juridical mechanism regional governments use to impose obligatory social distancing measures, such as lockdowns, curfews, limitations on gatherings and mobility restrictions.
Once presented as being less effective than nationwide lockdowns but more compatible with keeping workers on the job, the state of alarm is being ended as a signal that the ruling class seeks to lift any measures limiting the extraction of profits. This ending of social distancing will only accelerate the spread of the virus, provoking countless unnecessary deaths.