I confess that I have not read any work by Pierre Corneille. Among the more than 5,000 books that adorn the shelves of my home – storage room and built-in wardrobe included – there is neither «The Death of Pompey», nor «Cinna or the Clemency of Augustus», nor «Tito and Berenice». The dramas, poems and reflections of this Parisian writer born in 1606 are as alien to me as the Benidorm Fest, the guided tours by the Sherpas on the slopes of the Himalayas, the curling broadcast on Eurosport, the Javier Bardem films or the vociferous harangues matriarchals of Irene Montero. However, I bring it up because one of his quotes comes to mind to summarize the theme of this article: the fallacious electoral promises of the left in this campaign and that it will also carry out, nobody doubts it, in the face of the next general elections. The phrase comes specifically from the Internet, which is the source to which all columnists who try to simulate the culture that they lack to decorate their articles turn to, and if the page on which it appears is true, which it could be, it deserves believe at face value. Corneille says that “the liar is always prodigal in oaths.” There is nothing. The summary of weeks of rallies, in just seven words and 39 characters.
And it is that the promises made by PSOE, Unidas Podemos and all their regional and local substitutes in the form of platforms or circles do not seem more than that, oaths issued by mouths that have already been untrue during this legislature in matters such as the pacts with Bildu , the committee of experts on the pandemic, the prices of electricity, the caste or the house of a lifetime in Vallecas. What credibility do those who now formulate their proclamations to the voters have? Little, if not none. Let’s review a few. That of housing for young people seems, from the outset, unrealizable. If it is difficult now for a government under whose first term they have done nothing but skyrocket to fix the problem of purchase and rental prices, it seems even more difficult to figure out where the money will come from to do so, because submerged as we are in a lavish public spending spiral, there is not much room left for borrowing. Worst of all, in any case, would be that the money from Europe was not enough, we got into debt, and prices continued to rise, which is what will end up happening. On the other hand, the sweets with which the PSOE tries to hook new voters and the elderly do seem feasible: interrail trips and the cinema for two euros for the elderly, two gifts to capture votes and ensure that the actors are adept the regime have an audience.
Let’s be cautious, however, and let’s see how the economy evolves because in the end it may turn out that the recipients of the subsidies will then have to pay for them through cuts, as happened under the previous socialist government. Particularly striking are the promises in Health. Pedro Sánchez has announced three times that he will water the autonomous communities with 580 million to improve the primary care infrastructure, which is equivalent to saying that he has not learned anything, because what is wrong with it is not the sheet metal or the paint, but the lack of doctors, and for that he has not put a euro. So we will have more beautiful health centers, but without doctors. Barren promise.
