Feijóo pledges pensions below inflation and deals with Vox
In the interview opening Spain's campaign, Feijóo promises to uprate pensions below the CPI, freeze the minimum wage and strike deals with Vox if needed.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Feijóo opens the campaign with pensions below the CPI and a deal with Vox
Ten headlines. Ten. That is what Alberto Núñez Feijóo's interview on Cadena SER on 23 October 2026 leaves behind, just over a month before the 29-N elections. And among them is a promise that breaks the political consensus of recent decades: uprating pensions every year below the CPI. Not above, not at the level of inflation. Below. The same interview confirms that, if he needs the votes, he will govern with Vox.
What Feijóo said about pensions
The exact wording is "uprate pensions annually below the CPI" and "guarantee they keep rising". The second half of the statement does little to clarify the first. In the same quote, the PP candidate does not specify which index would replace the CPI, by what margin below it, or whether that loss of purchasing power would be temporary or structural. The PP has said elsewhere that it would uprate pensions in line with the CPI, so the contradiction between the two formulations remains unresolved in the material itself.
Context matters: the PP's spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, had warned that the public system, as currently designed, risks collapse. Vox, for its part, demands a deep reform that opens more room for capitalisation, including private management of savings. Against that backdrop, the promise to uprate pensions below the CPI stops being a slip and becomes a position: spending restraint as a defining trait.
Abortion and parental consent for minors
On parental authorisation for minors to have an abortion, Feijóo says "that debate is warranted and I will reopen it", and adds that young people must be prevented from having sensual relations before the age of majority. It is the most striking proposal in the social package: bringing back the parental consent requirement that was once removed, paired with a statement about teenage sensual that hardly fits a modern governing programme.
On equality, the candidate promises to abolish the ministry and justifies it with a theological argument: if equality were good, God would have made us equal. On euthanasia, he holds that "life comes above everything" and that anyone facing a difficult death should "pray and let it be what God wills". These are headlines that place the PP on very clearly defined cultural ground and partly explain why it needs Vox.
Housing, minimum wage and culture: the economic programme
The promise to build ten million homes comes with no land, financing or timetable. To gauge the figure: ten million homes far exceed the stock of new housing built in Spain in any recent decade. It is a number for headlines, not for a plan.
Even more significant is the stated goal on the minimum wage: "my goal is that neither the average wage nor the minimum wage goes up". This is not about moderating an increase, but about freezing both. It is an explicit break with the policy of recent years and a signal to voters who prioritise containing labour costs over raising incomes.
On culture, Feijóo backs public funding only "when that culture is as God intends". The formula, once again, leaves the door open to questions about who decides what counts as acceptable culture.
Deals with Vox and Milei's visit
The confirmation that he will deal with Vox if needed coexists with another declared sympathy: he "shares the language" used by Argentina's president Javier Milei. On campaign videos made with artificial intelligence, Feijóo jokes: "I like them; unfortunately they don't make them about me because I'm already ridiculous without any help".
The real problem is not the anecdote but the arithmetic. If the polls leave the PP close to an absolute majority, the candidate is working on the assumption of a PSOE abstention that would let him take office without depending on Vox, or of a deal with Vox presented as the only alternative. Both paths are on the table and neither is ruled out.
The contradiction nobody closes
There is a tension running through the whole interview: a candidate who promises pensions below the CPI, a frozen minimum wage and the abolition of the Equality ministry also presents himself as the steady manager who will avoid extremes. The numbers do not match the tone. And the question left hanging is the same one the interviewer asked: if this is the programme, why hide the rest?
Ten headlines. Ten. That is what Alberto Núñez Feijóo's interview on Cadena SER on 23 October 2026 leaves behind, just over a month before the 29-N elections. And among them is a promise that breaks the political consensus of recent decades: uprating pensions every year below the CPI. Not above, not at the level of inflation. Below. The same interview confirms that, if he needs the votes, he will govern with Vox.
What Feijóo said about pensions
The exact wording is "uprate pensions annually below the CPI" and "guarantee they keep rising". The second half of the statement does little to clarify the first. In the same quote, the PP candidate does not specify which index would replace the CPI, by what margin below it, or whether that loss of purchasing power would be temporary or structural. The PP has said elsewhere that it would uprate pensions in line with the CPI, so the contradiction between the two formulations remains unresolved in the material itself.
Context matters: the PP's spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, had warned that the public system, as currently designed, risks collapse. Vox, for its part, demands a deep reform that opens more room for capitalisation, including private management of savings. Against that backdrop, the promise to uprate pensions below the CPI stops being a slip and becomes a position: spending restraint as a defining trait.
Abortion and parental consent for minors
On parental authorisation for minors to have an abortion, Feijóo says "that debate is warranted and I will reopen it", and adds that young people must be prevented from having sensual relations before the age of majority. It is the most striking proposal in the social package: bringing back the parental consent requirement that was once removed, paired with a statement about teenage sensual that hardly fits a modern governing programme.
On equality, the candidate promises to abolish the ministry and justifies it with a theological argument: if equality were good, God would have made us equal. On euthanasia, he holds that "life comes above everything" and that anyone facing a difficult death should "pray and let it be what God wills". These are headlines that place the PP on very clearly defined cultural ground and partly explain why it needs Vox.
Housing, minimum wage and culture: the economic programme
The promise to build ten million homes comes with no land, financing or timetable. To gauge the figure: ten million homes far exceed the stock of new housing built in Spain in any recent decade. It is a number for headlines, not for a plan.
Even more significant is the stated goal on the minimum wage: "my goal is that neither the average wage nor the minimum wage goes up". This is not about moderating an increase, but about freezing both. It is an explicit break with the policy of recent years and a signal to voters who prioritise containing labour costs over raising incomes.
On culture, Feijóo backs public funding only "when that culture is as God intends". The formula, once again, leaves the door open to questions about who decides what counts as acceptable culture.
Deals with Vox and Milei's visit
The confirmation that he will deal with Vox if needed coexists with another declared sympathy: he "shares the language" used by Argentina's president Javier Milei. On campaign videos made with artificial intelligence, Feijóo jokes: "I like them; unfortunately they don't make them about me because I'm already ridiculous without any help".
The real problem is not the anecdote but the arithmetic. If the polls leave the PP close to an absolute majority, the candidate is working on the assumption of a PSOE abstention that would let him take office without depending on Vox, or of a deal with Vox presented as the only alternative. Both paths are on the table and neither is ruled out.
The contradiction nobody closes
There is a tension running through the whole interview: a candidate who promises pensions below the CPI, a frozen minimum wage and the abolition of the Equality ministry also presents himself as the steady manager who will avoid extremes. The numbers do not match the tone. And the question left hanging is the same one the interviewer asked: if this is the programme, why hide the rest?
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (15 replies).
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