In an address on Saturday from PSOE headquarters in Madrid that was principally directed at party members, Pedro Sánchez asked for a "Christmas gift of safety to those who we love" in fighting coronavirus and being able to be together in the future.
'The Spain We Deserve 2021-2026' was the theme for the presentation, in which the prime minister said that "we are approaching the third and final stage" in overcoming the pandemic and fulfilling the objective of a cumulative incidence of 25 per 100,000.
He warned that there was a still a long way to go in achieving this figure, adding that it is more important to spend the holiday together in the next few years and to celebrate 2021 than "this Christmas". He invited members of the party to do their bit and set an example "by taking care of ourselves and others". We are at a situation where there is "a significant decrease in infection rates", with the expectation of bending the curve again "in a very short time".
In the third stage of overcoming the pandemic, Sánchez said that experts predict that "we will get to a critical stage that coincides with the first mass vaccination". The incidence rate of 25 must therefore be achieved. He explained that countries "have learned about the pandemic by doing", have made "complex and difficult decisions that had not been made for a century" and have done so "in record time".
However, he noted that "where others wavered and where there were governments of great democratic countries which turned their backs on the virus or embraced extravagant theories, we acted with order". The aim was "to save lives, protect public health and prevent the collapse of the health system" and the whole economic dimension of jobs and businesses, without ever leaving anyone behind.
In other crises, Sánchez observed, there was a sense of "every man for himself", but not with this progressive coalition government. He thanked the "socialist family" for supporting his administration, especially when "the poison of hatred and lies was being spread".