The Congress Board, led by PSOE and Sumar, has upheld the government's veto against a PP amendment that reduced VAT on food items, previously approved in the Senate. This measure, targeting meats, fish, and dairy from January to June 2026, would cost the state 3.780 million euros. The ratification was scheduled for Thursday's plenary session.
The Spanish government has successfully blocked a Partido Popular (PP) initiative to cut VAT on several basic food products. The amendment, added during the processing of the Client Services Law in the Senate, aimed to reduce the tax rate to 4% for meats, fish, and canned goods, and eliminate it entirely for milk, cheeses, eggs, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and greens, from January 1 to June 30, 2026.
The executive argued that this reduction would create a 3.780 million euro budget shortfall, using its constitutional powers to veto measures impacting state revenues. Although the PP, which dominates the Senate Board, initially disregarded this veto and allowed the amendment's passage in the upper house, its return to Congress shifted the outcome. There, the PSOE and Sumar majority on the Board accepted the government's objection notice after a meeting following Tuesday's plenary.
This is not the first clash between the chambers: in this legislature, Congress has already vetoed similar amendments in the Food Waste Law and the Air Navigation Law, leading to attribution conflicts settled by the Constitutional Court. The ruling prevents a legal vacuum in the budgets but heightens political tensions between the government and opposition.