“Competitiveness, dignity of work, welfare state, housing, equality and peace” [Presidente/Actividad]

news-location">Headquarters of the Cervantes Institute, Madrid

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has assured that the Executive faces this new political year “with renewed energy” and “a clear roadmap” and has announced the six priorities that will focus the action of the progressive coalition government during the coming months: “economic competitiveness, labor dignity, welfare state, housing, peace and equality.”

Sánchez also stressed that Spain has “a clean government that was created six years ago in response to corruption, territorial bankruptcy and cuts to the Welfare State” and that “has overcome five years of judicial blockage, with an agreed renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary and the election of the first female president of the Supreme Court.” He went on to recall that “Spain today has a government in Catalonia that works for the union of the peoples of Spain” and “has been the protagonist of one of the most important phases of modernisation, growth and employment in its recent history.” “A complete success for the country,” he stressed.

The head of the Executive has taken advantage of the opening ceremony of the political year at the headquarters of the Cervantes Institute, in Madrid, to outline the six priorities of the seventh year of action of the progressive Government. The first of these, economic competitiveness, which means “continuing to promote the change of the productive model,” he said. In this sense, he stressed that, in this four-month period, “we are going to deploy 3.1 billion euros in loans from European funds to reindustrialize Spain”; “we are going to launch the “new Productivity Council of Spain” and we are going to launch “twelve new university degrees and vocational training modules” to improve the skills of our workers in areas such as renewable energies, digital technologies and health.

His second priority was to strengthen the welfare state, which involves “protecting and expanding rights” and “modernizing and reinforcing public services.”

Social PGE, more progressive taxation and a new regional financing system

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech at the opening ceremony of the political course held at the Cervantes Institute. | Pool Moncloa / Fernando Calvo

Sánchez explained that his government is demanding “a model of social justice that ensures real equality and protects our welfare state” and, therefore, announced that in the political year that is beginning they will work for the “approval of a social, ambitious General State Budget (PGE)” that will consolidate and expand the public investment that we have been making in recent years. In addition, he announced that next Tuesday the Council of Ministers will approve the spending ceiling again, for submission to Parliament.

On the other hand, he has assured that the Executive will continue to advance towards a “more progressive taxation”, with taxes that tax those who have more and guide the productive model, and will promote the creation of a “system of regional financing that is fairer, that reduces territorial differences, that addresses the unique characteristics of each of the territories and that guarantees the sufficiency of public spending and demands co-responsibility from the regional governments.”

Housing, the central theme of the next Conference of Presidents

The president pointed out that the third priority of the government’s action will be housing, which is “the biggest problem facing young people and many families.” In this regard, he pointed out that in recent years the foundations for new public intervention have been laid with the first Housing Law of our democracy and mobilizing or beginning the construction of 80,000 affordable rental homes, among other measures.

He added that in the coming months “we will promote new measures aimed at expanding the public housing stock, combating speculation, establishing a better balance between tourism activity and the well-being of residents, and ensuring that housing is a right for all and not the business of a few.”

He also confirmed that housing will be the subject of debate and the main purpose of the Conference of Presidents to be held in Cantabria.

Labor dignity, fight against inequalities and peace

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech at the opening ceremony of the political course held at the Cervantes Institute. | Pool Moncloa / Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

Labor dignity will be the fourth priority of the Executive in this new political year and for this reason Sánchez has guaranteed that they will continue negotiating with employers and unions to reduce the working day to 37.5 hours, “so that all Spaniards work to live, and not live to work”; they will adapt the state regulations on the SMI to the standards set by the European directive, and they will approve a Statute of the Intern.

The fifth priority will be to continue fighting inequality in all its forms, explained the head of the Executive, who announced that, in the coming months, “we will renew the State Pact against Gender Violence; we will launch new actions aimed at limiting the disproportionate privileges of certain elites and taxing those who already have enough money in the bank to live a hundred lives.”

Finally, the sixth priority of the Government will be peace in our eastern and southern neighbourhood. In this regard, Pedro Sánchez stressed that we will continue to help Ukraine in its war against Putin, “with more than one billion euros in material and favourable votes in Brussels” and we will continue to support the people of Gaza, “supporting UNRWA, putting pressure on Netanyahu in the International Criminal Court, the United Nations and the European Union, and strengthening our ties with the Palestinian State”. In fact, the president has announced that before the end of the year we will hold the first bilateral Spain-Palestine Summit.

On migration, he said that “we will update our Africa Plan, with better resources, and we will develop circular migration agreements.” “In the face of mass deportations and sending frigates that some propose, the progressive coalition government will defend a humanist migration policy that respects international humanitarian law,” he added.

The government will be in power for a long time: we will make the most of the time

Before concluding his speech, Pedro Sánchez recalled that “for the first time in many years, Spain will not face elections in the short term. We have three years until the general elections and almost two years without regional elections. A time of new progress is opening up that we will bring forward with those who are willing to lend a hand.”

In this regard, he insisted on the Executive’s willingness to “continue reaching agreements” and announced that over the next few weeks he will bilaterally convene each of the regional presidents to a working meeting in La Moncloa.

He also expressed his conviction that “the government will be in power for a long time” and added that “if this executive has learned anything, it is to sail against the wind.” “We will make the most of the time,” he concluded.