Government lowers contributions for companies with low accident at work rate

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Royal Decree that regulates the system to reduce contributions for professional contingencies, approved by the Council of Ministers, implements the law which, in December 2016, modified the General Social Security Act in relation to the legal regime of the so-called mutual insurance companies that collaborate with the social security system.

The Minister for Education, Culture and Sport and Government Spokesperson, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, explained that the new legal text "establishes a series of incentives based on objective systems, to reward those companies that adopt measures which effectively contribute to preventing or reducing accidents at work and occupational diseases".

The amount of the incentive will be 5% of the amount of the contributions for professional contingencies of each company corresponding to the period under review, with the possibility of the recognition of an additional incentive of 5%.

The financing will be charged to the Social Security Professional Contingency Fund. The maximum amount of the resources available to the mutual insurance companies in each financial year under this system will be 3% of the balance of this fund.

Requirements for benefitting from the reduction in contributions include complying with the indices for the general accident rate and the extreme accident rate, a signed declaration of compliance with certain obligations by the business owner and informing the employee representatives in this area of the application for incentives.

Housing subsidies

Pool Moncloa/ JM CuadradoThe Council of Ministers also agreed on the maximum amounts of State financial aid for subsidies for the extension to the State Plan 2013-2016 to promote property rentals, building renovations and urban regeneration and renewal, approved back in December.

This maximum amount stands at 321.61 million euros, in addition to which, according to the Government Spokesperson, "there is a further sum of 94 million euros to come from the regional governments and some 440 million euros from various investments". In light of these figures, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo said that "we are talking about a very significant sum of money which will serve to help foster property rentals".

The government, added the Government Spokesperson, calculates that the agreement adopted on Friday will provide a little over 100,000 subsidies for property rentals and the renovation of some 35,000 buildings.

Other agreements

The government approved the creation of 16 judicial postings on collegiate bodies in order to ensure effective criminal appeals in the second instance, which enshrines the right to appeal against a sentence from any jurisdictional court.

The Council of Ministers also agreed to lodge an appeal against the unconstitutional nature of certain articles of a regional law in Murcia that affects the Housing Act and the Statute on Consumers and Users in this region.

International agenda of President of the Government

The Government Spokesperson announced the international agenda of the President of the Government, who will make an official trip to the Federative Republic of Brazil and to the Oriental Republic of Uruguay from 24 to 26 April.

On his trip to Brazil, as well as holding a meeting with the President of Brazil, Michel Temer, Mariano Rajoy will attend a Spain-Brazil business meeting and will inaugurate the 1st Spain-Brazil Forum. He will then travel to Montevideo where he has a meeting scheduled with the President of the Republic, Tabaré Vázquez, to discuss bilateral relations.

Current affairs

Pool Moncloa/ JM CuadradoIn response to questions from journalists, the Minister for Education, Culture and Sport and Government Spokesperson stressed that the strike in the education sector on Thursday, 9 March only had a minimal impact, because "it makes no sense" when there is "an intention to reach a political and social agreement on education" and work is being done to this end in the Lower House of Parliament.

Íñigo Méndez de Vigo explained that the student union called this strike three months ago to call for the LOMCE (Constitutional Law on Improved Educational Quality) to be repealed, a repeal that he described as "unworkable" because it would leave more than 8 million students and some 160,000 teachers in "limbo". On another note, many of the economic restrictions imposed by the law, approved during the economic crisis, have now been reversed. Among these, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo cited the recovery of grants to purchase text books, internal promotions between universities and the implementation of "a broad offer of public employment with special emphasis on the number of temporary teachers".

As regards the negotiations with the Baroness and the lawyers of the Thyssen Foundation to extend the loan of the private collection of Carmen Cervera and their hypothetical economic intentions, the minister claimed that, in the talks that have been going on for months now, "no formal economic requests have been made". He added that it is the government's intention to reach an agreement at the end of April, "with a successful conclusion, both for the museum and for the Baroness".

As regards the consequences of Brexit for Spain, the minister and Government Spokesperson stressed that the structural funds for our country "are guaranteed until 2020". In terms of other possible effects, he referred to the statement made by the President of the Government in Brussels on Friday, who recalled that the process has not yet begun and that, once activated, a period of negotiations lasting at least two years will take place, and hence it would be both reckless and premature to make conjectures or predictions at this time.

Íñigo Méndez de Vigo highlighted that the European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, considers the content of the Royal Decree-Law modifying the labour regime for stevedores, approved at the Council of Ministers on 24 February, to be in line with EU requirements, which will be debated, and the ratification of which will be voted on, next week. Meanwhile, the Government Spokesperson warned of the serious consequences for Spain of not ratifying this law: a daily fine of 134,000 euros and the risk of shipping companies diverting their traffic to other countries.