​Government authorises Spain's participation in launch of Permanent Structured Cooperation of EU

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Minister for Defence, María Dolores de Cospedal, reported that the Council of Ministers authorised Spain's participation in the launch of Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) of the European Union.

María Dolores de Cospedal explained that "PESCO provides a legal framework so that Member States can enhance their defence capabilities" and also strengthens the European pillar of NATO. In this regard, the minister recalled that the Heads of State and Government of the 27 "decided that defence should become a new structural cornerstone of the European project", together with economic, social and political integration.

The Minister for Defence declared that "this is such an important mechanism that we could even describe it as the Euro of security in the European Union". He also pointed out that "a safer Europe contributes to a safer NATO".

Defence and peace operations

The minister described the aims of PESCO as twofold: firstly, to guarantee that the European Union can launch and maintain such defence and peace operations as are necessary and provide Europeans with the capabilities to act in both the internal and external theatres of the European Union. In her opinion, Spain's membership of NATO "makes both aims perfectly compatible and coherent".

Pool Moncloa/ JM CuadradoMaría Dolores de Cospedal asserted that Spain is one of the main drivers behind PESCO, together with Germany, France and Italy. The four countries sent a joint letter to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, and to the rest of the defence ministers of the Member States of the European Union, in which they set out the principles and commitments of PESCO.

These principles, remarked the minister, have been the working basis for drafting a definitive notification text to be signed by the defence ministers in Brussels on Monday, 13 November, with the goal of "launching" PESCO before the end of year. To date, 21 countries have expressed their interest in taking part.

María Dolores de Cospedal pointed out that the commitments that Spain will take on by signing up to PESCO are to regularly increase defence budgets in real terms to achieve the commitments agreed, to gradually increase the investment in defence until such time as 20% of all spending goes to structural investments, to increase strategic capability projects, to increase spending on research until it reaches 2% of total spending, to establish periodic reviews of these commitments and to play a substantial role in the development of defence capabilities in the EU.

Protection of personal data

Pool Moncloa/ JM CuadradoThe Council of Ministers approved the submission to Parliament of the Draft Constitutional Law on Data Protection to adapt Spanish legislation to EU provisions.

The Minister for Education, Culture and Sport, and Government Spokesperson, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo stressed that the future legislation "will put us on an equal footing with Europe and strengthen legal certainty and transparency".

Among the new feature, the minister pointed out that this will allow heirs to request access to data on deceased persons, as well as their rectification and deletion. There is no longer a need for tacit consent or consent by omission, which meant that the data would be used unless expressly stated. The new legislation also raises the age for consent for data processing to 13 and regulates credit information systems and those related to video surveillance.

Wildfires

The Council of Ministers officially declared the autonomous regions of Galicia and the Principality of Asturias as "regions seriously affected by a civil protection emergency", as a result of the wildfires that ravished the area in October.

This agreement means, that aid will be allocated from different ministerial departments to alleviate the damage caused by these fires, announced the Government Spokesperson.

The government also ratified the declaration of emergency for actions to restore the areas affected by wildfires declared in Huelva, Leon, Albacete and Valencia, for a sum of 2.8 million euros.

Education

Pool Moncloa/ JM CuadradoThe government agreed to allocate 321 million euros in 2017 to the autonomous regions to finance the implementation of new educational pathways in Compulsory Secondary Education (Spanish acronym: ESO) of academic teaching and applied teaching, and new cycles of basic Vocational Training (Spanish acronym: FP).

Íñigo Méndez de Vigo highlighted that "the aim of the pathways in ESO and basic FP is to offer students new possibilities, adapt them to their capabilities, interests and aspirations, increase their motivation and reduce the early drop-out rate".

On this point, the minister referred to the 2017 Monitor Report, presented on Friday by the European Commission, which determined that the early drop-out rate, which reached as high as 31.2% of all pupils, has significantly fallen over the last eight years to now stand at 18.2%.

Bull fights

The Council of Ministers agreed to call on the President of the Government to lodge an appeal on the unconstitutional nature of Law 9/2017, of the Regional Government of the Balearic Islands, regulating bull fights and animal protection.

The Government Spokesperson argued that the Statute enacted by this regional government "does not have the specific powers to protect animals" as exercised in the Statute it enacted and, moreover, the regulation of the Regional Government of the Balearic Islands breached State legal rules in relation to intangible heritage and bull-fighting.

Elections to Regional Parliament of Catalonia

Following the ordinary meeting, the Council of Ministers held another meeting, called pursuant to the agreement adopted by the Plenary Session of the Upper House of Parliament on 27 October 2017, approving the measures required by the government within the scope of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution.

The instruction manual with the functions to be performed by the members of the polling stations in the elections to the Regional Parliament of Catalonia to be held on 21 December 2017 was approved at this second meeting.

It also agreed to appoint Rosa Anna Castillo i Picas as the Director-General of Modernisation of the Administration of Justice of the Regional Government of Catalonia.

Weekly assessment

Pool Moncloa/ JM CuadradoIn his routine weekly assessment of current affairs, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo referred to the latest growth forecasts from the European Commission for Spain, which stand at 3.1% in 2017 and 2.5% in 2018. In his opinion, the most important aspect "is that Spain will meet the deficit target of 3.1% agreed with the European Union.

The minister explained that the government has made its own forecasts for next year, which are "even more prudent" than those of the European Commission, given that "the instability factor in Catalonia may affect growth".

Íñigo Méndez de Vigo stated that the impact could be around half a percentage point, which means 5 billion euros. "Compared with growth of 2.5% announced by the European Commission for 2018, the government has set this figure at 2.3%. It is clear that this element of uncertainty is what may affect Spain's growth potential; should this disappear, as indeed the government hopes it will on 21 December, the Spanish economy will continue at a strong and balanced rate of growth, with a very significant correction of the public accounts and strong job creation".

Furthermore, the Government Spokesperson pointed out that consumer confidence fell by 3.6 points in October and a survey in a Catalan newspaper shows that more than 67% of citizens in Catalonia believe that the Catalan economy has been affected in recent weeks following the "attempted declaration of independence".

Current affairs

Pool Moncloa/ JM CuadradoIn response to a question on the alleged meddling of Russia in the politics of some countries, and specifically in the Catalan independence process, the Minister for Defence explained that the government has verified that many messages on social media were made from Russian territory, but there is no evidence that they came from the Russian Government. Their origin "beyond the territory they were sent from" is still under investigation, he stated.

In turn, the Government Spokesperson added that the response to be given to this alleged meddling must come from Europe, which is why this issue is on the agenda of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting of the European Union to be held on Monday.

As regards the assessment of the statements made by Carme Forcadell to the judge, in which she renounced her actions, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo declared "that the return to constitutional order begins to become a reality" in Catalonia following the application of Article 155, which was the goal sought by the government when it triggered its application.

In relation to the strike called in Catalonia this week, the Government Spokesperson underlined that "the turnout was poor" and considered the use of children to prevent the flow of traffic on the motorway as "contemptible", and that the government will investigate these actions.

As regards whether Barcelona's candidature to host the European Medicines Agency is a lost cause, the Government Spokesperson remarked that the government "will fight this to the end" to bring the agency to Barcelona; that there has been a great endeavour on the part of the Catalan institutions and "particularly from the Minister for Health", Dolors Montserrat. He also said that the government has spoken with the organisers of the Mobile World Congress to ensure that this "very important" congress continues to be held in Barcelona.

Non official translation