Speech by President of the Government at the ceremony held to sign the Agreement between the Government of Spain and Social Stakeholders regarding the Extraordinary Activation Programme for Employment

Ms. Minister for Employment and Social Security; Messrs. General Secretaries of the trade union organisations Comisiones Obreras and Unión General de Trabajadores; Messrs. Presidents of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations and the Spanish Confederation of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen; friends,

Good morning, everyone, and thank you very much for attending this event. Allow me to say a few words to draw the event to a close.

We have just signed an agreement that will launch, as you know, the Extraordinary Activation Programme for Employment. This agreement was reached between representatives of the social stakeholders and the Government of Spain. However, both its design and its future development - as we have been reminded here - required and will continue to require essential collaboration from the regional governments as the competent authorities in terms of guidance for employment, training, re-qualification and recognition of work experience.

First of all, I want to publicly express my gratitude once again for the responsible commitment made by the social stakeholders on issues of a fundamental nature, both in the economic recovery and the struggle to create jobs. I would also like to add my own thanks to those expressed here by the various speakers for all those people who have worked so hard to ensure this success and the resulting agreement.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to say a few things now about the economic recovery, as well as about some of the things that were said here this morning.

I said not long ago, and I reiterate this here today, that the economic recovery means we can now say that the crisis - in many respects, not all, but in many respects - is now a thing of the past.

There is certainly a huge difference between an economy that is shrinking by 1.2% - as was the case last year - and an economy that is growing by 1.3% - as is the case this year - or, as was also said here this morning, by more than 2%, as we hope to be the case next year, which will begin in a few days.

There is certainly a huge difference between shedding jobs - which has been the case in Spain for the last few years - and the data from the most recent Labour Force Survey indicating that the number of people in work in Q2 and Q3 of this year has increased by over 553,000.

There is certainly a huge difference between unemployment rising month after month and, over that same period, the number of people out of work having fallen by more than 500,000.

And there is certainly a huge difference between a collapse in the number of National Insurance contributors, which we have seen in recent years, and the latest available data confirming that this number has grown by over 400 people in the last 12 months.

I don't want to overwhelm you with more numbers that have no meaning anyway, but I just wanted to highlight those on unemployment and their counterparts on job creation.

Ladies and gentlemen,

So, in many respects, the crisis is a thing of the past; but its consequences are not. In this regard, the economic recovery will not be complete until such time as it is felt in every household, by everyone who is looking for work and in the pockets of each and every citizen, because we must be aware that neither has the recovery reached everyone, nor everyone equally.

The social stakeholders and the Government of Spain know that additional efforts are necessary and that those efforts should undoubtedly start by focusing on those encountering the greatest difficulties in joining the labour market. We wanted to make these additional efforts together so that loyal and constructive dialogue could lead to solutions for this group of Spanish citizens encountering the greatest difficulty. And we are all thinking about those people who have been unemployed for a long time and have family responsibilities.

By developing the agreement we signed today, approximately 450,000 people will receive special funding to help their insertion into the labour market. I don't want to repeat what has already been said by the representatives of the social stakeholders, but this is a programme that seeks effective integration, not merely funding that only serves to alleviate cases of extreme hardship.

Seeing how we had been negotiating for months, the General State Budget for 2015 already includes a 16% increase for active employment policies and a 25% increase in the resources transferred to the regional governments for this purpose. Hence, by joining forces, we are seeking two objectives: to help all those people dealing with a very delicate situation; and, secondly, to help ensure that these public policies are successful and efficient.

The resources committed to this goal must help change the status quo and we must be extremely ambitious in this regard by monitoring and assessing the results from what we have agreed.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We all have a duty, a responsibility and a commitment to do more, and more effectively, for those who most need our help.

The Government of Spain and the social stakeholders have learned to seek solutions - not easy ones - to complex problems, such as long-term unemployment, and constant dialogue is enabling us to take some important steps, because we are committed to not leaving anyone behind after the crisis.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

In these last three years, there is one word I have had to repeat over and over again: efforts; efforts to avoid the bailout, to move from job losses to job creation and to radically transform the macroeconomic situation. We have had to make countless efforts; but let us not forget that any progress in economic terms is nothing more than a tool for achieving our true goals: reducing unemployment, creating jobs and maintaining the fundamental pillars of the Welfare State: pensions, unemployment benefits, education and healthcare; and giving Spanish society the right, which it has truly earned, to a hopeful future.

Over these last few years, the people of Spain have made every kind of "effort" there is to be made. That is why, now, as we start using the word "hope" with tangible reason, we have an additional obligation: to be able to talk about hope for everyone, including those finding it hardest to achieve social and labour integration: the long-term unemployed with family responsibilities. That is why we have been working so hard over these last few months and that is what we ratified by signing this agreement.

Once again, I thank you all. I am convinced that this Activation Programme will be accompanied by success because all you have made it possible. We will keep on talking. There are things that we would have all liked to have been able to do and that we would all still like to get done, but things are how they are for now. We have probably experienced the worst economic crisis in Spain for three generations. We've had to take some difficult and complicated decisions; we've had to make a significant fiscal consolidation effort and we've had to lower the public deficit by several points over two very complicated years - two years of recession.

We've had to implement structural reforms and I know that not everyone agrees with all of them, but I believe those structural reforms represent solid foundations for the future. They mean we will ensure sustained and stable growth in the future and that we will also create jobs in a sustained and stable fashion. Above all, I believe that they mean Spain is entering an economic situation in which, were we ever to experience another similar economic crisis, we would tackle the effects far better than we did this time.

At any event, I believe that we can now do things that we could not do a few months ago and I am absolutely convinced that more and more of us will be able to keep doing things in the best interests of the people, which, as was said earlier, is basically what should really matter to all of us.

Again, thank you very much. Thank you.