Mariano Rajoy proposes EU should foster mobility of workers

Gothenburg (Sweden)

During his morning speech at a forum on employment, Mariano Rajoy highlighted that in order to create jobs - which is the main goal - we must generate economic growth. In this regard, he advocated an economic policy based on "structural reforms and control over the public accounts".

The President of the Government maintained that the reform of the labour market approved in Spain in 2012 to ensure that companies could adapt to changes in the economic cycle "has worked well". "We are now enjoying economic growth, jobs are being created and although we must continue working, we have overcome the worst of the crisis", he added.

Education and culture

As well as issues related to employment, the European leaders addressed issues concerning education and culture. Mariano Rajoy raised the need to "deal with education, continuous training and active employment policies to foster access to the labour market for those groups with the greatest difficulties", such as the long term unemployed and young people.

Pool Moncloa/Diego CrespoOn this point, he also underlined the importance of improving job qualifications through such tools as Dual Vocational Training. He also pointed to the need "to harness the opportunities offered by digitalisation and technological change".

Mariano Rajoy remarked that the European Union should "foster the mobility of workers by removing existing administrative burdens" and proposed working to guarantee "the portability of such rights as pensions". The President of the Government also proposed improving the recognition of educational and professional qualifications and increasing the integration and compatibility of education systems.

Furthermore, he asserted that structural funds play a very important role in growth and job creation. In this regard, he recalled that Spain convinced the European Union to push through the Youth Guarantee Plan and is the country to receive the most resources thereunder. "This is working and we believe that it should be maintained in the future".

Three decades of Erasmus

The President of the Government highlighted that the Erasmus Programme is now 30 years old and "has been a great success". Mariano Rajoy pointed out that Spain is the country that receives the highest number of Erasmus students and, in turn, that more than 1 million Spanish students have taken part in the programme.

The President of the Government explained that the budget for this programme presently stands at between 14 and 15 billion euros every seven years, although the possibility was discussed on Friday of raising this to some 30 billion euros. "The main aim is for all Europeans under the age of 25 to spend six months in a different European Union country. This is undoubtedly beneficial for Europe", he said.

The countries taking part in the summit also addressed the need to make progress on recognising qualifications, to ensure that "qualifications in one country are valid in another", and to create a "European student's card" that will serve to enjoy cultural services throughout Europe", highlighted Mariano Rajoy. He also proposed holding a Culture Council and the need to support the cultural industries, which represent 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the European Union.

Independent justice

Pool Moncloa/Diego CrespoBefore taking part in a meeting given over to access to the labour market, the President of the Government held a meeting with the Belgian Prime Minister, Charles Michel. At the end of the summit, Mariano Rajoy clarified to the media that they did not speak about the issue of Catalonia because it was patently obvious that Belgian justice and Spanish justice are independent". "I trust in the judiciary and respect and uphold its decisions. That is one of the basic values and fundamental principles of the European Union", he recalled.

The President of the Government announced that his meeting with the Prime Minister of Belgium was used to address bilateral relations, which he described as "wonderful". They also spoke about the European project, "on which we have a similar approach", about Europol and about the headquarters of the European Medicines Agency, he said.

As regards this last issue, and three days prior to the decision being taken on its final location, Mariano Rajoy pointed out that "we have fought as hard as we could". "Barcelona is a great city with a great pharmaceutical industry. It has a whole host of technical arguments in its favour", he concluded.

Non official translation