Speech by the President of the Government of Spain at the closing ceremony of the 11th CEPYME Awards Ceremony

Banco Santander Auditorium, Madrid

SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SPAIN, PEDRO SÁNCHEZ

Thank you very much. Second Vice-President and Minister for Labour and Social Economy; dear Gerardo, President of CEPYME; President of CEOE, dear Antonio; President of Banco Santander, dear Luis. Ladies and Gentlemen. And of course, thank you Lorenzo, president of ATA. Good morning.

I would like to begin by congratulating the nominees, and of course the winners, in each and every category. Congratulations to all of you and especially to Clasol, winner of the most important award, which is SME of the year. In his career - we have seen it from here, from this rostrum, with his words - there is much of the recent history of our country: emigration in search of opportunities; and later, the return to Spain to be close to the producers of origin. And always the same entrepreneurial vocation, the one that took César Claramonte's grandfather to Germany 63 years ago, if the information I have been given is true; the same one that today drives this company through innovation, sustainability, internationalisation, and digital transformation.

This is a path, ladies and gentlemen, as you know much better than I do, that is very similar to the one being followed by thousands and thousands of small and medium-sized companies in our country, which are decisive - as Gerardo and Antonio have said - in the extraordinary economic performance of our country, a success recognised in economic weeklies and in the specialised press at international level. A success - I would stress - in the difficult international context we are experiencing; a collective success. A national success story we are achieving, by the way, against all odds and with many factors working against us.

It is good to remember where we came from to assess where we are today. We had barely begun to heal the wounds of the 2008 financial crisis when we were confronted with a pandemic that was absolutely devastating not only in human, but also in economic and social terms. And from an economic point of view, it could have been very dramatic for the European economy and also for the Spanish economy.

This time, unlike in 2008, we were able to counteract it, and we did so with measures that literally saved our productive fabric.

Many of them were forged - as Antonio and Gerardo have said here, and Vice-President Yolanda Díaz is also aware of - through social dialogue. Moreover, this social dialogue gave rise not only to the deployment of the ERTEs, the ICO guarantees; in short, all the aid we also gave to self-employed workers. This social dialogue also resulted in a labour reform that has led to Spain now having four times the number of jobs created in France, and five times the number of jobs created in Germany in the same period.

Then we had to deal with Putin's war of aggression in Ukraine and its effects on the energy crisis, and also the inflationary crisis, with an impact also on supply chains. And once again, with the support of workers and employers, we managed to intervene in the electricity market, and today our country has an electricity price that is 30% cheaper than that of our competitors in European countries.

In this difficult context, Spain is not only resisting, but also moving forward with more strength than ever before. And a large part of the success rests, of course, on you, on the small and medium-sized enterprises in our country, which are the stem cells of our productive fabric.

Just yesterday we released the employment data for February. The number of contributors is growing, registered unemployment is falling, in a month where, as you well know, this does not usually happen. That's almost half a million more jobs in year-on-year terms, and a record high in contributor figures. Data that make Spain what we are today: the engine of job creation in the EU. After 57 - I repeat, 57 - consecutive months of job creation in terms of nationalised workers, today we are a better Spain. We are a country with more jobs, with less unemployment, which creates companies; with a much fairer labour market, which raises wages and at the same time reduces the gender gap.

While in the world in general, what we are seeing is that a wave of regression is growing in all areas, including from the economic point of view: in our country what we are seeing is that we are continuing to make progress. If Spain is today the economic locomotive of Europe, it is largely thanks to our small and medium-sized enterprises. If we generate half the growth in the year 2024 - it is soon said, half the growth in the year 2024 - and we are double the average of the Eurozone as a whole this year, then it is thanks to you. It is thanks to you that we have reduced temporary employment to unprecedented levels, which has led to productivity growth. And if we are close to 21 and a half million employed people, with the lowest unemployment rate in the last 17 years, it is of course thanks to you. And, by the way, also reducing something very important for this government, and I think for society as a whole - and I am especially grateful to the president of the CEPYME that they have this award for equality - without detracting from the rest which, of course, is just as important, which is reducing the wage gap by almost seven points between men and women by the year 2024. This is something I would like to highlight on the eve of 8 March.

In view of all these data, we should feel a legitimate sense of national pride, because this is a national success story, and small and medium-sized enterprises, more than anyone else, can take pride, in part, in the unstoppable progress in the internationalisation of our companies.

To give an idea of the magnitude of the transformation of the foundations of our country's economic growth: The value of our exports today is 40% higher, 40% higher, I repeat, than it was seven years ago. Today, one in three small and medium-sized enterprises sell online, and more than 17,000 sold products in 2023 through the leading global e-commerce platform.

I believe these data have extraordinary merit, especially given what we are hearing about trade relations between regional blocs. And this has extraordinary merit because in many cases SMEs depend on integration into global supply chains exposed to increasing risks in the context of international trade. And this in a context in which I believe that we, Spain and Europe, are doing the opposite of what others advocate, which is open up to the world and forge alliances so that our companies can operate. This is what we have done over the years with the agreement, for example, with Canada, and in the updating of the agreement with Mexico. And also the signing of the agreement between the EU and Chile, the recently reached agreement with Mercosur. All in all, a milestone of major proportions for what the EU's trade relations with other parts of the world could represent.

Last week, as you know, the President of the European Commission herself and the College of Commissioners travelled to India to begin negotiations with that country, which has enormous international commercial weight, to establish these trade relations with the giant of India.

Ultimately, what I mean by this is that we must continue on this path. And we have therefore resumed talks with other large nations, with other regional blocs, as is also the case, in addition to India, with Malaysia.

I believe that this is the way forward, the way of cooperation, the way of multilateralism, the way of understanding, the way of defending an international order based on cooperation and mutual benefit without vassalage. It is an order in which justice and not the law of the strongest prevail. And that is how prosperity is built. This is how we have built it over the past seven years. The pandemic is still a joint response by the world, mainly the West, to the health emergency resulting from COVID 19. And you know better than anyone that this is the way forward.

Clearly, we must be aware - Antonio said it before, and Gerardo also said it - of the enormous gravity of the moment we are living through, of the geopolitical tensions, of the interruptions in the supply of raw materials that are fundamental for the development of the industries and economies of our countries, and of the changes in demand caused by erratic tariff policies that are real threats to the prosperity not only of the global economy as a whole, but also of their own economies, too. And they all share the same origin. And it is the questioning of economic openness and multilateral institutions in trade.

Take today's winner in the category of international development, PCEX Automotive, a highly respected automotive parts supplier that has made its mark on three continents, especially in Africa, in nine countries. For this company, as for so many others, certainty and predictability in the geopolitical scenario is vital. We are therefore in the same boat, because the threats are for everyone, including our small and medium-sized enterprises.

That is what is at stake right now. And not only with Ukraine in mind, which of course we have, but also in global terms from the paradigm of interdependence, because in the end we are all absolutely interconnected.

And at this crossroads, Spain is clearly not alone. We count, we are part of this European project, and moreover, we take part in a constructive and active way. This is the unique integration experience that has contributed decisively to the prosperity and modernisation of our country. The EU is undoubtedly the best thing that has happened to Spain in centuries of history.

You, the entrepreneurs, the companies, know better than anyone what Europe gives us. Above all, it gives us prestige. The fact that our products carry the EU label opens doors all over the world. Made in Europe is a guarantee of success, excellence, good practice and quality. That is why now is the time to stand up for Europe - I know you do - but let us all stand up for Europe, including in the world of business. Because if we want a Europe that protects - and of course we do - the most vulnerable; our young people; our elderly; our environment; agriculture, which has been rewarded today; business in general, it is time to protect Europe. And let us be clear about this: the EU is stronger than we often believe ourselves to be.

I think there is also a problem of underestimating ourselves as a shared project, because we are in fact the largest trading bloc in the world and therefore a global power. We have the capacity to defend our interests against those who attack us with unfair tariffs and threats to our sovereignty.

And, therefore, what I would like to convey to the entire business fabric of our country and, of course, to the sectors that could potentially be affected, is that we are obviously going to respond proportionately to any challenge. Let there be no doubt about it. We will respond and we will do so with all the strength and solidarity of a united Europe. Because the response must be a united one, it must be that of the EU as a whole, if this threat materialises. Incidentally, as we did during the pandemic, as we did during the war and with the energy and price consequences on the European continent. And as we will do again in the face of any challenge, no matter how great. We are going to defend the interests of the Spanish, and therefore also of Europeans. And we will do so with the same conviction that compels us to have our hand outstretched for dialogue, collaboration and cooperation in defence of multilateral international trade that opens up opportunities, of course for companies, and particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.

In addition to this complex international context, I would also like to refer to four other major priorities that are essential for the future of small and medium-sized enterprises, which we are debating not only at national level, but also, of course, at European level.

The first, as Gerardo mentioned earlier, is the simplification of bureaucratic burdens. Clearly, once and for all, we must build a complete single market. Yesterday, Minister Corps referred to this very fact. If we were to remove many of the administrative barriers the single market has, then it would have a multiplier effect on economic growth in our continent, in our country, that is even greater than the tariff barriers that other trade blocs could put in place.

We clearly need to reduce administrative costs, ultimately boosting the competitiveness of our companies. And I believe that both the creation of a competitiveness laboratory proposed by the Government of Spain - where the European Competitiveness Summit is going to be held this year in Valencia, by the way, and also the Regime 20 initiative, aimed fundamentally at eliminating the disparity of administrative requirements and reducing red tape - is the right path to take.

Second, we must increase the deployment of technologies such as AI in small and medium-sized enterprises. The digital transition is a unique opportunity to modernise our business fabric - you know this - and many of the companies recognised today know this, hence their extraordinary results; and, in this field, I believe that our companies are above the EU average, but we must still increase our level of ambition. We must ensure that by the end of this decade, three out of every four Spanish companies use technologies such as AI and cloud computing.

Third, we must continue to boost the growth in size of our SMEs. The President of the CEOE said it earlier and I could not agree more. To increase competitiveness - and also the internationalisation of our economy - it is essential to be able to cope with higher investments, and for that we need scale. Progress is obviously encouraging and we have to keep at it. Some figures express this. For example, the number of companies with between 20 and 49 employees has grown by 15% since 2021, and by 9% for companies with between 50 and 99 employees. Therefore, the leap of small and medium-sized enterprises is crucial to strengthen our productive fabric, and of course, we will continue to support this line with determination and resources.

And last, we need to further intensify our commitment to human capital formation. Gerardo commented on this earlier in his intervention. We have to rely on human capital; the competition today at global level is for the attraction of human capital, and I believe that we can also have opportunities to attract human capital and talent.

To give you an idea, today we have more than 8 million people over the age of 16 in training programmes - more than 8 million people. We have 1.5 million people enrolled in vocational training. But if we go to the figure I mentioned before (more than 8 million people over the age of 16 in training programmes), that means, compared to 2019, an increase of 37%. And of these 8 million, almost 4 million combine employment with training, which is an absolute record. And I believe that this figure is an indicator of hope, because people train when they have expectations of professional improvement. And today, evidently, the Spanish economy - one only has to look at the European environment - offers absolutely extraordinary expectations.

More Vocational Training. We have increased the number of places in vocational training by more than 300,000. We have done this, moreover, hand in hand with social dialogue, with the companies in the sectors. More investment in R&D&I. Here I would like to call for greater investment in the business fabric, because we are doing so at the level of public investment. We need to leverage private investment as well. And more scholarships. Just yesterday we provided a very substantial €2.54 billion for scholarships for our young people. In short, the commitment to human capital as the basis of our present and future prosperity, and nothing will prevent us from doing so.

To conclude. Some international leaders have recently started criticising European values. I have to say that I am very proud of these values, as I believe is the vast majority of Spanish society. They are the ones who guided us, for example, in welcoming thousands and thousands of Ukrainians who came to Spain fleeing the war. We have more than 240,000 Ukrainians in our reception systems in Spain.

This is what led you, for example, the CEOE Foundation - dear Antonio - to create platforms such as Empresas por Ucrania, to facilitate the employment of refugees in the four centres we opened in Pozuelo, Alicante, Barcelona, and Malaga.

I would therefore like to end my speech by appealing to these values, because now more than ever is the time for temperance - of course it is - for serenity - without a doubt - but also for firmness.

In recent years, I think we have all learned to navigate the storm with character, with determination and with a steady hand. And we are going to do it again now, if necessary, because we are a great country and because we belong to the great project that is the EU. And that great country and that great project was built by its companies - also its workers - by those that create jobs, those that provide services, those that cover needs, those that are closest to the people.

So, we will navigate these troubled waters together, and we will emerge from them even stronger, I am convinced, I am absolutely sure of that - as happened with the pandemic and the inflationary crisis - and therefore, to conclude, the only thing I can tell you is that you have the support of the whole of the Government of Spain. And I know that the country can count on you to keep moving forward.

That's all. Thank you very much and congratulations to the winners.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)

Original speech in Spanish