Speech by the President of the Government of Spain at the 26th Assembly of the Spanish Youth Council

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

Thank you very much, dear Andrea, dear president of the Spanish Youth Council, and of course also to the president and Director of the Círculo de Bellas Artes for hosting us here today.

The truth is that when I realised that this Círculo de Bellas Artes has also joined this network of climate shelters, it fills me with great pride, because in the end these are small transformations which we are incorporating, which are spreading, which go beyond the General State Administration and which, of course, are embraced by friendly institutions and allies - in this case, promoters of culture, knowledge and art - who are joining the cause. It seems to me that it is very important at a time when we are seeing what we are seeing not only in our country, but also in Nepal with the collapse, the flood that occurred and the number of innocent people who died as a consequence, once again, of the climate emergency. I therefore believe it is very important that this should also be reflected in the thinking and actions of the Spanish Youth Council.

I would like to confess something at the beginning of my speech and that is that I do not always understand young people - I have two daughters who are also extremely young - and I think that is okay. I think the mistake begins when those of us in that age group - the one Andrea referred to earlier - believe we have to understand everything about young people: how you speak, what you listen to, which social media platforms you use, and even what your lives are like. And I think that is wrong. By acting in this way, we may be oversimplifying matters and treating an essential part of our society - that is, all of you - as if you were a homogeneous group.

And it is clear - as you said earlier, referring to the organisations that make up the Youth Council - that this is not the case. That's why I believe that our obligation is not to understand every code you use, every gesture, every expression, every habit. I think what we need to do is listen to your experiences, find out what's worrying you, and understand it.

Those of us who have not only the opportunity, but also the immense honour, of leading institutions such as - in my case, no less - the Government of Spain, must take action. And so I don't need to know what 'aura farming' means to realise that spending half your salary on rent is a problem for many of you. I don't need to know what an NPC is to understand that a scholarship can make the difference between being able to continue studying or having to give up. Nor do I need to know what 'six-seven' means to realise that, as we've seen in the video, the word 'precarious' is particularly apt, as this is what happens to many young people starting out in the world of work. Therefore, it is not necessary to know all your expressions to perfectly understand your concerns. What is needed is to listen to you without prejudice, to take you seriously.

And for that, we need spaces where your voice is not just another opinion, but an organised voice, capable of turning the common challenges we face - we were talking about housing earlier - into proposals and also into concrete actions that can bring about those changes. That is what, at least from the outside, we also see, Andrea, what the Spanish Youth Council is and what the Spanish Youth Council has been doing over the last 45 years. I believe it's about ensuring that the concerns, demands and aspirations of young people like you reach the places where decisions are made.

And I believe that this is very important; it has enormous political value, because if we ultimately want - including within the public administration, and in my case, the Government of Spain - to get our policies aimed at young people right, the first thing we must do is, logically, listen to young people's views and ensure their participation. And - as you hinted at in your remarks - this is perhaps even more important in the current climate regarding the rights of young people and the existence of councils like this one in other regions where coordination is needed - not just within the youth sector, but in many other areas as well. I am thinking, for instance - with Unai Sordo, the General Secretary of Comisiones Obreras, sitting right here in front of me - about the perspective of social dialogue across various spheres, beyond just the Government of Spain. I believe it is vital to be aware of the potential regression taking place and the disregard shown toward spaces for dialogue, coordination and discussion - spaces that are essential if we want to craft and successfully implement public policies, especially now, in an era clearly undergoing enormous changes.

You have spoken about wars and about hate speech; I am deeply grateful, Andrea, since that is precisely where we met, at forums on hate speech, for the Spanish Youth Council's participation in this regard. Also technological changes, and artificial intelligence, which clearly features heavily in the debate - not only in political circles, but also from the perspective of young people - and its impact not only on labour rights and the job opportunities you will have, but also, naturally, on public discourse and political participation, or the concentration of power in the hands of a few, the extraordinary pace of change and the uncertainties that particularly affect those of you who are just beginning to shape your lives.

That is why I believe it would be a mistake to turn the whole conversation about young people into a conversation about problems, because there are clearly challenges - without a doubt, we are very aware of this - starting with the climate emergency, and then there is the issue of artificial intelligence, but there is also a generation - your generation - that is well-prepared, demanding, committed and brimming with enthusiasm to bring about change; a generation with ideas, with solutions and with something very important: hope. That is why, as President of the Government of Spain, I would like to make a firm appeal to society as a whole - and especially to the media. It is true that we are living through difficult, complex times where anxiety about the future seems inevitable - and there are reasons for that - but young people deserve respect and to be treated as equals, rather than being subjected to constant scrutiny and finger-pointing.

Every generation, naturally, has at some point looked at the next one and thought it would be more comfortable, more individualistic, less committed; such thoughts arise, yet almost invariably, the older generation discovers it was mistaken - and the same is true, to some extent, of young people today. There are differences, there are contradictions, there are debates, of course, but there is also an enormous capacity to question, to organise and to drive these changes forward. And I believe that this deserves to be heard without prejudice, without labels, regardless of the political orientation of any particular public administration.

We cannot ignore, however, that there are those who are trying - well, to exploit the legitimate concerns of our young people in order to stoke fear, to incite confrontation and also the polarisation referred to earlier. And so, in light of this, I believe it is not enough simply to ask young people to trust the institutions, as the president of the Council mentioned earlier. I think what institutions need to do is give them a reason - or reasons - to trust us.

And that is what we have humbly sought to do, and are seeking to do, during these years of progressive government. You may have noticed that earlier, an image of me from before 2018 - before I had the honour of being elected President - was shown. Regarding the figures - well, you are likely tired of seeing governments or political leaders talk about numbers - I think they are important because they carry weight; they give substance to political commitments and a vision for the country.

Since 2018, we have doubled the government funding allocated to young people. And underlying this lies something I consider far more important: there are now more resources available so that being young does not mean having fewer opportunities. One might debate whether these resources are sufficient to tackle all the challenges young people face, but there is no doubt that over the last eight years there have been more resources than we had before 2018.

Incidentally, these policies have faced open criticism from certain sectors - though I fail to understand why. Take the Youth Cultural Voucher, for instance; through it, we have sought to honour the commitment we made to young people. It gives those over the age of 18 the opportunity to discover and engage with culture - whether through books, cinema, festivals, or go and see a play. Access to culture should not depend on how much money your family has, nor - of course - on the disregard shown by certain sectors for the role culture plays in our society's progress.

We see this in housing policy as well: we launched the Youth Rental Voucher and increased the subsidy to 300 euros per month. We know - we truly know - what it's like to crunch the numbers at the end of the month and see that rent consumes a huge chunk of one's salary. But we also know that there is still so much to be done; we cannot settle as long as there are young people who - despite having jobs - cannot move out of their parents' homes; as long as becoming independent depends more on family help than on determination and effort; and, of course, as long as finding an affordable rental is a gruelling marathon in so many cities.

I was just discussing this with the council's standing committee: I believe the Housing Law shifts the paradigm of public intervention in a market that clearly isn't working - it doesn't operate solely on the logic of supply and demand. We are already beginning to see - and gather sufficient scientific evidence to confirm - that certain mechanisms within that Housing Law are having a positive impact on altering the dramatic trends we are witnessing in rental and purchase prices. This is in addition to the transparency we are introducing and, naturally, other issues Andrea mentioned in her remarks, such as the construction of social housing. In any case, one cannot demand solutions to the housing problem while simultaneously prioritising the interests of a handful of vulture funds over the future of thousands of young people. We sometimes forget this, but, for instance, under the new state plan we approved jointly with the autonomous communities, we are contributing around 7 billion euros.

One of the provisions of the Housing Law is a ban on the sale of these social housing properties to 'vulture funds' - as they are colloquially known - as has happened in the past. If we were to look back - if, over the last 45 years, we had chosen not to sell off all the social housing built throughout the history of Spanish democracy - we wouldn't be looking at a situation today where social housing makes up only 2% of our country's total housing stock. The figure would be much higher. It would likely mirror the situation in major democracies - for instance, in Central Europe - where the average stands at 10%, 12%, 15%, or even 17%. Therefore, I believe there are elements of public intervention there that we all need to value and, naturally, champion for both the present and the future. In other words, these should be enduring measures - policies that, ultimately, become matters of State.

Well, we have also raised the national minimum wage thanks to the involvement and commitment of the trade unions. We have championed vocational training - focusing on its quality - which is something I am particularly proud of. This firm commitment has not only allowed us to reduce the school dropout rate during a period of economic growth - unlike in the past, when economic expansion often led to higher dropout rates as people left their studies to work - but has also yielded other benefits. Today, fortunately, we are seeing economic growth and job creation, while the school dropout rate is falling. That also has a great deal to do with the current commitment to state education and, in particular, to vocational training. Ultimately, I believe we are implementing policies that address the needs of young people in a structural way.

So, I do not want to go on for too much longer. I do want to say that you have our utmost admiration - not just our admiration, but also the full support and recognition of the General State Administration and, therefore, of the Government of Spain.

I would like to conclude with a call to action - a very simple appeal to all of you. I believe it is important for the voices of young people to be heard. So, you must keep making noise, keep making demands and keep speaking out about what you dislike. And that includes speaking out when the things you dislike come from, in my case, the Government of Spain.

Please don't settle for easy answers to difficult problems. I think it is very important to keep that in mind. Easy answers are never the solution; rather, they are a recipe for failure and frustration. And, above all, never let anyone turn a legitimate concern - which, of course, you may well have in any area of life - into fear or hatred towards those around you. Because it does happen, and unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly prevalent in our society, especially on social media - which you all use so much, as do we older people. They are an extraordinary tool for organising and for making our voices heard; yet, regrettably, they can also trap us in bubbles where we only listen to those who think like us, and turn into weapons of mass destruction for our societies and democracies - something we are witnessing not only in our own country but in many other major democracies as well.

That is why we need more questions, more critical thinking, and - above all - something that filled me with pride when you spoke up about wars and genocides, Andrea: empathy. I believe that empathy is something which, unfortunately, social media and new technologies are causing us to lose in droves, and it is something we must champion and preserve.

People often say that you are the future - as you rightly noted, Andrea - but I believe that falls short. You are the present - as you have rightly asserted - and Spain needs you to step into that role, because the country of tomorrow will not be built without you; it will be built with you.

And that is why I want to acknowledge your years of leadership and the dialogue we have shared - loyal, sincere, and, naturally, critical on your part. I also want to wish the new Standing Committee, which you will be voting on this weekend, every success. So, here's to the Youth Council, and congratulations to the Spanish Youth Council.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)