Sánchez announces that the Government of Spain will approve the Social Economy and Care PERTE this Tuesday

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

Pedro Sánchez during the presentation of the Social Economy and Care PERTE | Foto: Pool Moncloa /Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

Pedro Sánchez has announced that the Council of Ministers will approve the Social Economy and Care PERTE next Tuesday. The statement was made at the presentation of this strategic project at Moncloa Palace, where the president pointed out that it will be endowed with more than €800 million, which will be used to strengthen the social economy sector through 9 lines of action involving 12 ministries. "If this demonstrates anything, it is the government's commitment to the social economy," he remarked.

The president stated that Spain is the leading country in the implementation and development of the Recovery Plan, in which the PERTE play an important role. The eleventh strategic project presented today is aimed at boosting the social economy sector, which brings together entities with social and equitable criteria, including companies, all of which have a social welfare objective, promote community employment and defend the interests of diverse groups.

Among the objectives of this PERTE is to facilitate the conversion of companies in crisis or with no generational replacement into social economy enterprises, mainly worker cooperatives and worker-owned companies.Another of the objectives is to improve the competitiveness of social economy SMEs and to promote cooperation mechanisms among them.

The strategic project also seeks to strengthen advanced services in the field of care, with several lines of action that will seek to promote the training, qualification and re-qualification of professionals in the sector, promote collaborative housing projects and improve the care provided to the more than 50,000 children and adolescents integrated in the protection system.

The PERTE will strengthen equality policies in the field of care and aims to professionalise the work that has traditionally been carried out informally by women. It is also designed to develop a cutting-edge hub, with the aim of positioning the Spanish social economy as a benchmark for Europe.

The Second Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, opened the event, which was also attended by the First Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for the Economy and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño; the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas; the Minister for the Presidency, Relations with Parliament and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños; the Minister forTerritorial Policy and Government Spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez; the Minister for Health, Carolina Darias; the Minister for Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda, Ione Belarra; the Minister for Equality, Irene Montero; and the Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá.

Coalition government milestones

Pedro Sánchez during the presentation of the Social Economy and Care PERTE | Foto: Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

During his speech, the Chief Executive highlighted the work of the coalition government, stressing that its objectives include achieving "more jobs, but also better jobs", in addition to pointing out milestones already reached such as raising the minimum wage to €1,000, the investment of €5.5 billion in Vocational Training, the creation of the minimum basic income, and pensioners receiving an average of €100 more per month than they did under the previous model.

"With our determination and social sensitivity, and our hand always outstretched to those who want to lend a helping hand and reach consensuses, we are protecting families and companies in our country in the face of all the adverse effects of recent world event, and without postponing the transformations our country needs if it wants a bright future in times of accelerated change as intense as these", he defended.

Pedro Sánchez praised the results of the labour reform, which has meant that one out of every two contracts signed is permanent and that the Spanish economy has surpassed the all-time record of 20 million national insurance contributors. "It is about stable jobs, decent wages, social rights and an exemplary policy, free of corruption," he said.

"We have done a lot, but we still have a long way to go in this call for the social victory of our fellow citizens. We want, above all, our fellow citizens and the most vulnerable to the consequences of the war and the pandemic to have the most dignified life possible: more dignified jobs, more dignified salaries. And that is what this progressive coalition government is working for above and beyond any adversity or difficulty that Spanish society is understandably going through", he stressed.

Non official translation