The Government of Spain highlights the "institutional normality" of the Conference of Presidents and vows to continue working on "concrete and constructive" proposals

President's News - 2025.6.6

Pedralbes Palace, Barcelona

6/06/2025. Pedro Sánchez presides over the 28th Conference of Regional Presidents. Group photo of the 28th Conference of Regional Presidents Group photo of the 28th Conference of Regional Presidents (Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa)

  • x: opens new window
  • Whatsapp: opens new window
  • Linkedin: opens new window
  • Send: opens new window

The head of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, presided over the 28th Conference of Presidents, held at the Palau de Pedralbes in Barcelona. The Government highlighted the "institutional normality" with which this meeting was held, with the presence of all the regional presidents.

At a press conference at the end of the meeting, the Minister for Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, accompanied by the Minister for Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, stressed the Executive's desire for consensus in this "space for dialogue and co-governance" that the Conference of Presidents represents. "We will continue working to bring concrete, constructive proposals, because we do believe in this body; we have always believed in it and the proof is that we have convened it, through the current President of the Government of Spain, on up to 22 occasions".

During his speech, the minister explained that this edition had two new features: for the first time there were minutes of the meeting, which were unanimously approved, and participants were also able to use the official languages of the autonomous communities.

Group photo of the 28th Conference of Regional Presidents | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

Housing, a priority for the Government

In accordance with the agenda, housing was one of the topics discussed at the 28th Conference of Presidents. The President of the Government of Spain took his proposal to this forum, previously sent by letter to the presidents of the Autonomous Communities, to promote a new State Housing Agreement with more funding, less speculation and more transparency. The aim is to triple public investment in this area from 2.3 billion in the period 2022-2025 to around 7 billion euros over the next five years. The Government of Spain is willing to finance 60% of this amount, with the communities, which also have competencies in housing, contributing 40% of the remaining resources.

Likewise, the Executive proposed the indefinite protection of the status of public housing financed with state funds, as well as the creation of a public database that will allow citizens and administrations to know the real sale, purchase or rent prices.

The Minister for Housing stressed that "the President of the Government of Spain has put on the table proposals that are easy to accept": a new Housing Agreement that embodies the Government's comprehensive and public housing policy, "which changes the paradigm", so that housing is considered a social good, as well as a right. "There is a lack of political will, conviction, institutional loyalty and economic resources," she said.

In this respect, the minister stressed that the proposal has been "unequivocally" accepted by five autonomous communities: Euskadi, Catalonia, Navarre, Asturias and the Canary Islands, with which it will begin to work bilaterally. "The urgency is such that we don't have a minute to lose," she stressed.

The Minister for Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the Minister for Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, during the appearance following the meeting | Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

"There is no need for a regulation or statutes to say yes to a bigger budget for housing, yes to protecting it forever, and yes to more transparency," she said, referring to the attitude of the autonomous communities that have not joined in. "We are clear that this is our political priority, we do not discuss competences, we are all competent, we get to work with all the resources at our disposal," she summarised.

Vocational Training Proposals

Another of the issues addressed during the Conference was training. On this point, the Government expressed the need to bring order and control to the proliferation of private Vocational Training (VET) centres in our country, given that some of them offer illusory offers or do not meet the necessary quality standards, and represent a problem for families, students and companies that use their services.

For this reason, the Executive proposes collaboration between administrations to create an integrated model for the authorisation and supervision of these private VET centres.

With regard to early years education, the government informed the regional presidents of its decision to launch a new programme with 175 million euros (from the European Social Fund Plus) to guarantee access to free early years education for pupils from low-income families.

Finally, and after having experienced extreme episodes such as the DANA or the La Palma volcano, the Executive announced that, as of September, a special Civil Protection Emergency Training course will begin to be taught in our country's education centres.

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, at the plenary session of the Conference of Presidents | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

Asturias proposes to host the 29th Conference of Presidents

The Minister for Territorial Policy announced that the President of Asturias has proposed that his region host the next edition of the forum that brings together the presidents of the autonomous regions.

The Conference of Presidents has held 28 editions, of which 22 have been convened by Pedro Sánchez as President of the Government of Spain -17 of them in telematic format and five in person-, including the Barcelona Conference on 6 June.

The previous four face-to-face meetings were held on 31 July 2020 in San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja; on 30 July 2021 in Salamanca, Castilla y León; on 13 March 2022 in La Palma, Canary Islands; and on 13 December 2024 in Santander, Cantabria.

Non official translation