Pedro Sánchez defends the Government's economic achievements and stresses that the increase in security and defence spending will not entail cuts

Lower House of Parliament, Madrid

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, answers questions from members of Parliament (Pool Congreso)

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has once again claimed the economic results of the policies developed by the Executive in the Government control session in the Lower House of Parliament, where he listed progress on the data on Social Security membership and the rise in pensions among the most outstanding.

"We have gone from 18.6 million Social Security members to 22.7 million; from 3.3 million unemployed to 2.5 million. Temporariness has fallen from 27% to 12%. The minimum wage from 735 euros to 1,184 euros. The average pension from 1,082 euros to 1,505 euros", listed the leader of the Executive in his response to the deputy of the People's Group Alberto Núñez-Feijóo, to whom he concluded that these results are "the best guarantee to continue governing".

Measures for reindustrialisation in the Basque Country

Also in the economic sphere, the president highlighted the Executive's management of the industrial area of the Basque Country, where he said European funds and the Recovery Plan have made and investment of 110 million euros possible to complete the 'Basque Y', almost 200 million euros in projects linked to green hydrogen and more than 300 million euros for the manufacture of electric vehicle components.

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, appears in the Lower House of Parliament

"During these seven years we have articulated transformation measures that have not only accompanied economic growth, but also structural transformation and reindustrialisation in each and every one of the territories of our country," said the president, who acknowledged, however, in his response to the Basque Parliamentary Group (EAJ-PNV) deputy Maribel Vaquero, that there are still tasks pending in this area.

Among them, Pedro Sánchez pointed out the electricity interconnection with France through the Bay of Biscay and recalled the position of the Executive on this issue: "Spain's approach to the European Commission and the French government is very clear: we are not talking about a bilateral or trilateral issue between Portugal, Spain and France, we are talking about a European issue."

Strengthening security, defence and multilateralism

In his reply to a question from Ione Belarra, a member of the Joint Parliamentary Group, the president stressed that the Government is not making any cuts as a result of the announced increase in security and defence spending. "You are asking for peace and rights, that is what the Government of Spain is doing," replied Pedro Sánchez, who described the Executive's policy on the international stage as "coherent", where it intends to strengthen the multilateral agenda.

Pool Congreso

"Yesterday, the Council of Ministers approved its new Foreign Action Strategy until 2028, where peace, security, respect for human rights, international law, feminist policy and a consistent policy in the field of human rights are the defining features of our government's foreign action," explained President Sánchez in his defence of multilateralism.

The president also mentioned, among the examples of multilateral policy, the recent ratification of the Oceans Treaty in Nice and the future Summit on Financing for Development to be organised in Seville. He concluded with the issue to be addressed at the meeting in Seville: "We are indeed increasing the security and defence budget by 0.6%, but at the same time, over the years, we have increased the budget for official development assistance by 63%.

Non official translation