Pedro Sánchez emphasises that, after two years in office, "Spain is moving forward with strength and in the best of directions: forward"

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech to review the current political situation and present the "Cumpliendo" report (Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez)

Pedro Sánchez pointed out that "achieving this has not been easy" and reiterated that the Executive has had to "negotiate every step" and "has won 86% of the votes in Congress". "Each parliamentary victory has filled us with joy, and when we have not had parliamentary support, we have been filled with determination", because behind each of them was a law that is good for the people.

The Chief Executive added that "there is still a long legislature and a lot of work ahead" and "the progressive coalition government will face the two years that remain until the elections are held in 2027 with the same determination and energy as the previous seven". For this reason, he said that in the next two years the Executive is going to "continue along the same path: fighting for every vote and every law, looking after the interests of the social majority against the privileges of the elites, and promoting an ambitious and progressive social, economic and environmental agenda".

At a press conference at Moncloa Palace, in which he took stock of the political year and presented the periodic accountability report 'Delivering', the Chief Executive emphasised that "the data do not deceive". "In the face of the usual asymmetries and the catastrophism that often dominates public discourse, the optimism of the data offers a counterbalance: Spain is moving forward with strength and in the best of directions: forward". "Spain is going from strength to strength" and in an international context as complex as the current one, the country "is experiencing one of the most prosperous periods in its democratic history. And we want that prosperity to gain momentum," he added.

The President stressed that, after two years in office, "Spain is one of the best performing countries in Europe. A country with record growth and employment figures, with the lowest levels of inequality and poverty in the last decade and a half, with the second fastest growing purchasing power in the OECD, with an increasingly green productive fabric and mobility system, and with an international voice that is respected and recognised around the world."

Spain is the fastest growing economy in Europe

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech to review the current political situation and present the "Cumpliendo" report | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

During his appearance, Sánchez gave an account of the progress made over the last six months on the five main priorities for this legislature.

Firstly, the economy and employment. In this regard, he reiterated that for yet another year, and for the third year in a row, Spain will be the fastest growing major European economy according to all international organisations, while the country has broken a new record by exceeding 22 million people in employment, of which over 10 million are women, and the unemployment rate has fallen to 10.3%, the lowest since 2008. Moreover, the actual disposable income of Spanish households is 9% higher than in 2018. The Chief Executive also emphasised that Spain is now the European Union country that has received the most non-refundable funds and, just a fortnight ago, the fifth disbursement of over 24 billion euros was approved, which means that Spain will have received 55 billion euros, or 70% of the transfers allocated.

Sánchez also highlighted the implementation of a contingency plan funded with 14 billion euros in aid to deal with the impact of a potential trade war and stated that the Government of Spain will continue working to approve the Royal Decree that will make the Spanish electricity system even more resilient. "In the face of the irresponsible opportunism of some parties, Spanish industry must know that it will always be able to count on the Government of Spain's commitment," he added.

Strengthening the welfare state

The President pointed out that the second priority set by his government for this legislature was to strengthen Spain's welfare state. "And we are succeeding. In fact, he announced that tomorrow the Government of Spain will take to the Council of Ministers "a historic extension of birth and care leave", thanks to which citizens will now be able to enjoy three more weeks of paid leave to care for their children, which will be added to the 16 weeks already in force thanks to this government's social policies. An important new feature is that the last two weeks can be taken flexibly until the child reaches the age of 8 and can be taken retroactively by families whose children were born on or after 2 August 2024. On the other hand, single parents, 80% of whom are women, will be entitled to 32 weeks of leave for childbirth or care, compared to the current 16 weeks. "In contrast to the cuts we suffered in the past, today we are extending rights and strengthening the welfare state," he affirmed.

In terms of health matters, he highlighted the approval of a new Mental Health Action Plan; the creation of a State Public Health Agency; the aid of up to €100 for all young people under 16 who need support to access glasses or contact lenses, and the increase in Specialised Health Training places to 12,366 in 2026, 54% more than in 2018.

In the field of education, 15,400 new places at public establishments have been created for children aged 0-3 years; 964,000 students have been granted scholarships, 23% more than when the PP was in power; 368 new training offers and 53,000 new Vocational Training (VT) places have been created, which means a total of 380,000 new VT places have been created since the beginning of the Next Generation funds. Sánchez stressed that in these six months the Government of Spain has once again revalued pensions and has increased minimum pensions by 6% and non-contributory pensions by 9%. It has also increased funding for Dependency for the third consecutive year, amounting to over 783 million euros.

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech to review the current political situation and present the "Cumpliendo" report | Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

The President reiterated that housing is "a priority issue for the Government of Spain", and that, to a large extent, this depends on the regional and municipal administrations. In any case, he highlighted that the progressive coalition government is tackling the housing problem "with all the resources at its disposal and with all possible determination". That is why, in the last six months alone, the number of social housing units has increased by 8% and the Government of Spain has contributed to a 13% increase in new construction, which is now the highest in the last 12 years. In addition, in this semester the Government of Spain has launched a Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) for the industrialisation of housing with a budget of 1.3 billion euros and SEPES (the Spanish State Land Entity) has been transformed into a public housing company, with over two million square metres of public land having been transferred to it. A programme of public guarantees has also been created for owners who rent their flats at a fair price, the Golden Visa which encouraged property speculation has been eliminated, and various measures have been deployed to limit and control the proliferation of tourist flats in Spanish cities. These measures have already led to over 65,000 illegal listings being removed from Airbnb.

Meanwhile, it has also managed to get new territories to start applying the Housing Law, "a law that many boycott for ideological reasons, despite the fact that, where it is in force, it has already managed to reduce the price of rents by up to 9%, without cutting supply or harming landlords", he asserted.

Looking to the future, Pedro Sánchez reiterated that, at the Conference of Presidents in June, the Executive proposed to the regional governments to launch a new Spanish State Housing Plan that would triple public investment in this area, increasing the amount from the 2.3 billion euros invested in the period 2022-2025 to around 7 billion euros over the next 5 years. "There are regional governments that have already shown their interest in joining this initiative" and the Executive is going to work with those regional governments that also want to continue with market intervention policies.

Climate change adaptation and mitigation

With regard to the third priority for this legislature - adaptation and mitigation of climate change - the Chief Executive highlighted that in these six months the new Law on Prevention of Food Losses and Waste has been promoted, 10 new Special Areas of Conservation have been declared within the Natura 2000 Network; the MOVES III programme has been extended, to promote sustainable mobility linked to electric vehicles, and Spain has managed to reduce its CO2 emissions associated with electricity generation by 17% more than the previous year.

On this point, he advocated continuing to decarbonise Spanish industry, for which the next calls for European funds for this purpose will be published at the end of the summer, and to continue to commit to renewable energies, storage and interconnections. For this reason, it will be key to validate the Decree Law that some parliamentary groups rejected last week, since "the ecological transition cannot and should not be a bargaining chip with which to market perks or project non-existent ideological divisions to the electorate, but should be a social consensus and a moral obligation for all". "That is why those who vote against this type of decree law are voting against the interest of our country," he declared.

Strengthening Spanish institutions and territorial cohesion

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, presents the "Cumplimiento" report to the media | Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez

In addressing the fourth priority for this legislature, which is the strengthening of Spanish institutions and Spain's territorial cohesion, the President of the Government of Spain pointed out that "one of the tasks to which we have dedicated all our efforts has been the fight against corruption, to which we have responded promptly and forcefully, always collaborating with the justice system and remedying it in order to remove this from political life".

He explained that the Government of Spain has worked with the OECD to design "an ambitious State Plan to Combat Corruption that will consist of 15 measures that will help Spain to reinforce the prevention, detection and punishment of practices that should never occur in a democracy such as ours" and which he presented to the Lower House of Parliament on 9 July. In parallel, the progressive coalition government has worked to improve the quality of the Spanish judicial system by implementing the new Organic Law on the Efficiency of the Public Justice Service, and by approving a Draft Organic Law for the Expansion and Strengthening of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Careers, which will guarantee equal opportunities and will attract talent.

In the area of territorial cohesion, the Chief Executive stressed that in these six months Spain has achieved two historic advances. On the one hand, the cancellation of over 83 billion euros of regional debt. And, on the other hand, the approval of interim payments of 147 billion euros for the regional governments and 28.734 billion euros for local entities.

He also reiterated that, a few weeks ago, the Constitutional Court upheld the full constitutionality of the Amnesty Law. "This is extraordinary news for a country that is working to achieve reunion and coexistence between the peoples of Spain."

Ambitious foreign policy

The fifth and final priority is deploying an ambitious foreign policy, raising Spain's international profile and using that profile to defend peace, solidarity and openness around the world. "Consistently and with the same determination in the Middle East and in Europe. Addressing both humble nations and the leaders of powerful ones," he said. In this regard, Sánchez reiterated Spain's position on the 5% at the last NATO Summit; the historic agreement with the UK on Gibraltar; the new package of 1 billion euros in military assistance for Ukraine; and the condemnations of Netanyahu's genocidal regime in the European Commission and the United Nations.

Spain to send food to Gaza

On the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the President of the Government said that "the famine in Gaza is a disgrace for all humanity" and "stopping it is a moral, political and humanitarian imperative". In this regard, he announced that the Government of Spain is preparing "a shipment of thousands of kilos of food for the Gaza Strip which, if circumstances do not change, will take place this Friday from the territory of Jordan and through the use of parachutes and one of the Spanish's Armed Forces' A400 aircraft". In any case, he insisted that the only real solution is for "Netanyahu to activate a ceasefire as soon as possible, definitively open the humanitarian land corridor and put an end to this barbarity".

Non official translation