President of the Government of Spain announces in La Rioja that Spain will join Germany in being first European countries to have comprehensive vaccination plans

In his speech, the President of the Government announced that Spain will join Germany in being the first European Union countries to have a comprehensive vaccination plan that will enable, "under almost any reasonable scenario, a very substantial part of the population to receive a vaccine with all possible guarantees during the course of the first half of 2021". In this regard, Pedro Sánchez stressed that "Spain has a great logistics system and the advancements made on the projects led by the CSIC". He went on to add that "Spain will be entitled to receive 10% of all the doses committed to under contracts signed by the European Union".

The President of the Government believes that the data from recent weeks, showing a reduction in cumulative incidence, suggest that "we are on the right path towards flattening the curve, meeting the target we set ourselves: to reach a cumulative incidence of 25 cases per 100,000 inhabitants".

Pool Moncloa / Fernando CalvoWhile speaking in La Rioja, Pedro Sánchez referred to the State Strategy on combating the second wave of COVID-19 as a fundamental tool for overcoming the pandemic based on indicators and joint actions tailored to respond to epidemiological developments, as well as on joint weekly monitoring of the situation by the Inter-regional Health Council.

In this regard, the President of the Government also mentioned the "six-months ahead" as the period considered by experts as sufficient to overcome the most critical stage of the pandemic, but insisted on the need to "avoid any euphoria and remain cautious" to beat the virus.

Transformation Strategy

At the event held to present the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan in La Rioja, which was attended by leading members of civil society and the business fabric in La Rioja, the President of the Government underlined the need to funnel European funds through four clearly defined channels: the ecological transition; digitalisation of the economy; genuine equality between men and women; and social and territorial cohesion. These issues have given shape to ten policies with well-defined targets aimed at driving progress.

The President of the Government also reiterated the commitment to approving a Royal Decree-Law in December on amending various laws to expedite procedures and introduce new public-private cooperation instruments. He described this measure as "a major government reform" without that detracting from the "necessary guarantees and controls required by the European institutions".

In this regard, Pedro Sánchez called for the regional governments to head down the same path insofar as their regional powers allow, offering "greater flexibility in response to the difficulties".

Pool Moncloa / Fernando CalvoThe President of the Government highlighted the scope of the measures approved this week at the Council of Ministers, saying they represent "an extension to the grace period on ICO loans until March 2022 (over 870,000 credit and guarantee transactions), 98% of which were given to SMEs, with financing of over 110 billion euros". He also said that they provide "enormous support for the beating heart of our productive fabric and will enable entirely viable companies to remain solvent and survive, thereby guaranteeing many thousands of jobs".

On the matter of support for the productive fabric, Pedro Sánchez announced the upcoming approval of a plan of support for the hotel, restaurant and cafeteria sector (Spanish acronym: HORECA) that will complement the measures put in place by the regional governments.

Pedro Sánchez highlighted the roadmap to recovery promoted by the regional government of La Rioja led by Concha Andreu. This regional path to recovery is "based on five projects that reflect the scenario of transformation and renewal in which we find ourselves: the Ciudad del Envase [Packaging City], the Proyecto Cuna del Español [Birthplace of Spanish Project], the Enorregión [Oenology Region], the Territorio digital [Digital Region] and biomedical research".

National Budget

In order to consolidate that commitment to transformation in La Rioja, Pedro Sánchez referred to the opportunities brought by the draft National Budget to this region of Spain. He said that this budget includes "almost 60 million euros in genuine investment", an increase of 55.6% on the draft Budget for 2019. He highlighted such projects as "the south Logroño by-pass on the A-68; the A-12 section between Santo Domingo de la Calzada and Villamayor del Río; the Rincón de Soto railway by-pass; and the restoration work on the Santa María la Redonda Cathedral and renovation work on the State Public Library, both in Logroño".

Education and Vocational Training

Pool Moncloa / Fernando CalvoThe President of the Government linked the commitment to creating jobs in new emerging sectors to the need to tackle a "genuine revolution in education". "That, and no other, is our main objective: quality jobs that create progress", he said. In this regard, he mentioned the recent approval of the Constitutional Law on Amendments to the Constitutional Law on Education (Spanish acronym: LOMLOE) by the Lower House of Parliament, which he described as the start of a process of transformation and modernisation for the Spanish education system that will drive us towards a period of development and progress.

The impetus from European funding in this area will be essential to the development of such initiatives as the support for public centres at risk of "digital disconnection" and the strengthening of university connectivity. This progress will be made alongside the forecasts contained in the budget, such as the allocation of over two billion euros in grants, "the largest ever in the history of Spain".

Pedro Sánchez announced the upcoming approval of a new Vocational Training Act that will consolidate "the modernising leap forward through professional education that we are promoting alongside companies and the social stakeholders, which are the basis for the recovery and the transformation of our productive system". The President of the Government said that this future law "embodies the government's firm commitment to dual vocational training, the creation of 200,000 new places and a commitment to new qualifications in such sectors as robotics, Big Data and smart industry".

Non official translation