Pedro Sánchez announces that the Government has already fulfilled 50% of its investiture commitments in the first two years of the legislature

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The report concludes that the Government has already fulfilled 50.2% of the commitments made by the head of the Executive in his investiture speech to the Spanish parliament.

Sánchez stressed that, despite all the difficulties we have encountered as a nation, "the Executive is moving forwards and fulfilling its roadmap and the commitments it made to citizens", continuing with its "reformist drive". "The pandemic has not been a brake but an accelerator to push forwards with the reforms and social advances that Spain needs," he added.

In this sense, he pointed out that the first half of the legislature was characterised "by advances and social and institutional agreements, social commitment and the progressive overcoming of the pandemic, democratic regeneration and respect as a way of doing politics, political stability and the confidence that emanates from it, the commitment to a united Spain in its rich diversity and the commitment to a Europe in solidarity with the pandemic".

As an example of important reforms such as the labour and pension reforms, he cited the modernisation of our education and vocational training system; the strengthening of our National Health and Science System; the fight against child poverty, thanks to the Minimum Basic Income; the law on Euthanasia, and the firm commitment to digitalisation, renewable energies and the Law on Climate Change. "Inclusive reforms and advances with a vocation to last over time, given that they have the support and agreement of the social partners, and of the majority of political forces that have understood that this is a time to pull together and put aside their legitimate partisan interests", Sánchez underlined. To all those who have made this progress possible in the form of agreements, he thanked them "for thinking of their country before themselves".

Referring to the 13 agreements in the framework of the social dialogue, the president added that "politics must take good note of the good performance of our social partners and make the political debate a space for agreement and encounters. Also for legitimate disagreement, but based on respect for the adversary and on good manners," he said.

He also highlighted successful policies such as ERTEs, benefits for the self-employed, ICO loans and the social shield, which have saved lives and jobs, as well as the "strong growth" of the Spanish economy and employment figures, with 20 million people in employment and nine months of consecutive falls in unemployment. He also highlighted the increase in the minimum wage, equal pay for men and women, and the recognition of new labour rights for workers on digital platforms. All this proves that "the progressive way out of the crisis is not only more equitable but also more economically efficient".

During his appearance, the head of the Executive remarked that the Government guarantees the political stability that Spain needs and will do so with full compliance with the legislature and having approved two successive budgets, "something that has not happened since 2014". A stability for which the Spanish people are grateful and which is recognised in Europe, as we have been the first country to receive a first payment of 10 billion euros of European funds. Sánchez therefore called on all of us to "take care of the European project, committing ourselves to it and contributing to its strengthening, each from our own responsibilities, and always, always, always speaking well of Spain's role as the builder of the new Europe that we want".

Vaccination: a national success story

Foto: Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la BellacasaLooking back on 2021, Sánchez stressed that this year has been marked by one of our greatest successes as a country: vaccination. He recalled that the first person in Spain was vaccinated just a year ago and "today almost 38 million people are vaccinated, which means that 9 out of 10 people over the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated". "A success that Spain will repeat with the booster vaccination of the entire population and our children from 5 to 11 years of age," which will make us "an example for vaccinations for the rest of the world," he said.

The president also said that the Government will persevere with its strategy to deal with the Omicron variant: vaccination, use of masks and institutional unity. "Thanks to science, prevention and institutional unity, we will face this new Covid variant with greater guarantees and strength. The strength of being one of the first countries in the world in terms of vaccination and accountability for mass mask use.

Overall balance of achievements and developments

The third edition of the "Cumpliendo" report, presented today, responds to the President of the Government of Spain's commitment to be accountable to the public. This initiative consolidates our country's position at the international forefront in this area, allows us to advance in terms of democratic quality and in the culture of public governance and to combat political disaffection, subjecting government action to the scrutiny of citizens, and to develop a process of institutional learning enriched by public debate.

The methodology applied in drafting this report has been analysed and validated by the group of twelve independent and prestigious experts from the academic world, who collaborated in the work for the first half of 2021.

The main new items of this edition are associated with the transparency of information, with a new interactive panel on the Moncloa website that can be accessed by all citizens. Also included in this edition are the conditions for fulfilling the commitments and the verification sources of the initiatives.

Since the inauguration, the Government has made 1,481 commitments, of which it has already met 42.7%. By 2021, 19.3% of the overall commitments have been fulfilled, a figure that rises to 26.4% of the commitments made in the investiture speech and 24.1% of the commitments made in the Progressive Coalition Agreement.

With respect to the commitments made by the president in his investiture speech, 50.2% of the commitments have already been fulfilled at the halfway point of the legislature.

Of the 428 commitments from the Progressive Coalition Agreement, 44.4% have already been met, with an expected evolution to June 2022 of 51.2%. In this area, the compliance forecast for the previous six-month period was exceeded by 2.8%.

On the other hand, 21.3% of the Government's total commitments are associated with the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. At 31 December, 27.5% of them have been met and this figure is expected to reach 32.9% by June 2022.

If commitments fulfilled are added to those currently being worked on, almost all commitments have been activated, reaching 97.1% of the total.

Compliance by axes

The Report presented today analyses the most relevant commitments met and in progress for each of the main guidelines of the Government's action: ecological transition, digital transformation, gender equality and social and territorial cohesion.

Green axis

The Government has so far fulfilled 32% of the commitments that form part of the "Green Spain" axis, and is expected to reach 34.2% by June 2022.

Among the initiatives are the regulation aimed at mitigating the impact of the escalation of natural gas prices in the retail gas and electricity markets; the PERTE for Electric and Connected Vehicles; the PERTE for Renewable Energies, Hydrogen and Storage; the National Strategy for Green Infrastructure and Ecological Connectivity and Restoration, as well as the roadmaps for Self-consumption and for the Development of Offshore Wind. The green light was also given to the Safe, Sustainable and Connected Mobility Strategy 2030, and to the Bill to act on the remuneration of CO2 not emitted from the electricity market.

In addition to moving forwards with the National Plan for purification, sanitation, efficiency, savings and reuse (DSEAR), and having presented the Draft Bill on Sustainable Fisheries and Fisheries Research, the Government is already working on drafting the Comprehensive Sustainable Tourism Strategy and has released the draft Bill on the Protection and Rights of Animals.

All these actions are in addition to the Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition, the Circular Economy Strategy, the Long Term Decarbonisation Strategy and the Renewable Hydrogen Roadmap.

Digital Spain

The Government is deepening the modernisation of the country through the promotion of the 123 Digital Transformation commitments, among which it has already fulfilled about 40%.

The measures adopted include the approval of the Law on Startups; the General Telecommunications Law; the Digital Rights Charter; as well as the Strategic Plan of the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate 2021-2023 to promote new technologies and modernisation of the entities. In addition to these reforms, numerous actions have been carried out to deploy 5G, subsidies have been approved for the digital transformation and modernisation of Local Entity Administrations and the territorial distribution of funds to the Regional Governments to promote digital transformation projects in different strategic lines. The Royal Decree regulating the direct granting of subsidies to Spanish public universities for the modernisation and digitisation of the Spanish university system and the territorial distribution of the credits managed by the Regional Governments for the digitisation of the education system programme was also approved. The second Action Plan of the Spanish Strategy for the Digitalisation of the agri-food sector has also been launched.

The Government is already working on the Digital Efficiency of the Public Justice Service Law and on the tendering of concessions in the 700 MHz band, one of the priorities for the roll out of 5G technology. In addition, the draft bill amending the Law on Science, Technology and Innovation, which has been approved by the Council of Ministers, is being processed. Likewise, the Public Administration Digitalisation Plan, the SME Digitalisation Plan 2021-2025, the National Digital Skills Plan and the Digital Skills Hub have been presented, and the Digital Kit programme is being developed.

Spain without a gender gap

In the fight against the gender gap, 51.8% of the 110 commitments made have already been fulfilled, while 45.5% are in progress. A compliance rate of 55.5% is expected to be achieved by June 2022.

Among the commitments fulfilled in the second half of 2021 were the approval of the Draft Organic Law on the Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom, which is being processed in the Spanish Parliament; the approval of the order restoring the right to assisted reproduction treatments in the National Health System's common services portfolio; the signing in Congress of a new Opinion on the State Pact against Sex-Based Violence to guarantee its funding and make it permanent, as well as the approval of the Catalogue of Urgent Measures of the Plan for Improvement and Modernisation against Sex-Based Violence.

In addition, other major initiatives were the equalisation of unmarried couples with married couples in terms of widow's and widower's pensions; the recognition of victim assistance offices as specialised services for the accreditation of sex-based violence, or the start of the prior public consultation for the reform of the Law on Sexual and Reproductive Health and the voluntary interruption of pregnancy.

In the first half of the year, the extension of paternity leave from 12 to 16 weeks came into force, as well as the 190 million euros for the transformation of the care system for children under 14 years of age. A new maternity and paternity supplement was also created to reduce the current gender gap in pensions, and an Urgent Action Plan against trafficking and sexual exploitation was launched. In addition, 24-hour Comprehensive Care Centres for victims of sexual violence were created and the 016 service was extended to provide information, legal advice and immediate psychosocial care for all forms of violence against women.

Cohesive and inclusive Spain

The Executive has already fulfilled 42.6% of its commitments on social cohesion and 46.7% on territorial cohesion.

In this section, the COVID-19 vaccination strategy should be highlighted, which has enabled more than 90% of our target population to be vaccinated and high percentages of children to be vaccinated and the third dose to be given. It also includes the approval of the labour reform; the Royal Decree setting the minimum wage for 2021; the Bill on urgent measures to reduce the temporary nature of public employment; the Law on Remote Working; the Riders Law and the Draft Bill on the Right to Housing.

To this must be added the Law guaranteeing the purchasing power of pensions and the sustainability of the public system; the Draft Law on Democratic Memory; the Organic Law on the Regulation of Euthanasia; the entry into force of the Law on Education (LOMLOE); the Organic Law on the Organisation and Integration of Vocational Training; the Draft Organic Law on the University System; the Draft Law for the real and effective equality of trans people and for the guarantee of the rights of LGBTI people; the Draft Law to improve the functioning of the food chain; the Draft Law on the Reform of the Bankruptcy Law and the National Security Strategy.

The Organic Law for the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents against violence has also been approved; the 2021-2023 Shock Plan for Dependency and the Plan containing 130 Measures to face the Demographic Challenge were launched. In addition, as part of the protection and social shield initiatives against the pandemic, the ERTEs, special aid for the self-employed and in situations of social and economic vulnerability were extended.

The Government is also working to improve access to the Minimum Basic Income and has presented the 2022-2023 Primary and Community Care Action Plan; the 2021-2024 Mental Health and COVID-19 Action Plan to address the impact caused by the pandemic, and is processing the Draft Law on Sport in the Spanish Parliament.

Non official translation