Pedro Sánchez stresses growth, the fight against inequality and support for multilateralism as Government priorities

Lower House of Parliament, Madrid

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech at the Government Control Session (Congreso de los Diputados)

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has vindicated the progress achieved in economic and employment matters in the government control session in the Lower House of Parliament, where he also listed housing policies, the strengthening of the common project of the EU, and support for multilateralism among the Executive's current priorities.

"Growth, job creation, the fight against inequality, a positive contribution to multilateralism and a commitment to Europe. These are the main tasks my government has been entrusted with", said Pedro Sánchez.

Latest OECD data: "It's no coincidence"

The president made these points during his reply to Gabriel Rufián, a member of the Republican Parliamentary Group, after referring to the latest data from the OECD, according to which, in 2024, the income of Spanish families grew above the average recorded by this organisation.

"I believe this is no coincidence. It has to do with a policy of promoting the creation of stable and dignified employment; with a transformation of our production model to make us more competitive", argued Pedro Sánchez, who at this point also referred to the energy model and the so-called 'Iberian solution', which "has not only allowed us to reduce the price of energy, but also to save taxpayers €5 billion in the energy crisis and the inflationary crisis".

The chief executive also mentioned as priority tasks the policies to tackle inequality, and particularly access to housing, "the main Achilles' heel of Spanish society".

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, in the Lower House of Parliament | Congreso de los Diputados

Energy model and Russian gas

Last, in his response to a question from Santiago Abascal, a member of the VOX Parliamentary Group, on the dependence on liquefied gas from Russia in the current energy model, Pedro Sánchez recalled that "it is private companies and not the state that buy gas".

On this point, the president supported the reduction of these purchases, most of which, he assured, are destined for third countries in the EU. The chief executive closed this question by stressing that since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the Government has supported all the sanctions packages against Russia.

Non official translation