Government completes reform of active employment policies and highlights creation of more than 578,000 jobs in last year

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The government took stock of the reform of active employment policies, described as "essential" by the Vice-President of the Government. Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría underlined that "for the first time in our country, we are seeing jobs being created even faster than the rate of economic growth".

For her part, the Minister for Employment and Social Security, Fátima Báñez, pointed out that "Spain is growing and creating jobs and, moreover, heads up growth and job creation in the Eurozone, but we are very aware that there is still a long way to go and many opportunities to find for the more than 4.3 million people who are still on the lists of recorded unemployed".

The number of unemployed in the official registers has fallen in the last year (to April) by 351,285 people - a fall of 7.5%, and in the same period, 578,243 jobs have been created at a rate of 3.52% year-on-year. Fátima Báñez also commented that unemployment has fallen among the under 30s in a steeper fashion, by 9.45%. The government estimates that 600,000 jobs will be created this year, "and the challenge we face as a society is to reach the figure of 20 million people in work during the next term of office", she pointed out.

Training and stable jobs

Fátima Báñez presented the Council of Ministers with a report on the Job Activation Strategy - a raft of reforms in place since 2012 - which constitutes "additional leverage to the labour reform to return opportunities to the people of Spain". The minister highlighted the importance of dialogue and ongoing coordination with the regional government and social stakeholders in developing the plan.

These policies as a whole have been allocated a budget of 4.76 billion euros in 2015, almost 17% higher than last year. The bulk of these funds have been earmarked for training actions (44%) and to discounts geared towards fostering stable jobs and the placement of the most vulnerable groups (some 31.5%).

The strategy is structured around six major strands: coordination and modernisation, youth employment, discounts, training, ties between active and passive policies, and intermediation. Fátima Báñez stressed that, in this way, Spain has a national job activation strategy for that first time that is "agreed and collaborative", "transparent" and with result-orientated resources.

Pool MoncloaShe also pointed out that more than 400,000 people under the age of 30 have benefitted from the Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment Strategy, and more than 60,000 people under the age of 25 have signed up to the Youth Guarantee. Moreover, "progress has been made towards stable employment" with the aid of a new round of incentives. More than 235,000 people are benefitting from the flat-rate for permanent employment contracts and almost 27,000 from the minimum exemption of 500 euros of Social Security contributions. Full-time permanent employment contracts have grown by 20.7% in the year to date, she pointed out.

The boost to Dual Vocational Training has translated into 340,000 training and apprenticeship contracts since its reform. As regards the new model of vocational job training, the first rounds published under the competitive basis of award has doubled the number of offers and reduced the price by up to 27%. "Our commitment to human capital is undeniable; we don't want to compete in the medium term over low salaries but rather in terms of talent and innovation", declared the minister.

The reform of the Prepara Plan to provide stability until the unemployment rate falls below 20%, the creation of the Single Employment and Self-Employment Portal and the Framework Agreement on Labour Intermediation to develop public-private collaboration in this area are other results of the strategy referred to by Fátima Báñez.

Moreover, the Council of Ministers completed the initiatives adopted in this area during this term of office through two new measures.

Firstly, it authorised a contract to be concluded for a sum of 41.7 million euros between the State Public Employment Service (Spanish acronym: SEPE) and placement agencies to work together in finding work for the unemployed. Secondly, it approved a Royal Decree regulating the system for the authorisation and activity of temporary job agencies.

Publication of binding convictions

Pool MoncloaThe Council of Ministers approved, for submission to Parliament, under the fast-track procedure, the Draft Constitutional Law regulating access to and publication of certain information contained in convictions handed down on tax fraud and evasion.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría explained that this is a measure aimed at incentivising payments and transparency in meeting obligations with the Public Treasury. In this regard, she specified that "the list of taxpayers with tax debts or penalties pending payment in excess of 1 million euros that have not been settled in the voluntary payment period is now authorised".

"In order to avoid undue prejudice as a result of a mistake in including someone on the list of debtors, interested parties are granted a plea process prior to publication", added the Vice-President of the Government. Those who fall within the situation described in the new legislation as at 31 July 2015 will appear on the first list of debtors, and hence "those taxpayers that wish to avoid their name appearing on the list must make due payment prior to this date", she warned.

The Government Spokesperson specified that sentences will be published that include insolvency offences against the Public Treasury and smuggling in those cases in which the public coffers are affected.

Moreover, she pointed out that convictions will be partially published. Only those aspects that are strictly necessary to achieve the goal sought will be published and the fundamental right to honour and privacy will be respected, as well as the protection of personal data.

Morón de la Frontera Air Base

Pool MoncloaThe government authorised the signing of the Third Protocol Amending the Defence Cooperation Treaty between Spain and the United States to allow the permanent deployment of a military force at Morón de la Frontera Air Base in Seville.

The measure seeks to contribute to stability and mutual security in Europe, Africa and the Near East. The fundamental mission of the military force will be to protect the citizens and installations of the United States and Spain, as well as of other Member States of NATO, support for bilateral joint training and cooperation leading to regional security.

The Vice-President of the Government announced that the treaty will be signed by the Secretary of State of the United States, John Kerry, who will arrive in Spain on Sunday and will meet with the President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, on Monday at Moncloa Palace.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría highlighted that in negotiating the treaty, the Spanish Government insisted on those issues that "have a local impact in terms of investment and job creation", and that the text contains "an intention from the United States to invest 29 million dollars in infrastructure". Furthermore, she stressed that national sovereignty is guaranteed because the treaty requires authorisation from the Spanish Government for any unilateral operations by the United States.

Universities and university teaching centres

Pool MoncloaThe government completed the reform of the university system with the aim of improving quality, internationalisation and the process of specialisation of Spanish universities through the approval of two royal decrees.

The first of these modifies the present system of selection and promotion of teachers at universities to standardise them with those applied in other countries. Its aim is to contribute to improving levels of teaching and research efficiency.

The Vice-President of the Government specified that the new legislation "replaces universal accreditation by accreditation by field of knowledge and assigns greater importance to research quality, teaching, the transfer of knowledge and professional experience".

The second royal decree establishes a complete overhaul of the administrative and organisational requirements to set up a university or university centre. Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría specified that "the number of degrees offered by each university is made more flexible and the percentage of doctors teaching degree courses is up-dated".

Online incorporation of companies

The Council of Ministers approved a royal decree to speed up the process for initiating business activity and improving the competitiveness of the economic model. The new legislation, according to the Vice-President of the Government, regulates standard-form articles of association and the public deed of incorporation of limited liability companies, through the so-called Unique Electronic Document (Spanish acronym: DUE), and through an online procedure via the Information Centre and Network for Creating Companies (Spanish acronym: CIRCE). This will help significantly reduce the time for issuing the public deed of incorporation (12 working hours) and its description and registration in the Companies Register (6 working hours).

The measure provides for a standard model that will allow both notaries public and companies' registrars to meet such reduced time periods.

Electronic ID certificate

With the aim of "facilitating the life of our citizens", the government has also approved a Royal Decree extending the life of electronic certificates from two and a half to five years for national identity documents.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría highlighted that each year some 4.5 million citizens renew their electronic certificate. "By extending the period of validity all these burdens are reduced, and a saving is made of some 72 million euros, representing 16 euros per citizen".

Assistance for victims of gender-based violence

The Council of Ministers approved the distribution of a credit of 4.18 million euros to regional governments in order to guarantee the development of comprehensive social assistance to victims of gender-based violence. It also agreed to distribute another credit of 1 million euros, charged to the 2015 General State Budget, designed to support the regions in developing and implementing personalised plans.

Current affairs

Pool MoncloaThe Vice-President of the Government reported on the "dismissal and immediate removal from office" of the Government Representative in the Region of Valencia, Serafín Castellano, after hearing of his arrest and the legal investigation opened for a possible case of corruption. The appointment of the new representative is pending the issue of a suitability report, she added.

When asked about the government's assessment of the results of the elections on 24 May, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría stated that "as the government we consider that our citizens have used the ballot box to make their choices and hence we respect their decisions". She stressed that "it is now down to us to analyse the results and calmly reflect on them", taking into account that "we are elected to resolve the problems of all our citizens". She also called for an attitude of "non exclusion", because she considers that all options are legitimate, and that all parties should share the main objective of the country, which is job creation and the creation of well-being.

The Government Spokesperson confirmed that the President of the Government has held "a first round of contacts" with both the leader of Ciudadanos, Albert Rivera, and the leader of the Socialist Party, Pedro Sánchez, and said that talks will continue.