Government regulates start-up of Office to Recover Proceeds of Crime

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Council of Ministers approved a Royal Decree regulating the operation of the Office to Recover and Manage Assets (Spanish acronym: ORGA), which will come under the umbrella of the Ministry of Justice. The new office will have powers to locate, recover, keep, administer and decide on the effects, goods, instruments and profits from criminal activities within the framework of a criminal organisation.

The Vice-President of the Government, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, pointed out that this body "is a fundamental tool in the active fight against corruption and organised crime". She also underlined that the office will act in all class of processes and that the sale of goods seized will serve to fund certain programmes of a social nature.

The Government Spokesperson recalled that to date assets seized were placed in the hands of each court or tribunal, which had a limited capacity to manage them. Moreover, processes are complex and are drawn out in time with the corresponding problems of the deterioration of goods and maintenance and custody costs. Henceforth, the office may adopt the necessary measures to hold and manage goods according to their nature, the possibilities for sale or award and the cost of custody and maintenance.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría highlighted that the main new feature is that "goods may be sold off without waiting for the end of the proceedings, thus avoiding their deterioration, disappearance and hence saving on the cost of maintaining them". Any yield obtained from their sale will be used to protect and assist victims of crime, paying out compensation acknowledged in legal rulings to them, as well as for the reinsertion of offenders and the prevention of other forms of crime.

Promotion of active aging

The Council of Ministers approved the report on the Framework of Action for the Elderly, a plan that seeks "to foster independence, quality of life and the participation" of this group in society, claimed the Vice-President of the Government. This initiative was presented by its authors - the State Council for the Elderly, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality and other ministerial departments - at Moncloa Palace to the President of the Government in 1 October.

Pool Moncloa / J. M. CuadradoThe Framework of Action contains a total of 348 recommendations drawn up with the involvement of more than 100 bodies, explained the Minister for Health, Social Services and Equality, Alfonso Alonso. The proposals seek to foster active aging in four main areas.

The first of these is the job market. The minister highlighted that there are very few people over the age of 65 who continue to hold down a job, and hence the Framework of Action includes measures that seek to extend labour activity beyond this age. A second heading relates to the participation of this group in society, for example, through voluntary activities, information and communication technologies, and consultation bodies on policies that affect them. The third heading contains proposals aimed at encouraging a healthy and independent life for the elderly and means adapting the National Health System and the social system to needs tied in to the aging of the population. The fourth heading seeks to promote equality and the non-discrimination of the elderly.

Alfonso Alonso pointed out that Spain is one of the pioneer countries in terms of meeting the recommendations of the European Union on the implementation of these frameworks of action and in designing strategic lines of action to tackle what, in his opinion, will be the "main social challenge" in the coming decades.

The Minister for Health recalled that there are more than 8.3 million people in Spain over the age of 65 and that life expectancy now stands at 83, when in 1990 it stood at 77. Moreover, forecasts indicate that by 2050 more than 16 million people will form part of this group, which will represent over one third of the population.

This trend means challenges exist in various areas, starting with pensions, declared Alfonso Alonso. The minister defended the government's efforts during the whole term of office to maintain the purchasing power of the more than 9 million pensioners, which has allowed the relative poverty rate to fall by eight points in the last four years. Moreover, "these pensions have often been used to sustain and support many families that were going through difficult times", he said.

Indication of medication by nurses

Pool Moncloa / J. M. CuadradoAlso in relation to the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, the Council of Ministers approved a Royal Decree that regulates the indication, use and authorisation for the dispensation of medication and healthcare products by nurses.

Alfonso Alonso explained that since 2009, these professionals are legally entitled to indicate, use and authorise the dispensation of medication not subject to medical prescription, but that its regulatory implementation approved on Friday was lacking. "As a result of this Royal Decree, they are now covered and offered security, and guarantees are also stepped up vis-à-vis patients in that the care provided by nurses will be carried out with all due guarantees", he pointed out.

As regards medication subject to medical prescription, the 2009 Act tasked the government with regulating the actions of nurses through the application of certain protocols to be drafted jointly with doctors and nurses and subsequently validated by the ministerial department. The Royal Decree, stated Alfonso Alonso, contains the procedure for implementing these protocols, as

well as the training to be received by nurses in order to carry out these tasks related to the indication and use of medication.
Alfonso Alonso stressed that in order to draft this text, the ministry worked with representatives of both the nursing profession and doctors. In his opinion, "this is a step forward in terms of the professional recognition" of nurses and also "a guarantee that the attribution of these actions to nurses does not diminish or lessen an essential competence, this being that whoever makes the diagnosis also prescribes and hence the prescription corresponds at all times to a doctor".

When asked about the possibility of supermarkets selling medication, the Minister for Health defended the Spanish pharmacy model, which he considers to be "an international benchmark" and which, from the point of view of healthcare, "offers every guarantee".

Regulatory simplification

Pool Moncloa / J. M. CuadradoWithin the framework of the reform of the public administration services, and specifically, of regulatory simplification and updating, the government approved three recast texts corresponding to very important legislation that has been amended on numerous occasions: the Workers' Statute, the Employment Act and the Stock Market Act.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría recalled that the Workers' Statute and the Employment Act are "the two fundamental and key laws on employment issues". For her part, the Minister for Employment and Social Security, Fátima Báñez, argued that these two recast texts seek to facilitate the exercise of workers' rights, and the daily activity of economic agents. Moreover, this has been framed within the goal of facilitating relations between citizens and the public administration on these matters, embodied in measures such as the reduction in the forms of contract from 42 to just 4, and the electronic settlement of National Insurance contributions.

In the case of the Workers' Statute, the minister pointed out that it was recast for the first time in 1995 and that, since then, it has been amended on some 50 occasions. The new text updates the previous one in terms of regulatory technique, language and concepts, as well as integrating all these changes.

The recast text of the Employment Act simplifies and updates this legislation, explained Fátima Báñez, whilst maintaining its structure, based on the importance of employment policies and the National Employment System

In terms of the recast text of the Securities Market Act, this comprises more than 40 regulations that had been amended by this Act and facilitates adaptation to European legislation on an issue on which the European Union frequently legislates, according to the Government Spokesperson.

Other agreements

Pool Moncloa / J. M. CuadradoThe government authorised the signing of an addendum to the partnership agreement entered into between the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Competition, the Regional Government of Catalonia and the Technical University of Catalonia for the creation, construction, fitting out and operation of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS).

This decision, highlighted the Vice-President of the Government, will allow the formalities for the new phase of the European Supercomputing Project PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe) to be set in motion, in which Spain will continue to be a main partner, together with Germany, France and Italy.

The government authorised the signing by the General Mutual Society of State Civilian Public Servants (Spanish acronym: MUFACE) of a new agreement with insurance companies to guarantee access to healthcare assistance throughout the country to beneficiaries of the same for the years 2016 and 2017, for the sum of more than 2 billion euros, plus 1 billion euros per annum.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría declared that the measure "is evidence of and strengthens this model of healthcare to guarantee the continuity of care to patients".

On another note, the Council of Ministers approved a new regulation of the National Register of Associations with the aim of ensuring a more flexible, transparent and technologically advanced public service. Moreover, it authorised a contribution from Spain, for the sum of 1 million euros, to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

Current affairs

Pool Moncloa / J. M. CuadradoIn response to questions from the press about the statements made by Artur Mas against the State in his appearance in the Regional Government of Catalonia to offer an explanation regarding the accusations of the payout of commissions in public procurement, the Vice-President of the Government underlined that these are "improper for any governor". She added that if, following the judicial investigations, it can be confirmed that these commissions were paid out, "this will have prejudiced the public".

In her opinion, "the last thing that a political representative should do is to present himself as a victim and, furthermore, hide behind politics in order not to be apportioned blame or to try to hinder a judicial investigation", since "the only victim here is the system as a whole and citizens as a whole, who pay their taxes so that contracts are signed neutrally and with transparency".

As regards whether the declaration of assets of senior public officials will be updated before the elections, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría explained that this will be carried out when the Regulation is approved regarding which only two observations remains unresolved.

Moreover, she clarified that by extending the law regulating the exercise of senior positions, the number of parties subject to this return has increased, whereas previously it only affected ministers and State secretaries.