Government approves Annual Employment Policies Plan 2015

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Council of Ministers approved the Annual Employment Policies Plan (Spanish acronym: PAPE) for 2015 which was agreed with the regional governments within the framework of the Sector Conference on Employment and Labour Issues. The document contains activation policies for employment to be taken by both the regional public employment services and the State public service.

The Minister for Employment and Social Security, Fátima Báñez, announced that the document has five main goals: to commit to youth employment; to foster the employability of needy groups, such as those over the age of 45 and the long-term unemployed; to improve the quality of vocational job training; to strengthen the ties between active and passive policies; and to boost entrepreneurship.

The plan incorporates a system of indicators to assess active employment policies which will be tied in to results. According to Fátima Báñez, this will result in the level of insertion of the unemployed into the labour market being evaluated in each autonomous region. The total budget for the plan amounts to 4.79 billion euros, of which 1.54 billion will be distributed to the regional governments for them to manage, 17% up on 2014. 60% of the funds will be distributed according to the results, which will rise to 70% in 2016.

Out of the 1.54 billion euros allocated to the regional governments, the minister indicated that this includes an extraordinary subsidy of 129 million euros to apply the measures contained in the Programme to Activate Employment, in particular personalised attention for the neediest groups. 40% (51.5 million euros) of this subsidy will be distributed according to the groups of potential beneficiaries in each autonomous region, while the remaining 60% (77.5 million euros) will be distributed according to the level of insertion of the unemployed in each region between 15 February and 31 July this year.

Situation of the job market

Pool MoncloaDuring her speech, the minister explained that the government has analysed the situation of the job market and the data from the Labour Force Survey (Spanish acronym: EPA) in the second quarter of 2015 which was published on Thursday.

Fátima Báñez highlighted that if the seasonal nature of the data is discounted, "employment has grown by 1.12%, which is good news because the characteristic of recovery is that economic growth translates strongly into the creation of jobs".

Furthermore, the minister underlined that the type of job in Spain is now predominantly permanent. "Yesterday the EPA clearly showed that 75% of Spaniards currently employed are working under a permanent employment contract, compared with 74% at the end of 2011 and 69% prior to the crisis, back in 2007".

In terms of recorded unemployment and National Insurance contributors, the minister pointed out that "there are 300,000 fewer unemployed than in December 2011, of which 117,000 are under the age of 25 and, most importantly, there are now more people in work and contributing to the social security system than when we came to power in December 2011, specifically 26,000 more".

In her opinion, the most important aspect is that there is the a productive fabric. "During the crisis, almost 300,000 companies closed down, whereas in the last three and a half years we can say that for the first time the number of companies has grown; there are now 50,000 more companies than in 2011. The leading job creators are companies, and hence this is undoubtedly good news".

In qualitative terms, Fátima Báñez underlined that NI affiliation has been higher among women since 2011. 72,000 more women are working that at the start of this term of office and there are 536,000 more people over the age of 45 in employment than in December 2011. She also pointed out that there are 110,000 more self-employed contributors to the social security system.

The minister pointed out that "the figures are positive", but the government is aware that there are still "4.1 million unemployed recorded with the public employment service who need an opportunity".

System of direct settlement of contributions

The government has approved a Royal Decree to implement the system of direct settlement of social security contributions. The new model simplifies the obligation on business owners to settle quotas and allows workers to see their breakdown in real time and transparently.

Fátima Báñez explained that the General Treasury of the Social Security system will send a draft copy of the settlement to business owners, who will then have to confirm this or notify any variation in the situation to the worker. She also stressed that the procedure is fully electronic, that it results in savings for the public authorities and is a key element in the fight against fraud.

The government estimates that the procedure will gradually reach 5 million workers by the end of 2015 and will be fully implemented in Spain by the end of 2016.

Memorial Centre for Victims of Terrorism

Pool MoncloaThe Council of Ministers approved an agreement authorising the Ministry of Home Affairs to set up the Memorial Centre for Victims of Terrorism Foundation. This centre, explained the Minister for Home Affairs, Jorge Fernández Díaz, is the culmination of an "ambitious and strategic" project for the Government of Spain. Moreover, it responds to the legal mandate established in the Law on the Recognition and Comprehensive Protection of the Victims of Terrorism, approved by a broad consensus under the previous government.

Regardless of the national nature of the Memorial Centre, the law establishes that its headquarters must be based in the Basque Country and the government has opted for its capital, Vitoria-Gasteiz. The minister announced that the foundation is due to be operational before the end of this term of office.

The foundation's aims seek "to preserve and spread the democratic and ethical values that embody the victims of terrorism", build a collective memory of these victims and "raise the awareness of the whole of Spanish society on the defence of liberty and human rights, and against terrorism", underlined Jorge Fernández Díaz.

It is the government's intention that the development of the Memorial Centre be imbued with the same social and political consensus with which the Law on the Recognition and Comprehensive Protection of the Victims of Terrorism was approved, "to the extent that this should be a genuine State policy", argued the minister.

Although the national headquarters of the centre will be in Vitoria, Jorge Fernández Díez pointed out that there will be a representative office in Madrid, with the specific goal of "paying tribute to and remembering the victims of Jihadi terrorism".

Governing bodies

In the governing bodies of the foundation, which are the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee, will be present the Government of Spain, the regional governments, the Regional Government of the Basque Country, the Provincial Government of Navarre, the City Council of Vitoria, Parliament and the victims of terrorism. The President of the Government will chair the Board of Trustees and the Under-Secretary for Home Affairs will be the Secretary of the Board and chair the Executive Committee.

Jorge Fernández Díaz announced that the government will nominate Florencio Domínguez to run the Memorial Centre, who previously chaired the committee of experts entrusted with drafting the report with the recommendations for this project.

CORA report

Pool MoncloaThe Vice-President of the Government, Soraya Sáenz took stock of the report of the Committee for the Reform of the Public Administration Services (CORA) corresponding to the last quarter. In this regard, she explained that of the 222 measures contained therein, 172 are "completely finalised, which represents more than 77%, with 25 initiatives having been concluded in this last quarter.

In close on two years of the Committee's operation, 2,297 public bodies and companies have been closed down, and a total saving has been made of 29.6 billion euros, highlighted Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría.

Centralised procurement for ministerial departments and State public bodies alone (cleaning, electrical energy, telecommunications…) has resulted in a saving of more than 500 million euros for our citizens, explained the Vice-President of the Government.

Other agreements

The Council of Ministers approved a regulation to enable the implementation of the Financial Fund for Land Access to Ports. The Vice-President of the Government reported that this is a fund to improve connections between ports and land infrastructure, particularly to highways and railways. The aim is to increase the competitiveness of the State network and improve logistics in Spain. She added that "the fund will be financed through contributions from the port authorities; in other words, the ports will participate, for the first time, in projects to connect them to highways and railways".

On another note, the government authorised the public business entity Red.es to call and grant subsidies designed to promote Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in SMEs.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría also mentioned the public call for economic aid to roll out and improve wireless networks in hotels. The aim is to offer a free and high quality access service to the Internet to customers from any part of the hotel.

Current affairs

Pool MoncloaThe Vice-President of the Government stressed that "everything within our grasp" will be done "with the maximum commitment and sensitivity" to "get the three Spanish journalists missing in Syria "out safe and sound". She recalled that this is a "very complicated" zone which requires that "we are as prudent as possible" in order not to prejudice the steps being taken.

When asked about the possibility of using Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution in light of the escalation in the pro-sovereignty stance of the Regional Government of Catalonia, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría reiterated "that the Constitution establishes various mechanisms to ensure that everyone, including regional governments, uphold the law. This government oversees compliance with democratic laws", she stressed.

As regards the President of the Regional Government, Artur Mas, she said that "he must decide on where he wants to go", because he has started out on "a road to nowhere", he has presented "a programme that will not be achieved", his capacity for dialogue "is increasingly diminishing", and he himself "seems to have excluded himself as a mouthpiece".

As regards the removal by the City Council of Barcelona of a bust of King Juan Carlos, she counter-posed the attitude "of working towards democracy, rights and liberties" of the previous monarch for 40 years with the policy of empty gestures of the current city council authorities who are making "a lot of noise" but creating "very few jobs", and she urged them to meet their obligations regarding State symbols, the exhibition of which is absolutely regulated in public centres.

On another note, the Vice-President of the Government confirmed that the Council of Ministers on 31 July will approve the Draft General State Budget for 2016.