Mariano Rajoy reiterates his commitment to allocate 1 billion euros more to combat gender-based violence

Upper House of Parliament, Madrid

During his speech in the government control session, Mariano Rajoy confirmed to the Socialist Member of the Upper House, Ander Gil, that the government will meet its commitment to allocate 1 billion euros in additional funding, over the next five years, to the fight against gender-based violence. "Next year, in 2018, the figure of 200 million euros will be included in the General State Budget.

The President of the Government stressed that the government, with the mandate of the Upper and Lower Houses, is looking for the "maximum support possible" with the aim of signing a State Pact against Gender-Based Violence "over the course of this year". In this regard, he recalled that this is one of the pacts he proposed in his investiture speech.

In light of the commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to be held on 25 November, Mariano Rajoy remembered all the victims. "No society committed to equality and dignity can tolerate this and turn a blind eye. For that reason, for as long as there is just one victim, the priority must be to improve protection and the response from institutions".

In this regard, the President of the Government highlighted that in recent years, "significant steps" have been taken in this fight, and that now 77% of women manage to "escape from abusive situations" and that "the number of offences reported and restraining orders are both on the rise".

By way of example, Mariano Rajoy pointed out that in the last term of office, a dozen laws were reformed, including the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Act and the Victim's Charter. And in this term of office so far, the President of the Government underlined the implementation of an application to prevent and stop gender-based violence against women with disabilities, the launch of the Pantallas Amigas campaign to prevent violence among teenagers, the agreement with manufacturers of telephones to prevent calls to the 016 hotline from being traced on phone terminals, and the strengthening of the State Watchdog for Violence against Women.

Consensus for regional financing

Pool Moncloa / J. M. CuadradoThe President of the Government advocated the agreement to approve a new model of regional financing. In response to a question posed by the Member of the Upper House, Carles Mulet, of Compromís, Mariano Rajoy claimed that "the only fair model of financing is one agreed by everyone", and advocated reaching a consensus among all the autonomous regions and "a very broad majority in the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament".

The President of the Government recalled that he had already proposed a State Pact on this issue back in the investiture debate, firstly, to avoid "the problems and difficulties" derived from the current model, in force since the year 2009, which was not firmed up in a pact. And secondly, because the party that maintains the government does not have enough MPs to push through a new system on its own.

This will to forge an agreement, he added, was firmed up at the last Conference of Regional Presidents, at which the regions agreed to set up a committee of experts, which has now issued its opinion to the working group made up of representatives of all the regional governments that wished to take part in it. Furthermore, Mariano Rajoy expressed his support for the petition made by the PSOE [Spanish Socialist Workers' Party] for the committee set up in the Lower House to address this issue and evaluate the situation of the state of autonomies.

Mariano Rajoy argued that the main problem of the financing of the public authorities is not down to the model, but to the crisis that reduced revenue by 70 billion euros in two years. The economic recovery and job creation, he pointed out, are turning this situation around. Specifically, the Region of Valencia has increased its financing by 1 billion euros in 2017 on the previous year. Furthermore, pointed out the President of the Government, it has received 43 billion euros from the Regional Liquidity Fund and the Supplier Payment Fund, plus another 4.5 billion euros in government investments over the last six years.

Compliance with budget stability

Pool Moncloa / J. M. CuadradoThe President of the Government declared that the government "has no interest in intervening in any public authority, whether regional or local", and declared that he is fully aware of how they act and how they attend to public services and the importance of maintaining their autonomy". Mariano Rajoy thus responded to the question from the Member of the Upper House, Ramón Espinar, of Unidos Podemos, on recent proportionality in the intervention of public authorities.

Mariano Rajoy argued that the government acts "prudently" and "weighs up the interests at play" while always guided by one principle: obeying the law, "something that is required of all those present here, but more still those who have responsibilities in the government". He added that the rules "are not a mere whim, and if they are not obeyed, this has its consequences".

As regards the measures to control the accounts of the City Council of Madrid adopted by the Ministry of the Treasury and Public Function, Mariano Rajoy attributed these to the systematic breach by these authorities of the Constitutional Law on Budget Stability and Financial Sustainability. This rule, he reminded, "is a rule of European governance that all the countries that make up the European Union must comply with".

The President of the Government described the fact the City Council of Madrid is reducing its public debt as "very positive", but insisted that no government can spend what it does not have, "because sooner or later this inevitably leads to bankruptcy". Furthermore, Mariano Rajoy underlined that the government has established the same "financial guardianship" as over other cities that have not respected the ceiling on spending.

Non official translation