Government approves aid to prevent drug addiction

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

As an exception to the order regulating the close of the budget execution, the Council of Ministers approved several contracts and calls for proposals for aid in nine ministerial departments.

The acting Vice-President of the Government, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, highlighted some of these, such as the processing of aid for drug addiction prevention programmes through private not-for-profit institutions, research bodies and local authorities.

The first of these is aimed at private not-for-profit organisations at a State level for programmes on prevention, raising awareness, training for professionals and volunteers, studies, and the drafting and distribution of publications. The second is aimed at institutions that develop research programmes on drug addiction and the third at local authorities to develop programmes for young people on the prevention of the risks of alcohol consumption and other drugs.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría added that this call for proposals has been implemented continuously since the 1990s and some 70 to 75 local authorities will be subsidised.

Antarctic campaign 2016-2017

Pool Moncloa/C.P.S.The Council of Ministers also approved an exception to the order regulating the close of the budget execution to finance the maintenance and recruitment of the oceanographic research vessel 'Hespérides' with 1.7 million euros in order to prepare it to take part in the 2016-2017 Antarctic campaign.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría specified that this campaign includes carrying out tests on the new Galileo global positioning system in latitudes close to the South Pole and logistics support for the Spanish Antarctic bases.
The 'Hespérides' is a polar research vessel based in Cartagena (Murcia) and operated by the Spanish Navy. This is a scientific platform whose activity is run and financed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Competition through the National R&D Programme.

National Statistics Plan 2017-2020

The government approved the National Statistics Plan 2017-2020. This plan establishes the strategic lines for drawing up national statistics to satisfy the demands of its institutional users (public authorities, European Union) in order to determine, monitor and evaluate public policies, as well as the needs of social stakeholders: organisations, companies, researchers, analysts, the press, etc.

The Vice-President of the Government highlighted that the strategic line of the plan is to "attend to users and boost communication and the spread of statistics" and to offer "suitable, reliable and consistent figures, with specific timelines" in accordance with the pre-announced dates for their distribution.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría added that this is a four-year plan with no specific budget item, with each body preparing its budget on a yearly basis. Notwithstanding this, the National Institute of Statistics estimates that it requires a total of 564 million euros in financing, some 140 million euros per annum.

Public procurement savings

In relation to the Commission for the Reform of the Public Administration Services, the government has authorised the procurement, through an unannounced negotiated procedure, processed in advance, of the supply of hardware components, software products and services associated with the 'Z Systems' platform of the company IBM. Accordingly, the needs of the State Tax Administration Agency will be covered for the period 2017-2019. The investment amounts to 51.5 million euros.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría highlighted the reduction in costs in the field of public procurement, one of the features of which is the migration process of services carried out by the Tax Agency towards open platforms, with the corresponding reduction in the needs for hardware and software. The Vice-President of the Government estimated the total saving at 38.3 million euros.

However, the Government Spokesperson added that "the existence of thousands of logistic items that exclusively operate on IBM hardware and software components and the dependence on the execution of applications, makes it essential to purchase these components and maintain them for a period of three years, from the only company that can satisfy these technical needs".

Current affairs

Pool Moncloa/C.P.S.The Vice-President of the Government pointed out that Spain is represented at the 25th Ibero-American Summit being held at this time in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), at the highest level by the Head of State, King Felipe VI, which demonstrates the involvement and importance that Spain assigns to these summits. She also expressed her wish for this to be a "fruitful summit that leads to significant progress and generates a capacity for exchanges at all levels" - cultural, economic and political.

In regard to the priorities for the new government, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría stated, as already announced by President of the Government Rajoy in the investiture debate, that "one of the first significant aspects to be tackled by the new government" as a preliminary step to drafting the General State Budget for 2017, is to set "the stability targets and the ceiling on non-financial State spending" and its submission to the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament.

As regards how she believes the new legislature will unfold and the role of the opposition, the acting Government Spokesperson said that she expects to see a "constructive legislature" with "reasoned debates" based on "dialogue and responsibility" which "will be more fruitful if we all work towards this".

In relation to the opposition, she remarked that its role must not be exclusively limited to criticism when it considers that "what is done is not good for the general interest", but rather it should also "offer dialogue and support", "carrying out appropriate actions to make propositions and control the government", and present alternatives.

As regards the cuts demanded by Brussels, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría argued that it is not the same to make adjustments to the public deficit in the middle of a recession, as happened in 2012, as with economic growth, as clearly shown by the figures for the last quarter on the Gross Domestic Product.