Government allocates aid to eight regions to alleviate effects of Storm Filomena

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Council of Ministers declared Andalusia, Aragon, Castile-La Mancha, Castile and Leon, Madrid, Navarre, Rioja and Asturias to be Regions Seriously Affected by a Civil Protection Emergency, as a result of the effects of Snowstorm Filomena and the cold snap from 7 to 18 January.

The Minister for the Treasury and Government Spokesperson, María Jesús Montero, stated that although the information has not yet been precisely quantified, this agreement has been taken to speed up the processing of support procedures and to avoid delays. "Once an assessment has been made, a new agreement will be approved by the Council of Ministers", she announced.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, in collaboration with the other ministerial departments, government delegations, regional governments and local authorities affected, is taking stock of the effects of the storm.

Direct aid

Foto: Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la BellacasaThe agreement provides for aid designed to alleviate personal injury, cases of death and incapacity caused directly by the storm. It also covers compensation for material damage to homes and belongings, and to industrial, commercial, agricultural, maritime-fishing and tourist establishments and other services, while those people and companies that have provided resources and goods will be entitled to be compensated.

Local authorities may receive aid for expenses deriving from tackling the emergency, with the legal limits established, and subsidies of up to 50% for those projects implemented by local councils, associations of districts and provincial councils to repair or restore infrastructures, equipment and installations and services under municipal ownership.

Tax and labour measures

The minister announced that exemptions may also be established on Property Tax (Spanish acronym: IBI), reductions applied to the Economic Activities Tax (Spanish acronym: IES) and exemptions applied to traffic charges, as well as reductions in the objective estimation method of Personal Income Tax (Spanish acronym: IRPF) and on the simplified VAT regime, both for agricultural holdings and activities in those regions declared to be affected.

At a labour level, suspensions of employment contracts and reductions in the working day caused during the emergency will be compensated or considered to be events of force majeure. The State Public Employment Service (Spanish acronym: SEPE) may authorise stoppage times not to be calculated for the effects of consumption during the maximum periods of receipt established and that those workers that lack the necessary contribution time may receive unemployment benefits.

The General Treasury of the Social Security system may exempt business owners from paying quotas while the suspension of these employment contracts lasts which, meanwhile, will be considered to have been effectively contributed by the worker.

Warning over melting of ice and recovery of green zones

The Fourth Vice-President of the Government and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, explained that as from Wednesday her ministerial department and the Civil Protection authorities will closely monitor river flows, particularly in the river basins of the Tajo, Duero and Ebro, due to the arrival of several Atlantic fronts bringing rain, wind and higher temperatures, which will melt the snow accumulated during the storm and the cold snap.

Teresa Ribera also stressed the work pending to repair green zones and planted tree areas in built-up areas, and expressly thanked the almost 400 members of the Support Brigades against Wildfires (Spanish acronym: BRIF) for their collaboration in the most pressing cleaning tasks and work to clear away fallen trees and branches in different parts of Spain. "For the first time ever, the BRIFs have been deployed throughout the country to carry our tasks in an emergency other than wildfires", she underlined.

Effects on energy supplies

Foto: Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la BellacasaTeresa Ribera also referred to the effects of the storm on the energy market and claimed that, in general, the record demand of these people in the first fortnight of January has been met.

"The gas system operator has facilitated the immediate activation of the reserves and the incorporation of new supplies, and the electricity system operator has closely monitored the situation, 24 hours a day, to prevent incidents", she explained. The almost 15,000 power cuts recorded between 8 and 12 January, mainly in Madrid and Toledo, and to a lesser extent in Aragon and Catalonia, have persisted in as far as there were difficulties in accessing recovery points which have required the installation of emergency generators on some occasions.

As regards the electricity price increase and its repercussion on final household bills, the minister explained that the peaks generated over these days are cause for concern but that these are one-off figures that may distort the overall snapshot. "It is important to look at the trend, and stand back to appreciate the real effect on our bills. We must take the evolution in the quarter or in the year as the reference point".

The minister argued that, over the last two years, the government has adopted more than 50 market reform, planning and strategic measures to speed up the integration of renewable energies, storage, self-consumption and energy efficiency, with the aim of gradually reducing bills for consumers. "The price of energy, between 2018 and 2020, has fallen by 40%", she said, and "we aspire to making an additional reduction, once the electricity system sustainability fund is up and running, which we forecast at around 13% of the final bill".

According to Teresa Ribera, the real impact of the first fortnight of January will be from 4 to 10 euros more for the 10.7 million households that fall under the regulated tariff for voluntary pricing for small consumers. "This is the most competitive and stable tariff possible, and has led to a reduction in the final bill of close to 17% over two years, more than 120 euros in 2020 compared with 2018", she stated.

The forecasts, she continued, indicate that as from Wednesday, the system will return to a downward curve, with prices that may stand in February at below those before the storm, and 37% lower than during Storm Filomena and the cold snap, while estimates for the second quarter of the year are for a reduction of up to 45%.

Fight against energy poverty

Teresa Ribera reaffirmed the government's commitment to the fight against energy poverty and the measures contained in the National Strategy approved in 2019, which seek to achieve a reduction in these households of at least 25% by the year 2025.

As at 10 January this year, specified the minister, there are 1,218,863 households that benefit from the electricity social voucher compared with 1,077,000 at the end of 2018, while the thermal social voucher, created in 2019, reaches 1,270,897 households. "The National Budget for 2021 has increased the provision for these ends by 16%", she stressed.

Vaccination progress

Foto: Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la BellacasaThe Minister for the Treasury and Government Spokesperson, María Jesús Montero, recalled that those people who live in care homes, their workers, healthcare and day-care workers and non-institutionalised dependents are now receiving the second dose of the vaccine against COVID-19. Furthermore, she pointed out that those people already vaccinated, although they will acquire immunity, must continue to protect themselves, using a face covering and maintaining social distancing and frequent hand washing.

María Jesús Montero specified that around 70% of the doses received have now been administered, which places Spain among the countries in the world with the highest rate of vaccination.

The government maintains its forecast for between 15 and 20 million people to be vaccinated between the months of May and June, claimed the minister.

Solidarity plan on universal access to vaccinations

The government approved a solidarity plan on universal access to vaccinations with the aim of a significant percentage of the world's population gaining access to the vaccination against COVID-19.

The plan places the refugee population, displaced persons and asylum seekers as priority groups, particularly in developing countries. Secondly, those citizens in countries less advanced in the administration of the vaccination, and lastly, partner countries of Spanish Cooperation where access by the priority 20% of its citizens is not guaranteed.

The target set by the World Health Organization (WHO) is for the vaccination to reach all healthcare workers and the most vulnerable people in the world, which equates to some 20% of the world's population.

The European Union will offer 5% of the vaccines it has acquired, without prejudicing the vaccination process of the entire local population. Spain's contributions will be channelled through the WHO's COVAX Programme (conceived to defray research into vaccines and facilitate their distribution); through the EU's donation mechanism; through several United Nations agencies and other multilateral and regional organisations, and through direct bilateral allocations.

María Jesús Montero underlined that all countries must offer a global response so that their efforts and achievements in combating the spread of the virus are effective.

Protection of vulnerable consumers

Foto: Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la BellacasaThe Council of Minister stepped up the protection of the most vulnerable consumers, such as children, the elderly, those with functional, intellectual, cognitive and sensory disabilities, or with difficulties in accessing or understanding information. These are the groups most exposed to suffering from fraud or scams when they contract products or services from companies.

The Minister for Consumption, Alberto Garzón, highlighted that the legislation approved on Tuesday introduces for the first time the specific figure of the venerable consumer, which will include these people.

Alberto Garzón announced that the public authorities will improve transparency and the information related to consumption and correct situations of defencelessness, which have been exacerbated over the last year by social isolation and mobility restrictions stemming from COVID-19.

For their part, companies will come under an obligation to provide the necessary support to vulnerable consumers so that they can correctly understand the content of the contracts they sign.

The measure is integrated within the framework of the European Union's new consumer agenda for the year 2025, which includes questions related to consumer protection rights, particularly of the most vulnerable.

Greater labour protection for posted workers

The government has analysed the draft bill regulating employment legislation applied to foreign workers posted to Spain. The measure meets EU legislation on this matter.

The Government Spokesperson explained that posted workers that remain in Spain for more than 12 months will be subject to national legislation. Similarly, the new law guarantees equal pay and treatment between those posted workers assigned by Temporary Employment Agencies and those of the user company.

Information on dairy products

The Council of Ministers agreed to enhance transparency and information in the supply chain of the dairy sector.

María Jesús Montero stated that operators will have to offer details on the composition of milk in terms of fats and proteins, the production of raw ecological milk and its price.

Non official translation