The Government of Spain approves the More Energy Security Plan to protect consumers and reduce gas consumption

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Council of Ministers has approved the More Energy Security Plan (+SE) to strengthen the protection of citizens against price rises caused by the war in Ukraine, under the European commitment to energy saving. The initiative is also aimed at reducing gas consumption, improving energy autonomy, and increasing the competitiveness of the economy and energy exports.

The Third Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, has stated that it is a plan that will updated in an ongoing manner, given the uncertainty of the evolution of the war and its consequences, and a monthly monitoring report on the efficiency and savings in electricity and gas of the different measures will be made public.

Ribera underlined that the document has been built on dialogue and thanked the institutions and administrations, parliamentary groups, industrial and domestic consumer associations and industrial and energy operators for their contributions in the more than thirty meetings that have been held. The Vice-President of the Government of Spain pointed out that all these actors have agreed on the priority approach for the plan: "How we can be more effective in channelling savings while preserving the comfort of families and the productive fabric".

Six objectives and 73 measures in the +SE Plan

The Third Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, during her speech at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

The +SE Plan includes 73 energy security measures grouped into six main objectives: savings and efficiency; transformation of the energy system; extension of protection to citizens, especially the vulnerable; fiscal measures; transformation of industry thanks to renewable energies and hydrogen; and solidarity with the rest of the European countries.

To guarantee and improve the protection of the population, the coverage of the electricity social voucher and the thermal social voucher will be extended, increasing the volume of the protected population. It will also reduce the bills of 1.6 million households with communal boilers in view of the coming winter, and families will receive tax support to implement renewable air conditioning systems. Cost allocators will be promoted in centralised heating systems and smart natural gas meters will be installed.

In the area of savings and efficiency, awareness-raising campaigns will be carried out, the central government's savings plan will be extended to other administrations, and there will be a programme to replace public lighting. SMEs will receive support from the ICO to implement renewables and energy saving measures.

Other measures include the promotion of solar roofs, energy communities and self-consumption, and speeding up the processing of renewable projects. Support to industry and capacity building for the energy transition will also be increased, with a 1 billion increase in the PERTE for Renewable Energies, Renewable Hydrogen and Storage. A new PERTE for Decarbonisation of Industry will also be launched.

Effectiveness of measures already taken

The vice-president stated that the plan approved today is a step forward in the structural work that Spain has been developing for months to reduce dependence on the most volatile energy materials, transform the energy system and, from a short-term point of view, protect consumers.

Ribera defended that the decisions taken on taxation and the system's fixed costs, in addition to the impact of the Iberian mechanism, have made it possible to control the price of electricity: "If we had not been taking action since September 2021, by August 2022 the price would have been 33% higher than the average that domestic consumers are paying."

In fact, she insisted, in the case of vulnerable and extremely vulnerable consumers, their bills are the same as before the invasion and the situation resulting from the Ukrainian crisis.

Accumulated savings, the vice-president continued, stand at over €2.8 billion, and even with the introduction of the adjustment to pay the price of gas, the price of electricity in Spain is well below the wholesale market price in Italy, France and Germany.

European context

Press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

The +SE Plan includes an analysis of the energy situation in Spain and the EU. Unlike other European countries, Spain is not dependent on Russian energy imports, but has a guaranteed supply and is in fact exporting electricity and natural gas, mainly to Portugal and France.

"If we discount the electricity exports necessary to guarantee the supply of our neighbours, there has been a very significant reduction in the demand in our country for gas to produce electricity", explained Ribera, who recalled that at the extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers of the European Union on energy last July, a reduction of 6.4% was set for Spain, compared to 15% for the rest of the countries.

The measures adopted by all member states, the vice-president recalled, are voluntary, but will become obligatory if several of them activate the state of alert or if the European Commission considers that there is a real and serious risk of shortages.

The informal meeting of the Council of Energy Ministers will take place tomorrow in Prague, and will be attended by Ribera. She explained that they will continue working on the proposals set out by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen: decoupling the price of gas from the price of electricity, changing the indicators used by all operators as a reference for the price of gas, accelerating the transformation of the energy system and carrying out a structural reform of the electricity market.

"The EU is probably facing the most intense moment in terms of energy policy that it has experienced for many, many years", said Ribera, for whom "the ability to respond together is critical and the great opportunity to consolidate a European energy project, obviously for reasons that are not at all desirable, must not be lost".

Common Agricultural Policy, investments and new irrigation forum

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has reported on several agreements adopted by the Council of Ministers regarding the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the distribution of funds between regional governments and the creation of the National Irrigation Board and the Irrigation Sustainability Observatory.

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, during his speech at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

CAP advance payments

Planas announced that €2.8 billion in advance payments of CAP aid will be made to 680,000 farmers and stockbreeders, starting on Monday 17 October. This advance represents 70% of total aid, 20% more than the percentage in force until now, following the modification approved by the European Commission at the request of Spain and other countries.

"The effort of the Government of Spain in this respect is notable", the minister stressed, having insisted on the need to provide beneficiaries with liquidity "at the right time", when sowing and production are planned and seeds, fertilisers, animal feed and fuel are purchased, which due to the war in Ukraine have also suffered considerable price increases.

CAP Regulation 2023-2027

The Government of Spain has approved two Royal Decrees on Fruit and Vegetable Producers' Organisations (OPFH). These are the first of the eighteen planned until the end of the year to adapt the current legislation to the CAP that will enter into force on 1 January 2023.

The minister underlined the importance of this new regulation for improving the sustainability and competitiveness of the fruit and vegetable sector in Spain, qualifying it as "so important for the whole of the agri-food sector and for providing a fundamental foodstuff to all the citizens of Europe".

Fruit and vegetables account for 30% of exports in the agri-food sector, Spain's leading export sector.

Creation of the National Round Table on Irrigation

The Council of Ministers has agreed to set up the National Round Table on Irrigation and the Observatory for the Sustainability of Irrigation as a collaborative body between the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Luis Planas considered that it will be "a fundamental element for having a joint vision of irrigators, communities, regional governments and the rest of the administrations", with a view to investing €2.1 billion until 2027 on improving the sustainability and efficiency of irrigation in Spain.

Distribution of 135.4 million among the ACs

The regional governments will receive €135.4 million, mostly under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, as agreed today by the Government of Spain. The distribution of this amount will take place on 13 October at the Agriculture Sectoral Conference.

The different lines of investment are aimed at promoting precision agriculture, energy efficiency and the circular economy; improving biosecurity in nurseries and animal cleaning and disinfection centres; eradicating animal diseases; preventing and combating pests; and paying for the Programme of Specific Options for Remoteness and Insularity (Posei) in the Canary Islands.

Affordable rental housing development

The Government Spokesperson and Minister for Territorial Policy, Isabel Rodríguez, during her speech at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

The Council of Ministers has authorised the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda (Mitma) to sign an agreement with the Entidad Pública Empresarial de Suelo (Sepes) to promote the construction of social and affordable rental housing on public land.

The aim is to build as many homes as possible to help reach the target of 100,000 affordable and social rented homes.

The Government spokesperson and Minister for Territorial Policy, Isabel Rodríguez, stressed that the processes to offer this type of housing to all citizens and "especially to young people who are undertaking new life projects" need to be speeded up.

Mitma will transfer €115.3 million to Sepes this year, included in the 2022 Budget, and €260 million next year, as stated in the draft 2023 General State Budget.

European Structural and Investment Funds

The Council of Ministers heard the report of the Ministry of the Treasury and Public Function on Spain's Association Agreement 2021-2027, prior to its formal submission to the European Commission for final approval.

Isabel Rodríguez explained that this strategic document includes the main lines of action and investment priorities of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFF), and the Just Transition Fund (FTJ).

Overall, the Partnership Agreement represents a total investment of almost €60 billion, a 15% increase on the period 2014-2020.

Refugees and the situation in Ukraine

The Government of Spain has agreed to award direct grants worth more than €361 million to the regions of Catalonia and Valencia and to four organisations working with refugees: the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid, the CEPAIM Foundation for Comprehensive Action with Migrants, the Spanish Catholic Migration Commission Association and the Spanish Red Cross.

Isabel Rodríguez has defined Spain as a country of solidarity, the fifth country that has taken in most Ukrainian refugees in Europe, specifically more than 147,000 people: "We continue to welcome them and give them opportunities".

The minister expressed concern about the escalation of Putin's attacks on civilians, including yesterday's shelling of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. However, he also conveyed a "message of certitude" to Spanish citizens because all issues are being rigorously analysed and the necessary security measures are being adopted, both nationally and internationally.

Non official translation