The Government of Spain allocates 2.52 billion euros to scholarships for the next academic year, which will reach its highest ever amount

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Pilar Alegría, stressed that the Government of Spain will make a historic investment of 2.52 billion euros to guarantee "equal opportunities and that thousands of students can continue their education without their socio-economic conditions being an obstacle".

Alegría pointed out that investment in this area has increased by 70% since the last budget by the previous government and will benefit over one million students.

The new features of the call for applications include an increase from 1,600 to 2,500 euros in residence grants for further and higher education, which will benefit around 125,000 students, especially those from rural areas who have to travel to other locations to study.

In addition, there will be a universal grant of 400 euros for students in non-university education who can prove a disability of at least 33%, severe behavioural, communication or language disorder or autism spectrum disorder, in order to cover the additional costs that their families have to face. In this case, the Minister estimated that the aid will benefit over 214,000 students.

On the other hand, Pilar Alegría highlighted that the management of scholarships has been improved so that students can find out if they meet the financial requirements to obtain a scholarship before enrolling on any course. They can submit their applications during the months of March and April, and they will be informed if they meet the criteria in August or September. If they do fulfil the relevant conditions, they will receive their grant in the last quarter of the year.

Reform of Artistic Education

The Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Pilar Alegría, during her speech at the press conference | Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

The Government of Spain has agreed to submit to Parliament the Bill regulating artistic education for the first time in 33 years, which is a measure that has been in great demand by the cultural and artistic sector.

According to Pilar Alegría, this decision will make it possible to generate a "stable, integrated and clear legal framework" for a group of 140,000 students, 14,000 teachers and 689 public and private schools. The Minister added that the text completes the reform of the education system, together with the laws on Education, Vocational Training, Universities and Science, and will be processed through the urgent procedure so that it can be approved before the end of the legislature.

Alegría explained that the future law brings higher artistic education in line with the university model and standardises professional artistic education according to the new vocational training system. Furthermore, she pointed out that the audiovisual arts, hitherto not included, are being integrated into higher artistic education for the first time.

The Minister for Education and Vocational Training stressed that this move ensures that higher education qualifications are standardised and incorporated into the European Higher Education Area. Likewise, students of higher artistic education will be recognised as university scholarship holders.

Moreover, arts education establishments will gain pedagogical and organisational autonomy and will be able to establish agreements with universities to promote student exchanges, offer doctorate opportunities and join forces to create the "Arts Campus". Four teaching corps are also being created; the one for Art Education Workshop Teachers is being maintained and the post of specialist teacher is being created.

Pilar Alegría summed up the measure by pointing out that "the Government of Spain is creating a common framework, which allows for subsequent development of regulations, puts higher education on an equal footing with university and professional education with vocational training, strengthens centres' autonomy and standardises qualifications for young people as well as elevating and consolidating artistic education".

First assessment of taxes on the banking and energy sectors

The Minister for Treasury and Public Function, María Jesús Montero, during her speech at the press conference | Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

The Council of Ministers has analysed the preliminary assessment report on the new temporary levies for energy companies and credit institutions.

The deadline for the first advance payment of 50% of the quota for the whole year expired yesterday, and 817.4 million euros have been collected from the energy levy in addition to 637.1 million euros from the bank tax.

The Minister for Treasury and Public Function, María Jesús Montero, has described these results as "very positive" and anticipated that the actual annual revenue from both taxes could be higher than the most conservative estimate of 2.9 billion euros, or even 3 billion, which was forecast in the economic report that accompanied the bill to create these taxes.

"The collection of both figures represents a fairly reasonable amount in view of the volume of profits obtained by both sectors, once the profit and loss accounts are published, so these levies should be considered to be proportionate rather than confiscatory," Montero continued.

According to the data provided by the Minister, the large Spanish banks received over 20.5 billion in profits in 2022. The turnover of the first two groups increased by 25% compared to the previous year. In turn, the profits published by the main energy companies, only up to September, reflect an increase of 43%, reaching almost 12 billion euros.

Helping citizens in a context of uncertainty

Montero expressed the Government of Spain's support for both sectors, adding that "the only thing we are asking is that, considering these historic profits, they make a small contribution to helping the citizens of their country in a context of uncertainty".

The Minister reiterated that the Spanish public already bore a high cost during the previous crisis for a bailout of billions of euros of public money to clean up the financial system: "Now it is up to the financial institutions to help ensure that the crisis is shared more and in a better way, something that is quite understandable and fair, which is in the DNA of this progressive government".

The Minister for Treasury and Public Function announced that the temporary tax on large fortunes, which affects 23,000 taxpayers who have over 3 million euros in assets in Spain, will also be evaluated in the near future.

"When some Regional Governments appeal against this tax, they are prioritising the 0.1% of the richest citizens in their community over public health services or education, which are used by the vast majority of our country's citizens," she asserted.

Coherent and fair tax model

In addition to these three taxes, the Minister referred to other tax measures, such as reducing corporate tax from 25% to 23% for SMEs whose turnover does not exceed one million euros, extending the reduction of earned income for earnings up to 21,000 euros, increasing personal income tax for the highest incomes and taxes on financial transactions and digital services.

Since the beginning of the legislature, the Government of Spain's objective has been to establish a more progressive and coherent fiscal model and tax system, which will allow "progress in fiscal justice in order to achieve greater social justice and fight inequality".

Moreover, she continued to explain that all the fiscal measures adopted are based on compliance with Article 31 of the Constitution and international recommendations "to ask for a greater contribution from those who are making extraordinary profits due to the economic and geopolitical situation".

Montero reiterated that the European Commission has also proposed taxing extraordinary profits in sectors like energy, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has considered it necessary to impose exceptional solidarity taxes on large incomes and companies with extraordinary profits.

"Those who are opposed to banks, energy companies or those with large fortunes contributing more should explain to citizens whom they think we should to ask to make this contribution," she said.

The Minister emphasised that Government of Spain "will continue working to strengthen public services to benefit the majority of the country's citizens", and gave as examples the 200 euros in aid, which was launched last Wednesday and has already been applied for by over 1.1 million people-, the reduction in taxes linked to electricity and gas and the reduction of VAT on basic foodstuffs in shopping baskets.

190 million for the Co-Responsibilities Plan

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

The Executive has agreed to distribute 190 million euros among the Regional Governments and autonomous cities to develop the Co-Responsibilities Plan.

This plan, now in its third edition, aims to facilitate the reconciliation of families and create quality employment in the field of care.

The Government Spokesperson and Minister for Territorial Policy, Isabel Rodríguez, expressly mentioned the local bodies that are collaborating with the Regional Governments in most of the activities, "from a position of proximity and with the social aspiration of improving families' lives".

Refugee Resettlement Programme

The Executive has approved the National Refugee Resettlement Programme for 2023, under which up to 1,200 refugees from countries affected by conflict or serious humanitarian crises will be welcomed.

Last year, when the same maximum number was set, 1,112 people were resettled in Spain, the vast majority of them Syrians from Lebanon.

Isabel Rodríguez announced that, next May Spain will welcome the first group of over a hundred people affected by the earthquake in Syria and Turkey.

Concern over Putin's nuclear weapons announcement

Isabel Rodríguez has expressed the Government of Spain's concern and its rejection of the decision announced this morning by the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, to suspend its participation in the START III Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty with the United States.

In her first speech at the press conference held after the Council of Ministers meeting, Rodríguez reiterated "the solidarity and unity of Spain and the whole of the European Union with the Ukrainian people in rejecting this unilateral, unjust and unjustified aggression" and defended the European model of coexistence of rights and freedoms.

Non official translation