The Government of Spain allocates €1.1 billion to the regional governments for dependency care

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Council of Ministers has approved the distribution of almost €1.1 billion from the EU's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan to implement the care economy shock plan and to strengthen social inclusion policies.

The acting Minister for Territorial Policy and Government Spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, has specified that the autonomous communities and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla will be able to allocate these funds to different projects. New public facilities will be provided with a people-centred architecture and community environments, and existing ones will be remodelled and adapted. New technologies will be incorporated into the care service, introducing equipment in homes that favours personal autonomy, such as advanced telecare and other means that allow care to be provided in the home without the dependent person having to leave their environment.

Isabel Rodríguez also stressed that the efficiency and quality of social services for dependency care will be improved through technological transformation and the exchange of information between systems and services in the different autonomous communities.

The funds will also be directed to pilot projects to improve residential protection and foster care models focused on adolescents, in particular unaccompanied migrant children and children with special needs. They will also be used to implement projects included in the Accessible Country Spain Plan, which includes measures to improve accessibility to public administration services and public transport and to adapt workplaces.

The spokesperson stressed that the Executive has distributed a total of €2.7 billion to the autonomous communities for dependency care during this legislature, increasing it by 150% in the last three years via the dependency shock plan: "Government action has had a great impact on the social policies that are implemented by the communities and that are aimed directly at the people who most need the care and attention of public administrations".

Latin Grammy Awards in Seville

The acting Minister for Territorial Policy and Government Spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, reply to the media at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa/José Manuel Álvarez

The Council of Ministers has granted €1.5 million to the Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (RTVE) for the development, production, broadcasting and dissemination of the 24th edition of the Latin Grammy Awards, to be held on 16 November in Seville. These awards recognise artistic and technical excellence in recorded music for musical productions sung in Spanish, Portuguese or in languages, dialects and idiomatic expressions recognised in Ibero-America.

The government spokesperson stressed that RTVE will broadcast the gala exclusively in Spain and that it will be held for the first time outside the US. "With this action, the government wants to continue to build on this momentum and on the development, cultural activity and diversity of cultural programmes in our country," he said.

Contribution to the United Nations

The Executive has earmarked €5.5 million to five UN system organisations. They are the United Nations Population Fund, UN Habitat, UN Women, UNICEF and the UN Development Programme.

With this contribution, said Isabel Rodríguez, "we reaffirm our commitment and collaboration with the UN system to respond to the main global challenges, which we suffered more acutely in the last legislature, especially the pandemic, but also crisis situations due to armed conflicts, and our commitment to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals". Rodríguez added that "the urgency of acting with this multilateral approach is even more pressing today".

Infrastructure in investment

In terms of investments, the acting Minister for Territorial Policy highlighted those related to the Executive's commitment to the railway system and to collaboration with other administrations.

Specifically, the Council of Ministers has authorised the agreement between Adif and the Government of the Basque Country for the construction of the new high-speed access to the Bilbao-Abando station. The drafting of the project and the works represent an investment of € 226.5 million and are "a very important step forward" in the development of the Vitoria/Gasteiz-Bilbao-Donostia/San Sebastián High Speed Line, according to Isabel Rodríguez.

In addition, the Executive has authorised the updating of the agreement between Adif, the Xunta de Galicia and Vigo City Council to complete the new accesses to the Vigo intermodal station. The investment amounts to €24.5 million, of which the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda will finance €17.1 million, 70% of the total.

In addition, the Council of Ministers has earmarked €20.3 million for road maintenance in the province of Barcelona and €24.6 million for the maintenance of the computer systems of the Spanish Aviation Safety Agency.

Non official translation