The Government of Spain extends incentives for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

Minister José Manuel Albares, along with Ministers Pilar Alegría and Sara Aagesen, and Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, address the press after the Council of Ministers (Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez)

The Council of Ministers has extended the Programme of Incentives linked to Electric Mobility (MOVES III), which offers grants for the purchase of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. The measure has an allocation of 400 million euros for purchases from 1 January to 31 December 2025. The grants can be up to 7,000 euros for passenger cars or up to 70% of the cost of the charging point for private individuals.

The Third Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen, framed this decision as being part of the Executive's "clear, firm and decisive" commitment to electric mobility, both in terms of the industry and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

MOVES III: tax deduction and simplified administrative process

The Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen, during her speech at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez

Sara Aagesen highlighted the retroactive nature of the programme, which means that the government is fulfilling its commitments in this respect, as well as the extension of aid until the end of the year to give consumers certainty. She also pointed out that the 400 million euros for this year are in addition to the more than 1.3 billion euros that the MOVES III programme has had so far.

Another new aspect pointed out by the vice-president is the 15% reduction in Personal Income Tax (IRPF) for 2025 and the simplification of procedures to speed up the process, as requested by the sector and consumers.

The Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge expressed her confidence that the programme will consolidate the upward trend in the number of electric and electrified vehicle registrations. In January 2025 registrations were up by 48% compared to the same month of the previous year, rising to 60% in February and 68.8% in March. In Aagesen's view, the continuation of the programme also offers a rapid and forceful response to the international tensions affecting the automotive sector and its value chain.

Fighting the climate emergency and fostering the industrial ecosystem

The third vice-president reviewed the planning, regulatory and supporting measures that the Executive has implemented since 2018 to achieve more decarbonised transport, initiatives that have been accompanied by a highly participatory process. Along these lines, the government has created a specific working group on electric vehicle charging infrastructure, to which all industrial and energy agents, the autonomous communities and the Federation of Municipalities and Provinces will be invited next Monday.

The Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen, at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez

MOVES III has facilitated the purchase of more than 140,000 vehicles and the installation of more than 113,000 charging points. Adding funds from other programmes such as MOVES Fleets, MOVES Singulares and MOVES for heavier transport, the government has mobilised almost 3 billion euros for the promotion of electric mobility and charging infrastructure.

In Spain, 25 models of electric vehicles are manufactured in 18 different factories and there are already more than 40,000 public charging points, according to Sara Aagesen, who described our country as a benchmark in terms of the green agenda and industrial ecosystem around decarbonised mobility.

Digital ID card on your mobile phone

The Government has regulated the process of issuance, management and development of the National Identity Card (DNI) in its physical version and, for the first time, in its digital version.

The Minister for Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, stressed that this regulation adapts the use of the DNI to the new digital challenges and offers citizens the possibility of having the document in digital format on their mobile phones. Citizens will be able to prove their identity using the MiDNI application installed on their mobile phone with maximum security guarantees and the same legal validity as the physical document. The physical ID card will coexist with digital identification, which does not replace the traditional ID card.

The Minister for Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez

Grande-Marlaska explained that the implementation of the regulation will be carried out in various phases. In the first phase, which starts tomorrow, the digital ID card will only allow identification in person, but will not be used to prove identity on the Internet. Therefore, the holder will be able to prove his or her identity in order to carry out face-to-face legal or administrative procedures before any public administration or private entity, but will not be able to use it as a travel document to cross borders or use it abroad. By way of an example, the minister explained that citizens will be able to vote with their digital ID card, open a bank account, take out a mortgage or collect a parcel from the post office.

The regulation sets a period of twelve months for public and private entities to adopt measures to adapt to the digital version of the DNI. Once this deadline has passed, the second phase begins and they will be obliged to accept the new digital format. In this second phase, it will be possible to use it to carry out telematic procedures, for electronic signatures and other operations via the Internet.

Fernando Grande-Marlaska pointed out that the digital ID card is a project of the Ministry of Home Affairs within the framework of the Digital Identity Plan and developed by the National Police in collaboration with the National Mint. With its implementation, he remarked, "Spain joins the select group of European countries that already have systems that allow identity to be accredited via mobile phone, which is a step forward for carrying out any type of transaction, both in the public and private sphere, through an easy, intuitive, secure and effective virtual support".

Areas affected by civil protection emergencies

The Council of Ministers has declared as areas seriously affected by a civil protection emergency the territories that were impacted by up to 53 adverse events of various kinds between 16 September 2024 and 24 March 2025 in the autonomous communities of Madrid, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia, Catalonia, La Rioja, Aragon, Balearic Islands and Galicia.

Minister José Manuel Albares, along with Ministers Pilar Alegría and Sara Aagesen, and Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, explain the agreements adopted by the Executive | Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez

Fernando Grande-Marlaska specified that the 53 emergencies do not include the DANA that occurred between 28 October and 4 November 2024 in Valencia because the government has already made aid available to the victims and for the reconstruction of the affected regions, amounting to more than 16.5 billion euros.

During his speech at the press conference following the Council of Ministers, the Home Affairs Minister reviewed the effects of the most intense storms, which have caused damage to people, infrastructure and public and private property, and which justify the intervention of the General State Administration based on the principle of inter-territorial solidarity and which comes in addition to the aid which, in the exercise of their powers, is agreed by the territorial administrations.

Exchange of information between security and customs services

At today's meeting, the Executive also discussed the preliminary draft bill on the exchange of information between the security and customs services of the EU Member States responsible for the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences.

Fernando Grande-Marlaska argued that in an area like the European Union characterised by the absence of internal border controls, it is essential that these services "are able to access and share the information needed to combat transnational organised crime".

Foreign Action Strategy 2025-2028

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, during the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has presented the new Foreign Action Strategy 2025-2028, which defines how Spain's foreign policy protects the life projects of Spaniards and promotes Spain's interests and values in a "complex and changing international context".

Albares specified that the strategy has three axes: projection of Europe, defence of a multilateral order and contribution to world peace and security.

The first axis reflects a clear commitment to the European project. "It is the first Spanish Foreign Action strategy to be initiated through Europe and in favour of the European project. Spain needs Europe in the same way that Europe needs Spain", the minister remarked. Albares stated that Spain supports a qualitative leap both in common European policies and in their financing, with a more ambitious European budget and a reform of the decision-making process in Brussels that extends qualified majority voting to new areas. Europe, he maintained, must continue its enlargement process and take more responsibility for its own security in all areas, including energy, technology and defence. "We are committed to deepening the single market, to completing the banking union, to strengthening the international role of the euro and to harnessing all the dynamism of the green transition and the digital transformation," he added.

The second axis of the strategy, according to Albares, involves a Spain committed to values such as peace, multilateralism and democracy: "We stand for a multilateral order based on human rights and peace. We want to reform and strengthen multilateralism, make it more inclusive, more democratic, more representative, protect and promote human rights, promote our feminist foreign policy and we are committed to development cooperation and humanitarian action, while at the same time leading the ecological transition in the world.

The third axis envisages a Spain that contributes to world peace and security, and this includes the security of the three million Spaniards living abroad, for which a plan to renew the consular network is being undertaken. The minister also stressed that Spain and Europe must assume greater responsibility for their own security, which means reinforcing the architecture of arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament, and maintaining a firm commitment to the fight against terrorism.

Albares announced that the strategy not only focuses on Europe, but also on the Mediterranean, Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and is committed to maintaining relations based on dialogue, respect and mutual benefit with North America.

News on Imserso trips: 50 euros flat rate and pets

Within the framework of the 40th anniversary of the Imserso trips, the Minister for Education, Vocational Training and Sports and Government Spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, announced that the Council of Ministers has approved the start of the selection process for this programme, which will have a budget of 970 million euros for the period 2025-2028. "Forty years ago, 16,000 places were available, today we are talking about 880,000 places and users now exceed 4.5 million", explained Alegría, who highlighted the high demand to participate in this initiative launched in 1985.

The government spokesperson reported on the two new features of the programme in the new call for applications: a flat rate of 50 euros for people with lower pensions and the possibility, for the first time, of travelling with pets. With regard to the first of these, 7,447 places will be reserved for people receiving a pension equal to or less than the non-contributory disability or retirement pension. Thus, these people will pay a fixed amount of 50 euros for their trip, regardless of the destination, and Imserso will cover the remaining cost of the trip.

The Minister for Education, Vocational Training and Sports and Government Spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, during her speech at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez

"When we talk about the Imserso programme, we are talking about supporting active ageing, working to combat the unwanted loneliness that affects older people in our country and continuing to support the deseasonalisation of our tourist industry", said the government spokesperson, for whom this programme is already "Spanish history".

Condolences to the victims of the Asturias mining accident

Pilar Alegría began her speech at the press conference following the Council of Ministers by expressing her condolences to the families and colleagues of the victims of yesterday's mining accident in Cerredo (Asturias), in which five workers died, "the most serious in the history of Asturian mining in the last three decades", according to the minister.

"We want to show our solidarity with the people of Asturias and also, of course, with Castilla y León, where the fatal victims came from", added Alegría, who confirmed that the third vice-president, Sara Aagesen, will travel to the scene of the accident to convey "the solidarity, affection and support" of the government to all those affected.

Non official translation