Speech by President of the Government at lunch with executives from leading car manufacturers on occasion of inauguration of Barcelona International Motor Show

Barcelona

Mr President of the Regional Government of Catalonia; Mr Ministers for Home Affairs, and Industry, Energy and Tourism; Mr European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy; Mr Mayor of Barcelona; Mr President of the Motor Show, Enrique Lacalle; Mr Honorary President of the Motor Show, Javier Godó; Mr President of Fira; ladies and gentlemen,

The Barcelona International Motor Show is, in its own right, one of the major events in the automobile world and a wonderful international event to showcase Barcelona and Spain. For this reason, it is an honour to be here at this inauguration and a great pleasure for me, although it is not my first time here with you all, as my friend Enrique Lacalle mentioned in his speech.

I would like to respond to this courtesy in the best way I can by showing my decisive commitment to such a vital sector for Catalonia and for Spain as a whole, as is the automotive sector.

No-one can hide the fact that my country is closely identified with the world of cars. As I said on previous occasions, from Vigo to Martorell and from Palencia to Navarra, via Zaragoza, Valencia, Madrid, Valladolid and the rest of the cities in Spain that I haven't mentioned, this industry has spread through our country as a vast network of talent and employment.

By inaugurating this motor show which, with almost a centenary of history behind it, is a source of legitimate pride for all the people of Barcelona, I want to highlight not only the economic importance of this industry for the Spanish economy, but also its extraordinarily positive social repercussions. You don't need to go beyond Catalonia to see this; like a true melting pot, Barcelona and its industry opened up to the talent of people arriving from all over Spain and, in exchange, these people enriched the social talent of a land which is a model of openness, efficiency and plurality which personifies the Spanish people throughout the world.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Such a dynamic and internationalised sector as the automobile sector also reminds us that a society and an economy need to be open to be prosperous. Spain is proof of that. We are presently the leading European producer of industrial vehicles, number one; the second-largest producer of passenger cars in the European Union and ninth in the world, as was pointed out.

In light of these data, it is very easy to corroborate the specific weight of the automotive sector on the Spanish economy, on GDP, on exports and on employment: 240,000 Spaniards work in car and component manufacturing plants.

Because of this, because it is a bastion of our economic activity, the automotive sector has become a leading indicator of the health of our economy. Fortunately, in this regard I can say that the motor vehicle sector presently highlights the sustained re-activation of our entire industrial sector and, through that, the re-activation of the national economy as a whole.

In this regard - and I am probably reiterating some of the figures that have already been mentioned here, but I believe it is important that we all have a clear idea in our heads - we should highlight that vehicle production in Spain exceeded 714,000 units in the first quarter of this year, a year-on-year increase of 15.5%, following on from the manufacturing of more than 2.4 million units in 2014. These are three decisive figures, as was mentioned by the President of ANFAC earlier.

These figures show by themselves the high degree of competitiveness of the Spanish plants which have the full support of the government and have found a way to attract - and this is very important - first rate investments from their parent companies. And we must thank them for this.

Fortunately, there are many more positive figures that I could add here, such as the number of industrial vehicles registered here which, with the support of the PIMA Transport Plan, has grown by 36%, or the commercial vehicle market which has grown even more, by 45% in the first quarter of the year and by 70% on last March.

These two examples are very significant, since they demonstrate to us the sustained recovery of the industrial sector, and just this morning, for example, a certain encouraging figure has been published on the rise in Industrial Production in Spain in the month of March by 4.8%... So, I repeat, we are talking about industrial recovery but also about figures that reflect the re-activation of trade and consumption.

On another note, we should also remember the positive performance of our export sector, which, in the first quarter of the year, showed that vehicle exports had grown by 12.3%, and this is also a very significant figure because it was the foreign trade sector that first started to help the economic recovery of our country.

Also worthy of mention, as Enrique Lacalle pointed out in his speech, is the good news on the issue of overall car registrations. We have exceeded, for the first time in a long time, 100,000 units per month and, moreover, we have now seen eight straight quarters of growth with such noteworthy year-on-year increases as that of 32% for the first few months of 2015.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Although we have already mentioned the social benefits of this sector, when we talk, as we have today, about the significant increases in car sales in Spain, this is much more than merely a positive figure. This good news immediately translates into quality job creation which is undoubtedly, and will be for a long time, the main national objective.

In the last 12 months, the number of workers in industry has increased by 142,500 people and almost 10% of the fall in unemployment in April is down to the industrial sector. This good news will also extend, moreover, to the cutting-edge generation of R&D+i in a country like ours where we have, as you are aware, a leading component manufacturing industry.

Finally, this good news extends to other fields, not so evident at first sight, such as sport. The President of the Regional Government of Catalonia reminded us in his speech that just a short time ago, only a few kilometres from here, the second practice session of the Spanish Formula 1 Gran Prix started which, without going into detail, I trust will result in the same people as you wish standing on the podium. But what is true and important today is that there are racing cars going round the track at Montmeló which have technology that will soon be transferred to our commercial vehicles, which is better for energy efficiency, the environment and the safety of everyone. This is one of the many great features of the automotive industry, that it is pioneering, something which, by the way, is very important in all walks of life.

Ladies and gentlemen,

On the new horizon of the Spanish economy, which I believe is going to be very good, the automobile industry has had a very positive impact, and today I wanted to state that because it is what I believe. I think that we should acknowledge that through your investments, the automobile industry has supported us in the worst times, in the very worst times, when very few people were committing to us. I went through that. Be aware that by becoming the recipients of your investments you contributed to offering the best image of a welcoming country with a competitive economy in the eyes of the world. I believe that this gratitude can be extended on behalf of all the people of Spain, because I believe that we all share exactly the same opinion on that issue.

For my part, I can assure you that all the meetings I have had during the course of this term of office with representatives of the automotive sector have been a source of great satisfaction and joy. And today I am satisfied and content once again.

The President of the Regional Government of Catalonia said this in his speech and I could extend this to everyone, but today we are here, in Barcelona, and it has been today that the Volkswagen Group has announced - I was with the global vice-president yesterday at Moncloa Palace - that it will invest 4.2 billion euros in our country - 4.2 billion euros. This is probably the largest industrial investment ever made in Spain; an investment that will be made between now and 2019, and which will be allocated to equipment, facilities and R&D+i at the SEAT factories in Martorell, here in Barcelona, and the Volkswagen factories in Navarre.

This ambitious project not only guarantees the future of these cutting-edge factories, but also represents an unprecedented backing for the leadership of the Spanish component manufacturing industry, where this investment will have an overwhelming impact in terms of activity and jobs.

We are going through a period where certain good news is starting to be seen and, although we have also gone through times with bad news, I believe that we should welcome this moment and take it as a vote of confidence, above all in the future of our country.

The government will respond to this commitment as indeed it should, with action and with decisive support, and an economic policy geared towards stimulating, strengthening and developing a key sector for our country.

The seven vehicle-fleet renewal PIVE Plans implemented since 2012 have led to some 900,000 vehicles to be purchased. And, when policies work, we must continue to commit to them and, to that end, the Council of Ministers will approve the 8th PIVE Plan next Friday.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The government's commitment extends, as is only right, to all of Spanish industry, which is called on over the coming years to be one of the main drivers of our economy, as has been mentioned here.

The government's aim, manifested through an active and participative industrial policy is to boost the competitiveness of our industrial fabric, as here today we have been asked to do, so that industry increases its weight in the national economy, which will be achieved by listening to all the players in our industrial policy: companies, sectors and social stakeholders.

Last summer, the Council of Ministers approved the Agenda for strengthening the industrial sector in Spain, shared with the various bodies involved, both public and private; an agenda which will improve the conditions under which industrial activity is developed in Spain and will help contribute to the growth of industry, to make it more competitive and to increase its weighting in GDP as a whole, because this is indeed necessary.

I shall now draw to a close.

Spain is taking giant steps forward and, if I had to summarise in a single phrase what this raft of good news means, my only answer could be to say that the Spanish economy is starting to turn its back on the crisis and has now fully opened the door to recovery.

That is not something I say as President of the Government; this is not a mere pipedream. If the government forecasts economic growth of 2.9% for the year, the European Commission has just published its growth forecasts over the last few days and, at 2.8%, Spain will be the country whose economy enjoys the greatest growth of the major European economies by some margin. Who would have said that just two and a half years ago?

These are figures that fill us with hope and which ratify the path of the reforms, which we have been asked to continue undertaking here today, and I can now confirm will be the case because we must persevere with whatever works and this path is leading to results.

The growth figures are a reality and the job creation figures are a reality, but they are still wholly insufficient. Last year, in 2014, 440,000 jobs were created and this year 600,000 jobs will be created - that is the government's forecast, which we agreed at the Council of Ministers held on 30 April and which we forwarded, as our official forecast, to the European Commission - and I am convinced that we can achieve a sum total of 20 million people in work in Spain by the end of the next term of office. To achieve this, we need another 500,000 jobs to be created each year in our country for the next four years. This year the figure will be some 600,000.

Whilst this target is ambitious, it is only ambitious within the context of being wholly realistic. And thanks to the efforts and the fortitude of Spanish society, I believe that we have found the right formula for recovery and now we must use that formula to our benefit.

If we are capable of persevering with the reforms, if we show our unwavering support for our economic policy and we move towards the future down a path of growth and stability, I am convinced that things will change for the better in our country.

And you, the representatives of the automotive sector, who were the first to appreciate that Spain is much more than the worst crisis in its history, will shortly appreciate that Spain is also much more than the best of its recoveries. We are here to help you, at your service.

Thank you very much.