Mariano Rajoy announces that the next Council of Ministers will approve a new PIVE Plan

Barcelona

At a lunch with executives from leading car manufacturers on the occasion of the 38th Barcelona International Motor Show, the President of the Government highlighted the contribution made by this sector to the Spanish economy. Spain is the leading European manufacturer of industrial vehicles, the second-leading manufacturer of passenger vehicles in the European Union and the ninth worldwide.

Mariano Rajoy added that the sector is a "prime indicator" of the strength of the economy and is presently showing "the sustained reactivation of our entire industrial sector, and hence of the national economy as a whole". The President of the Government pointed out that in the first quarter of the year, the production of vehicles exceeded 714,000 units - 15.5% up on last year - and exports have grown by 12.3%. Moreover, car registrations have now recorded eight straight quarters of growth.

Mariano Rajoy underlined that these positive figures translate into the creation of quality jobs - "the main national goal" - and in the last 12 months, unemployment has fallen in the industrial sector by some 45,700 people, the number of people in work has increased by 142,500, and that a

lmost 10% of the fall in unemployment in the month of April came from the industrial sector.

Record investment by Volkswagen Group

The President of the Government thanked the representatives from the automobile sector for having supported the Spanish economy during the crisis through their investments, "when very few people were committing to us".

Mariano Rajoy announced that the Volkswagen Group, whose Global Vice-President met with him at Moncloa Palace on Thursday, will invest 4.2 billion euros in our country, "probably the largest industrial investment ever made in Spain". This investment will be made between now and 2019 and will be allocated to equipment, facilities and R&D at the SEAT factories in Martorell (Barcelona) and the Volkswagen factories in Navarre.

"This ambitious project not only guarantees the future of these globally cutting-edge factories, but it also represents an unprecedented endorsement of the leadership of the Spanish automotive-supply industry, where this investment will have a major impact in terms of both activity and employment", he pointed out.

New PIVE Plan

Marc LlibreMariano Rajoy remarked that in addition to this "vote of confidence" in Spain, the government will respond with "decisive backing" and implement "an economic policy geared towards stimulating the strength and development of a key sector for our country".

In this regard, the President of the Government announced that the next Council of Ministers will approve the eighth round of the PIVE Plan. The previous rounds of these subsidies for the renewal of the vehicle fleet have provided support for the purchase of a total of 900,000 vehicles.

The President of the Government argued that Spanish industry as a whole is "called on to become one of the main drivers of our economy in the years to come" and recalled that the government approved the "Agenda for strengthening the industrial sector in Spain" last summer.

The gateway to recovery

According to Mariano Rajoy, this round of "good news" shows that "the Spanish economy is starting to put the crisis behind it and has now fully opened the way to recovery". He stressed that this is not a case of "wishful thinking" since the European Commission has also forecast growth of close on 3% for the Spanish economy in 2015. "Spain will be the country out of the major European economies to enjoy greatest growth this year by some margin", he stressed.

The President of the Government also forecast that the Spanish economy will create some 600,000 jobs in 2015. He also described the target of reaching 20 million people in work by the end of the next legislature as "ambitious" yet "realistic", "if we plough on with the reforms and our economic policy without being sidetracked and carry on moving down the path of growth and stability".

The event was also attended by the President of the Regional Government of Catalonia, Artur Mas; the Ministers for Home Affairs, and Industry, Energy and Tourism, Jorge Fernández Díaz and José Manuel Soria, respectively, the European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete, and the Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trías. Following the lunch, Mariano Rajoy is due to visit the International Motor Show, which he described as "one of the main motor shows in the world and a wonderful international event to showcase Barcelona and Spain".