Sánchez highlights the political agreement between the governments of Spain and Portugal and the European Commission to reduce electricity bills

During his intervention in the Executive control session held in the Upper House of Parliament, Pedro Sánchez stated that this decision will favour consumers, small and medium-sized companies and industry, especially electro-intensive industry.

In response to a question raised in the plenary of the Upper House of Parliament by the PP spokesman, Javier Maroto, on the rise in prices, the president maintained that the upward trend affects not only Spain but also the world economy. Furthermore, he stated that the war in Ukraine is impacting the prices of unprocessed food and energy products.

Pedro Sánchez defended the Spain's dialogue and proposals in Brussels and considers that it will be difficult for Spain to confront "this rise in prices that is as unjustified as it is unjust" if the energy market is not amended at a European level.

In addition, the president said that the European agreement - limiting the price of gas in the wholesale electricity market to 50 euros per megawatt hour - "would be incomplete" if not accompanied by the National Response Plan to the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine approved by the Council of Ministers, the approval of which will be debated next Thursday in the Lower House of Parliament.

This plan was negotiated and agreed with the most affected sectors, such as transport, agriculture, livestock and fishing, said Sánchez, who also pointed out that the measure caps the rise in rent prices at 2% and increases the number of households receiving the Minimum Basic Income to two million.

The head of the Executive has urged the main opposition party to join in with approving the plan, which is "essential to protect, cushion and fairly share the burden of the economic and social consequences of the war".

Green hydrogen, key to the new energy model

The president reiterated to the Aragonese Party minister, Clemente Sánchez-Garnica, that the Government is working to achieve a more sustainable energy model from a social, economic and environmental point of view: "The Government's commitment is to move forwards and not to go back a single millimetre and not to use this energy crisis to return to energy models of the past".

Sánchez stated that far-reaching reforms are necessary to achieve Europe's energy autonomy, based on renewable energies, and to tackle climate change. The president reiterated that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently warned that if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced, the target of not exceeding a 2.5 degree increase in temperature by the end of this century will not be achieved.

The president stated that his Government was the first in 40 years to approve a legislative framework on this issue: a law on climate change, an Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan - "recognised by the European Commission as one of the best proposed by the Member States" - and an investment of 40% of the 70billion euros from European funds for a just energy transition.

In this context, he pointed out, "green hydrogen is the fundamental pillar". For this reason, the Government has approved a PERTE on Renewable Energies, Renewable Hydrogen and Storage, and is collaborating with the Government of Aragon to make "the Ebro Valley the future Hydrogen Valley".

As an example, he announced that the CAF factory in Zaragoza is already working on a project by Renfe to remodel a commuter train so that it can function as a "hydrogen train demonstrator". The aim is to achieve "environmentally sustainable trains", for example to run on the future Zaragoza-Canfranc-Pau line.

Sánchez has assured that his Government's commitment to achieve the reopening of this international railway connection is still valid, as was made clear on 28 February at the meeting of the four-party working group made up of the governments of Spain, France, Aragon and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, where "great progress was made in terms of technical specifications and the creation of an Economic Interest Group to apply for as many European calls for funding as appropriate".

The president said that the Council of Ministers has today authorised a contract of almost 48 million euros for the comprehensive improvement of the Ayerbe-Caldearenas section, where the standard gauge is being implemented and the study for the reopening of the Somport tunnel is also being drafted in collaboration with the French side.

Territorial cohesion as an element of progress

Pedro Sánchez has stated that all the economic and social policy proposals being put forward by the Government incorporate territorial cohesion as an element of progress: "This is a Government that does not forget any of the territories".

This was Sánchez's response to the minister of the Regionalist Party of Cantabria, José Miguel Fernández Viadero, who was interested in the challenges facing the Executive for this autonomous community.

The president assured that there is a "strong" commitment to Cantabria, which this year will receive 293 million euros from the General State Budget: "From a per capita point of view it is 411 euros, which is higher than the percentage of the national Gross Domestic Product and the share of the national population".

On specific issues, Sánchez recalled that the Government is assuming the payment of the debt of the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital as a benchmark health centre for Cantabria and the whole of Spain, that 64 million euros is planned for the Suburban Train Plan, 100 million euros for the State Road Network in the region and 186 million euros for investments in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. In addition, Santander will have the national Fisheries head office of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography.

On the other hand, the president defended the need for Spain and the European Union to have greater strategic food sovereignty, for which the Common Agricultural Policy is "fundamental", because it guarantees the sustainability of farms, especially now that the war between Ukraine and Russia, two fundamental producers, "could cause a potential food crisis, not so much in Europe but in many other countries with less resilient economies".

Non official translation