Pedro Sánchez: "We are growing five times faster than the euro area average"

Lower House of Parliament, Madrid

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has highlighted during the control session in the Lower House of Parliament the actions of the Executive in economic matters. "Spain is in better shape than the EU: We are growing five times more than the average for the euro zone", he assured in his reply to Alberto Núñez Feijóo, a member of the People's Parliamentary Group.

"We have one of the lowest inflation rates, 21 million men and women national insurance contributors, and we have a temporary employment rate of 16%", continued Sánchez, who predicted that 2023 will end with a public deficit of 3.7% of GDP.

The president explained that the Government is redistributing economic growth, revaluing pensions, raising the minimum wage and strengthening public services, and according to Sánchez it is doing so "with fiscal responsibility, thanks to the country's good economic performance".

A commitment to coexistence in Catalonia

In his response to the question on the political situation in Catalonia posed by Miriam Nogueras, a member of the Junts per Catalunya parliamentary group, Pedro Sánchez recalled his government's commitment to economic growth, the extension of rights and coexistence.

"There is a great lesson to be learned from all this time, and it is that Catalonia cannot advance if it does so alone and divided. I believe that we must clearly commit to coexistence, and this is what the Government of Spain is doing", said Sánchez, for whom the commitment to coexistence "means committing to self-government".

In this context, the president assured that with this government, Catalonia has had "record funding and public investment from the General State Administration". He added that "more than 40% of resources on average have been transferred in these five years compared to the previous five years", also recalling the setting up of a round table for dialogue and the reactivation of the bilateral commissions recognised by the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia.

Progress of legislature and investment in the Basque Country

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, in response to the question posed by the MP Mertxe Aizpurua, of the Euskal Herria Bildu Parliamentary Group, recalled the expansive nature of the 2023 Budget, which is currently being extended. He pointed out that work is already underway "on the draft budget that we are going to present in the second half of the year for the year 2025".

The chief executive has highlighted different initiatives that the Government has carried out since the date of the investiture, such as the increase in the Minimum Inter-professional Wage and the revaluation of pensions.. "We have brought important laws to the General Courts that define this progressive coalition government, including the parity law, the law on trafficking, the bill on families and the artistic education law" he added.

Sánchez concluded his presentation by citing the investments that the Basque Country has received up to February: "We are talking about over €2.9 billion of European funds to reindustrialise the Basque Country, almost 60,000 people receiving the Minimum Basic Income, more than half a million Basques with revalued pensions, and 61,000 workers benefitting from this rise in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage".

Non official translation