Pedro Sánchez reaffirms with Airbus the Government's support for the aeronautical and aerospace sector

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

Group Photo of Pedro Sánchez together with the Airbus CEO, Guillaume Faury, and the Ministers for Defence, Margarita Robles, and Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, on the occasion of the meeting held at Moncloa Palace (Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo)

The meeting was also attended by the Minister for Defence, Margarita Robles; the Minister for Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant; the Secretary of State for Defence, Amparo Valcarce; the Secretary of State for Industry, Rebeca Torró, the President of the State Industrial Ownership Corporation (SEPI), Belén Gualda, and the Director of the Office of Economic Affairs and G-20, Manuel de la Rocha.

Pedro Sánchez expressed the Government's interest in maintaining cooperation with Airbus, and addressed the challenges facing the sector in areas such as security, trade, R&D and the future of the European aerospace industry in the current geopolitical context. The Government of Spain, a member of the Airbus consortium, signed with the aerospace company a series of extraordinary actions in July 2020 to address the pandemic-related crisis in the sector, which have led to the development of solutions for the aerospace and security sector in Spain. It has also consolidated strong executive support for the sector to guarantee Europe's strategic autonomy and national sovereignty.

The Government and the Airbus Group have been collaborating in security matters over the last seven years, which has led to advances in digitalisation and connectivity, as well as in large European defence programmes in which Spain takes part, and the PERTE Aerospace,among other initiatives. The President of the Government reaffirmed the strategic nature of the Spanish aerospace industry, and specifically of Airbus as a driving force in the sector, in which it represents 52% of aerospace activity and 49% of defence activity, generating to date more than 14,500 direct jobs and more than 60,000 indirect jobs throughout the sector.

Strategic areas of collaboration

The chief executive highlighted the drafting of a new joint communiqué, which will strengthen the relationship between the two parties. Specifically, seven strategic areas of collaboration have been defined: employment and talent, financing, competitiveness and R&D&I, export campaigns, commercial aviation, defence, and space and helicopters. With the development of these areas of strategic collaboration, the commitment initiated in 2020 will be continued and will contribute to the consolidation of employment in the sector, while helping to preserve Spain's technological and industrial capacities in the coming years.

Non official translation