Pedro Sánchez announces 110 additional measures with an investment of 3.765 billion euros to respond to the emergency caused by the DANA

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech at the press conference after the Council of Ministers (Pool Moncloa/José Manuel Álvarez)

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that the Council of Ministers has today approved a new Royal Decree-Law of urgent measures for the Immediate Response, Reconstruction and Relaunch Plan in response to the damage caused by the DANA, with 110 additional measures and an investment of 3.765 billion euros. These new measures, which are in addition to the RDL of more than 10.6 billion euros approved last week, allow progress to be made in the first phase of immediate response and in the second phase of reconstruction, as part of the Plan articulated by the Government.

During his appearance at the Moncloa Palace Complex, after chairing the meeting of the Council of Ministers, he explained that the new measures are intended, on one hand, "to extend and strengthen the social shield put in place last week" and, on the other, "to help the productive fabric of the affected areas, to ensure their speedy recovery."

He also stressed the "significant progress" that has been made over the last week in the affected areas, but "there is still a great deal to be done" and has therefore guaranteed that "the Government of Spain is and will be there, with all the necessary resources and for as long as necessary." "This Government is putting in and will continue to put in all the resources of the General State Administration to help the citizens," remarked the president, who assured that at the moment, there are more than 25,000 public employees displaced to the province of Valencia or working for the affected areas from their military bases or state agencies, and more than 14.373 billion euros in aid, credits and tax exemptions has already been mobilised with these first two packages of measures.

Aid for damage to dwellings and compensation for loss of household goods: 50% advance payment

The president explained the content of the new additional measures approved today, the first part of which is aimed at "improving the social shield, creating more aid, speeding up its processing, or increasing the number of citizens who can benefit from it." For this, he announced that all aid for damage to homes will be extended to owners who do not live in them but who have rented them, as well as compensation for loss of belongings also to tenants, and to goods that are not basic necessities. In addition, in order for this aid to arrive more quickly, Pedro Sánchez has also announced that an immediate 50% advance will be made to all citizens who apply for it, so that they do not have to wait while their application is being processed.

Temporary Citizens' Advice Bureaux

Likewise, in order to facilitate the processing process, the number of staff in the government sub-delegations will be temporarily increased, service points will be set up in all post offices, and a network of temporary offices will be opened in the affected towns, starting with 10 that will be operational as of this morning.

A 30% increase of the Child Benefit Supplement to 10,000 families

Pedro Sánchez also announced a temporary increase of 30% in the Child Benefit Supplement for the approximately 10,000 low-income families with children living in the affected areas.

Code of Good Practice: Mortgage Relief

Likewise, the code of good mortgage practices created by the Executive with the financial sector in 2022 during the inflationary crisis is extended, so that households hit by the DANA can freeze their mortgages for an additional 12 months, once the 12 months already included in the Royal Decree Law approved last week have passed. In this respect, Pedro Sánchez pointed out, as an example, that a household with an average mortgage of 120,000 euros with a payment of 600 euros before 29 October, will be able to pay 0 euros for the next 3 months and some 300 euros for 9 additional months. After that 12-month period, if at risk of vulnerability, such a household will be able to use the code extended today, and pay an amount of around 300 euros for a further 12 months, "thus receiving substantial mortgage relief, until November 2026."

In addition, and with the accommodation needs of the affected families in mind, 150 state-owned dwellings located in or near the damaged areas have been made available to those affected free of charge and immediately. Some 25 million euros will also be earmarked for the purchase of housing and the expansion of the housing stock for those affected.

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, appears before the media after the meeting of the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

Workers' protection: extension of ERTEs for older workers and special allowance for the self-employed

The Council of Ministers today also approved new measures to strengthen the protection of workers. Following the activation of the force majeure ERTEs, which will be applied retroactively in all affected areas, their application is extended today to all companies and workers who, although not located in the affected municipalities, have seen their activity severely damaged by the DANA. With this measure, "we hope to protect the incomes of thousands of workers and prevent redundancies and companies from returning to business, as happened during the pandemic, in a stronger and faster way," Pedro Sánchez stressed.

In addition, the temporary incapacity benefit is assimilated to that for accidents at work, thereby eliminating the requirement of a number of previous years of contributions in order to be eligible for it. At the same time, a new extraordinary benefit is approved for the self-employed that will allow them to combine their activity for three months with the receipt of an extraordinary benefit for partial cessation, which will be equivalent to 50% of their contribution base.

Prohibition of cuts in basic supplies and deferral of bills

In parallel, new rules have been adopted to protect consumers, including a ban on affected households having their electricity and gas cut off, while allowing, at no cost to the consumer, the modification and temporary suspension of supply contracts and the deferral of bills. Telecommunications operators and services are also required to compensate their customers for the services they did not receive during the disaster.

The president of the Government of Spain pointed out that the estimate that the new social shield measures approved today, together with those adopted last week, will help some 400,000 workers to maintain their income, 30,000 companies to reactivate their activity and 100,000 households to cover their basic needs.

Aid for the productive fabric of the affected areas: direct aid and ICO facility for farmers and stockbreeders.

With regard to the second package of measures aimed at helping the productive fabric, Pedro Sánchez explained that several of them are aimed at the agricultural sector. "Farmers have been in our towns and villages helping with their tractors and in reality the countryside has suffered very severe damage in this DANA and now we have to help them with the same determination that our farmers have shown to the neighbours in the affected areas," he added.

For this reason, he reported that today the creation of a new line of direct aid of 200 million euros has been approved, which will be granted to those farms that have suffered damage that prevents them from carrying out the next season normally, or that have losses of more than 40% of their productive potential. An additional ICO MAPA SAECA credit facility of 60 million euros for farmers and stockbreeders has also been launched, as well as a programme to repair agricultural infrastructure such as roads, terraces and irrigation systems for 175 million euros to be executed by TRAGSA. "Our objective is to recover food production as soon as possible, but also to avoid the abandonment of agricultural activity, especially in areas with small farms," he said.

ICO facility: first tranche of 1 billion euros activated

The Council of Ministers has also activated a first tranche of 1 billion of the ICO credits announced last week, specifying a line of guarantees that will cover 80% of the total loan, so that households, companies and the self-employed can access the aid, subsidies and compensation and also undertake the investments they need as soon as possible. At the same time, aid, deadlines and project conditions have been made more flexible for industrial companies.

Restoration of the Albufera and river basins and aid to cinemas, bookshops and cultural organisations.

The first step has also been taken to implement a 45 million plan for the restoration of the Albufera, "one of the main biodiversity heritages in the Iberian Peninsula," and the river basins affected by the flooding, and almost 2 million euros in direct aid has been set aside for cinemas, bookshops and cultural organisations that have had to close, "so that they can recover as soon as possible, because culture is a vital need for citizens."

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

Action plan with 500 million euros against the mud

Finally, the Royal Decree-Law allocates 500 million euros to finance a Mud Action Plan aimed at removing mud and debris as soon as possible and repairing water networks in the affected towns. In this regard, Pedro Sánchez pointed out that, in order to restore normality, given the "mammoth task" to be carried out, it will be necessary to remove thousands of tonnes of mud and debris, clean the sewage systems and repair the supply, sanitation and purification networks. "We have to do it as soon as possible and we have to do it with the local councils, the operators, the provincial council and the Government," he said. To this end, the Ministry of Ecological Transition has developed a comprehensive proposal over the last few days with experts, public technicians and private sector companies, and the Council of Ministers has approved this plan and the temporary exemption of the dumping control fee and the creation of a line of subsidies worth 500 million euros.

"These resources will join our previously announced commitment to pay 100% of emergency expenses and up to 50% of all infrastructure repairs to be carried out by the affected municipalities in the coming years," explained Pedro Sánchez. They will also join the European Union's Civil Protection Mechanism, which the Ministry of Home Affairs activated three days ago at the request of the Valencian regional government. "The idea is that Valencians have all possible resources to remove mud from their streets, buildings and supply networks, efficiently and safely," he added.

Important steps: Some 400 companies apply for force majeure ERTEs for more than 9,000 workers

The head of the Executive referred to the "important steps" taken in this first phase of immediate response with the aid mechanisms enabled by last Tuesday's Royal Decree-Law, which have already been put in place. Specifically, 400 companies have already applied for force majeure ERTES for a total of 9,000 workers, in addition to more than 2,800 people who have applied for direct aid for damage to housing or loss of belongings and some 158,000 applications to the Insurance Compensation Consortium, of which 80% are already being processed and the first ones have begun to be collected. To make it easier for citizens to apply for this and other aid, the Government has opened 15 mobile offices of the Guardia Civil and the National Police and 12 DANA special attention points in the Tax Agency offices of the affected towns.

Logistical and human deployment

During the appearance, Sánchez pointed out that the number of soldiers, national police, civil guards and forestry technicians deployed in the province of Valencia has increased from 15,000 to 18,200, and has also been reinforced by the arrival of new teams specialising in underwater search, psychological care and rubble clearance work. To support them, 3,800 land, air and water vehicles have been deployed, including an amphibious ship, two minehunters, a CSIC research vessel, and more than 200 heavy water and mud extraction teams.

A "colossal" logistical and human deployment which, according to the president, has led to 404 new rescues and 108 new arrests, has removed 550 vehicles that were still blocking roads, and has drained and inspected more than 600 garages and basements.

Sánchez also explained that state workers have distributed 51,000 litres of bottled water and 22,500 kilos of food rations and food products to the affected population, "a task that - fortunately - is becoming less and less necessary as supply lines and services are being re-established," he said. In this regard, he announced that electricity has been restored to almost all the homes that were affected, 95% of the damaged telephone lines have been restored, the supply of medicines to the entire population has been restored and numerous roads and railway lines have been reopened. "This has been possible thanks to the deployment of 800 workers and more than 400 machines," he said.

Likewise, the head of the Executive thanked "the titanic effort" of the neighbours, volunteers, the Third Sector, together with the public servants of all the administrations. He also thanked the Valencian employers' association and business people from all over the country. "We are all a state and we are all one," he concluded.

Non official translation