Prime Minister's Office of Spain

04/14/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/15/2021 03:56

Pedro Sánchez expresses his commitment to improve job opportunities for young people

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, stated that combating the lack of opportunities in the job market for young Spaniards is one of the government's priorities and expressed his commitment 'to the present and to the future of the country, in other words, to our young people'.

In response to the MP for the Mixed Parliamentary Group, Isidro Martínez Oblanca, at the government control session in the Lower House, Pedro Sánchez stated that improving the employability of young people is a question that should be addressed in a cross-cutting fashion.

At an employment level and in regard to existing training contracts, Pedro Sánchez expressed his concern that 'they are not working as effectively as they should', and indicated that their reform is being studied by the government.

Among the educational measures pushed through by the government, which the President of the Government considered fundamental to reduce the early drop-out rate from school and increase job possibilities, he highlighted the modernisation of vocational training and the updating of curricula, increasing the number of grants and their economic allocations, and improving the professionalisation and qualifications of teachers.

Pedro Sánchez also particularly stressed the need to improve the system of professional accreditations for those people who despite not having a qualification do have lengthy work experience, and undertook to collaborate with the regional governments, which have jurisdiction in this matter, so as to exponentially multiply their capacity for accreditation from now until 2023.

Fiscal consolidation - medium-term challenge

The President of the Government claimed that fiscal consolidation is one of the main challenges facing all European countries in the medium term, including Spain. However, he reiterated that the current economic situation forces us to first bed down the economic recovery and convey certainty to business owners so that they can create jobs.

This was the response from the President of the Government to the MP for EH Bildu, Oskar Matute, who enquired after potential additional fiscal measures to address public spending caused by the pandemic.

Pedro Sánchez acknowledged that one of the recommendations made by the European Union to Spain was to undertake a fiscal reform, but he considers that this debate should be addressed at a multilateral level, whether in Europe or under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Spain, claimed Pedro Sánchez, has always advocated fiscal harmonisation in the European Union and applauds the announcement made by the United States Administration under Joe Biden to increase taxes on large corporations.

Renewal of General Council of the Judiciary

The President of the Government urged the MP for the People's Parliamentary Group, Pablo Casado, to reach an agreement on the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary. 'I reach out to him to renew the Council once and for all, and thus comply with the Constitution'.

Pedro Sánchez made this invitation to the MP, after being asked by him about Spain's image abroad. The President of the Government rated it as good, but stressed that the responsibility falls on everyone to improve this, both on the government and on the opposition.

The President of the Government highlighted that Spain is among the 20 countries in the world with the best reputation and, among the figures quoted, he referred to the report by the Elcano Institute. 'Spain's image in 2020', which places Spain's reputation in 13th position from among the 55 main economies with the best image, and to the Best Countries index 2020, by the United States magazine US News World Report, which places Spain in 19th position from among 73 countries.

The President of the Government also defended the economic management, quoting by way of example the record issue of debt, and in regard to the arrival of the recovery funds from Europe, while stressing that their correct use will be submitted to oversight from both Spain and the European Union.

Non official translation