The Government delegate in Asturias, Delia Losa, has reviewed the effect in Asturias of some of the main social measures taken by the Executive chaired by Pedro Sánchez. “Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have created extraordinary emergency situations in this legislature,” Losa recalled, “but we have managed an unprecedented challenge without leaving anyone behind and advancing economically and socially.”
“The data,” said the delegate, “confirm that this Government has opted for the people and sectors most affected by the economic setbacks, achieving a fair and social recovery.” And it has been asked what the situation would be if instead of a progressive government these situations had had to be managed by a “government of the right”. He recalled that in the measures taken in the 2008 financial crisis “people were not the priority”.
Employment
Losa recalled that “despite the bad omens and negative forecasts of the right, the economy is far from entering a recession and the reform of the labor market has not destroyed employment.” In the first year of this measure, “record numbers” of employment have been achieved in Asturias. According to data for the month of February, 15,522 contracts were signed and one in three was indefinite. The number of open-ended contracts in Asturias has increased by 214 percent since January 2019.
Regarding affiliation to Social Security, the number of contributors in Asturias has grown by 3.5 percent in the last four years to reach 368,664. “This is the best thermometer to know that quality employment is generated,” said the government delegate.
“The other great labor measure of this Government,” Losa has detailed, has been the increase of the interprofessional minimum wage to 1,080 euros per month. In the last four years, the increase has been 47%. The government’s calculation is that the latest increase has benefited 34,900 workers in Asturias.
Social measures
The government delegate has highlighted the approval of the Minimum Vital Income “as another pillar of our welfare state.” In Asturias the benefit already reaches 35,141 people, of which 13,000 are minors.
Delia Losa has listed other measures that have had an impact on the savings of families to cushion the impact of inflation, such as the electric social bond, which has reached 35,157 households; the cheque of 200 euros for families with low incomes, which in 2022 was granted to 11,563 people and for which in 2023 there are 45,218 applications; the payment for free travel in Neighbourhoods or Media Distancia, which represents a saving of about 100 euros per family per month, which in 2022 used 48,000 train users in Asturias and which in the course of 2023 has been granted to 34,898 people. “They are all measures that constitute a social cushion to leave no one behind,” said the government delegate.
Pensions and scholarships
But, according to Losa, “the two jewels of the crown” of social deployment are scholarships and pensions. This year, 2.5 billion euros have been allocated to scholarships, the largest amount in history because “they build a future, so that no one stops studying due to lack of financial resources”. The amount is 70% higher than that allocated in the last year of Rajoy’s government. In Asturias this amounts to 21.7 million euros for 11,343 young people: 4,529 university students and 6,814 non-university students.
On pensions, the delegate of the Government recalled that with the rise according to the IPC, “the purchasing power of the 300,000 pensioners of Asturias has been shielded”. With this update, an average retirement pension in Asturias has increased by 21.8% in the last five years to reach 1,638.17 euros. It is 295.36 euros on average per month, “while if the previous model, Rajoy’s, remained in force, the increase would have been less than 17 euros,” explained Losa.
Recovery Plan
The Government delegate has also updated the figures of funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan that have been mobilized in Asturias. It is 1,113 million euros, to which, if we add the 196 million received from the OBJECTIVE-EU, they amount to 1,309 million euros. Losa highlighted that European agencies recognize Spain as “the most advanced country in the execution of the funds”.
Of the 1,113 million euros of the Recovery Plan, the General Administration of the State manages 586 million euros and the rest is transferred to the Government of the Principality. In total, state agencies are implementing around 5,400 projects in Asturias, “which means that the funds are reaching the economy, contrary to what some say,” Losa said.
Among these projects, the Government delegate has highlighted the Digital Kit, “which helps the modernization of SMEs” and of which more than 5,000 bonds have already been awarded in Asturias with a disbursement of 24 million euros. He also mentioned “major transformative projects” such as those related to the development of the renewable hydrogen industrial value chain with more than 51 million euros in funding.
In addition, in infrastructure, the Recovery Plan has involved a disbursement of 268 million euros in projects such as the latest contracts of the Pajares variant or the renewal of the Gijón-Laviana railway line.
Finally, Losa has highlighted the PERTEs that are “essential” for the Asturian economy, such as the naval sector or the decarbonization sector, for which ArcelorMittal will receive 460 million euros.