The Government Delegate in Ceuta, Rafael García, has reviewed the policies promoted by the Government of Spain to face the complex situations that our country has had to face in recent years, derived fundamentally from the health crisis caused by COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.
Guesthouses
Due to the increase in inflation linked to the war in Ukraine, the Government of Spain made the protection of the purchasing power of pensioners a priority. For this reason, the increase of 8.5% of pensions has been carried out, which places the average pension in Ceuta at 1,492 euros, 290 euros more than in 2018.
Minimum Vital Income (MVI)
The Minimum Vital Income is a benefit aimed at preventing the risk of poverty and social exclusion of people who live alone or are integrated into a coexistence unit and lack financial resources to cover their basic needs. This is a measure put in place by the Government of Spain to address the inequalities that have already reached 9,684 ceuties.
Scholarships
On the other hand, the Government Delegate has focused on the scholarships granted to students in Ceuta. “Scholarships and study grants are one of the instruments that contribute most effectively to making the principle of equal opportunities possible. The Government of Spain has always shown its willingness to guarantee, through the scholarship policy, that no student abandons his studies, for economic reasons.”
In Ceuta, 2.3 million euros have been invested, reaching the figure of 1,261 scholarships.
Employment situation
To analyze the employment situation, García referred to the data on affiliation to Social Security, assuring that “the increase in the last five years has been important since we currently have a total of 22,893 employees, that is, 1,053 more than in February 2018”.
Regarding the quality of employment, the Government Delegate recalled that the central executive has raised the Interprofessional Minimum Wage to 1,080 euros per month for the year 2023, so it has increased by 47% in the last 5 years.
European Recovery Plan Funds
In the Autonomous City of Ceuta there are already more than 150 beneficiary projects with more than 26 million euros of financing of the Recovery Plan executed by agencies of the General Administration of the State.
Likewise, Ceuta has received, until March 2023, 41 million euros from the Recovery Plan through transfers in Sectoral Conference, agreements, subsidies and direct concessions agreed with the government of the region.
About 110 SMEs are already beneficiaries of programs to support this type of fundamental companies in the City’s economy.
In Ceuta, the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) is already implementing projects for the employability and insertion of certain vulnerable groups and also specifically targeting women with more than 4.3 million euros.
16 public education centers in the City of Ceuta are already benefiting from PROA+ support projects with about 200,000 euros of grant, with the objective of reducing school dropout rates through support and guidance to students in situations of educational vulnerability.
In Ceuta, the hospital center of the National Health System has benefited from the investment plan in high-technology equipment with 750,000 euros. And recently the Tarajal Health Center was inaugurated with an investment of 6 million euros.