RAJOY OPTIMISTIC FOR 2014 RECOVERY

Mariano Rajoy, in his appearance after the last Council of Ministers of 2013, reported that the government has approved a Royal Decree-Law that contains “a temporary mechanism to set electricity prices solely for the first quarter of 2014”.

This establishes a price rise of 2.3% for this period, instead of the 11% set in the auction that was overturned by the government.

The President of the Government explained that, in the second quarter of 2014, a definitive mechanism will be put in place for auctions “in line with that proposed by the National Markets and Competition Commission (Spanish acronym: CNMC), which the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism is working on”. In parallel, this ministerial department is also working on the reform of the structure of the electricity market “to introduce greater competitiveness in its operation”.

Mariano Rajoy stressed that the government is tackling the regulated areas of the energy market (transmission, distribution, renewable energy subsidies, the non-mainland situation, coal payments, etc.) and also tackled the tariff deficit, “which could have taken the whole system to the point of bankruptcy”.

The objective now, maintained the President of the Government, is to make structural reforms that complete the renewal of the electricity sector and result in “the energy price in Spain being comparable to the vast majority of our peer countries” by the end of this legislature, “since this is a fundamental factor for our competitiveness”.

Mariano Rajoy, while taking stock of the government’s performance, asserted that 2013 will close “with much sounder foundations for our recovery”. He added that the recession is now behind us and that “in the second half of the year the Spanish economy has recovered growth once again, albeit modestly”.

At the start of his speech, the President of the Government wished to thank the Spanish people “for their understanding, their common sense, their courage and their responsibility in tacking the last part of this stage which has been so harsh, so long and so difficult”.

In his opinion, “2014 will be a much better year, with more activity and more growth in the economy”. He added that it will be “a year in which we definitively leave these fears and uncertainties behind us and recover confidence, an asset which is so highly valued”.

According to Mariano Rajoy, “if 2012 was the year of adjustments and 2013 has been the year of reforms, 2014 will be the year of the start of economic recovery in our country”.

For everything achieved to date and for the new perspectives opening up, the President of the Government said he felt proud, although not totally satisfied, as the work is not yet finished.

In this respect, he highlighted that “the whole of Spanish society has risen to the challenge at an economic level, which has resulted in a very significant change as regards the perception from both abroad and here in Spain. There is still a long way to go but we have set our course”.

As regards the announcement of the referendum on the sovereign nature of Catalonia, the President of the Government restated his position. “This referendum is unconstitutional and hence, cannot be held”.

Mariano Rajoy maintained that he will work “tirelessly” to defend a model of coexistence “that has given all of us the longest period of stability, democratic development and social well-being in the history of Spain”. He went on to say that this is why he will devote all his efforts “to avoiding that the Catalan people and the rest of the people in Spain are prejudiced by a political initiative that has only given rise to uncertainty, instability and social divide”.

In response to the requests made from various groups to tackle constitutional change, the President of the Government asserted that “the most important constitutional change is taking place Europe, but we don’t seem to have realised that”. In his opinion, this change is being made in terms of banking union and the fiscal compact.

In this respect, he highlighted the importance of the European elections to be held in 2014, since the Parliament that is voted in will be the one “with the greatest power in the whole history of parliamentary elections. It will have power over 40 new areas”. He sees that this – together with the fact that “we are at a key point in building Europe” – means that these elections will be particularly relevant.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/42072/

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