MADRID, 14 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The European Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, has highlighted the “very encouraging” results so far of the labor reform implemented in Spain in 2021 as part of the Recovery and Resilience Plan to reduce the use of fixed-term contracts and increase indefinite ones. among its objectives.
“The results of the reform so far are very encouraging,” said the Italian commissioner in his speech this Thursday at an event organized by the Representation of the European Commission in Spain on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism in Spain (MRR). .
In this sense, Gentiloni has highlighted that the proportion of fixed-term contracts in Spain has fallen substantially in recent years, which means more job security for workers and more incentives for companies to invest in the development of their skills with the time.
Likewise, he has highlighted the adoption of other important reforms that aim to modernize the tax system, digitalize public administration and improve the pension system.
“Spain has had a good start. I think they say ‘what begins well ends well’, but it is important to know that the 2026 deadline is strict,” warned Gentiloni, for whom, in many ways, the second half of the The life of the plan “will be more challenging than the first,” as the investments reach a critical stage in their implementation.
For this reason, the Commissioner for Economy has considered it crucial to maintain the same level of commitment and ambition shown so far and accelerate implementation, after Spain has had an “impressive” start with its Recovery and Resilience Plan, already meeting 121 milestones and having received 38,000 million in subsidies.
In this sense, in order to address the challenges of absorbing such enormous sums, the Italian believes that it will be crucial to continue strengthening administrative capacity to maximize the absorption of funds, as well as the importance of improving coordination between authorities at all levels. and improve communication of funding opportunities.
“The opportunity is simply too big to miss,” he stated, recalling that the European Commission’s simulations suggest that these investments could boost the level of Spanish GDP by up to 3.5% in 2025 without taking into account that these estimates do not They include the positive impact of structural reforms, so the overall boost to growth “should be even greater in the long term.”
