Calviño denies that the European Commission has made a specific recommendation to Spain in the field of tax or pension reform

MADRID, 24 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Minister of Finance and Public Function, María Jesús Montero, has advanced that she will bring “very soon” to the Congress of Deputies the 2022 non-financial spending limit, known as the ‘spending ceiling’, with which she kicks off the the preparation of the General State Budgets (PGE) for next year, for which the Executive is already working.

“We are already working on the preparation of the General State Budgets”, assured the head of the Treasury during the press conference after the Council of Ministers on Tuesday.

As in 2020, 2021 and 2022, the European Commission has proposed that the rules that limit the public deficit and debt of the Member States continue to be suspended in 2023. The suspension of the fiscal rules, which has to be approved by the Government With the approval of the European Commission, it is protected by articles 135.4 of the Constitution and 11.3 of the Budgetary Stability Law.

Montero has anticipated that, like last year, he will ask the Congress of Deputies to certify again that it appreciates the existence of an exceptional situation that justifies the need to suspend these deficit and debt rules and thus legitimize the decision of the Government, as required by the Constitution and the Budgetary Stability Law.

Despite this suspension, Montero has defended the Government’s commitment to fiscal co-responsibility throughout these last years marked by the pandemic. Proof of this is, according to the minister, that last year saw the greatest reduction in the deficit in history, which went from 10.8% in 2020 to 6.7% in 2021. “I say this to those who accuse the Government of what it is not,” he said.

In this sense, he has defended that the Government is responsible with public spending and with public income, and has highlighted the commitment with Brussels that in 2025 the deficit will be below 3% compared to GDP, a figure comparable to the rest of the European Union countries.

On this same subject, the First Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, explained that the European Commission has endorsed the economic and fiscal forecasts of the Spanish Stability Plan until 2025.

Calviño has indicated that “general recommendations” have been made and has stressed that the European Commission has not asked Spain to cut public spending.

“It has simply pointed out, as for the rest of the countries, that the growth of this current expenditure is below the potential growth of the economy,” he pointed out.

It is thus, as Calviño stressed, a “general recommendation” and has stated that, unlike other countries, no specific consideration has been made in the field of tax or pension reform.

Asked at the press conference about the Bank of Spain’s warnings about linking pensions to the CPI, Calviño defended that a series of “complex” reforms are included in the Recovery Plan to strengthen the pension system in the long term. These reforms have had the agreement of the social partners and the “unanimous” support of the Toledo pact.

“I believe that all the organizations carry out their analyzes and we will have to continue working together in order to achieve the objective, which is to improve the public pension system, the jewel in the crown of our welfare state”, he remarked.

Regarding the measures included in the shock plan in response to the war in Ukraine, such as the reduction in electricity taxes or the fuel discount, Calviño explained that the Government is currently analyzing them to identify which ones should be extended beyond 30 June and which have to disappear or be adapted.

“The objective is to adopt measures that are effective taking into account that they have a high fiscal impact and therefore we have to guarantee the best use of public resources”, assured the first vice-president.