Pedro Sánchez announces a new aid package worth €40 million for the self-employed and SMEs to purchase electric vehicles

The President of the Government also announced the opening of the second call of Line 1 of the PERTE for Industrial Decarbonisation, endowed with €330 million, at the VIII National Industry Congress on 6 February.

Euskalduna Palace, Bilbao

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, with the authorities and CEOs of the companies sponsoring the National Industry Congress (Pool Moncloa / Fernando Calvo)

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced the launch of a new electric mobility aid for the self-employed and small companies, both for ownership and leasing, with a line of €40 million for the purchase of electric vehicles. Beneficiaries of this aid will be companies with fewer than 10 employees, with amounts of up to €7,500. Tomorrow, 6 February, the Executive will also open the second call for applications of Line 1 of the PERTE for Industrial Decarbonisation, endowed with €330 million. In the coming days, a comprehensive call for open innovation will also be made, led by the School of Industrial Organisation and the CDTI, to attract knowledge, research and talent from startups in order to address technological challenges in security, defence and dual-use technologies.

Pedro Sánchez made these announcements during his participation in the VIII National Industry Congress, held at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, at which the Minister for Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, had already appeared. The President of the Government began his speech by calling for "calm and prudence" in the face of the storm affecting different parts of Spain, asking the public to follow the instructions of the authorities immediately they are issued. In this respect, he said that the state is deploying "all the necessary Civil Protection resources so that the residents in some localities that have had to leave their homes can return to them as soon as possible". He added that "we are collaborating with all the administrations, and as always the Government is committed to this emergency".

More ambitious industrial policy

The chief executive pointed out that Spain has "learned the lesson" that "the best regulation, as well as the best industrial policy, is the existing one, and it is the one that is at the service of the social majority, of companies and of national and European interest". He went on to say that "we have left behind industrial reconversion to undertake the industrial reconstruction of our country", pointing out that this began with training, with the more than 400,000 vocational training (FP) places and a 166% rise in Dual Vocational Training since 2018, which has been adapted to the demands of the sector.

Thanks to these measures, "heavy industry has given way to skilled industry", with workers in industry earning 12% more than the average wage. In this regard, Spain has generated almost 200,000 jobs in industry since 2018, half of them in 2025, "the best year for industrial employment so far this decade".

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech at the closing of the VIII National Congress of Industry| Pool Moncloa / Fernando Calvo

"Rest assured that even if some want to condemn half a million people to live in an irregular situation and work in the black economy, we will continue to incorporate labour, and hopefully with the support of employers, we will continue to recognise the efforts of workers by raising the minimum wage to meet the commitment of 60% of the average wage. Together with companies, we will also reduce unemployment, increasing productivity to its fastest rate in three decades, and once again this year being the fastest growing major European economy," he said. Efforts will also be made to ensure that industry contributes 20% of GDP: "We are on the right track. Our manufacturing sector has grown the most among all the major European economies since 2019, by 10%, although to achieve the 20% we need to be much more ambitious," he said.

Strengthening business competitiveness: new electric mobility aid for the self-employed and SMEs

To this end, the president announced that the Government will continue to deploy an industrial policy in collaboration with business that responds to three major objectives, and is aligned with Europe. The first involves strengthening the competitiveness of companies, for which the president announced that processes will be improved, including supporting innovation with the largest investment in R+D+i in history of almost €24 billion, investing in talent, and boosting the internationalisation of companies.

In this regard, he announced that a new electric mobility aid will be launched for the self-employed and small businesses, with a line of €40 million for the purchase of electrified vehicles both for ownership and leasing, which companies with fewer than 10 employees will be able to benefit from with amounts of up to €7,500. "The commitment to electric mobility is unequivocal and we are not going to take a step backwards", he reiterated.

Climate transition: second call of the Industrial Decarbonisation EERP Line 1, with €330 million

The second major objective of the Government's industrial policy is to further promote climate transition as "a real driver of our prosperity". In this regard, the process to boost offshore wind power, especially floating wind, was launched this week, with the aim of producing between 1 and 3 gigas by 2030, "developing along the way a whole industrial and technological sector that will contribute enormously to decarbonisation".

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during the closing ceremony of the VIII National Industry Congress| Pool Moncloa / Fernando Calvo

He also announced that tomorrow, 6 February, the second call for Line 1 of the PERTE for Industrial Decarbonisation will be opened, with a budget of €330 million. This call for proposals offers greater flexibility for project implementation - up to five years, compared to the previous two and a half years - and greater security for companies to plan and invest.

Contributing to European strategic autonomy: a major open call for innovation

Last, he indicated that industrial policy should contribute to European strategic autonomy, deepening the single market and developing a "true European capital market", as is already being done in areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum technologies through the SETT. The president detailed that in its almost two years of operation, this "technological SEPI" has already approved some thirty operations amounting to over €430 million, which have mobilised almost €1.29 million of private capital.

"What is happening on the other side of the Atlantic is the wake-up call we needed to do this, and to take control of our own future", he assured, alluding to all areas, including security and defence. In this regard, Spain has already reached a budget of 2% of GDP by means of 31 new modernisation programmes, each of which includes an industrial and training plan to ensure that more than 80% of the funds go to Spanish or European companies.

He said that to make progress in strategic autonomy, a "comprehensive open innovation call" will be launched in the next few days. This will be a 'national hackathon' led by the Escuela de Organización Industrial and the CDTI to "attract the knowledge and research born in Spanish universities and technology centres, together with the disruptive talent of startups, combined with the industry's capacity to address technological challenges in the field of security, defence and dual-use technologies". In this regard, he argued that open strategic autonomy consists of "strengthening our own capabilities in the most critical areas to reduce our vulnerabilities and dependencies by diversifying markets and supply chains". In this line, he praised the EU's agreement with Mercosur and the agreement with India, a market of around 1.5 billion consumers for Spanish industry.

Protecting democracies and minors in social networks: "They won't break us"

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech at the closing of the VIII National Industry Congress| Pool Moncloa / Fernando Calvo

"Today the strength of the state, together with the strength of industry, is acting to reindustrialise the country and create excellent industrial policy, thanks to public-private collaboration", he added. "It is also there to protect our democracies from the attacks they are suffering, and to protect our children from the toxic and punishment-free universe that social networks have unfortunately become, what I have called a failed state".

"Some say that to regulate is to control, that politics is tyranny, that setting rules limits innovation, but they almost never ask the key question: innovation for what? To expand rights or to put them at risk? To strengthen democracy or to erode it. To improve people's lives or to make money for a few? Do we want a technology that normalises and amplifies deception, that turns privacy into a commodity, a society in which a techno-oligarch can get into the mobile phones of millions of citizens to tell them lies?" he questioned. His response to these questions was unequivocal: "The answer has to be a clear no, and we will not be broken, because the voice of reason, of the social majority, and of democracy will not be drowned out by the techno-oligarchs of the algorithm.

The Basque Country, the electric vehicle capital of Spain

In this context of defending the general interest, the president pointed out that from 2021 until the closure of the Recovery Plan, Spain will have received more than €100 billion, of which a quarter has already been executed through strategic projects (PERTE) in key sectors for the future of our industry, including clean energy, the automotive industry, gigafactories, and renewable hydrogen. In this line, he stressed that "the Basque Country has become the Spanish capital of electric vehicles" and a "digital benchmark".

The president also made clear that "industrial reconstruction will not end in 2026" when all the European resources have been mobilised, but rather that the Spain Grows fund "will give continuity to the NextGen", with the aim of reaching a capitalisation of €120 billion, combining public and private resources. This will channel more resources towards strategic sectors such as housing, energy, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, the circular economy, infrastructure, water, sanitation and security.

Hereu: "There is ambition and a desire to cooperate as never before to take forward the great industrial challenge"

The Minister for Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, speaks at the closing of the VIII National Congress of Industry| Pool Moncloa / Fernando Calvo

The Minister for Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, pointed out that in both the Lower House of Parliament and in the sector "there is ambition, enthusiasm and desire to cooperate as never before to expand the great industrial challenge from Spain for Europe", celebrating the "great news" that the growth in employment and gross added value in industry represents for economic and social development, productivity, innovation and exports.

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