The inflation crisis that has swept Europe in the last two years has left Spanish families in a paradoxical situation.. On the one hand, households have seen their income grow from one year to the next like never before in recent history.. Furthermore, the number of families with few members working is at historic lows.. With these wickers, it could seem that we are facing an improvement in the quality of life of homes. However, sharp increases in consumer prices have diluted a good part of those gains.. To the point that the most vulnerable population lived in worse conditions in 2023 than in 2022. Poverty indicators have continued to increase, especially severe material deprivation, which already affects 9% of Spaniards, the highest since 2014.

This is the general image left by the 2023 Living Conditions Survey (ECV) published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) this Monday. This statistic is one of the most complete that the INE publishes throughout the year and is the reference on matters of income, poverty and material conditions of Spanish families.

Regarding income, the INE highlights that income both per person and per household grew by more than 8% in 2022. Unlike the rest of the indicators included in this statistic, the income data corresponds to the year prior to the survey. The average profit that a Spanish family makes was 34,821 clean euros in 2022. If we look a little more closely, we see that in the case of households made up of two adults without dependent children, the income rises to 35,173 euros on average, while the family made up of two adults with one or more children pocket 42,974 euros net.. The profit of single-person households stood at 19,135 euros.

This reinforcement in household income has not translated into a reduction in poverty levels. On the contrary, the percentage of the population suffering from severe material deprivation increased from 7.7% in 2022 to 9% in 2023 and is at its highest level since 2014.

Severe material deficiency is considered to exist when families cannot afford expenses such as going on vacation for at least one week a year (33% of Spanish households cannot), a meal of meat or fish every two days (6.4% ) or keep the home at an adequate temperature (20.7%). Also indicators of severe deprivation are the inability to meet unforeseen expenses (37% of families cannot afford them) or delays in paying bills or rent (13.6%).

In the case of difficulties in maintaining a decent diet, one fact draws special attention.. And 6.9% of those under 18 years of age live in homes that cannot afford enough portions of meat or fish per week, the worst record since 2004.. Extrapolating it to the population, there are around half a million children and adolescents and the highest rate

On a personal level, other important indicators of poverty are the inability to replace damaged clothes with new ones (8.8% of Spaniards suffer from this), the lack of income to eat or drink something at least once a month (9 ,5%); the inability to regularly participate in leisure activities (13.7%) or to spend a small amount of money on oneself (15.8%).

Severe material lack is the most acute form of poverty, but it is not the only one.. If we look at the general image, 26.5% of Spaniards are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, five tenths more than in 2022 and three tenths above 2019. This percentage means that one in four Spaniards lives in a home in which at least one of these three conditions is met: there is a risk of poverty, low intensity of employment or severe material and social lack.

Andalusia and the Canary Islands the hardest hit

If we analyze the distribution of poverty by autonomous community, we can see how Andalusia and the Canary Islands have the highest rates in the country.. In Andalusia, 37.5% of the population is at risk of poverty and social exclusion. Other autonomies such as the Canary Islands (33.8%), Extremadura (32.8%), Castilla-La Mancha (31.7%), Murcia (30.5%) or the Valencian Community (29.6%) are above the national average of 26.5%.

Already at a level below the average are Galicia (25.5%), Asturias (25%), Castilla y León (22.4%), Cantabria (22%), La Rioja (21.8%), Catalonia (21 .2%), Balearic Islands (20.6%), Aragon (20.4%), Madrid (19.4%), Navarra (17.2%) and the Basque Country (15.5%).

For the first time, the Government will take into account the concerns and reservations of local communities or people who are in some way threatened by a renewable energy project before authorizing an auction to award certain companies to exploit a green resource.. The novelty has been reflected in the draft of the royal decree with which the Ministry for the Ecological Transition will regulate offshore wind, to grant generation capacity and define the remuneration system for a technology that does not yet exist in Spain but was designed on last year within the Marine Space Management Plans (POEM), which opened the door to installing wind turbines in a space of up to 5,000 square kilometers along the Spanish coast. This Monday the conditions under which the promoters will be eligible for these parks were known and among them is the novelty that communities and affected people will be consulted first.

The draft of the royal decree establishes a regime of “competitive competition” between promoters who want to access rights to exploit maritime areas where offshore wind generation is permitted, through an auction to be designed by the Ministry and for which “a public-private dialogue in which the sectors affected by marine renewable installations participate”. The objective will be to “complete the definition of the characteristics and requirements that the facilities must meet, as well as the details of the competitive competition procedure, in a way that favors their social acceptance and their integration with other uses of the sea, increasing its positive externalities. and also promoting the industrial development of the affected areas”.

Thus, the corresponding Ministerial Order that regulates offshore wind auctions will determine ordinary aspects such as what power will be awarded, where the wind turbines will be located or the technologies that will be used and may also contemplate the “comments or improvement proposals” that the “interested parties belonging to to the sectors affected by marine renewable installations” can send so that “aspects, parameters or criteria” that “can be redefined or modified.”

The royal decree prepared by the Ministry and which was put out for public consultation this Monday indicates that this participation process will occur “in addition” to the public consultation procedures and allegations already provided for by law and may form part of the design of the auctions of offshore wind. They may make comments about the place where the wind turbines are installed, the power quota, aspects that must be taken into account in design, construction, operation and dismantling or their compatibility with other uses of the sea in the delimited areas, such as fishing.. Also on what weighting criteria the auctions should include in relation to the “socioeconomic impact of the project.”

The Secretary of State may fully or partially incorporate the proposals of the local communities and it will be assessed that they are “concrete, feasible and adequately justified” and then the promoters will be able to make comments on these assessments and requests.

In sea from the origin

This is the first time that the deployment of renewables in Spain takes into account from the very beginning of the procedure what local communities and others affected have to say and the Ecological Transition has started with offshore wind, a technology that will now start from the beginning .

“On land we find everything articulated, but at sea we start from the beginning,” said the third vice president, Teresa Ribera, this Monday during the presentation by the Spanish Network for Sustainable Development (REDS) of a few days of dialogue between promoters, developers and communities that, in one way or another, are part of a development of photovoltaic and wind energy that Ribera has recognized as “taking advantage of the potential” that the sun and wind offer in Spain to generate electricity in a clean way but that also causes rejection. In the case of offshore wind, protests by Galician and Asturian fishermen after the approval of the POEM that located the area where they fish most of the areas where floating wind turbines will be allowed.

“We also have to reflect on what it represents in the territory. Doubts arise about how, where and in what way and how local communities can benefit,” said Ribera, who with regard to the implementation of renewables on dry land in January announced that he would convene promoters, communities and administrations to study how an “orderly deployment” can be done. The initiative, which Ministry sources said would be imminent, seems to be now about to get underway.. Ribera stated this Monday that “in the coming weeks” dialogue groups will begin to be organized that will work over nine sessions. “There are social changes in which information is required and it must be done as best as possible,” said Ribera, who hoped that a debate similar to the one organized by REDS could take place, but “in a more institutionalized way and I hope not more bored”.

Points for impact on the landscape or employment

In the case of offshore wind, the Ministry will set “objective” requirements that promoters must meet to be successful bidders in an auction and must also pass a score based on the degree of compliance with other “non-economic” criteria that will weigh 30%. of the final score and which, again, are closely related to the effects on the closest communities.

According to the draft, they may have to do with what space the wind turbines will occupy, their number or distance from the coast or be related to the environmental impact and the landscape, such as whether they include measures to minimize it or measures to minimize the environmental impact. and landscape.

The projects will also be scored based on their “socioeconomic impact”, the industrial and economic development that may derive from it, their impact on employment and the local, regional, national and community industrial value chain or if they contemplate the participation of SMEs.. They will also be required to dismantle the wind turbines at the end of their useful life.

Also new, the Ministry opens the door for offshore wind auctions to not have a reserve price – the limit that is willing to pay for each MWh – that is not secret as until now, and as the sector demanded.. “In those cases in which the reserve price is not confidential, the order that regulates the competitive bidding procedure may establish mechanisms to guarantee effective competition in said procedure,” says the draft submitted to public auction from this Monday until on March 25, which establishes that there may also be a maximum or “risk” price – this one, confidential -.

The successful bidders of the auctions will have a guarantee of access to the electrical grid to evacuate the electricity generated with offshore wind, but not access and connection to the grid, so they will have to request the concession according to the current procedure.

The center of Madrid was filled again this Monday with farmers and ranchers. Field professionals clamored once again to demand improvements for their sector, this time with their sights set on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the meeting of the Council of Agriculture Ministers of the European Union, held in Brussels.. Called by the three main agricultural organizations -Asaja, COAG and UPA-, the tractors once again blocked the heart of the capital coinciding with the community meeting to make their demands heard not only at the national level, but also in Europe.

While the European ministers arrived in Brussels for the meeting, the streets of Madrid were a prelude to a new massive protest by the agricultural sector.. From early in the morning, dozens of buses full of farmers arrived near the Atocha station from all over Spain.. “We left at 4:00 in the morning, we stopped to have a snack and here we came to demonstrate about the situation in the fields,” José María, a farmer who arrived from Murcia, explained to 20minutos.. “Farmhouse products are currently being sold for a price lower than the cost of production and that cannot be sustained. We farmers do not want to live on aid, we want you to defend our products,” he asked, with his sights set on the Brussels meeting.

“I don't know what I expect from today's meeting.. We have almost lost hope. I had a family farm and we had to close it, because we couldn't handle the losses,” said Ángeles, who arrived from Yecla (Murcia). Equipped with banners and flags, the groups of protesters little by little took over the surroundings of the Ministry of Agriculture, located next to the Plaza del Emperor Carlos V, waiting for the arrival of the tractors. “Without generational change, the countryside disappears”, “The countryside demands support, respect and recognition”, “Closed due to ruin, without a field there is no life “, “Our end will be your hunger,” read the banners.

The countryside has been protesting for weeks to demand fair prices, imports under the same production conditions that prevail in Europe and a simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). “Either bureaucratization as great as there is is removed or it is impossible to comply,” denounced at the beginning of the protest the general secretary of COAG, Miguel Padilla.. “It is not possible that Europe does not understand that we have to play under the same conditions, producers from the European Union and products that come from outside,” he added.

“It cannot be that the Common Agricultural Policy, which was created precisely to guarantee food for EU citizens at affordable prices, is what is expelling farmers and ranchers in the world,” explained the Secretary General of UPA, Lorenzo Ramos. “This Common Agricultural Policy leads to ruin for the agricultural sector,” said the president of Asaja, Pedro Barato, along the same lines, pointing out that the countryside is suffering a “silent dismantling with the support of the governments of Europe.”

Despite the delay compared to the scheduled time, the organization encouraged the thousands of attendees – 5,000 according to the Government Delegation and 20,000 according to Asaja, COAGy UPA – to wait for the tractors to begin the march towards the headquarters of the European Commission in Madrid. located at number 46 Paseo de la Castellana. The noise of the engines began to be heard at noon, when the hundred vehicles leaving at 9:00 a.m. from the Arganda bridge began to parade in front of the Ministry of Agriculture to begin the tour along the Paseo del Prado.

Barely half an hour after the head of the march began, fifty protesters deviated from the itinerary to protest in front of the Ministry of Health, agitated against the logo of the 2030 Agenda that appears on the façade of the institution.. This fork in the protest cut off the Paseo del Prado in the south direction, where vehicles were still circulating up to that point, and forced the riot police of the National Police to intervene, who formed a cordon to prevent the advance of the protesters and force them to retreat. towards the main march.

The episode of tension did not interrupt the progress of the protest, which on its original itinerary continued without incident, encouraged by the applause of passersby.. To the rhythm of whistles, cowbells, drums and tractor horns, thousands of farmers traveled the more than three kilometers that separate Atocha from the headquarters of the European Commission in Madrid. Along with farmers and ranchers, representatives of the fishing sector also marched, distributing more than a thousand squid sandwiches to the attendees during the tour as a nod to the emblem of Madrid's gastronomy.

Once the final destination was reached, around thirty protesters outside the organizing organizations burned two straw dolls in front of the European headquarters with the faces of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas.. That same group of people had already tried to break up the protest at the beginning, forming a header in front of the official one, which caused confusion among those attending.. A few meters from the bonfire, the representatives of Asaja, COAG and UPA asked to avoid noise and not fall into “provocations.”

Those responsible for the organizing organizations also demanded “concretion” in the measures to alleviate the situation in the countryside and recalled that the solution does not come only through Agriculture, but that they must also take action on the matter from the Ministry of Ecological Transition and from Labor.. After making their demands heard in front of the European Commission headquarters, the protest gradually dissolved in the early hours of the afternoon.. Córdoba will take over from Madrid this Tuesday. Asaja, COAG and UPA have called for a protest event in Lucena that will cut the highway to Malaga. Unió de Pagesos also organizes a tractor rally in the province of Girona.

The Ministry of Transport has already begun technical work to update the map of concessions for interurban bus lines, to renew the proposal that former minister Raquel Sánchez presented in the last legislature and which was opposed by a good part of the regional governments.. This Monday, those of Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León and the Valencian Community have reiterated their opposition to the autonomies having to take over the deficient routes, even if it is in exchange for economic compensation, in the Ministry's new attempt to update and redistribute the routes.

The bus company employers' association, Confebús, organized this Monday in Congress a conference on the Sustainable Mobility Law that has just arrived in the Chamber to retry the process that was paralyzed last year by the call for general elections.. The rule gives a clear mandate to the Government to update the concession map of bus lines, in a model that does not seem to be in danger for the sake of complete liberalization, according to what representatives of the Ministry of Transport and different parties have pointed out. political groups, as well as regional representatives and Confebús. “If traffic with acceptable profitability ratios is excluded, the system will collapse, because it is designed as a network,” in which companies that have a concession for profitable routes thus make up for the losses of the loss-making ones, warned Jaime Rodríguez, director of an organization of a sector that brings together 2,700 companies and 44,000 vehicles.

“The model that we have implemented makes it easier for the Administration to control the transport situation in the territory at all times and guarantee that the service provided is appropriate for each environment,” said the General Director of Road Transport of the Ministry, Roser Obrer. , on a system that currently offers public transport in all Spanish municipalities with at least 50 inhabitants through a concession system, in which companies compete in tenders to exclusively run routes managed by the State in the case of long distance routes. or communities, in the case of shorter routes.

The problem that all parties recognize is that this map is “obsolete”, with routes that were operated many years ago that currently have almost no passengers, such as the one that connects Ferrol-Algeciras or Madrid-Segovia.. Melgar de Fernamental, for some that have been mentioned this Monday, and that respond more to emigration routes of the last century than to current needs.

In this scenario, former Minister Sánchez tried in 2022 to modernize the concessions map with a first draft that raised a lot of regional commotion, because it proposed that the State preserve only those profitable bus routes and that the communities assume those that were not profitable but that to provide service in their respective territories, in exchange for economic compensation that never materialized, because at the time of elections in Andalusia the Government stopped a process that was also surrounded by fears that stops would also be eliminated in some municipalities. , which the PSOE denies because it defends that it was only a first attempt to reorder the map on the State side without yet defining how the lines would look with routes within provinces or communities.

Ministry-community coordination

Now, the Ministry of Transport is doing the technical work again and, although the basis will be what Minister Sánchez already did, it does not have to maintain all its points, including the most controversial ones.. To avoid rejections ahead of time, in the PSOE they believe that it is best to have a meeting with all the communities to explain well any step that is going to be taken.. “We have the firm will to develop new concession maps in collaboration with the communities. Ours [state] has to provide service to long-distance mobility,” stated the Secretary General of Land Transport, Marta Serrano, who has opted for the result to be that citizens do not have to distinguish whether a line is managed by the Ministry. or the autonomous community. “They cannot perceive that they are different administrations, because they also don't care, they want coordination and for the public service to satisfy their needs.”

Before this moment arrives, this Monday Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León have made it clear in Congress that they do not agree with so sharply separating state and regional management bus lines and even less with the responsibility falling on the communities. most deficient, particularly in two communities with serious depopulation problems in which the existence of the bus is an element of population fixation. Both regional governments provide them anyway to the inhabitants of even the smallest towns, in many cases with on-demand services or integrating them, for example, with school routes.

In addition, they have demanded that the Sustainable Mobility Law also contemplates financing for interurban transport by bus and not only urban transport.. What is not contemplated in this area, Castilla-La Mancha would require it via regional financing, its General Director of Transport, Rubén Sobrino, has warned. According to him, in such depopulated areas the intercity bus is the “fourth pillar” of the welfare state, which allows citizens to go to the doctor, to study or to exercise their “right to work.”. “It is not worth it that we have a very profitable system in one part and a very deficient system in another,” said Sobrino, who believes that the Government and communities still have “a lot to work on” to avoid “situations such as that in the new concessions map the lines state have stops only in places with a lot of demand and others that stop in all the towns, that are deficient and that we have to assume the responsibility of the communities.

“If it were from an economic perspective, we would practically stop providing all the bus lines in our community,” stated the general director of Transport of Castilla y León, Laura Paredes, who indicated that in 2023 the Board will invest 32 million to finance intercity bus transport, 38 million in 2022 and 40 in 2023. “If we continue to invest in transportation, it is necessary to provide it with sufficient financing.”

What Castilla y León expects from the Sustainable Mobility Law is that “it takes into account rural mobility and that all territories and population have the right to it, that there is a coordinated demand from the state and regional lines so that they do not stop provide services” and “financing for all types of transportation”, not only for urban transportation, but also for rural and interurban transportation.

For its part, this Monday's day has made it clear that the need to be able to finance bus lines that hardly take people but that is necessary for towns and municipalities is not only in communities 'officially' affected by depopulation.. Also in the Valencian Community, one of the most populated in Spain, but with areas where the buses are not full and if only a profitability criterion were applied, they would have to stop operating.. “We have extraordinary conditions on paper,” said its General Director of Transport, Manuel Ríos, in a Community that concentrates 90% of the population in half of the territory.. The other half “is empty” and must use on-demand transportation, which with the current concessions map requires an investment of 50 million by the Generalitat.