The 'puncture' of teleworking after the pandemic stopped in 2023. After almost two years losing steam, the number of people working from home grew by 19.4% at the end of last year compared to the previous year, according to the latest installment of the Employment Opportunities and Satisfaction Monitor report published this year. Tuesday by the Adecco study center. Despite the progress, Spain is far from the data of the European Union, where the proportion of employed people who telework almost doubles the Spanish data.

Teleworking reversed the downward trend registered in the previous seven quarters in the final stretch of 2023. Specifically, the volume of people working from home – whether occasionally or regularly – grew by 19.4% in the last three months of the year to reach 3.06 million employed people.. Even so, the figure is still lower than the maximum of 3.55 million teleworkers that were registered in the second quarter of 2020, in full confinement due to the pandemic, which incorporated 1.91 million employees into teleworking.. Since that ceiling, the practice of remote work has lost 494,500 employees in Spain.

In parallel, the percentage of workers who connect from home also increased in 2023 to reach 13.6% of the total number of employed people, the highest figure since the end of 2021, when teleworking reached 14.4%. of the total employed. The penetration of remote work reached its peak in the first quarter of 2021, with 16.2% of workers practicing it, almost double the 8.3% that did so at the end of 2019, before the pandemic.

According to data released by Adecco, approximately two out of every fifteen employed people work remotely in Spain, a proportion much lower than the European average.. In the community club, the average percentage of workers who connect to their workplace from home reaches 24.1%, a rate that almost doubles the 13.6% in Spain. Far from narrowing, the gap between Spain and its community neighbors increased two percentage points in 2023 compared to the previous year, due to teleworking advancing in the Mediterranean country at a slower pace than in the rest of the continent.

Among the four large European economies, Spain is the second where teleworking has the least impact. The proportion of employed people who work remotely in the Mediterranean country is slightly higher than the 13.1% in Italy, but falls behind the figures for France and Germany, where 36.4% and 25.9% of employed they practice teleworking respectively. The Netherlands is the European country where the highest proportion of people work from home (56.8%), followed by Sweden, Finland and Luxembourg, all of them with rates above 40%.

Within the national territory, teleworking does not have the same impact in all autonomous communities. Madrid and Catalonia are the regions where the most workers practice it in Spain, 22.7% and 14.9% of the total employed respectively. In fact, the two communities account for 45.4% of workers who practice teleworking at least occasionally in Spain (26.3% and 19.1% respectively).

Also in the Valencian Community the incidence of teleworking is above average. 13.8% of workers in the Levantine region connect remotely – slightly above the 13.6% of the national average -, being the second community where it grew the most in 2023, only behind Madrid. At the opposite extreme, the proportion of employed people who work from home does not reach 9% in the Balearic Islands, Extremadura and Castilla y León. Nor does it reach 10% in Castilla-La Mancha, La Rioja, Murcia and the Canary Islands.. Compared to the situation at the end of 2022, only Asturias, Galicia and the Canary Islands lost teleworkers in 2023.

The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday a bill for the creation of an Independent Authority that will bring together the technical investigation into plane, rail and maritime accidents currently carried out by three separate commissions.. The new body will have a degree of independence similar to the Airef or the CNMC, its own budget and independent of the Government and it is expected to have greater freedom to investigate the technical causes of accidents in which people responsible for actions or omissions will not be accused. fatal when they were within its powers, which will specify the confidentiality of the actions and during which special assistance will be offered to the victims or their families.

As he did last week with the Sustainable Mobility Law, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, recovers another law in his branch that was deactivated last year due to the call for general elections and returns to Congress to send a law to create a body that will bring together the work now carried out by three organizations, but providing it with financial, organic and functional autonomy to investigate serious or very serious train, ship or plane accidents.

According to the bill that passed last year and which is the same as the one approved this Tuesday by the Council of Ministers, all “serious” accidents in the railway sector, which are collisions or collisions, will fall under the jurisdiction of the new Independent Authority. train derailment with at least one fatality or five or more serious injuries, in which material damage of at least two million euros can be immediately determined, affecting rolling stock, infrastructure or the environment or any other accident with evident effect on railway safety.

It will also intervene ex officio in “very serious” maritime accidents, which are those in which a Spanish-flagged ship is involved, regardless of where it occurs, when the incident is in the territorial sea or Spanish internal waters or when it affects interests of Spain.

As for civil aviation, it will investigate “accidents and serious incidents” to which it is obliged by EU regulations, in cases in which they occur in its territory or when a Spanish-registered aircraft is involved and cannot be established precisely. the place where the accident occurred.

Reserved information

The objective of the technical investigation is to establish its causes and formulate safety recommendations to improve safety and prevent accidents.. On the contrary, it will not pursue the determination of responsibility or the attribution of guilt, something that corresponds to the judicial investigation with which, however, its work may collaborate.. For example, the Prosecutor's Office represents one of the exceptions to the secrecy and confidentiality of the technical investigation of the accident enshrined in the law of the Independent Authority, which declares “restricted information” the testimonies of witnesses, other statements or descriptions, documents that reveal the identity of the persons who have testified or information about the persons involved, especially with regard to their state of health.

The investigations into accidents carried out by this new Authority, whose creation will be processed in Congress by urgent procedure, will be carried out under the principle of “just culture”, which means that operators or other “front-line personnel” with some responsibility in the accident for their actions, omissions or decisions should not be punished if they did not exceed their powers or experience. On the contrary, “gross negligence, willful infringements and destructive acts” will not be tolerated.

As explained in the explanatory memorandum, the decision to unify the work of the three current commissions into a single Independent Authority has to do with overcoming a “fragmented structure” with a “single multimodal body” that assumes technical investigation powers in the areas of civil aviation, railway and maritime, despite the fact that one of these sectors explained that there was no evidence that the current investigation system did not function properly. In recent years, the different investigation commissions have had to intervene, for example, in the Alvia accident in Angrois, in July 2013 near Santiago de Compostela; the accident of the Spanair plane in Barajas in August 2008 or the sinking of the ship Villa de Pintanxo in Canadian waters, in February 2022.

When the law is approved, a body with an Independent Administrative Authority will be created, the body with “greatest independence from the executive branch”, explains the Ministry, with an autonomy that it wants to reinforce by providing it with its own resources, coming not from the public Budget but from fees paid. by the actors of the air, maritime and railway sectors, or giving more free hands to a Council that will be made up of a president and six councilors – two from each sector – who will have a mandate longer than one legislature, lasting six years, although half of the six councilors, chosen by lottery, will renew three years after their appointment. They may not be dismissed once Congress approves an appointment proposed by the Ministry among “professionals of recognized prestige and accredited professional qualifications.”. They will not be able to be re-elected either, they must have exclusive dedication and when they leave office they will not be able to carry out any private activity related to their performance in the Independent Authority.

More flexibility for carriers

On the other hand, also this Tuesday the Ministry of Transport gave the green light to certain time flexibility for road freight transporters who have been affected by the cuts and retentions that in recent weeks have caused protests in the agricultural sector.. The decision is similar to the one that was already made at the end of January due to the protests in France.

“Always ensuring that safety on the road is not put at risk,” the Ministry will allow transporters to extend their working hours and reduce rest periods during February 5 and 14 and 19 and 26.

In this period, transporters will be allowed to drive a maximum of 10 hours a day instead of nine and 60 hours a week instead of 56.. They will be able to rest only nine hours a day instead of 10 and postpone the start of the weekly rest period beyond six 24-hour periods.

Spanish companies are being able to weather the almost total stoppage of the European economy with greater vigor than expected. Proof of this is that, in a context in which the economy of Germany and France – the country's two largest trading partners – has not grown at all, the sales of Spanish firms abroad have recorded their second best historical record.. In total, they exported goods worth 384,000 million euros, the second highest figure since records began.. A foreign sector that contributed a third of the national GDP growth in 2023. Of the 2.5% that the Spanish economy advanced in 2023, eight tenths corresponded to this foreign sector, that is, to the contribution made by exports compensated by the effect of imports.

These are two of the major conclusions of the foreign trade evolution report presented this Monday by the Secretary of State for Commerce, Xiana Méndez, at a press conference.. Méndez has highlighted these results in a turbulent external environment, with the shadow of the war in Ukraine still hanging over Europe, high interest rates, the global protectionist wave and tensions in the Red Sea.

For the Secretary of State, the keys to success have been the resilience of trade in goods, the recovery of tourism, the growth of other non-tourist services with high added value and foreign investment.. In 2023, Spain will once again register a surplus in trade in goods and services, something that has been happening uninterruptedly since 2011. That is to say, the difference between the services and goods that Spanish companies traded abroad and those that were imported from abroad was once again favorable.

However, if we go down to the level of merchandise, Spain once again registers a trade deficit that is fundamentally due to the country's energy dependence.. The oil and gas that the country needs to function comes from beyond its borders, which unbalances the balance.

In 2023, the trade deficit was 40,560 million euros, the vast majority due to energy imports. Although the imbalance has been reduced by 40% compared to 2022, which marked the maximum in 15 years due to the European energy crisis, it still remains at the highest levels of the last decade.

At the sector level, food, automobiles and non-chemical semi-manufacturing (in the case of Spain, ceramic products are very important) are the only activities that register surpluses.. In the rest, the result is deficient, especially in consumer manufacturing, capital goods and, above all, in energy products.

The pandemic has meant a before and after for the Spanish foreign sector. Since 2019, foreign sales of Spanish companies have increased more than among the majority of their business partners. Specifically, they have increased by 32%, a growth rate that exceeds those of the United Kingdom (16.4%), Germany (17.6%), France (20%), the United States (23%) or Italy ( 30.4%).

Less promising present and future

After two consecutive years in which exports have played a very prominent role in the country's economic growth, expectations for the medium term do not seem so promising.. The foreign sector contributed half of GDP growth in 2022 and a third in 2023. However, organizations such as the Bank of Spain predict that the foreign sector will have a negative effect on GDP growth in 2024 and a very modest effect in 2025 and 2026.. In these three years, household consumption will be the main fuel for the Spanish economy.

Does this mean that exports are drying up as an engine of growth? “Absolutely, no,” Responds the Secretary of State for Commerce, Xiana Méndez. “Even in the most complicated context, exports have shown signs of being a factor of dynamization and recovery,” he adds.. “Throughout 2024, what we will observe will be a more resilient foreign sector in the face of external shocks and protectionist measures,” he points out.

One of those shocks is unfolding in the Red Sea, where attacks on ships by Yemen's Houthi rebels have caused disruptions in this strategic corridor for global trade.. Insecurity has caused many ships to detour around the Cape of Good Hope, a longer and more expensive route for shipping companies.

The Government points out that the effects on trade have been observed since the end of November, with an increase in freight rates (the price charged for the transportation of goods).. Of course, Méndez believes that the situation is very different from the blockade of the Suez Canal in 2021.. In fact, a certain moderation has already begun to be observed in the price of freight, which has not reached as high a price as that recorded after the pandemic. “Today there is no shortage of containers,” he says.

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, insisted this Monday that responding to the demands of the countryside is not only the task of the Government of Pedro Sánchez and the European Union, but also of the autonomous communities, with which met this afternoon to prepare the Council of European Ministers convened for next February 26 in Brussels. Planas has taken advantage of the meeting to ask the communities to simplify the bureaucracy associated with aid, for example, by unifying inspections and establishing a calendar of calls.

In the telematic meeting of the Agricultural Policy Advisory Council for Community Affairs this afternoon, the Minister of Agriculture asked the autonomous communities for their “collaboration” and “support” when it comes to satisfying the demands of the countryside.. “There are very simple measures that are in the hands of the autonomous communities,” Planas recalled in a press conference prior to the meeting, in which he mentioned two examples of actions that can be implemented at the regional level..

On the one hand, the minister has pointed out the possibility of communities carrying out a single inspection of livestock and agricultural farms, to avoid successive controls without coordination.. “One of the complaints is that there are many inspections at different times of the year and in an uncoordinated manner,” explained the minister, who stressed the need to maintain the “rigor” of the controls, despite the possibility of unifying them.. “I am going to suggest to the autonomous communities that, within the scope of their powers, they coordinate their actions in such a way that a single inspection can be carried out on an agricultural and livestock farm,” he stated, pointing out that this initiative does not require any legal reform. but “simply a desire for good management.”

The minister's second specific proposal has been the idea of establishing a regular calendar to facilitate access to European aid managed by communities, such as those for young farmers and ranchers who want to start in the primary sector.. “It would provide security and is an example of good management,” Planas assured before the meeting, urging regional officials to facilitate the “day-to-day” life of farmers and ranchers.

In addition, the minister has suggested to the communities that they strengthen their control work in the application of the food chain law, as well as their contributions to agricultural insurance.. In this sense, Planas has called for the communities to complement the percentage of premiums provided by the State, which has been estimated between 30% and 40%, given that some regions are still far from the maximum of 10% that they can contribute.

“The Government of Spain is making a great effort and I would like the communities, some of which do so and others less so, to rise to the occasion and if agricultural insurance is a great instrument of defense, that we can have the support of communities in a meaningful way,” he expressed. “I don't want to make a scale of good and bad. We all have to work to be better every day,” he stated, avoiding singling out any autonomous government. “There are many initiatives that the autonomous communities can take within their powers, because they are the Government and have to respond to agricultural organizations,” has underlined.

The Minister of Agriculture has expressed that this afternoon's meeting with the communities has also served to present Spain's position in view of the next Council of European Ministers on February 26, which aims to provide “rapid and structural responses” to the crisis. current situation that the agricultural sector is going through throughout the continent. In this sense, Planas recalled that Spain is going to propose the relaxation of some requirements necessary for the granting of aid from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), such as the obligation to rotate crops and leave part of the surface uncultivated. .

Farmers have been protesting for weeks to demand fair prices, less bureaucracy when accessing aid and an equalization of the conditions required for imports to avoid unfair competition.. After meeting with the main agricultural organizations, Planas announced last week a package of 18 measures to try to satisfy the demands of the sector. The initiatives include removing the mandatory digital notebook in which farmers have to record their activity and restructuring the Food Information and Control Agency, as well as strengthening food controls at the borders and defending mirror clauses so that the European Union incorporates them into their trade agreements.

In the longer term, Planas has advanced its intention to convene a sector conference in the spring to address with the autonomous communities the need to reinforce measures aimed at incorporating young people into the primary sector. “We have to look at all the programs that we have established throughout Spain, so that together we can make them the most attractive and most effective for the introduction of new farmers and ranchers to the sector.. It is a key issue that must be raised,” he stressed.

The 6F Platform, a movement that emerged on social networks and is responsible for a large part of the farmer mobilizations during the last two weeks, has criticized that the Ministry of Agriculture has met this week with agricultural organizations (Asaja, COAG and UPA), but not with “who started the mobilizations”. Likewise, the 6F collective has recognized the “wear and tear” suffered by their demands, although they have declared that their protests are not going to stop, thus confirming new demonstrations for this week. Among them, Platform 6F will join the large tractor-trailer that is being prepared for this Wednesday in Madrid in front of the Ministry of Agriculture. Nearly 500 tractors and 100 buses from different autonomous communities will attend.

This was expressed this Monday in a press conference by Xaime da Pena, spokesperson for the organization, who assured that, although the balance of these last two weeks is “positive” because many farmers have taken to the streets and it has been possible to have meetings with the ministry, the Government “has left aside” the farmers by not including them in the negotiations. According to the spokesperson, the ministry wants to have the associations “at its side” by meeting only with them, which is why it has been negative about achieving real changes for the rural world: “I believe that they are going to give aid and subsidies , and in four years we will be back to the same thing.”

Regarding these meetings, Da Pena has precisely criticized the package of 18 measures that the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, presented to the agricultural associations last Thursday.. These ranged from the creation of the State Food Information and Control Agency to reinforce the food chain law, to incentives to encourage the incorporation of young people into the sector or the contracting of agricultural insurance.. Some measures that were rejected by the associations, who considered them “insufficient” and therefore called to continue with the mobilizations.

“All these promises have to materialize, not remain a commitment. In the end, Planas ended up saying that they depend on Europe and, therefore, that commitment does not depend on it, how can someone commit to something if it does not depend on them?” Da Pena stated.

The spokesperson has also recognized the “wear and tear” that the Platform's actions have been suffering since there are farmers who “do not feel comfortable” organizing demonstrations based on this Platform.. “This has perhaps been achieved by the political spheres or the media sphere itself,” he noted, recognizing that there are farm workers who have been dissatisfied, “close to 20%” and who prefer to be represented now. with another organization.

The Platform has become “politicized”

Among the reasons why some farmers have been dissatisfied, he has recognized that the Platform has become “politicized”, which has led Da Pena to also announce his resignation as spokesperson, although he has indicated that he will continue to provide support as legal advisor.. “It is not because of internal logistics, but because of external agents,” he maintained.

Despite this, the spokesperson has reiterated that the balance of these two weeks of protests by the Platform has been a “resounding success.”. “Something that appears from social networks and from having the associations and the unions themselves against them…. The Platform has a lot of power to mobilize. The other day there was a meeting with Luis Planas and what we have to think about is that what made the countryside heard were the mobilizations and the tractor movements, and Platform 6F did that,” he declared.

More mobilizations on February 21

Despite the wear and tear, the spokesperson has also confirmed that, for the moment, they will continue to organize many more protests. As detailed, the Platform plans for this week a mobilization this Tuesday on the Cantabrian coast, another on Wednesday in the city of Malaga and more protests for this Thursday in Aragón, Cádiz and, especially, in the port of Valencia, where Da Pena has assured that the demonstration will be “very significant.”

In the same way, 6F will participate in the Madrid protests on February 26 called by the organizations COAG, Asaja and UPA, as well as in the large tractor rally that is being prepared for this Wednesday, February 21, also in Madrid in front of the headquarters. of the Ministry of Agriculture. Nearly 500 tractors and 100 buses with field workers from all the autonomous communities are expected to attend.

This demonstration, organized by the Union of Farmers and Livestock Unions, may even have an even higher attendance figure, as stated this Monday by the spokesperson for this organization, Luis Cortés.. Up to six columns of tractors will enter the capital from different radials and will meet at 10:30 in the Plaza de la Independencia, to continue en masse to Atocha.

According to Cortés, this new protest occurs after the “deception” that, according to this association, are the 18 measures announced by Luis Planas, since “none of these proposals are going to fix any of the problems.”. For this reason, Cortés has called for the development of the food chain law that allows the definition and calculation of production costs, as well as a royal omnibus decree that includes its needs, including the modification of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). , since the European objectives “can be met with less absurd measures.”