Vídeo: Espanha não recua em tarifas sobre veículos elétricos chineses, afirma ministro

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[Music] we spoke to Carlos quero Spain’s economy Minister who was in Brussels to ask the EU for help concerning the devastating floods that happened in Spain on October 29th quero said Spain would do whatever it takes to rebuild the damage and he also said that responsibilities for the management of the floods would need to be determined Carlos quero you are Spain’s minister of economy trade and business thank you so much for joining us thank you so uh you met with European Commissioners uh in Brussels to negotiate EU funds to help Spain recover from the devastating floods that happened uh last month so um Carlos quo what are these funds and what did you obtain from the EU well thanks thanks for inviting me it’s a pleasure being here of course we are here to meet with several Commissioners uh including commissioner fera commissioner Han also vice president dombrovskis so the idea is to really get uh an extent of all the different solidarity tools that are available for Spain to face as you said uh the the consequences of these huge natural disaster that we suffered on the 29th of October in in Valencia with the floodings so I think there there are four main channels that we are exploring one is of course the solidarity fund which is there actually for specific this for for these purpose specifically then of course there is the agricultural Reserve there is the flexibility concerning the use of structural funds cohesion funds as well and there is also the reprogramming of Next Generation EU funds of our recovery plan so we are trying to explore all those possibilities to really tap into EU solidarity and the feedback that we get from the Commissioners so far is a very good feedback of course in terms of really having the commission on our site to help as much as possible so what is the amount of money that you obtained well it’s a bit early to say uh to have a a fully fledged envelope of all the money that will be used from uh EU funds uh so we’re still now at the early stage trying to first get an extent of the impact because that will of course determine to how much money uh we have access to in the in the end as well but I think it’s a it’s a these early stages are good for us to prepare to get ready uh to uh to really be quick in asking for those uh for those funds as quick as possible how much time do you think will be needed to overcome the effects of those floods well um we need to rebuild we need to reconstruct so we’re now at the early phase of the critical response of early response trying to get people uh back on their feet but but then we will need to reconstruct so this will take long uh so we are planning on actually getting uh side by side uh and getting uh to help citizens that were affected by the by This Disaster as long as necessary you know this is sentenced by Mario dragi is whatever it takes so that’s what the government is trying to instill into the minds of those affected now to give them a bit of hope that we will be with them as long as it takes and with as many uh resources as are needed and do you think uh those have already an impact on Spain’s GDP or will have an impact how do you see the consequences on Spain’s economy 2024 uh GDP growth is almost uh closed now we’re almost at the end of the year so I wouldn’t expect a big impact in terms of 2024 uh GDP growth rate we will see uh the the full extent as we go along over the course of the next few weeks uh how many businesses uh do actually have to put uh their daily operations on hold to rebuild to reconstruct we will see in in any case so for you to have an idea um the area that was affected might represent around 1% of Spanish GDP uh so let’s see what the actual impact on these 1% of Spanish GDP is and for how long and there we will have a a final estimate Minister as you know the population in the region has protested against uh the lack of of warning but also the insufficient support uh from the regional government and from the central government this has led to violence I would say protest and violence uh what in your views went wrong well um as I just said we’re now very focused on responding to the current needs of the population so there will be a time once we actually get out of this initial immediate response phase to look at political responsibilities and to draw lessons uh from them but I think people would not understand us uh really fighting over each other at this point uh while they’re still in uh in huge need of of response and of uh of help yeah but the anger was very strong in Spain we have seen this protest even outside Spain people were very shocked by the the magnitude of what happened and the the anger so what do you respond to that well the anger first is understandable actually you go there you see the extent I was there last week the extent the extent of the disaster and you know that what you have to do is try to appease try to lift them up again and and that’s actually the whole political action now is uh concentrated focused on putting together the resources that are necessary for them to to go back to a normal life but the wound as you said was also an anger um towards the lack of responsibility of the regional government what do you say about that well again I think there will be time for us to assign responsibilities and and in my personal opinion that time has not come yet so now it’s a time for a quick response and that’s what I’m focused on and that’s what the government is also concentrating on um so speaking of Spanish economy um we know the Spanish economy has shown very robust growth you’ve said it many times in other on other TV channels more than the Euro Zone average uh but we also know that the country is heavily reliant on tourism uh and there were a lot of protests recently against Mass tourism uh and and the dire effects of Tourism on prices on a lot of different issues um so how would you strike a balance between uh the economical needs and the increase of Tourism which is a good thing for Spain but also uh a balance with the Spanish purchasing power how do you make people uh how do you reassure people so Spain has been out growing outperforming as you said the Euro area in 2023 we grew six times above the Euro area average and when you look at 24 it’s around four times above the EUR average and you look at commission IMF oecd outlook for 2025 it is also foreseen that Spain will be above its peers what we’re witnessing now is is that uh the record numbers uh in tourists uh are coming together with uh with novel Trends one of them is that there is a a diversification outside of summer months what we call shoulder months so just before or just after summer those are the the the periods of time where there is a higher or larger increase in the number of tourists and this of course is associated with more tourists inside Spain so is rural tourism associated with our Gastronomy something else than just uh sun and and and beach in the in the Spanish C so these are I would say good elements looking forward towards the sustainability of the current trend of course we are aware that in some places this is creating tensions and there is a need there as you said to find the proper balance so that these tensions in terms of the rental market these tensions in terms of access to public services are actually well met and and also local Citi has a real um housing crisis well we how how you respond to that yes we are but that’s um overall in Spain and it’s also an EU uh threat or EU Challenge and I think of course Spain is not an exception on this and uh we are what we are doing on on on this specific issue is dealing with one or trying to deal with all the the the specific uh causes of the of the housing affordability issue which have to do with Supply so we are rebuilding the public stock of housing which was actually completely depleted after years of underinvestment so that’s one area and then uh aside other measures coming back to you to the tourism one we’re trying to uh also to the extent possible realign incentives for that supply of housing to go towards not only the tourism or the short-term Market but to longer term rentals so that that can actually also affect uh uh and dampen the prices for these longer term rentals and therefore uh improve the affordability not only for youngsters which is an issue but for the overall middle class and let me ask you a question that is a matter of concern here in the EU and it uh linked to the eu’s decision to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles Spain made a sort of U-turn let’s say it was in favor of tariffs and then it lined up with Germany to call on the EU to reconsider these tariffs we’ve seen uh prime minister P Sanchez in China uh why this U-turn and do you think these tariffs could be dangerous in the long term well I would go against your initial statement there was no u-turn and let me just explain why um so initially uh of course in Europe we need to to be open we are an open economy and multilateralism but that does not mean that we have to be naive in the way that we Face international trade today today is 20124 is not 2004 and we have to reconsider uh or we have to consider these openness to the rest of the world in light of the Strategic autonomy of the EU that has to do with strategic sectors such as the electric vehicle as well so our companies uh need to compete under equal conditions under a Level Playing Field with respect to other competitors for example Chinese cars that want to operate uh and uh and sell in the EU so the first step was to actually see Analyze This was done uh by the commission to what extent there was actually a Level Playing Field or not and we supported that first step and this is actually where we were before the summer and after that then once uh there was um conclusion from the commission that some tariffs would be needed to level out the the playing field again with respect to Chinese cars then we enter into a negotiating period where we have to negotiate from the EU with Chinese producers and with Chinese authorities to actually find a good compromise for everyone and that’s what we’re saying that’s what president Sanchez is saying that’s what Chancellor SCH was saying also we need to keep on negotiating we need to exhaust all negotiating Avenues all talks so that we find uh this uh this joint solution because we know that the worst case scenario is a tit fortat uh scenario where there is an element of escalating protectionist measures that would be to the detriment of everyone Carlos quo thank you so much my pleasure thank you very much [Music] it for that uh scenario where there is an an element of escalating protectionist measures that would be to the detriment of everyone Carlos quo thank you so much my pleasure thank you very much