The Government wants extend the role of the State in strategic companies after having approved that the SEPI (State Society of Industrial Participations) acquire up to 10% of Telefónica. Pedro Sánchez explained these intentions in an interview in Bloomberg, carried out within the framework of the Davos forum, pointing to the Defense, cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence sectors. “It is important that we strengthen this public and private relationship to face these common challenges”, he has justified to realize that the entry into Telefónica “it is part of a strategy” longer range. “Cybersecurity is also very important for companies and the Spanish Government,” he stressed. In addition to Telefónica, Sánchez has put cAs an example, the plans at Indra.
The return of the State to Telefónica, more than a quarter of a century after its complete privatization, occurred to counteract the Saudi STC. Along these lines, the Chief Executive has assured that “we have extraordinary relations with the Saudi authorities and we hope to strengthen that cooperation.”
Regarding the Defense sector, Sánchez has advanced that the Government’s objective “is to structure and transform the industry in Spain”. “I think we can obtain many benefits and take advantage of our assets in this new industry that we are building in the EU,” he explained to conclude that “we must align objectives to have greater participation in these projects.”
All this, within the framework of the so-called strategic autonomy of the EU, which was one of the main axes of the current presidency. “We have learned from past experiences, such as the geopolitical battle for semiconductors and, beyond the technological supremacy in which, evidently, the United States and China are involved. I believe that the European Union can play a key role. Spain will allocate 12 billion euros to attract investment and create a new ecosystem of semiconductors and chips in our country. We have good cooperation with big companies like IIntel, Cisco and Qualcomm and we hope to strengthen it even more,” he explained during the interview.
Pending his speech at the Davos forum this afternoon, Sánchez sent a message to national and international companies of stability and trust. “We are focused on taking advantage of economic growth to consolidate our fiscal policies. A public deficit of 3% of GDP is expected for this year. And of course, reduce public debt“, which reached its maximum in 2020 due to the pandemic,” he said.
Regarding the relationship with the Ibex 35, after high-profile clashes such as with Ferrovial, he defended positive treatment. “The development of the stock markets in Spain, for example, last year was quite exceptional. And this is a very important example of the public-private collaboration that we have established with Spanish private companies and the Spanish Government in recent years&rdquor ;, he said to add that “I am looking forward to strengthening this cooperation.”
Banking and energy taxes
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The President of the Government has stated that the extraordinary taxes to tax the profits of banking and energy companies are temporary. Without an express intention of making them permanent. According to him he justified, they respond to “a concrete answer” caused by the inflationary crisis derived from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Sánchez has also taken the opportunity to send a message of optimism about the management of European funds. At a time when the Government is negotiating flexibility with Brussels to receive the next disbursement of 10,000 euros after the strike decree was overturned with the committed reforms, he was “sure that we will apply it and approve it in Congress.” “What we did last year was approve a very important reform of the labor market together with companies, social agents and also with the majority of political parties in Congress, in addition to a pension reform. “Now, of course, we are implementing other reforms requested by the Commission,” he concluded.