The Spanish government on Tuesday unveiled a draft bill designed to prevent manufacturing companies from moving jobs out of the country, especially if they have received public aid.
The overall draft bill, called the ‘Law on Industry and Strategic Autonomy’, and which was approved by the cabinet on Tuesday, includes terms that will also require any company ‘wishing to cease its industrial activity’ in Spain, to inform the government of this ‘at least nine months beforehand’, the industry ministry said in a statement.
If a company which plans to relocate abroad has received more than €3 million in state aid, they would have to repay it if they reduced their output in Spain by more than 65%, or their workforce by 500 people or more, the statement added.
The goal is to protect Spain’s industrial fabric with measures requiring public aid to be returned ‘once all avenues of dialogue with companies have been exhausted’, Industry Minister Jordi Hereu (main image) told a news conference following a weekly cabinet meeting.
The measure was called for by the left-wing Sumar group, the junior partners with the PSOE socialists in Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s minority coalition government.
‘We are going to put the brakes on offshoring, and protect jobs and the future of our country,’ Sumar wrote on social media (see below).
The bill still must be approved in the Spanish Congress where the government lacks a majority. It relies on a patchwork of smaller, regional parties to pass legislation.
Some, such as Catalan pro-independence party, Junts per Catalunya (JxCat), are business-friendly and it is unclear whether the bill will pass.
The Spanish economy, the eurozone’s fourth-biggest, is largely service-based, with a major tourism sector. But it has some powerful industries, mainly in the automotive and energy sectors.
Si una empresa se va fuera de Europa, tendrá que devolver las ayudas públicas que ha recibido y no podrá justificar despidos o recortes salariales.
— Yolanda Díaz (@Yolanda_Diaz_) December 10, 2024
Hemos conseguido que la Ley de Industria proteja a la gente trabajadora de nuestro país.https://t.co/t9qUbQDVNV
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