Commissioner Bieńkowska visits Spain - Main contents

Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska visited Spain from 26 to 27 January.

Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska visited Spain from 26 to 27 January. On the first day of her visit she participated in the signing ceremony of the Initiative for SMEs together with Mme Marta Fernandez Curras, Secretary of State for Treasury of State Budget and Expenditures, the first such initiative in Europe This ground-breaking agreement with the European Investment Bank and the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations of Spain will unlock more than €3.2 billion of additional lending for SMEs. In practice, under the new SME Initiative signed with Spain, regions in the country will reallocate part of their EU funding from European Structural and Investment Funds, i.e. €800 million. Rather than being given as a traditional grant, this pooled money will be channelled through the SME Initiative and used as a guarantee to take first risk in projects. The timing of this initiative is particularly appropriate, as Spain experiences a strengthening recovery but SMEs, which represent over 74% of private sector employment and account for 85% of newly created jobs, continue to face difficulties obtaining the financing that they need for growth.

She also met Mr José Manuel Soria, Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism, Mr José Manuel García-Margallo, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Mr Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, Secretary of State for European Affairs and Mr Taleb Rifai, Secretary General, UN World Tourism Organization.

On 27 January she spoke to business associations at the Forum of the New Economy and answered questions from the participants.

She then went on to address FITUR - the Spain Global Tourism Forum. The Commissioner shared the platform with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the Industry Minister. Her opening speech highlighted recent Spanish success in tourism: 2014 produced the highest level of tourism ever recorded. She warned that this level of success would only be maintained if the tourism industry kept pace with an evolving market, taking advantage of the digital economy to meet the requirements of an increasingly sophisticated clientele.