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00:00Minister thank you so much for joining us on Bloomberg TV as always great to see you. And you know we're doing this the day when the digital pass is about to go live in Spain. What does it mean for the country. Can you save the summer season. Well what does digital pass means is the ability to return to mobility in a safe manner. It gives passengers a much easier experience. It guarantees that they can trouble in safety. And it helps the country also restore an important part of its economy which is tourism. The prospects for this year is 17 million arrivals. This is almost three times more than we had last year. Obviously it's below breakup levels but it's going in the right direction. It points to hope which is the mood in the country at the moment. And it's true there. Right before Katrina happened Spain was incredibly visited. I mean you went from record to regular about 70 million people. It's twice the population that would visit the country. The numbers are huge. On that basis you know how important is this reopening for the Spanish economy. Are you confident that we're going to see this rebound really take hold now. Well this is what every institution is telling us from the IMF to the European Commission the always C.D.. It's looking good. Growth rates are forecast for this year. Above 6 percent is one of the highest in the European Union unquote. Does this is due to the resumption of full resumption of economic activity including mobility which as we know has been extremely affected by greed. But as vaccination rates in Spain improve. Today we are close to 40 percent Spaniards fully vaccinated over 50 percent of the Spaniards with at least one doses. So as soon as vaccination moves forward we can reopen the economy with safety which is what every tourists want. Clear rules of the game. Citizens coming to Spain that are fully vaccinated or who have a negative PCR they can enter the country. Thus as simple as that clear rules of the game so that tourists can enjoy their experience without having to suffer the hurdles of changing the route. And you know in particular I want to ask you because the United Kingdom it's a huge market. You know the birds love Spain. That's clear. We know that. But you know we do have this test that is changing now. Before there was no test that was mandatory to come to Spain. Now there is a test you need to take. He explained the rationale for that reason especially if you're looking to book a holiday to Spain. Yeah. In the weeks before what we had is a very low incidence in the U.K. So let's say that the U.K. was the exception in in Europe in that we were not asking from the U.K. citizens what we were asking from other European citizens. It was due to the fact that the incidence of Corbett in the U.K. was very low. But as the incidence in the U.K. has increased as we have seen the numbers soar. What we are doing is aligning the U.K. citizens with the same requirements. We asked from other European Union citizens full vaccination negative PCR they can enter into Spain. Now obviously coming to Spain also depends on the rules that the U.K. has for Spanish territories. They have put the Bally Greek islands on the green list. This means that when UK citizens visit the valley Greek islands they don't need to do a quarantine when they go back. The rest of his Spain is still in amber. What we want on what we hope is that the numbers and the incidence of Corbett in Spain would allow the rest of Spain also to move into the green category so that the British citizens who love has been so much but also the Spaniards who love British citizens. What kind of joy the experience in Spain. And you know it is also interesting that Spain and the UK actually have a very good diplomatic relationship. You know at times you could argue you know there's some tension over over subject that we all know. But on this you've had a very good relationship over the past year. So I wondering your conversations are you're having. Are they open to taking in more regions into that green list. Is that something that we could see in the next few weeks. Well this is up to the U.K. It's up to the British authorities the government to decide. We're obviously hope that they will make this decisions on the basis of the data we've been providing them and we've been providing two kinds of data. First incidence of college in Spain. And second the ability of the regions to sequence the different variants of Goleta in Spain. These are the two requirements on which they base their decisions. This is the information we've been providing in the past few weeks. We will continue to do so in the hope that they will put other regions off Spain in the green category. There are many other regions in this country where British tourists love to come and where we are looking forward to welcoming them. And you know in terms. The Delta variant. I guess that's the number one concern now in terms of the whole situation but it is a very tricky balance between the one and to be careful but not be too careful to the extent that it becomes detrimental. So how are you going to handle that as the government of Spain. Well first it's important to note that people who are fully vaccinated with a full vaccination two doses if the two are required are well protected against the variant. This is the first thing to note. So the most important thing therefore is to proceed with vaccination in Spain and obviously to require vaccination from those visitors who want to enter the country. Number two obviously is to to keep good track and keep control of how the variant evolves in the country. We are sequencing the variants in order to understand the prevalence for now extremely low of the Delta variant. But we will continue to sequence and to pay a lot of attention to ensure we know. And therefore we can respond. But the best cure we have at the moment is essentially to continue vaccinating which is why the Spanish government is putting such a premium on vaccination at the moment. Let me tell you one thing and this is important for the viewers. It's Bloomberg itself that yesterday put Spain number six in the world in terms of good management of the transition to normalization. Number six in the world. And this is on the basis of resilience. It's on the basis of vaccination. And it's on the basis of how we're managing mobility. It shows that we are moving in the right direction. Hence hope this is the name of the game in Spain at the moment. Right. And you know in terms of vaccination I wonder if we have new data in terms of the targets. I know you said by the end of July we will get to herd immunity. The numbers so far have actually majorly improved in the past few weeks. So when do we get to that point. That's our destination. And we want to keep to that. We want to have herd immunity by the end of July beginning of August. And with the numbers as they are moving at the moment with the speed of vaccination in every region office Spain. I'm sure we will get there. So you're sure that Dario will be met. We're working on that. And you know in terms of the recovery fund I also wanted to ask you about that because the two are moving in similar ways. On the one hand you have the economic support and then the vaccination. There is this idea out there that perhaps Spain could be among the first perhaps probably the first country to trigger that upfront payment. Do you have any clarity in terms of what that could look like for the country. Well we know that the European Commission has given the green light to the European sorry to the Spanish recovery plan. We also know that it has passed the test with honors that the marks that we got from the European Commission are very good. We also know that European Union member states that is the council will shortly make a definite take a definitive view on our plan. We expect this to be a thumbs up again and we expect the first payments to has been already in the month of July. Nevertheless we have already made plans in our own budget that was approved and it's in place from the beginning of the year to include amounts that basically are aimed at recovering strongly our economy. And more importantly they aim at structurally transforming our economy. We don't just want to go back to robust growth levels. We want to make sure that those growth levels are triggered by any economic activity that points in the direction of transformation decarbonisation digitalisation. Are the two big pillars in which together with a better trained workforce in Spain will be the pillars of the future economy of Spain. And what would your message be to investors who right now are looking at a number of countries across Europe and they want to put their money to work. Why would Spain be the most attractive place. What kind of country offer that others don't. Because it's been knows the destination. It's very clear in its plan. Spain has a plan. The plan points clearly into the future into an economy of the future. And there are many opportunities in this country that are awaiting intelligent investors that want to invest not on the past not on the present but they want to invest in the economy of the future. They want to invest on cyber. They want to invest in tech. They want to invest in the zero emissions plane. They want to invest in the electric car of the future on the green hydrogen. They want to invest in the future. That's what Spain offers. And you know I wonder. But in terms of the political noise which at times is so loud in the country. Should they read through that. Are you confident that ultimately there will be consensus in areas where there needs to be for big reforms. What I'm telling investors is very simple a switch down the noise level in your radio on your television and look at what the message is. And the message is a country with a government that has passed what the first recovery and transformation plan with owners. Look at the laws that the parliament in Spain is bussing. We've just passed a law to decarbonise our economy. We've passed a law on improving our education system. We've passed a law guaranteeing a minimum income to our citizens. Week after week the parliament of this country is passing laws that underpin that transformation of the economy. So forget about the noise level. Put the noise down. But look at what the country is doing and you will see a country that has very clear sense of direction. And on that note I want to ask you just to wrap up the interview for investors and also that the foreign community this week the government today in fact the prime minister was explaining the reason as to why the leaders of those barrages move in Catalonia have been pardoned after what was a very not just controversial burst for the country very dramatic referendum that happened. Well legal we should also highlight three years ago. How should they read this. What is the goal of doing this. What they should read is that Spain is a very robust country on the robustness includes its ability to deal with different sentimental belonging to the country the differences in the sense of belonging that citizens in Catalonia have towards Spain. And we can manage this and we are ready to manage this differences through dialogue and through negotiation. And these two meet points in the direction of robustness of the Spanish political system. So he's not only an economy that looks into the future and has a very clear plan for transformation with huge investment opportunities. But it's also a robust political system that can deal with the differences and the difficulties that exist within our system. And that is ready to do this through a compact through a dialogue through negotiation. Right. So if I read it correctly what you're saying is that for foreign investors money capital that's looking to invest in Spain. Actually this could be a positive thing if it means that that instability comes down. That's what you're betting on. That's right. What what all of these points in direction is stability political stability economic stability and huge opportunities. This is the country of hope. So I'm sure that investors will be looking at Spain with a lot of attention. And certainly we are very much looking forward to welcoming them.

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Delta Variant Levels Are Low in Spain Says Gonzalez Laya

Spain is sequencing the variant and for now, levels of the Delta strand are ''very low'' in the country, says Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya. She emphasised the need to keep vaccinating to be able to safely reopen the economy and also said she's confident Spain will have herd immunity by the end of July or beginning of August. Arancha Gonzalez Laya spoke exclusively to Bloomberg's Maria Tadeo in Madrid. (Source: Bloomberg)

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