00:00Well, thank you very much, Major.
00:02Dear friends, 2026 has been a pretty good year for both New York and Spain.
00:12The Knicks won the NBA championship, and Spain won the World Cup.
00:27So perhaps, Major, there's only one thing left to prove.
00:32Progressive policies can also win the future.
00:37That is what brings us together today, building an economy for the many.
00:45For too long, we were told that there was only one way to run an economy.
00:50If you wanted growth, you had to accept inequality.
00:55If you wanted businesses to succeed, workers had to make sacrifices.
01:02If you wanted investment, wages had to stay low.
01:06If you wanted to be competitive, social protection had to be weak.
01:10I have never believed that.
01:13And Spain has spent the last eight years proving that those statements are not true.
01:20Proving that another path is possible.
01:23They told us that it would make less competitive.
01:28For instance, well, I will give you some examples.
01:31The first one is what the Major has said earlier about the minimum wage.
01:38These are the examples.
01:39We have raised the minimum wage by 66%.
01:43They told us it would destroy jobs.
01:46False.
01:48We now have more people working than ever before.
01:52Two, we have strengthened workers' rights.
01:55They told us that companies would stop hiring.
01:59False.
02:01One in every two new jobs in Europe are created now in Spain.
02:06And three, we have walked the talk and invested massively in the green transition.
02:12They told us that it would make us less competitive.
02:16False.
02:26So I could go on with many more examples.
02:34Again and again, we heard the same warning.
02:36Don't do it.
02:37It won't work.
02:39And again and again, we proved them wrong.
02:42Really, reality gave us a different answer.
02:46Our policies work.
02:47Yes, they work.
02:49And they deliver for the ordinary people.
02:51And they work because social justice is not the enemy of economic growth.
02:56It is one of its foundations.
03:00People experience the economy in their daily life, not in graphs, not in statistics,
03:07but in much simpler questions.
03:10Can I afford a home?
03:12Can I raise my children?
03:14Can I pay my bills?
03:15Can I build a life?
03:18Affordability is not a secondary issue.
03:20It is a central economic question of our time.
03:24And it is particularly tested in times like the ones we live with pandemics,
03:30with geopolitical tensions, with trade wars we don't want.
03:34It is in difficult contexts when our policies make the real difference.
03:39After the financial crisis, you know that in Europe we responded with austerity.
03:46Public investment fell.
03:49Unemployment exploited.
03:51Millions paid for a crisis they had not created.
03:55Under a right-wing government in Spain we suffered also the effects of wrong policies.
04:00Then the pandemic arrived, and this time being in power we chose a different path.
04:07Spain pushed Europe along with other countries towards solidarity, common investment, and protecting jobs and incomes.
04:15We created a minimum income scheme.
04:18We protected vulnerable families.
04:20We suspended evictions, and we mobilized an unprecedented investment to modernize our economy.
04:27We proved that you can protect people today and prepare your country for tomorrow at the same time.
04:34We followed the same principle when Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggered an energy and inflation crisis.
04:42We subsidized public transport, we reduced taxes on food and energy, we protected pensions,
04:50and we asked banks and energy companies benefiting from extraordinary profits to contribute more.
04:57Because those who have more must contribute more.
05:02It is simple as that.
05:09And not as a punishment for their success, but because nobody builds success alone.
05:15Behind every successful company and every great fortune, there are workers, infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and institutions.
05:25And today, as conflict in the Middle East once again put pressure on energy prices, trade, and household budgets,
05:34the principle remains the same.
05:36When a crisis hits everyone, the sacrifices should not always fall on the same people.
05:44This approach has not held Spain back.
05:47Quite the opposite.
05:49Spain is one of the fastest growing advanced economies in the world,
05:52and employment is at its lowest level in almost two decades,
05:57and inequality is now at its lowest level since records began in 2008.
06:04And there's another lesson from our experience that I want to underline here in this extraordinary city of immigrants.
06:11Migration has made Spain stronger.
06:22Economically, socially, culturally, migrants work in our companies, contribute to our public finance, sustain our welfare state, and enrich our
06:34communities.
06:35Migration makes us a better country.
06:37No question.
06:39This matters because there are politicians on both sides of the Atlantic trying to convince working people that their problem
06:46is another working person.
06:49Someone born somewhere else.
06:52Someone who earns even less than they do.
06:55It is one of the oldest political tricks in history.
07:00Make people look sideways so they never look up.
07:05And our answer must be different.
07:08Do not divide the many so that the few can remain unchallenged.
07:13Bring people together around what they serve.
07:16A decent wage, an affordable home, good public services, time for their families, security, dignity, the future.
07:27Ultimately, it comes down to one question.
07:30Who writes the rules of our economy?
07:34And that question is not only an economic question.
07:38It is also a technological one, and one related to power and greed.
07:43Because today, wealth and power are concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.
07:48And with them, the power to decide what to see, what to read, and what to believe.
07:56I am strongly in favor, of course, of innovation.
07:59Europe and Spain need more innovation, not less.
08:03But we must make sure technology spans opportunity rather than concentrate power.
08:09And certainly, we must ensure that technology does not undermine democracy.
08:14It should make it stronger.
08:17Markets are powerful tools.
08:19Technology is a powerful tool.
08:21But neither gets to decide what kind of society we become.
08:25People do.
08:26Citizens do.
08:27Democracy does.
08:29So yes, the Knicks won the NBA.
08:32Spain won the World Cup.
08:34And now, we have another championship to play for.
08:38One that brings us together.
08:40One that belongs to all of us.
08:42Spain is proving that another economic model is possible.
08:47And New York is showing that the same ambition can transform our cities.
08:51That is why the powerful fear us.
08:55Because day after day, we show that a different path is possible.
08:59And it works.
09:00It delivers to our ordinary people.
09:04Different places, different realities, but the same conviction.
09:09An economy for the many.
09:11A democracy for the many.
09:13And if we are ambitious enough, courage enough, and hopeful enough,
09:18a future won by the many and for the many and not the few.
09:22Thank you very much.
09:24Applause
