He urged Europeans to mobilise against poverty while the union continued rising out of its economic crisis. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the Spanish EU presidency would seek to improve European social and employment policies. Madrid would focus on the most vulnerable groups, which included the elderly, Roma and handicapped people, the premier said.
Zapatero also called for a social pact between European institutions, employers' and labour organisations to back the EU's 2020 Strategy to make the economy more competitive. Europe's social benefits needed to include all people living in the region, "independently of their legal condition," Zapatero said.
He was seen as indirectly criticising the eastern Spanish town of Vic, which had announced plans to deny illegal immigrants access to health care and education. Vic mayor Josep Maria Vila said Thursday that the town would not apply the controversial plan, which was seen as having made some conservative Spanish politicians adopt a tougher discourse on immigration.