scope and effectiveness of fiscal policy in the euro area, enable the smooth operation of the monetary and fiscal policy mix from a wider euro area perspective and help achieve common, long - run objectives, such as tackling climate change. in the current setting, it is more challenging to achieve the effective fiscal stabilisation of the monetary union as a whole than policy coordination between member states. first, the current rules do not envisage mechanisms for correcting national measures that are judged to be incompatible with the overall desired fiscal stance. second, having an appropriate monetary union - wide fiscal stance is no guarantee that individual fiscal policies will be adequate for national fiscal sustainability and cyclical stabilisation targets, as has been observed in recent years. a possible solution to this coordination problem could be to establish a central mechanism entrusted with setting the euro area ’ s overall fiscal policy stance and responding to tail events, with national authorities focusing on medium - term goals and placing debt sustainability as their primary objective ( see slide 7 ). this fiscal policy tool could be automatic, such as a common unemployment insurance scheme or a more general stabilising instrument dependent on the cyclical position. in any case, risk sharing must be accompanied by an incentive system that prevents negative cross - country externalities and moral hazard, something of utmost importance in a monetary union. furthermore, i believe that such a central instrument would also be suited to tackling global challenges, such as climate change or the process of digitalisation, and might be a better option than national “ golden rules ”. these rules exclude specific types of public expenses from deficit calculations, on the grounds that these could be growth - enhancing and thus need to be protected. this option is attracting much attention in current eu debates. in particular, it is argued that in the current context, with countries having to expend a great deal of effort in the fight against climate change, such investments should be excluded from the expenditure target or budget balance in order to safeguard them from eu fiscal rules. however, a golden rule would add an additional layer of complexity to an already intricate system ( see slide 7 ) and would require the definition of the types of spending to which it ought to apply. in my view, a far more efficient option would be the umbrella of a european financing instrument, which would make it easier to achieve the significant common investment needs required to meet the current net zero targets and stave off climate risk scenarios, regardless of the national fiscal space available. the third point i would

. similarly, ensuring competition also requires that the national commission on markets and competition be equipped with sufficient human and technical resources. this is especially important in a context of accelerated technological change that can increase market power at some firms. go pinath et al. ( 2017 ) and garcia - santana et al. ( 2020 ). albrizio et al. ( 2023 ). bardhan ( 2002 ), mora - sanguinetti and perez - valls ( 2020 ), de lucio and mo ra - sanguinetti ( 2021 ), de lucio and mo rasanguinetti ( 2022 ), mo ra - sanguinetti ( 2022 ) and mo ra - sanguinetti et al. ( 2023 ). almunia and lo pez - ro driguez ( 2018 ). 3 human capital the level of human capital has proven a crucial factor in driving innovation and business growth. for example, r & d & i investment in european countries with a higher level of human capital ( based on the numeracy scores under the programme for the international assessment of adult competencies ) is on average 1 pp higher than in spain. this is not surprising, since the quality of the workforce and their technological and digital skills are essential foundations for the absorption of knowledge and the innovative capacity of any economy. despite a notable improvement in recent decades, the educational attainment level of employers, the self - employed and employees in spain is lower than the euro area average. according to eurostat data, in spain, 35. 5 % of the self - employed, 34 % of employers and 29. 6 % of employees had a low educational attainment level in 2023 q2. these figures are well above those observed in the euro area as a whole ( 20. 1 %, 19. 4 % and 18. 6 %, respectively ). the recent increase in interest in pursuing vocational training after secondary education is encouraging, but the new vocational training law, which established the dual model, poses a challenge. in particular, the new law is aimed squarely at increasing the proportion of in - company work experience, tasking firms with offering a significant number of apprenticeship opportunities. the success of this initiative will depend on effective collaboration between the business sector and educational institutions. turning to universities, the relatively low share of graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics continues to stand out. according to eurostat data for 2021, 24 % of spanish students in tertiary education are enrolled in a