We must not forget that these negative shocks are taking place while many of these vulnerable groups and firms have not yet fully recovered from the adverse effects of the health crisis. Selective fiscal policy support is also warranted by the need to minimise the impact on budgetary imbalances, which have increased very significantly during the crisis. It is thus important that the measures be temporary so as not to further increase the structural deficit. Moreover, the current high inflation also makes an argument for support to be selective and for avoiding an across-the-board fiscal impulse. Such an impulse could lead to an exacerbation of existing bottlenecks in the most stressed sectors that could eventually filter through to prices. It is also especially important to avoid the widespread use of automatic indexation clauses in the expenditure items that might further fuel the current inflationary process. This deindexation must be part of the incomes agreement to which I will refer later. It is also important for fiscal policy to provide certainty about the commitment to budgetary stability in the current context of heightened uncertainty, which could result, for example, in financial market tension. Thus, it is particularly necessary to design a fiscal consolidation programme that will allow the high government debt and budget deficit levels to be gradually reduced, to be implemented once the recovery has taken root. As I have already noted, this recovery may be affected by the conflict in Ukraine.
In this context, it is vital to prevent these near-term inflationary pressures from passing through to the medium-term through second-round effects and, in particular, through an inflationary wage-price spiral. Avoiding this spiral is not in the least bit easy; nor, of course, is it rewarding in the shortterm. An incomes agreement is needed between workers and employers that will ensure gains for everyone in the medium-term, although in the near term everyone will have to 10  assume a loss. As in similar situations on previous occasions, I would like to emphasise the need for consensus to confront the scenario before us effectively. Employment in Spain and the competitiveness of the economy over the coming years will largely depend on our ability to reach these difficult compromises. In the past we have reached agreements of this importance and they have borne fruit. Given this evidence, and the magnitude of the current challenge, I am optimistic that we will manage to do so once again. 11