"I am going to eliminate neither our national sovereignty nor the equality of the Spanish people", says Mariano Rajoy

Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, Madrid

In a statement to the media in response to the claim by the former President of the Regional Government of Catalonia, Artur Mas, that a referendum will be held in Catalonia, the President of the Government declared that "no Spaniard can be deprived of his right to decide on what he wants his country to be", and that Spain "is what all the Spanish people say and not what just some people say". "The political leaders who have set this ball rolling which, in all honesty, leads nowhere, are well aware of this", he added.

Mariano Rajoy reiterated his offer of dialogue and understanding to the Regional Government of Catalonia, but underlined that, "I am not prepared to open up the unity of Spain to anyone and I am not going to neither eliminate our national sovereignty nor do away with the equality of the Spanish people, because the Constitution and the law do not allow this and because I don't want to".

When asked if there is any legal manner for the Regional Government of Catalonia to gain access to the fiscal data of the Catalan people, the President of the Government responded that there was not. Moreover, he recalled that the Public Prosecutor's Office is acting in the wake of the statement made by the former Member of the Upper House for the ERC [Republic Left of Catalonia], Santi Vidal, who stated that the Regional Government of Catalonia obtained this information illegally.

In this regard, Mariano Rajoy hopes that what the former Member of the Upper House said about the Regional Government of Catalonia will be disproved. "I shouldn't have to call this into question, but in all honesty I believe that we need a little restraint, wisdom and common sense in Spanish politics because this spectacle we are seeing unfold is truly regrettable". "Spain and its citizens are far more important than these things people are proposing, which, furthermore, they are doing publicly", he concluded.