Press conference by President of the Government following European Council meeting

Brussels

President of the Government.- Good afternoon. I would like my opening words to be a further reiteration of my outright condemnation of the savage attack perpetrated this week in Tunisia. I wish to convey my condolences to all the victims, particularly to the families and friends of Antoni Cirera and his wife Dolors Sánchez, and express Spain's support - I did this personally on the same day to the President of the Republic - to the Government and people of Tunisia in their exemplary democratic transition.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We have focused on Energy Union at this European Council. This is a true milestone in European integration and a major success for Spain. Europe needs to guarantee secure, clean and affordable energy for our citizens. Furthermore, the price of energy seriously affects costs for our companies, and hence our competitiveness, as well as the pockets of our citizens through their gas and electricity bills.

To date, and despite the efforts that have been made to harmonise regulations at a European level, the EU has fragmented energy markets. This is particularly serious in the case of Spain as I have said on many occasions. Due to insufficient physical interconnections, our gas and electricity markets remain isolated, which prejudices both Spanish citizens and companies.

This is an issue, as you are aware, on which my government has been working for some time now and on which I must say we have found tremendous support from the rest of our European partners, from the European Commission and from the European Investment Bank. The European Union has appreciated this problem for what it is - a European problem that requires European solutions. Hence, the internal market and stepping up interconnections is one of the priority dimensions of the Energy Union, and the European Council is urging us to speed up the necessary infrastructures.

As part of this effort, the European Council has highlighted the success of the Madrid Declaration, signed on 4 March. I would like to remind you that, by virtue of this agreement, Spain, France and Portugal have undertaken to work together on specific interconnection projects. The implementation of these projects will count on support from both the European Commission and the European Investment Bank, including financing through European funds such as those under the Juncker Investment Plan.

However, in addition to the internal market and interconnections, there are other major commitments. The Council has undertaken to continue taking new steps towards harmonising the regulation of the energy market and to seek other options to increase cooperation between Member States on energy security issues. We will also continue working on the issue of reducing emissions and on energy efficiency, in line with the ambitious targets set for 2030 agreed at the European Council in October 2014.

In this area, the European Union continues to play a leading role globally. In October, we set a target of reducing emissions by 40% in 2030 compared with 1990 levels. We have already officially notified our international partners of this commitment in light of the upcoming Climate Summit to be held in Paris at the end of the year.

In another scheme of things, we have spoken about the economic policy priorities of the European Semester. As you are aware, the European Commission has very positively assessed the agenda of reforms that Spain has set in motion the last few years. In a short space of time, Spain has gone from being a cause for concern to heading up growth among the major Eurozone countries. What happened here three years ago has nothing to do with what is happening here today. Our change in situation is fortunately quite considerable although there is still a lot of work to do both in Spain and in Europe.

The European Council has also approved the broad strokes of the economic policy proposed by the European Commission: driving investment, structural reforms and fiscal responsibility. I should underline that these are the same pillars on which my government's actions are based and hence I agree with them wholeheartedly.

At a European level, and in terms of driving investment, the European Union is putting the final touches to the design of the Juncker Investment Plan. Under this plan, as you are aware, European funds will be used to grant guarantees that make both the financing of major infrastructure projects and projects undertaken by small- and medium-sized enterprises cheaper. We hope that this can start up soon, at least by mid-June. The Government of Spain, through the Official Credit Institute, will contribute 1.5 billion euros, which will be used to support projects in our country.

We will continue working in Spain to lay the foundations for economic recovery. The priority is to consolidate all the positive growth figures and, above all, for the recovery to filter down to all the people of Spain. To achieve this, it is fundamental to continue working to create jobs, which is my government's top priority.

In this regard, just today the government has approved an important structural reform: the reform of job training. I wish to underline that this reform is the result of long and intense dialogue with the social stakeholders. We will now establish the strategic planning to adapt training the unemployed to the economic sectors with greatest growth; the system will be made more flexible, provided with greater transparency and the principle of 'competitive basis of award' will be introduced. Hence, training centres will compete among themselves to offer the best training courses. Among the new features is the 'training-cheque', whereby the unemployed are able to choose the training they wish to receive. Furthermore, this system may then be offered to SMEs and independent contractors.

In short, this a new model that seeks to eradicate cases of fraud, and seeks to improve the competitiveness of our economy and, above all, and what is most important, it seeks to facilitate the reincorporation of those people who have been unable to find a job in our labour market and speed up job creation even more.

The European Council also included a reference to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement being negotiated between the European Union and the United States. We have reiterated our political will to reach an agreement before the end of this year 2015. This is an agreement that affects the two main economic powerhouses in the world, with 47% of the global Gross Domestic Product and more than one-third of the world's trade flows, and hence, with a tremendous potential in terms of economic growth and job creation.

This European Council also devoted a significant chapter to the European Union's foreign policy. We tackled the European Neighbourhood Policy, as well as the situation in Ukraine and Libya. We debated the preparations for the Riga Summit, as well as the Ministerial Conference on the Southern Neighbourhood, which will take place on 13 April in Barcelona. This meeting, an initiative of the Spanish Government, will offer a new and wonderful opportunity for the countries of the Southern Neighbourhood to explain their priorities with a view to the upcoming renewal of the European Neighbourhood Policy. Spain thus maintains its traditional position to situate the Mediterranean as a priority of European foreign policy and, in fact, I will give the opening speech at this event in Barcelona. I welcome the fact that our partners share this priority and that they have reflected this in the Council's Conclusions.

As regards the situation in Ukraine, we have reiterated the importance of the swift application of the Minsk Agreements, which constitute the basis of the solution to the crisis. That is why we have decided that the restrictive measures imposed on the Russian Federation should be linked into the degree and rate of compliance with these agreements. Furthermore, we have conveyed to the Ukrainian Government the need to continue with its political and economic reforms which are essential for European support to be fully effective and to improve the well-being of its citizens. I had already expressed these same messages to Prime Minister Yatseniuk at the meeting we held yesterday morning, here in Brussels.

In relation to the worrying crisis in Libya, we have reiterated our support for the Special Envoy to the United Nations General Secretary, Bernardino León, in his efforts at mediation between the parties with the aim of reaching a political solution. This solution necessarily involves a ceasefire and the urgent formation of an inclusive national unity government, which the European Union is committed to supporting.

In short, we have made progress at this European Council on one of the major Spanish priorities in Europe - energy policy. The Madrid Declaration on interconnections has received backing from the whole Council. Also, in terms of economic policy, the European Union has acknowledged the progress made by Spain in correcting imbalances and the results we are obtaining on economic growth and job creation. And it has also dealt with the Spanish proposal to include the European Southern Neighbourhood, in other words, the Mediterranean, into the Council's Conclusions. On this point, the meeting between the Foreign Affairs Ministers from both shores of the Mediterranean, to be held on 13 April, will place Barcelona at the centre of European policy on an issue of such importance as indeed is Mediterranean policy.

I can now take questions.

Q.- President of the Government, I wanted to know if you could please give us your assessment of the results of the meeting held last night about Greece, with Greece as the main issue. What conclusions do you take away from this meeting?

I also wanted to ask you whether the Council has been useful for bringing you, as President of the Spanish Government, and the Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, closer together.

President of the Government.- As regards your second question, I am always close to all my colleagues, to all 28 that make up the European Union, because we all work with the same objective of improving the level of well-being of all of the citizens of Europe.

In relation to the meeting held yesterday, we have given over 47 seconds of the European Council meeting to this issue; 47 seconds is the time that Mr Tusk took this morning to tell us the following: we will adhere to the Eurogroup agreement of 20 February. We have asked Greece to speed up its work and complete it quickly, and no other decision was taken.

What does this mean? That at the Eurogroup meeting held on 20 February an agreement was reached to extend the programme to Greece - the second programme - until the end of June in exchange for certain reform commitments from the Greek Government. Greece undertook not to adopt unilateral measures nor to do a volte-face on the reforms already undertaken. The measures that Greece committed to are contained in a list which, three days after the Council meeting, on 23 February, Greece sent to the Eurogroup, and the specific details of these measures must be agreed with the Member States of the Eurogroup by the end of April and will be included in a reformed MOU. And compliance with this new MOU will allow the revision to be approved and free up the funds. Until such time, the funds pending will not be released.

Hence, we are now in exactly the same situation as before arriving here.

Q.- On the same subject, I was wondering, and I don't know if the cameras picked this up, whether you took the opportunity to at least greet your colleague. I don't know if you have again left Brussels without even greeting each other.

On another note, regarding the elections, if the PP does not win the elections in Andalusia, as the polls would seem to indicate, what would you put this down to?

Finally, I don't know whether I have correctly read your declarations in which you say that you would prefer to reach an agreement in Andalusia with the Socialists rather than with the Cuidadanos party.

President of the Government.- I have not heard those declarations of mine.

The analysis of what takes place in Andalusia will be made later and any agreements will be reached later. The aim of the People's Party is obviously to win the elections, as is that of the other political forces.

As regards your first question, my relations, as I said before, are wonderful with all of the Heads of State and Government of the European Union.

Q.- I wanted to ask you about the race for the presidency of the Eurogroup, which has now started. Its current president, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, is set to run again. Recently, we asked Minister Luis de Guindos where he would be on 1 July and he said "I will be where the President of the Government wants me to be". Where do you want the minister to be as from that date?

President of the Government.- I want him to be in the Eurogroup and as the Minister for Economic Affairs of Spain. He is a wonderful Minister for Economic Affairs, as everyone here acknowledges.

Q.- As the president?

President of the Government.- Yes, yes, as the President of the Eurogroup and as the Minister for Economic Affairs of Spain.

Q.- President of the Government, continuing on with the elections in Andalusia, we are now in the last day of the election campaign, and I was wondering if you see this as an exam, an exam of you and your management. You have been heavily involved in the campaign, something which the Socialist Party candidate, Susana Díaz has directly criticised you for.

On another note, many people are also seeing the elections as a confrontation between old and new policies. Do you share this opinion? Do you feel that this is in reference to you, in this old-new political style confrontation?

President of the Government.- In all truth, these things seem to me… I have joined the campaign in Andalusia because I was invited to by the People's Party of Andalusia, who are pleased that I have gone. If Ms Díaz doesn't want Mr Sánchez to go or if Mr Sánchez and Ms Díaz have a problem, I am not going to get involved to try and resolve it.

This is a campaign like any other, anyone can get involved in their party's campaign and I am involved in the one in Andalusia because it is very important to me. I don't know if others care less about it, but I have travelled on many occasions in recent years to Andalusia. Since I have been President of the Government I have been there on 28 occasions and I like being there, I like Andalusia. I believe that Andalusia has a tremendous potential, there are more than 8 million Spaniards who live there. Andalusia has improved over the last 30-something years, as has the rest of Spain as a whole, but I believe that it can improve a great deal more.

The main objective must now be job creation. I have already said that in the coming years, if we continue with this economic policy in Spain, we can create up to 20 million jobs in total. Only during the last year, and this year, 2015, one million jobs will be created. In Andalusia, 575,000 jobs can be created if we maintain this economic policy during the next legislature. But the aim in Andalusia must be to reach the average level of employment throughout Spain and this can be done, quite simply, through applying different economic policies to the ones that have been applied over the last 30 years, because it is the only region of Spain where neither an alternative has been offered, nor a change of regional government has taken place.

Hence, everything else seems less important to me.

Q.- President of the Government, regarding the candidature of the Eurogroup. Mr Dijsselbloem has announced that he will run for office again. You seem to me less forthright when speaking about Mr de Guindos.

President of the Government.- Oh yes? Well that makes at least two of us.

Q.- President of the Government, along the same lines as the previous questions, is Germany still supporting the candidature of de Guindos?

And secondly, regarding the Juncker Investment Plan that you mentioned, Spain will contribute 1.5 billion euros through the EIB; Germany 8 billion, Italy 8 billion and France 8 billion. Aren't we falling a little short?

President of the Government.- And the others nothing? We shouldn't rule out the possibility of raising this amount in the future. These are the only four countries that have announced an amount. Our priorities are, as you are aware, energy interconnections. We are talking about gas and electricity prices, which are very important in the daily outlay made by the people of Spain as a whole, but this is also very important for our companies to be able to be more competitive, and hence, for improving well-being and job creation.

In the report presented to us yesterday during the debate on energy there were certain figures that are really worrying, because this is an important issue. The cost of energy in the European Union is greater than in any other developed country and than in any other emerging country. This greatly affects our competitiveness.

Hence, it is very important to establish an Energy Union and, within the Energy Union, it is extremely important to implement connection infrastructures. We have made an effort on this issue; I believe that the meeting in Madrid was a step in the right direction, but I repeat, this is truly an important issue; in other words, this is a first class structural reform. If we want to have more renewable energies, if we intend to import or export energy we need to have these interconnections.

What I have seen is an awareness in Europe, in an increasingly more global world that is more open, with fewer customs tariffs and with considerably fewer borders, it is very important to have reasonable energy process. Just look, the United States has almost managed to become self-sufficient in terms of energy and that gives it an incredible competitive edge.

But, in the end, this is a war we have been waging for some time now, and it is a fight that is worthwhile because this affects us not only in the short term, but also in the medium and long term.

Q.- Does de Guindos have Germany's support?

President of the Government.- There is nothing to say that he doesn't. I have not spoken on this issue because this was done back at the right time.

Q.- My first question is regarding the fact that the Greek Government has wasted practically a whole month now. I wanted to ask you if you see the Greek Government as able to meet the planned schedule or if you feel that the Eurogroup should be more flexible given the lack of capability being shown by the government of Mr Tsipras.

The second question is whether in the informal meetings you have held you have perceived a special interest in the elections in Andalusia on the part of your partners, given that they are the first elections that could question the traditional stability of Spain over the last few years.

And finally, you have always maintained that the bailout was not for the banks but for depositors. I wanted to thus ask you why this decision has not been taken with Banco Madrid. Is it a question of the specific profile of some of the depositors with this institution?

President of the Government.- This is a decision adopted by the Bank of Spain and, at any event, the only thing I can say about this is that Banco Madrid has nothing to do with Caja Madrid and with the rest of the financial institutions that were bailed out. Many people worked there, we were talking about the deposits of many people, their investment funds... The situations are absolutely and radically different.

As regards the elections, I only heard Mr Cameron mention the issue, but about his, which are on 7 May. I wished him luck, as I would any other colleague.

In terms of the question about Greece, in reality the deadline for Greece is at the end of April. The question is that in terms of the specific details of the measures, Greece must speak with the new so-called institutions and then announce this to the Eurogroup and to all the members of the European Council. Hence they are still within the deadline.

I would obviously encourage Greece, and I believe it would be very positive for the country, for the people of Greece and for all Europeans, to meet its commitments. I believe that there is goodwill on the part of everyone for this to be resolved. No-one wants a situation of instability to be caused, but it is important because the rules of the game and compliance with them are key in Europe since, when there are no rules or when the rules are ignored, this only generates a climate of mistrust which is of no benefit to anyone.

Just think that at this time the outlook for the European economy is much better than just a short time ago and, in fact, in the case of the Spanish economy it is even better because we have made a great effort at fiscal consolidation which must continue. But, if we grow and we increase revenue, then this will logically become easier because before we had to do that in a recession, which is the very worst of situations. Now we have done that, we have undertaken structural reforms which are starting to bear fruit and we now have several positive figures from abroad that are starting to help us: the exchange rate between the US dollar and the Euro, which are bolstering our exports and indeed oil prices.

Hence, what most interests us at this time is harnessing the positive effects of the reforms and the economic policy that we have followed, and that things from the overseas point of view are good, we are receiving good news. What does not interest us is any form of instability. And Greece should also climb aboard which could help it as well.

So, I fervently desire to see this resolved as swiftly as possible and that everyone follows the rules, and I am convinced that this will be beneficial for Europe as a whole.

Q.- I wanted to insist on the issue of the elections in Andalusia on Sunday, which are virtually the first elections in three years. Do you feel that, in some way, the government's management of affairs will also be put to the test in the elections in Andalusia, aside from the management of the regional government itself?

One other question. Over the last three years the Tax Agency has been the subject of controversy, it has been in the eye of the hurricane for various reasons: the issue of the response to Judge Ruz, the issue of the firm that Minister Montoro was part of at the time... Regardless of whether our citizens agree or not that the Tax Agency is comparable with Cáritas, what is true is that it is a sensitive State instrument which requires the full confidence of the people. Do you feel that the image of the Tax Agency has been harmed by all this controversy?

President of the Government.- No. I wholeheartedly trust the Tax Agency and the independence of its public servants.

As regards the elections, elections were held last year at a national level, less than a year ago, which were the European elections. Quite frankly they are much more similar to general elections than those held in only one specific region.

At any event, if you look back at election results in Spain over the last 30 years, you can draw a very apt conclusion of how Spanish citizens vote according to whether they are one type of election or another. What I mean is that we can be the leading force in Andalusia and we may then have the same or a different result in the general elections. Hence, the aim is to win the elections in Andalusia, but it is the people of Andalusia who must decide on this, as is only right.

Thank you very much