Statement by President of the Government following extraordinary European Council

Brussels

President of the Government.- A very good evening to you all and thank you very much for attending.

For me this was both an important and a satisfying meeting because we have spent many years talking about this issue in Europe. I was the Minister for Home Affairs back in 2001 and 2002, and I tried to propose a common immigration policy for the European Union as a whole.

In the month of May, the European Commission will issue a communiqué which we will then debate in the month of June; although today we have made progress on some of the main aspects of the debate in June.

Firstly, we agreed to triple spending for search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. We expressed our intention to increase our contribution, which is yet to be ratified as we are waiting for the Commission to make its proposal to us, as is the case for the rest of the countries.

Secondly, in terms of the main objectives of this emigration policy, the first and most important aspect must be saving the lives of people. You have all seen the dramatic situation taking place in the Mediterranean recently. This is something that the European Union cannot and will not allow to continue under any circumstance.

Thirdly, we will try to work effectively to combat the mafias that exploiting the people and on many occasions, as we are seeing, lead them to their death.

Fourthly, it is very important to improve the standard of living, and hence, increase cooperation with all those countries that people leave behind to come to Europe. It is clear that if people do not have the possibility to live a dignified life in their own country, they will do whatever is in their hands, as is logical and human, to achieve this.

And fifthly, another important objective is avoiding situations like this taking place - 170,000 people reached Italy last year, in 2014, and, if we continue like this, a similar number will arrive in the future.

In principle, the most important measures are:

Firstly, to try to reach readmission agreements with all countries, both those where immigration originates, and those of transit. This is an important step. To date, Spain has some agreements in place as an individual country, but not as part of the European Union. This is not working yet, hence I give it great importance.

Secondly, it is also very important to tie this to cooperation with these countries.

Thirdly, we will also try to reach agreements with the law enforcement agencies of these countries in order to work together and help avoid these situations in the future.

Hence, I repeat, I believe that this has been a very positive meeting and I would also repeat that I believe it is important that the Commission will publish a document in May that we can debate in June which establishes what is logical and common sense: for a common immigration policy to exist for all European countries given that there is free movement of people in Europe, as you are aware, and hence, what affects one country, wherever it may be and whatever its geographic position, affects us all.

Q.- President of the Government, how long might it take to have these resources available?

President of the Government.- I believe that this needs to be done very quickly. It should not take too long. These are material resources; it is money but, above all, we also need people, ships, aircraft, etc, to try to put an end to this situation as soon as possible.

Q.- In the plan to voluntarily take in refugees, the number of 5,000 was aired. Has Spain made an offer to take in this number? Also, is Spain prepared to take part in a possible civilian-military mission to destroy the vessels used by people traffickers?

President of the Government.- As regards the operation you have mentioned firstly, no specific number was mentioned in the conclusions. Indeed, there has been a debate, but it makes no sense because 5,000 people is a number that makes little as we are talking about much higher numbers. This is voluntary but, in principle, Spain, as a European country, intends to cooperate and collaborate with all the other countries. But no details have been firmed up, not even the global figure.

As regards the possible military operation that you mentioned, no decision has yet been taken on this issue and hence we won't go into it here. I believe that what is important today is that we have said that "we will triple spending and resources", because that is the most urgent issue in terms of search and rescue operations, because many people have died, as you are aware, in recent times; and then, in the months of May and June, we can develop a policy that is, I repeat, crucial, because it will help improve cooperation, which is key in the end, and reach readmission agreements.

Q.- President of the Government, if it has already been decided to increase the contributions, why has Spain still not done this? At any event, how much...?

President of the Government.- In the near future, when the Commission tells us exactly what it wants. Spain is already contributing significantly more than the vast majority of countries and we are willing, I have already said this, in the future, to increase it but we are waiting for the Commission to tell us exactly how much more it wants.

Thank you very much.