Press conference by President of the Government following meetings with leaders of political parties

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

President of the Government.- Ladies and gentlemen, a very good afternoon and thank you very much for attending. I imagine you will have had a tough day so I will be brief.

I appear here before you to take initial stock of the round of contacts I have held in recent days with the different political groups: firstly, with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, and hence with the Leader of the Opposition, and then, with Ciudadanos, Podemos and the People's Party; contacts which, as you know, will continue into next week with other political forces.

I wish to say, as an initial observation, that I am grateful to the various political groups for their disposition to attend the government's invitation to maintain the channels of dialogue open to deal with the greatest attack on our constitutional legal system in recent years. Each one of the different political formations may hold a different position, which is legitimate, and the health of our democratic system is based upon this plurality; but the majority have remarked that, despite the profound differences that separate us, there is a prior agreement on the coexistence that binds us all. We all defend Spain's unity, national sovereignty, the equality of all Spaniards in terms of their rights and liberties, and compliance with the laws that protect these rights and this equality.

This agreement is a prior requirement on which our coexistence is based and this agreement has given rise to the best years in our history. That is why the first thing I sought to convey to the different political leaders I spoke with was that in a democracy compliance with the law is not open to discussion. We may change the law - we are precisely now going into elections where each political formation will verify the popular support for their proposals - but what we cannot do as democrats is break the law.

That is what certain political groups are proposing in Catalonia: to break democratic laws, to break laws on which their own legitimacy is based, the legitimacy of the regional institutions, and to break the laws of all the people of Spain, including the majority of Catalans who do not seek independence.

The government I head up and I have been constitutionally tasked with the job of upholding the law and ensuring that the law is upheld and, for that reason, I assume the responsibility of heading up the State's response to this challenge, although I also appreciate that we are facing a challenge that compromises all Spanish democrats because, as I said, we are facing a deliberate attempt to do away with our equality and our rights.

I believe that we all understand the gravity of the challenge and, for that reason, I thank my political opposite numbers for the disposition they have shown. For my part, I will do everything possible and more still, if possible, to maintain and strengthen this understanding on the main issues.

I would like to send out another message of calm. The Spanish State, with all its resources, which are many, with its legal services and its institutions, has more than enough mechanisms to successfully tackle this situation. On this aspect, I would like to state that I have asked my political opposite numbers to all place their trust in the State services and avoid opening up useless debates given that we all agree on the main issues.

From my point of view, it is time to seek out what unites us, above all when what unites us is what protects our diversity and our rights. It is time to also trust in the mechanisms of the rule of law.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Spain is a great country, it has always found a way to successfully tackle those challenges that have sprung up and I am convinced that it will do so on this occasion. The government will clearly rise to the challenge and I am sure that the majority of the other Spanish political forces will do so as well.

Q.- President of the Government, would you say that we are at the start of a State pact? I don't know to what extremes this may reach but, in any case, which of the parties you have spoken with do you believe are on the same wavelength? Because we have heard, for example, the leader of Podemos and he did not convey this sensation of being in agreement with you in any way whatsoever.

President of the Government.- I said the majority.

I believe that there are two things here that are easy to understand. The first - I have spoken, as I mentioned, with four political forces and next week I hope to do so with all the other political forces that wish to speak with the government - the first idea is that we all agree, at least the majority, on the main issues: firstly, the unity of Spain, secondly, on national sovereignty, thirdly, that we are all subject to the law, all of us, without exception, and fourthly, which is also very important, on the equality of rights and obligations of all Spaniards.

Hence, we all agree on the basics; it is a question of reaching agreement on the rest of the issues that are not quite so important, but which have their own importance, and what I have asked the political forces to do is not to hold useless debates and that we place our trust in the State services; in other words, that we don't start to debate as to whether it is appropriate to appeal this decision or the other, or not to appeal it at all.

I believe that what we must all do is be aware that the government is going to act through the State services, that the government assumes its commitment, which I reiterate here and now, to speak with the political forces about the decisions that we take and that the government is also at the disposition of the rest of the political forces to listen to what they wish to propose.

From this perspective, I should say that I am very pleased, firstly, with the reception from the General Secretary of the Socialist Party which, as I pointed out, was the first meeting I held, as is right, since the Socialist Party is the main opposition group in the Lower House of Parliament. The meeting also went off very well with the People's Party, my party; and also this morning with the President of Ciudadanos, Mr Rivera, and, in relation to the group you asked after, quite frankly, I have the sensation that I did not lose anything by holding that conversation.

Q.- Next week, as indeed you said, you have already called certain parties, including the Unió Democrática de Cataluña [Democratic Union of Catalonia]. Given that you have just said that you didn't lose anything by holding this meeting, would you consider calling Convergència [Democratic Convergence of Catalonia], albeit to listen knowing that you cannot reach an agreement, or perhaps you can?

President of the Government.- In all frankness, I called Unió and I called all the political parties, and I will never refuse to speak with any political party, but the only sense it makes now to hold a meeting with the political force you have just mentioned is to ask it to immediately withdraw the resolution proposal lodged with the Regional Parliament of Catalonia. That is the only sense it makes and, of course, I would like to take this opportunity now, because this is a challenge to the law, to the will of the majority and to the Constitution of a democratic country like Spain, one of the great countries in the European Union.

None of this makes a shred of sense whatsoever and hence, the only thing to do at this time is to ask these political forces you have mentioned to proceed to withdraw this resolution that the vast majority agree leads nowhere and solely seeks to do away with the law.

Q.- President of the Government, in order to clarify this another way, the leader of Ciudadanos has proposed that a five-point plan be prepared for a State Pact on which there is general agreement; but he also strongly proposed one aspect that might seem…You have mentioned certain differences, which may indeed be legal or nuances, but, in this case, he has spoken about joining up all the proposals in a constitutional reform. It would seem, according to what he said, that you told him that you would study this and be receptive to studying this; that is what he has told us. I wanted to know to what extent you will be receptive to studying this and if you have checked this, as you are the one in the know, with all the leaders with whom you have spoken, and if there is a will - I say "will" - to avoid political brawling on the Catalan issue during the general election campaign.

President of the Government.- I will do everything possible, because that is my obligation, and above all because I believe that this is best for Spain, to maintain maximum consensus on this issue. In other words, if we are not able to reach agreement on this issue, we will obviously give a bad account of our country which, moreover, is not the image that corresponds to the reality. Hence, my disposition will be total and utter, and as President of the Government I must run this operation and I must try to ensure achieving the maximum support possible. I should say that I am pleased with how I have seen things to date.

To publicly announce now whether we are going to make a pact or not… I don't have anything against making pacts and agreements but, in reality, the major points of an agreement have already been made. We are all in agreement on the unity of Spain, we are all in agreement on national sovereignty, we are all in agreement that the law must be upheld and we are all in agreement as to maintaining the equality of all Spaniards and, of course, their rights, which are prejudiced by what has been done here. Everything else is all well and good, but the most important thing is to agree on the basics and the Spanish people know that the vast majority of the political parties they have voted for or may vote for in the future are going to defend these main principles which are, in turn, the main principles that inspired the Spanish Constitution.

Q.- President of the Government, you say that parties shouldn't get involved in useless debates, but I would like to know whether you have obtained commitments from Mr Sánchez and from Mr Rivera - I exclude Mr Iglesias following his appearance today - that you will have their support in the event that you need to invoke Article 155, for example. Do you have this commitment from the Leader of the Opposition and from the leader of Ciudadanos?

Then, we have seen today that the Regional Government of Catalonia cannot pay its pharmacies and I wanted to know whether the State is going to help the regional government with this payment or what the government's response is to the regional government.

President of the Government.- The consequences of certain decisions and, instead of dedicating themselves to governing, of employing all their time in making proposals such as the one that they have made to all of us here today, are consequences such as this. What people want is for governments to devote themselves to resolving people's problems and people's problems are, for example, paying suppliers, attending to their bank maturities and to paying all those people that work for the public authorities.

We are going to study the exact situation of the Regional Government of Catalonia and of its treasury, and then we will take the decisions that need to be taken, always thinking about what is best for our citizens. And we must not forget that our citizens are not responsible for the decisions that some take in an irresponsible fashion.

Aside from that, we are not going to get ahead of ourselves. The agreement is that the government, logically, precisely because it is the government, must head up the response to events that are taking place. The commitment is not to debate this, to talk about it and to try to reach a consensus on it; but we are not going to announce what needs to be done, what doesn't need to be done or anything else.

What I pointed out in my opening speech is that the State has sufficient instruments available to it to avoid doing anything ridiculous such as some are scheming to do, and the State at this time is… The government is the one with competence on this issue and it will talk with other political forces and, I repeat, we will also listen to them. We are not only going to report; we are also going to listen, because the aim is to preserve the unity of Spain and the equality of all Spaniards.

Q.- Could you clarify something, President of the Government. So, I understand that you are not seeking to forge a pact, a written document, where all the parties say that they are in agreement on this, but rather that you will settle with them coming here and saying that they are in agreement on the unity of Spain, on equality, on sovereignty, and so on and so forth.

Then, I would also like, following the meeting you had on Wednesday with Pedro Sánchez and today with Albert Rivera, for you to tell us if you can let slip, in some way, with whom of the two you believe you are on a closer wavelength. Who did things go done best with, let's say?

President of the Government.- I have not asked for a role from anyone and I got on just fine with everyone.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.