Statement by President of the Government in Lower House of Parliament

Madrid

President of the Government.- A very good day to you all.

My appearance here comes after a meeting I have just held, the first, which was very short and probably very formal because the meeting on political content was held yesterday, which was a meeting of the National Management Board, with the elected Members of the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament.

In principle, the Lower House will be constituted today following the agreements we have reached. The voting will take place as you are aware and the most important step we must take for our future is to form a government.

The position of the People's Party is very clear, I believe it is easy to appreciate and it is the following: we are facing a legislature that is very different to all the legislatures there have been here to date since the year 1977. Since back in 1977 one of the main parties has always held a majority of seats that has allowed it to govern alone or in coalition with one or some of the smaller political forces - I refer to 'small' in terms of the number of seats held - which allowed it to govern.

In fact, the legislature when the group in government had the least power was back in the year 1996 with 156 seats and on that occasion, as you know, the party with the largest share was the People's Party, which had 123 seats. I believe that the Spanish people have sent out a loud and clear message, they have spoken and have said to us that "you now need to work with each other and reach understandings with each other in order to tackle the serious challenges facing Spain".

In this situation, the position held by the People's Party's is that we believe it is important to reach an agreement to allow a government to function. In our opinion, this agreement must be one between the People's Party, which should take on the responsibility of governing given that it won the elections, and by a significant difference over the second party; and another agreement with the Socialist Party and with Ciudadanos. This would be an agreement that could last over the next four years - there is no need to invest a provisional legislature, as some propose - and two things could be done over these four years: firstly, the reforms that Spain needs, which would be backed by some 250 MPs, plus those others that wish to do so; reforms which would thus last for many years to come; and secondly, the second main goal which is to bed down the economic recovery.

An agreement of this nature would be well seen, would generate security and certainty beyond Spain's borders, by the markets, rating agencies and foreign investors, and this would also be well seen in Spain by the economic and social agents. Hence, that is the approach advocated by the People's Party and that is what we will work towards over the coming days.

There are two possible alternatives. As I say, the numbers allow this, but respect for the will of the people does not permit this, nor does the coherence that different political forces should have permit this, nor the general interests of Spain. An agreement between the PSOE, Ciudadanos and Podemos would undoubtedly be an agreement between political parties that hold very different approaches on key issues for the Spanish people as a whole. And an agreement between the Socialist Party, Esquerra Republicana, Podemos and the United Left, with the abstention of certain other political forces involved in pro-independence posturing, would undoubtedly only generate insecurity, uncertainty, and undoubtedly we would be embarking on a legislature with a very short life-span.

Hence, we are going to advocate the position that I have just mentioned. I have explained that to my political group. I believe that an agreement exists between these three parties on the main issues: on the unity of Spain, on national sovereignty, on the equality of the Spanish people, on our position in Europe, on foreign policy, on defence policy and on the main national goals, which are economic growth, employment and maintaining the Welfare State. That is the position we are working towards, I repeat. It responds to the will of our citizens, it also responds to the general interests of all the Spanish people and, I repeat, I believe that it would receive widespread social backing and tremendous support and understanding both within Spain and beyond.

If anyone has any questions…

Q.- How are you going to carry out this work? Are you going to meet with Pedro Sánchez and with Albert Rivera…?

President of the Government.- That is a procedural issue. For the time being, what we are going to do is wait for the meetings of the various spokespersons with H.M. the King to take place and, after that, we will look at how to proceed. But, I repeat, that is procedural. What is important is the heart of the matter and the proposal being made by the People's Party responds to logic and to common sense.

Q.- Would it include a reform of the Constitution?

President of the Government.- No, it wouldn't include anything. Clearly, all of this would need to be discussed, wouldn't it? In other words, what you cannot do is say that a problem will be resolved such as that of Catalonia with a federal reform without saying what it is and, moreover, without having sufficient votes to carry this through. I believe that now is the time to take these things seriously, make serious proposals and stop trying to make headlines.

Q.- (Inaudible)

President of the Government.- No. The contacts regarding the constitution of the Lower House were contacts principally made by the Spokesperson of the People's Group. At the beginning, I held talks and that was when the General Secretary of the PSOE said that he didn't want to reach any type of agreement with the People's Party. Since then, I have not held any talks on this issue in relation to the government.

Q.- How do you assess the fact that the new Regional President of Catalonia has not promised to obey the Constitution?

President of the Government.- As made public by the Minister for Justice, the government's legal advisory services will issue a report and, in light of this report, we will take the decisions we consider to most closely respond to prevailing law and to the general interests of all the people of Spain, as I announced just a short time ago when I said that I will not allow them to get away with anything because that is my obligation as the President of the Government.

Q.- Will you try to meet with Puigdemont?

President of the Government.- I don't plan to for the time being.

Q.- Do you trust that the agreement reached to form the Board of the Lower House will bring the PSOE close to reaching an agreement on the formation of a government?

President of the Government.- I believe that the agreement made in the Lower House is an agreement which heads in the right direction. It is an agreement on which the Socialist Party, Ciudadanos and the People's Party have taken part. I believe that this is well balanced: the People's Party has three members, the Socialist Party two and the Speaker, Ciudadanos has two and Podemos has two, which are the two that correspond to them from a breakdown of the figures, aren't they? Hence, I believe that this is an agreement which heads in the right direction and, I repeat, things have changed and the worst thing that a political leader can do is not take into account what people are saying and asking for. And what they are asking us for now is major agreements on the key issues, for a government and for this to last for four years. That is what people always want and that is the model we have today in Europe, because it is what works in the European Commission, the European Council, the European Parliament and in countries such as Germany, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands and certain others.

Thank you very much.