Press conference by President of the Government following European Council and meeting of the 27

Brussels

President of the Government.- Ladies and gentlemen, a very good day to you and thank you very much for attending this press conference.

I would like to start my speech by expressing my outright condemnation of the terrible terrorist attack perpetrated last night at the international airport in Istanbul. Our thoughts go out to the victims, their families and the people of Turkey, who are enduring the painful suffering of the senselessness of terrorism. My solidarity and condolences go out to them, as do those of the Spanish people.

This attack reminds us once again of the clear need to make the fight against terrorism one of the priorities of our governments. Terrorism is a global threat that requires a global response, and Spain will stand shoulder to shoulder with our partners in the fight against those who want to do away with our model of civilisation based on liberty and on human rights.

I will now move on to inform you of the content of the European Council meeting held yesterday and today which, as you are aware, was dominated to a great extent by the situation deriving from the vote in favour of the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union in the referendum held last Thursday, 23 June.

In order to tackle this decisive issue for the future of Europe, the Council was divided into two formats, a dinner given over to hearing out the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on the situation deriving from the result of the referendum, the next steps it is hoped that the British Government will take and what the European Union can expect in the coming weeks regarding political developments in the United Kingdom. This morning we held a working breakfast, but without the presence of Prime Minister Cameron, at which we have adopted a line of action of the other 27 members of the European Union whilst awaiting the formal initiation by the United Kingdom of the procedure to notify its intention to leave the EU.

I would like to underline that in the statements I made, both at the meeting of the 28 with Prime Minister Cameron last night, and in the meeting of the 27 held this morning, I wished to stress one key idea, which is the need to provide this process, which has not yet been initiated, with the greatest of calm, serenity and foresight. Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union provides for the sequence to be followed henceforth and that must serve as our guide. We must wait for the United Kingdom to notify the European Council of its intention to pull out of the EU before initiating any form of negotiation. This principle is enshrined in the Treaty and I believe that it has been provided for both in the interest of the State that wishes to pull out of the EU and for the EU itself.

It is also important to point out, while expressing regret on the part of the Government of Spain at the result of the referendum in the UK, that our priority in the process that will commence as from the request by the UK to abandon the EU, will be to defend the interests of the people of Spain and, in parallel, to defend the project of European integration.

I want to underline - and I also assign importance to this issue - that, at present and until the whole process provided for in Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union unfolds, all Spanish citizens that are resident in the United Kingdom and all British citizens resident in Spain will maintain their rights as European citizens, whether they be workers, entrepreneurs, pensioners, students or tourists. This fact should give both us and them a certain sense of calm, serenity and certainty, and things will remain this way until such time as the new future relations between the United Kingdom and the EU are configured where, as you all know, the process is yet to be set in motion, which under the Treaty is due to last for two years, but which may take even longer.

From the point of view of the configuration of the European Union, aside from the challenge posed by the exit of the United Kingdom, the main issue of the breakfast meeting of the 27 Member States this morning, I believe that many ideas have been proposed which show the path to be followed in the Declaration made by the 27 members.

The shared idea is for the United Kingdom to be a close partner of the European Union, with balanced rights and obligations; to which end we have agreed that access to the internal market will require the four fundamental freedoms to be accepted.

Secondly, we are determined to remain united and to work within the framework of the EU to tackle the challenges of the 21st Century, and to find common solutions that benefit our nations and peoples. We must tackle these expectations of our citizens, which the EU must respond to in order to guarantee their security, prosperity, particularly economic growth and employment - the main goals for the years to come - and hope for a better future, above all, to the benefit of our young people. I repeat, economic growth, job creation and the fight against inequality must be our priorities in the coming years.

We must also open a period whereby we give the future of the Union of the 27 a decisive political boost under the leadership of the European Council. An informal meeting will be given over to this idea on 16 September, I believe - in principle we spoke about the 15 September but now it would seem to have been moved to the 16th - to be held in Bratislava under the rotating presidency of Slovakia.

Now, in addition to this key question of the future of Europe following the British referendum, this European Council also tackled a series of issues of great importance, major challenges facing the European Union, which are essential to be tackled, and even more so given the context in which we find ourselves.

I refer, for example, to the question of migration, with a special focus on the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean and on the commitment made by the European Union to Turkey in this regard, as well as on the proposal made by the European Commission in June on the framework of cooperation with third countries in this regard.

We also reviewed the economic issues that the summer European Council traditionally tackles. The cycle of macro-economic supervision, known as the European Semester, has been completed with the endorsement of the specific country recommendations.

We also set new goals for extending the internal market, on such issues as the digital economy and, at the request of Spain, a reference to the single energy market was also included.

And we reviewed other issues in this area, such as the development of the Investment Plan for the European Union, international trade negotiations under way and the work on international taxation.

Furthermore, in relation to foreign affairs, as you are aware, we have welcomed in the new global strategy for the EU on foreign policy and security, presented by the High Representative; we tackled cooperation relations between NATO and the European Union, and took stock of developments in Libya.

All of these issues are reflected in the Conclusions approved last night.

So, ladies and gentlemen, those are the most important points, presented by way of summary, of what we agreed on at the European Council meeting held yesterday and at the meeting of the 27 held with the Presidents of the European Commission and Council today.

Q.- President of the Government, firstly I wanted to ask whether you and your European colleagues had a chance to talk about the events that took place last night in Turkey, and even about security at airports in general, since there have now been two attacks, last night's in Istanbul, and recently in Brussels.

Secondly, I wanted to ask you, logically, about Spanish politics. Since it is your intention to form a government at the end of July or even at the start of August, how do you plan to do this? I don't know whether you can perhaps announce now whether you will speak with Pedro Sánchez tomorrow; or even whether you are going to explore another route with the nationalist parties, such as the Basque Nationalist Party (Spanish acronym: PNV) or Convergència, although I am not sure exactly sure what they are called now.

President of the Government.- There was only a very brief reference to the attack in Turkey, which has been truly brutal. Unfortunately, lately there have been all too many events like the one in Turkey, and here as well, even in Brussels, in France and in other countries close to Spain, and others that are further away. There was only a brief reference, because we were debating other issues, but it is clear that this is an excellent moment to ratify an idea, which is key if we want to be effective in the fight against terrorism: this requires political backing from everyone who can do this and, of course, it requires the greatest possible collaboration among all the intelligence services and security forces of different countries.

I have been in contact since first thing this morning with the Ministers for Home Affairs and for Foreign Affairs, and they have given me the latest updates. It would seem there are no Spanish citizens involved; although I don't want to make this a categorical statement, but from all the information available to date that would seem to be the case. We are also providing aid to some people who, due to the decisions taken at the airport in Istanbul, have been unable to leave there, and we are on top of things in attending to Spanish nationals in the best way possible although, I repeat, it would seem that no-one has been directly affected.

What will I do in Spain? In principle, I have expressed my intention, which I believe responds to common sense, doesn't it? We held elections on 20 December and since 21 December we have had an acting government. It can take certain decisions, but in reality these are few. By way of example, we haven't presented, because it makes no sense and nor can we do this, any Draft Bills, and, in fact, we have presented virtually no Draft Bills since last summer. Hence, it has now been a year, but fortunately we have the Budget approved, but obviously we cannot prolong this situation indefinitely.

So, I believe that the most reasonable thing at this time is to form a government as quickly as possible. Parliament will be formally constituted, as contained in the Royal Decree calling the two houses, on Tuesday, 19 July, and thenceforth, I believe that we must all try to be speedy, diligent and constructive.

What am I going to do? Well I think I am going to talk with the different political forces to try to reach an understanding. I would like a government to be formed with a broad parliamentary basis, to last for the full four-year term, to offer certainty and transmit confidence. We have some very important challenges ahead of us. For example, the exit of the United Kingdom will require very extensive negotiations, where there are many interests at stake. This affects Spain a great deal. We have a very significant trade surplus with the United Kingdom; we even have a trade surplus in non-tourism services, and, without going further, the United Kingdom is the country where the most people come from to spend their holidays here, and we are convinced that they will continue doing this in the future.

And this - bedding down the economic recovery, continuing to create jobs and undertake the reforms that are pending - makes it necessary for this to be formed as soon as possible and, if possible, for it to be a stable government. If that is not possible, then we must try to govern with the votes and with the support given to us by the people of Spain.

So, I repeat, as from tomorrow I will start to speak with the different political forces to verify the position of each of them to try and find a way out of this situation.

Q.- I wanted to ask you, with the goal of winning the support or, at least, the abstention of some of the political forces in order to prevail in a vote of confidence, whether firstly you are going to appoint a negotiating committee that can tackle, let's say, the content of a potential investiture programme.

Another question. Back then, after the elections held on 20 December, you made a generic offer of reforms through a document. At this time, do you plan to make any offer precisely to these political forces and, if so, on what issues? In other words, we have the issue of the constitutional reform, pending, the issue of the financing of the autonomous regions is pending; some political forces have raised the issue of an electoral reform in light of the results and in the manifesto agreed between Ciudadanos and the Socialist Party there was a whole series of points some of which could perhaps be taken on by you.

President of the Government.- In principle the procedure I believe should be adopted is the following: first, I will need to talk with the leaders of the different political forces to verify their positions; in the case that they are interested in negotiating, we will clearly appoint a negotiating committee to speak with the others. It is clear that with 137 seats we cannot hope to carry out 100% of their proposals, but it is also clear that, when some kind of understanding is reached, however minor it may be, that we can work on those aspects regarding which an agreement may be reached. We are not going to try working on those areas in which our positions are radically different.

As you have said, some time ago I did indeed propose a document with five main agreements. In principle, this document continues to remain fully valid. There is no tangible reason to modify this document. It mainly seeks to deal with bedding down the economic recovery and maintaining job creation; meeting our European commitments - this is important - improving, as you have mentioned, the system of regional financing - it is not easy to lead this to a good conclusion, as you know - to maintain and strengthen our social welfare system was another of the proposals we made; and an education pact; and to improve the fight against terrorism. That is what we proposed.

Aside from that, I will listen to what others propose and we will see what possibilities exist to reach an understanding, although, quite frankly, I believe that the most important thing at this time is to have the intention to reach an understanding to get ourselves out of this situation we find ourselves in. Then we can see in what areas these intentions can be firmed up and obviously where there is a will there is a way to reach an understanding; but if there isn't a will, I don't even want to think about what could happen.

Logically, I am ready and willing to talk. I want to listen to everyone, but what I must not do, before going into a meeting of this nature, is say what can be done or what cannot be done; first of all I prefer to listen to people.

Q.- I wanted to ask you two questions. The first is about the "Brexit". Have the leaders reached an agreement on whether the European Commission or the European Council should head up these negotiations with the United Kingdom when its intention to leave is officially notified?

The second question is about Scotland. The First Minister of Scotland met with Schulz this morning and plans to meet with Juncker this afternoon. What would Spain's position be in the event that an independent Scotland wanted to join the EU?

President of the Government.- In relation to the first part of your question, in the Conclusions we have just approved it states that, once the British Government officially notifies its intention to leave the European Union, the European Council will provide certain guidelines to start the negotiations. It then states that the European Commission and also the European Parliament will take up certain positions, as you would expect, because this must be voted on. We will firm this up in the future.

I gave a speech stating that I am in agreement with the guidelines from this European Council, but that then in the negotiations, in the same way as whenever there are enlargement negotiations, the work of the Commission will obviously be very important. Hence, I hope that this issue does not end up causing difficulties.

In relation to your second question, I want to be very clear and, moreover, I must be very clear, and show maximum respect to all parties. The different regions - in Spain, the autonomous regions; in other place the states - have their own institutional space and their areas of competence in the European institutions; in fact, there are many presidents of Spanish regional governments that come here to propose issues, to resolve problems and to announce their initiatives. Having said that, we are talking about a process that must be orderly, that must be calm, of a country that wants to leave the European Union.

So, the powers of Scotland to negotiate with the European Union are non-existent, and hence, the Government of Spain is obviously opposed - I am absolutely convinced that everyone agrees on that - to any negotiations taking place with anyone other than the Government of the United Kingdom. Everything else is simply an internal problem for the United Kingdom and its constituent members. But I am obviously radically opposed, the Treaties are radically opposed and I believe that everyone is radically opposed to this.

Hence, if the United Kingdom leaves, in the negotiations or when it leaves, then Scotland will also leave the institutions of the European Union. And in the future? Well that is not something that falls to me to decide on.

Q.- Among our obligations with Europe is the problem of the deficit in 2015 and the threat of a sanction remains open. I was wondering whether you have had the chance to start negotiations or whether you are going to order these negotiations to be initiated because the Commission wants to decide on this next week.

President of the Government.- During this month of June, as you know, the European Semester is closed with the backing of the European Council for the specific recommendations for each country, which is what we did yesterday. Now, the next step is the formal approval, by ECOFIN, in its meeting in July, and that is what you referred to.

In terms of the excessive deficit procedure that you enquired after, no decision has been taken in this meeting, nor does it correspond to the European Council to do this. This is an issue that falls to ECOFIN, always based on a proposal from the Commission but, to date, this proposal has not yet been made by the Commission. The Commission has not yet decided to take any steps in relation to the excessive deficit procedure for Spain.

In the end, I must say one thing: in recent years we have reduced our deficit, in fact, over the last four years, from 9.3% to 5%; and we have done this whilst in recession for two years, the first with economic growth of -2.6%, and this last year, in 2015, we have reduced this from 5.8% to 5%. On another note, there is one figure which is very important, and which is the most important to our people: we are enjoying economic growth, which stood in the first quarter, at 3.4% year-on-year, and we are also creating jobs at a good rate.

I believe that Spain has stabilised its situation and this has helped Europe, I think we have reduced the deficit, and hence, I hope that things will be decided on in a reasonable manner, based on our support for the Fiscal Compact, and hence, the reduction of the public deficit. And the situation at this time is exactly as I have said it is.

Q.- President of the Government, taking into account these particular interests which you have specified of Spain with the United Kingdom, and taking into account that there are thousands of British citizens who live in Spain, do you have any plans to appoint a specific team to negotiate or to continue the negotiations of the "Brexit"?

President of the Government.- Yes, we are going to continue tackling this issue because it is of great interest to us. Now, we are clearly going to continue as part of the European Union. But Spain's relations with the United Kingdom are wonderful and I hope that, in the end, if the United Kingdom finally leaves the European Union, that we will have bilateral relations such as correspond to two countries which, I repeat, have a great relationship. Many British tourists come to our country, we have a balance of payments with a surplus, including for services, and not only tourism services but also other types of services as well. We want things to turn out well.

We would not have voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, but we must respect the will of the British people, who did take this decision. And henceforth, what we must all do, in this transitional period, is act sensibly and tell people that this is not a big deal and that their rights are guaranteed, and then we will try to hold negotiations that are useful for the British people, many of whom live in Spain - 400,000, I am told - and for the Spanish people who live there; I am not exactly sure of the number but it could be around 140,000.

Hence, what we must do is build. I said something the other day: this is not the time for revenge or for rewards, but for being fair and doing things well. That is the position that the Spanish Government will obviously always encourage and that any other responsible person should also encourage.

Q.- Coming back to the issue of Scotland, you have said that if the United Kingdom leaves, then Scotland leaves; but, given that its government has said that it is highly likely that there will be a new referendum on independence and the show of support that, for example, the petitions of Scottish MEPs have received regarding them staying in Europe, by way of clarification, would Spain veto an independent Scotland from joining the European Union?

President of the Government.- That would be getting ahead of the game and looking too far ahead. We are dealing with what we are dealing with here and now. Hence, what we are dealing with now is that the party to this issue we are involved in, which is complex, which is difficult, which will take time, which may have consequences and which I am sure will bring good news, the sole party to this issue is the United Kingdom because, if not, we would be operating outside of the very Treaties that we ourselves enacted. I don't know what will happen in the future, but as soon as the United Kingdom reaches an agreement to leave the European Union, Scotland will also leave.

Q.- I believe I have jotted this down correctly: you said at the beginning that "we have adopted the approach of the 27 Member States from here on in". My question is thus, should the United Kingdom, until such time as it leaves, and this may take more than two years, take part in all the decision-making?

President of the Government.- Yes. I am sure I expressed myself badly. The United Kingdom, at this time… The meeting we held yesterday was not a meeting of the European Council, and that has been clearly stated in the minutes, precisely because Mr Cameron did not attend; this was a meeting of the 27, plus the Presidents of the European Council and Commission. That is what is stated in the minutes. I undoubtedly expressed myself badly.

The United Kingdom, whilst it is a member, is obviously a member with its full rights. There are some things that are pending, such as the rotating presidency of the United Kingdom, which I believe falls in the second half of 2017, I seem to remember. Whilst these issues are important, they are not major. While it remains in, it has its full rights and obligations; in other words, it will continue to contribute. Similarly, all Spanish citizens and all British citizens maintain their full rights and obligations.

Q.- President of the Government, coming back to the issue of Spain, of domestic policy, I seem to have understood that you will hold the first talks with the political leaders and then, the negotiating committee that you appoint will continue with these talks. Will it be you who meets up on Thursday and Friday with the different political leaders? I wanted to know whether you will start with the Socialist Party and then move onto the others or whether you have another order established.

Returning to the issue of the "Brexit" and Catalonia, the President of the Regional Government of Catalonia considers that the referendum held in the United Kingdom is an opportunity for Stateless nations, and he has greatly welcomed the fact that the Scottish First Minister is to be received today by the European institutions. I wanted to know whether you believe this may affect the process in Catalonia.

President of the Government.- I believe that the fact that the United Kingdom will leave the European Union has nothing whatsoever to do with the proposals being made by certain political leaders in Catalonia. The United Kingdom will leave together with all those constituent elements of the United Kingdom; that has nothing to do with Catalonia. Hence, some may be pleased that they are received but I fear that the practical effects of this - I fear, no; I am absolutely convinced, and I believe this is very positive - are non-existent. We cannot, I repeat, do away with the very rules we have enacted.

As regards the order of the talks, I have not pre-determined anything. I will try to speak… I don't know whether I will speak with all of them or if we will split up, that depends on the time available; but the first thing is to explore the intentions of each party because, logically, you cannot hold a meeting with someone if right at the start they say, "I don't want to have anything to do with you", and hence there would be no negotiating committee.

But, in short, I am absolutely convinced that this will not happen because, if that were to be the case, we would be in a truly worrying situation. At this time we must take things slowly but surely. Parliament will be constituted on 19 July and, I repeat, we must firm up this issue soon. We cannot spend the whole of August, and then September, because that makes no sense. We need to start drawing up the Budget for 2017 now; this needs to be presented before 1 October, but first it needs preparing, it needs discussing, agreements need to try to be reached, because you need a majority to approve this. Logically, this all takes time, it requires an effort and it needs this situation clearing up beforehand.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you will allow me, we will draw this brief meeting to a close. I am grateful for your questions. Thank you.