Statements by President of the Government and President of the United States

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

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

As you are all aware, we have just held a meeting in which we tackled a series of issues which I will now inform you of.

Firstly, I wish to formally reiterate my welcome to the President of the United States, Barack Obama, to Moncloa Palace. I have already thanked him, and I do so again now, for having come here at the end of his term of office. 15 years have gone by since the last time a president of the United States visited our country; I repeat, the last time was 15 years ago.

I wish to particularly thank him - I did so before and I now do this again formally - on behalf of all the Spanish people for continuing with this visit despite the serious events that have unfolded in his country. I have expressed our sentiment, our condolences and our affection and support for all the people of the United States.

I briefly explained to him the situation in our country at this time, above all from an economic perspective. The President of the United States is well aware of the development of the Spanish economy, and he enquired after the events in our country during the crisis that began back in 2007-2008. When I was President of the Government in 2012, we clearly went through a period of great hardship, but we have now seen that, while there still remains a great deal to do, this period is behind us. In other words, Spain is no longer in recession, Spain is growing, it is the Eurozone economy to enjoy the highest rate of growth and jobs are no longer being shed; quite the opposite, jobs are being created. 2015 reflected very positive data, as you know, and 2016 is also proving to be a positive year thus far and we hope to continue along these lines.

We have put many imbalances behind us, we have gained competitiveness, and hence, the Spanish economy can look to the future with optimism provided that we maintain an economic policy that controls the public accounts and we continue to undertake structural reforms.

We have also spoken about the elections in Spain, about the process that has terminated for the time being with the elections held on 26 June, and I have told President Obama that I will do my utmost to form a government as soon as possible. I believe that repeating the elections for the first time in Spain's history was bad news and that if we had to hold them yet again it would be a joke, and that this joke would be in very bad taste and would not only affect the Spanish economy but our image both in Spain and abroad.

We also discussed certain issues related to the European Union. We spoke about the 'Brexit', where Spain's position in negotiations with the United Kingdom will be constructive, which I believe is the most sensible and reasonable course to take. We also spoke about the problem of both refugees and immigration on economic grounds. Logically, we have adopted a position, which is that these problems should be resolved at source, and we believe that it is important the problems in both Libya and Syria should be resolved as soon as possible, because that would greatly help us.

I then informed him of the position I have been strongly advocating in the European Union regarding the EU becoming involved in trying to resolve these problems at source. A young person who has no possibilities whatsoever of living decently in his own country, who has no opportunities and who cannot live a dignified life is clearly going to do everything possible to leave his own country and seek out a new life somewhere else. Hence, these problems must be resolved at source and we must help all those countries that are nearby, and this must be done by our country and by the whole of the European Union.

We have also spoken about relations with NATO. They are wonderful at this time. We have spoken about Rota and Morón. I believe that things have been done well and they have been done with a majority consensus from Spanish society. That is very good for Spain and it is also very good for the United States and for all those of us who defend democracy, liberty, human rights and the security of people.

Bilateral relations at this time are wonderful from all points of view. The United States is the leading investor in Spain, the leading foreign investor, and the United States is the foreign country to receive the greatest investment from Spanish companies.

Finally, we have also spoken about the situation in Cuba; we view this positively looking forward and we hope that things turn out well. We wish President Santos every success in Colombia because he is making a great effort. We also spoke about Venezuela and about the need for the situation to return to normal as soon as possible.

In short, we have spoken about issues of great importance to Spain, and also to the United States, and I wish to bring my speech to a close by telling those who want to listen, that President Obama is a good friend of Spain and of the Spanish people, he is a committed person, a sincere person and someone with whom it has been a pleasure to collaborate. We would be delighted to see you, Mr President, return to Spain, as you came here many years ago; we would be delighted to see you come back whenever you deem fit and opportune because you will always be well remembered and well received here.

President Obama.- Well, let me begin by thanking President of the Government Rajoy and his team and the Spanish people for welcoming us. It has been an extraordinarily gracious and warm welcome, particularly given the tough situation that we have had at home and my need to rearrange my schedule. I was hoping for a longer stay, but at any event I thought that it was important to make sure that, while I was still President, I visited such an important friend and ally. Because the relationship between us is a bond of friendship; it is an alliance relationship. We have shared economic and security interests. And we have shared values and ideals as two democracies. And the United States, given the size of its Spanish-speaking population or persons with Hispanic heritage, I think feels a special connection to Spain.

I thought the President of the Government summarised our conversations well. We meet here at a difficult, challenging time for Europe and for the rest of the world. We have a world that is integrating rapidly and presents enormous opportunities. But if our institutional arrangements do not ensure inclusion, if we do not coordinate effectively on economic and security issues, then it can present great dangers, both in terms of our own people feeling as if they're being left behind, as well as people from other countries fleeing bad situations, wanting to come here, or engage in conflicts that create safe havens for terrorism and present future challenges to us.

The good news is that the relationship between the United States and Spain is extremely strong, and we have been able to work together on a whole range of these issues. I'm confident that, by taking the approach that Spain has suggested on the 'Brexit' negotiations, this issue can be managed in a way that does not have an adverse impact on economic growth and opportunity for all of Europe, including the United Kingdom, and will not have an adverse effect on the global economy.

I want to congratulate the President of the Government and the Spanish people on the economic progress that has been made over the last years. It has been a difficult journey, but many of the changes that were taken are starting to bear fruit. But we still have more work to do, all of us, in improving the prospects for young people who are unemployed and in creating more productivity, innovation and growth in our economies, and making sure that those economies are broad-based. So we discussed how we can do that on both sides of the Atlantic.

We have both just come from the NATO meeting in Warsaw, and I want to thank the people of Spain and the Spanish Armed Forces for the outstanding leadership that they provide on a whole spectrum of NATO initiatives, whether it is heading up one of NATO's new joint task forces, the incredible contribution that is provided by the Rota facilities, and the hospitality shown to our armed forces, the work that the EU and NATO are doing together in the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea. On all these issues, Spain has been a critical contributor. And Spain's men and women in the armed forces are doing an outstanding job.

As the President of the Government mentioned, we are also working together in some very difficult places, like the Middle East. And the contributions that Spain is making to training Iraqi military and police officers so that they can consolidate the gains that we have made against ISIL have been critically important.

Outside of Europe and the Middle East, we also discussed Latin America, where we have a shared interest, given Spain's roots and strong relationships throughout the Spanish-speaking world, and given the fact that what happens in the southern half of our hemisphere has a huge impact on us.

We agreed that Cuba offers the potential of new prosperity and new freedom if managed correctly. We are in the process of normalising relations between the United States and Cuba. Our hope is that, although it will not happen overnight, this will provide new opportunities for the people of Cuba.

Peace in Colombia has been elusive for decades. And the fact that President Santos has been able to initiate these new changes and forge a tentative but very important peace deal I think promises greater prosperity and security for all the Colombian people.

We are both concerned about the situation in Venezuela. It is our hope that we can find a way in which all sides can come together, stabilise the government and stabilise the economy. And we want to be helpful - although obviously we cannot dictate the outcome in Venezuela.

Let me just conclude by saying that I definitely will come back as an ex-President, because Spain is beautiful. The food, the culture, the people and the weather - it is hard to resist. And I want to thank the extraordinary hospitality that was shown to Michelle and my daughters when they travelled here. They would also love to come back. I think, as your children get older, they don't always want to spend time with you. But if you tell them, "we'll take you to Spain", then it's a good way to bribe them and force them to spend time with you.

But as President of the United States, in my formal role, I want to express the warmth, the gratitude and the friendship that the American people feel towards the Spanish people. We share values. We share ideals. We believe in democracy. We believe in the rule of law. We also believe in the dignity of all people. And our work together across the international stage is hugely important for us. So I hope that I'm setting a precedent and that it will not be another 15 years before the next U.S. President comes here.

Thank you very much.

Q.- Mr. President. I wanted to ask you about the continued demonstrations we saw overnight in response to some of the police-involved shootings.

But at the risk of suffering the same fate as one of my colleagues yesterday, I also wanted to return to the issue of Secretary Clinton's emails because of some of the comments that you have made in the past about this. You said in April that you continue to believe that she has not jeopardised America's national security. But this week, FBI Director Comey said that their assessment was that it was possible hostile actors who gained access to her emails and that there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information. Do you accept that conclusion? And when you referred yesterday to the issue of over-classification, did you mean to suggest that some of the issues that were identified as classified might have been examples of that over-classification?

On to another issue. You have also commented in the past on some of the tactics of the Black Lives Matter movement that you suggested have been counterproductive. We have seen continued protests, as I mentioned, overnight in many American cities over the Dallas tragedy. And as you prepare yourself to travel to Dallas, how would you advise the Black Lives Matter activists to approach this very sensitive issue?

And for President of the Government Rajoy, the President said in an interview with "El Pais" that he hopes and expects this next Government of Spain will remain committed to a strong relationship with the U.S. and with Europe. Are you in a position to make that kind of guarantee? And despite some of the concerns you raised about a possible third round of elections, are you in a position to rule out the possibility?

President Obama.- As regards the first question, there has been a criminal investigation. The FBI Director took the extraordinary step of explaining in methodical fashion how they arrived at their conclusion. The Attorney General accepted the recommendation of the investigators. And as a consequence, I think it is inappropriate for me to second-guess or comment extensively on the conclusion they arrived at.

When I talked about the fact that there are legitimate concerns surrounding how information travels in the State Department, this is across the whole spectrum. It has to do with the volumes of information that are now being transmitted, who has access to them; concerns about cyber-attacks and cyber-security; concerns about making sure that we are transmitting information in real time so that we can make good decisions, but that it is not being mishandled in the process or making us more vulnerable.

And without commenting on what Director Comey said, I can tell you that Secretary Kerry is and has been concerned about this generally, and has taken initiatives to try to improve those information flows, and that I'm concerned about this throughout the government. It just has a particular salience when you're talking about diplomatic cables and issues involving national security.

And I don't think we have it perfectly solved. I think we are going to have to do better and learn from our mistakes. And some of that will have to be done voluntarily and some of that will have to do be done by changing systems. Some of it will have to do with how we train personnel from the very top, how I use my Smartphone or BlackBerry, all the way down to the lowest-level staffer.

And we have already seen problems on this. Wikileaks, for example, was a major problem and it wasn't intentional, but what it exposed was that there were a lot of vulnerabilities. We know we've had hackers in the White House, and how people handle information, and hence the precautionary steps that have been taken. All these things are being examined thoroughly. And I think it is work in progress.

With respect to your second question, one of the great things about the United States is that individual citizens and groups of citizens can petition their government, can protest, can truly say the truth to the powers that be. And that is sometimes messy and controversial. But because of that ability to protest and engage in free speech, the United States, over time, has improved. We have all benefited from that.

The abolition movement was contentious. The effort for women to get the right to vote was contentious and messy. There were times when activists might have engaged in rhetoric that was overheated and occasionally counterproductive. But the point was to raise issues so that we, as a society, could grapple with them.

The same was true with the civil rights movement, the union movement, the environmental movement, the anti-war movement during Vietnam. And I think what you are seeing now is part of that long-standing tradition.

What I would say is this; that whenever those of us who are concerned about fairness in the criminal justice system attack police officers, we are doing a disservice to the cause.

First of all, any violence directed at police officers is a reprehensible crime and needs to be prosecuted. But even rhetorically, if we paint the police in broad strokes, without recognising that the vast majority of police officers are doing a really good job and are trying to protect people and are trying to do so fairly and without racial bias, if our rhetoric does not recognise that, then we are going to lose allies in the reform cause.

Now, in a movement like Black Lives Matter, there is always going to be someone who says things that are stupid, imprudent, over-generalised or harsh. And I don't think that you can hold well-meaning activists who are doing the right thing and peacefully protesting against everything that is uttered at a protest site. But I would just say to everybody who's concerned about the issue of police shootings or racial bias in the criminal justice system, that maintaining a truthful and respectful tone is going to help mobilise American society to bring about real change. And that is our ultimate objective.

Now, this week, people felt hurt and angry, and so some of this is just them venting their frustration. But I think that the overwhelming majority of people who are involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, what they really want to see is a better relationship between the police and the community so that they can feel that this is serving them. And the best way to do that is to attract allies. That means… that includes, by the way, the police departments that are doing the right thing, like Dallas, which has implemented the very reforms that Black Lives Matter have been seeking. That's part of why it is so tragic that those officers were targeted in Dallas, a place that - because of its transparency and training and openness and engagement in the community - has drastically brought down the number of police shootings and complaints about misconduct.

The last point I want to make is just as my hope would be that everybody involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, or other civil rights organisations or those who are protesting - just as I want all of them to maintain a respectful tone because that is what is going to get change done - I would hope that police organisations are also respectful of the frustration that people in these communities feel and not just dismiss these protests and these complaints as political correctness, or as politics or attacks on police. There are legitimate issues that have been raised, and there are figures and evidence to back up the concerns that are being expressed by these protesters.

And if police organisations and departments acknowledge that there is a problem and there is an issue, then that too is going to help contribute to real solutions. And, as I said yesterday, that is what's going to ultimately help make the job of being a police officer a lot safer. It is in the interest of police officers that their communities trust them and that the kind of rancour and suspicion that exists right now is alleviated.

So I'd like all sides to listen to each other. And that's what we'll hopefully be able to accomplish over the course of the next week and over the course of the remaining months that I am President.

President of the Government.- Whatever happens when we try to form a new government in Spain is something we will see in the coming days. But I am absolutely convinced that everyone is going to act responsibly and that, hence, Spain will soon have a government.

Aside from that, in Spain, foreign policy and defence policy are generally the subject of an agreement among the largest political parties. We are in NATO at this time, we have reached agreements with the United States Government on Rota, our troops are present in many countries around the world. They are in Turkey, they are in Iraq, they are or have been in the Baltic States, they are in Lebanon. And all the missions of the Spanish Army or the Guardia Civil or other police forces go through Parliament and they are voted on by the Members of Parliament. And there is broad agreement on defence policy in Spain among the large traditional parties at least, and I hope and am sure that this is going to continue to be the case in the future.

The same is true of foreign policy. The main decisions on foreign policy are agreed between the government of the nation and the party that backs it and, at least, by the second largest political party, which has also governed in Spain, as you are aware, for many years.

So, foreign policy and defence policy and the relations with the United States, with whom, as everyone knows, we are a trustworthy and serious ally and with whom we share the same principles and values, will all continue in the future, regardless of the outcome of the elections. I have no doubt about that. It has always been that way. At some specific points in time in our history, there have been disagreements, but it is true that most of the decisions on defence policy, foreign policy, and U.S.-Spain relations are always the subject of an agreement very strongly supported by the Spanish people.

Q.- I would like to ask President Obama if he is concerned about how long it is taking to form a government in Spain and whether that may affect relations between Spain and the United States and also whether you fear that populists could come to power in both countries.

President of the Government Rajoy said to us that he had told President Obama that he wanted to form a government in Spain soon. I don't know whether he mentioned to you the details as to the agreements to form a government.

And on another note, regarding the upcoming elections in the United States, do you think that if Trump wins, that would be worrying for the United States and for U.S.-EU-Spain relations?

President Obama.- I think President of the Government Rajoy is absolutely right that although it matters a great deal to us that we have a stable, well-functioning Spanish government, the nature of the relationship - the bond between the United States and Spain is not dependent on which party is in power - in the same way that my expectation would be that, although there might be differences on foreign policy if I had a successor that was a Republican rather than a Democrat, there would still be a core interest as fellow NATO members who are concerned about terrorism, and are concerned about a wide range of international and security and economic issues.

I wish the President of the Government luck. He did not go into the detail, by the way. It is not my job to figure out what all the ins and outs of negotiations may be in forming a Spanish government. But I am very confident that whatever government emerges, we'll be able to work with it effectively on a whole range of issues.

As you pointed out, I've got my own politics to worry about back home. And I won't comment on the U.S. elections because I think that's for the American people to ultimately decide on. What I would say is that I have great confidence in the American people, in their goodness, their values, their decency and their common sense. And although our political process is messy and dominated by too much money, and it lasts too long, and there is a lot of rhetoric that is all over the place, at the end of the day, I think people recognise the importance of the office of the President and that the United States occupies a unique role in the world, and will take that decision about who sits in the Oval Office very seriously.

There are some connections between populist impulses and voices in the United States and what's happening here in Europe, whether with what we've seen with the 'Brexit', or with other parties that have sprung up in other European countries. And I would just go back to what I said before, that if global integration does not work for everybody, if it simply helps elites, and if we see growing inequality and people feel left behind, then we will get a crude populism that is often divisive. And that is not good for anybody. But those kinds of politics will grow.

However, if like me, you believe that the exchange of trade, communication, culture, ideas and greater global understanding and integration can be a good thing, then that has to be accompanied with policies that address the problems, that make sure workers are getting fair wages, and the social welfare system is strengthened for the 21st Century, and that we are attending to environmental concerns and other concerns that have been raised by progressive organisations. If we ignore those things, then those fears and anxieties will challenge us or will be channelled in an unproductive way. If we address them squarely, then I think politics on both sides of the Atlantic will be just fine.

President of the Government.- There were two questions; whether I explained to the President of the United States what I am going to do to reach an agreement so that a government can be formed and fresh elections can be averted.

I haven't explained this because, as you would expect, we don't go into that kind of detail. But what I will say is that Spain has urgent matters ahead of it. First, we have to approve a budget and ceiling on spending and get the situation back to normal and continue growing and creating jobs; second, I am going to ask for a broad consensus, which should affect everyone, on European policy where you will see very important matters coming up in the coming months, starting with the 'Brexit', and the refugee problems, the European immigration process, and so on.

And then I have four, or even five, concerns over the future. First, employment; second, maintaining our Welfare State; third, combating terrorism; fourth, defending the unity of Spain as a whole; and fifth, maintaining the same foreign and defence policy that we have had over recent years in our country.

So, I think we can build on that basis, and I think we should build, because as I said, we have had an acting government for a long time now. For the time being, this hasn't affected our economy. Jobs are being created and I think this year is going to be good as far as economic growth goes. But we shouldn't play with fire. In all honesty, I think that too much time has gone by and Spain needs a government to be formed as soon as possible.

Regarding the government of the United States and the candidate you enquired after, allow me to say something obvious. The President of the United States will be, as ever, whoever the American people decide on. And the rest of us have nothing to say about that, much less when you are a President of a Government of a country that is a friend. Aside from that, I am sure our relations, as President Obama said in his speech, will be good, as they should be and will continue to be as they have been to date, because people and countries are higher matters than individuals, and there are a lot of things that bring us together. There is a lot of joint work to be done, and there are a lot of plans for the future. Individuals are also important, but it is our shared history and this willingness to work together for the future that truly matter.

Thank you very much.