Press conference by Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany and the President of the Government

Berlin (Germany)

Ms. Merkel.- Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to wish my colleague Mariano Rajoy a very warm welcome here, to Berlin, following his re-election.

Firstly, we held a meeting with Barack Obama and our colleagues Matteo Renzi, François Hollande and Theresa May, followed by this meeting to talk, above all, about our bilateral relations and the situation in Spain.

I am pleased that Spain once again has a government, because it is an important partner, not only for Germany, but for the European Union as a whole.

Relations between Germany and Spain are very good and are relations built on trust. Next year, we are going to celebrate an anniversary: in 1917, 100 years ago, the German Chamber of Commerce in Spain was inaugurated and this is obviously a good reason to think about our trade relations, because there are strong links between our economies. Germany is Spain's second leading trading partner and its leading partner in terms of imports, and there are many German companies set up in Spain. We have a great many points in common in the automotive industry, for example. And Spain, of course, is also a gateway for German companies to other markets, in Latin America, for example.

Hence we are very interested in seeing positive economic development in Spain and the President of the Government will explain this to us shortly much better than I can. And it is truly a pleasure, after some tough years, to see that so many jobs have been created and economic growth has been recovered, above all, last year and this year. There are obviously still many problems to resolve, but we can say that Spain is heading down a positive path and that is truly a source of great satisfaction for us.

Spain has celebrated another anniversary this year, that of its 30th year as a member of the European Union. Hence we can also talk about cooperation at the heart of the European Union. We want, apart from the issue of the exit of Great Britain, to set the future of the European Union as a priority, above all the Digital Agenda. Spain also has this same priority in its internal policies, and we have exchanged ideas on this issue. Spain is a pioneer in fibre optic networks and we know that we must develop and roll out the 5G Network and create an internal digital market. I believe that we will be able to cooperate closely on this.

Then, we spoke about migratory issues. Spain has had a great deal of experience in this matter over the last 10-15 years, together with cooperation with African countries, above all. For that reason, we have had an intense exchange of opinions on this issue. We both opt for associations on migration with African countries and to do everything possible to ensure a stable government in Libya as soon as possible. We spoke about these issues at our bilateral meeting and also with our colleagues and with Barack Obama at the earlier meeting; we also spoke about the situation in Syria, in Iraq, the fight against Islamic State. We haven't spoken so much about this issue in our bilateral meeting precisely because we had already spoken in detail about them earlier.

In other words, there was significant agreement in terms of our ambitions and our positions, and a strong commitment made by both countries to do everything possible to create jobs and control migration as priorities on which we will work together.

Once again, a warm welcome. Thank you for coming.

President of the Government.- Good afternoon to you all. Allow my first words to be of gratitude to Chancellor Merkel.

We have just finished, as she said, resuming normal relations between our two governments at lunch following a long period in which Spain, as you know, did not have a fully operational government. This has been a fruitful and very gratifying meeting, at which we have got back on track with our relations and observed how excellent they are between our two countries.

I am very pleased to be here in Berlin with Angela Merkel, whom I would congratulate on her leadership and organisation in Berlin with five great partners and allies of Spain at which we have all observed the priority nature we give to our Transatlantic relations.

At this morning's meeting, we principally tackled issues of international politics: the fight against DAESH, the situation in Ukraine and our relations with Russia, and, as the Chancellor said, the migratory and refugee crisis.

As regards Syria, we have expressed our grave concern over the humanitarian crisis, particularly in Aleppo, which is why we reiterate the need for a lasting ceasefire that guarantees unrestricted humanitarian access and allows negotiations to be resumed to achieve a political solution under the auspices of the United Nations.

On Iraq, we also analysed the progress being made in the offensive on Mosul. We must be prepared for the post-conflict scenario, for stabilisation and subsequent reconstruction that allows for those internally displaced to safely return.

Libya was also the subject of our talks. We agreed on the need to strengthen our support for the Government of National Accord and for the efforts of the Special Representative of the United Nations.

We also spoke about Ukraine; we reiterated our rejection of the illegal invasion of Crimea and underlined the need to comply with the Minsk Accords, including a genuine ceasefire and for elections to be held in certain parts of Donetsk and Luhansk in accordance with the requirements imposed by the OSCE.

Some of these conflicts, as I'm sure won't have escaped any of you, are at the origin of the refugee crisis that has caused so much concern and resulted in so much effort in recent times. The Chancellor asked me to make an introductory speech on this matter. I have spoken about asylum issues and about immigration on economic grounds. They both cause, as you are all aware, undesired displacements of thousands of people and hundreds of thousands in search of refuge.

I outlined Spain's experience with countries in West Africa over recent years. I believe it is key to reach an understanding and agreements with these countries, and help them, and for us to find a way to set up legal immigration channels and cooperate with those countries so that, little-by-little, they can improve their standard of living, and hence, their citizens will not feel obliged to risk their lives by leaving their country.

I will end now. I wish to reiterate my gratitude to Chancellor Merkel. We have shared many experiences over recent years, we have overcome many difficulties and, at all times, she has shown her unchallengeable pro-European commitments and her deep-seated friendship for Spain.

I am absolutely convinced that we will not have challenges to seek in the future. We have spoken about some of these this morning; the Chancellor has mentioned some of them in her speech. We have probably overcome the worst of the economic crisis now. Spain went through a crisis with five straight years of negative growth, five years in which we lost a total of 10% of its Gross Domestic Product, but by next year, 2017, we will have recovered this level of GDP. We have now enjoyed three years of growth, two of them with growth above 3%, jobs are being created at a good pace and we hope to continue with this in the future.

Thank you, Angela, for your friendship; thank you. I believe that the people of Spain and the people of Germany are good friends. Both our governments are going to continue working with determination to make further progress on the European project; we are going to assign special importance to this and turn the real problems of our citizens into a priority and we are obviously going to continue defending such values as tolerance, solidarity and those ideals that have made Europe a benchmark for peace and progress throughout the world. Thank you very much.

Q.- I wanted to ask the Chancellor a question first of all. You have shown a special interest in the Spanish President of the Government attending this meeting today. I wanted to ask if you consider that henceforth, and taking into account the period of uncertainty that will now commence in Europe, politically speaking, regarding the situation that may take place in Italy or in the upcoming elections in France, Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish President of the Government, may become your main ally in the future to face the challenges such as populism that will arise with the new era of Donald Trump in the White House.

And for the Spanish President of the Government. I wanted to know whether you have had a chance to speak with the German Chancellor about the economic situation in Spain; specifically, whether you have spoken with the Chancellor about when the Budget will be passed and how to tackle the situation of those taxes that must be raised in Spain in order to meet the deficit targets set by the European Union. When will these taxes be proposed and what taxes do you intend to raise to meet these commitments with the European Union?

Ms. Merkel.- Spain is always a key partner for Germany, but I don't want to establish a hierarchy here and now, because I don't feel that would be useful. Other colleagues have also been here with us, but the fact that Spain has stayed here for lunch shows its importance on international issues. This has been possible today since Spain once again has a government, because Mariano Rajoy has again been elected as President of the Government and I congratulate him on that.

President of the Government.- We spoke briefly about the economic situation in Germany and also in Spain. I did indeed convey to the Chancellor that Spain has now enjoyed, as I pointed out earlier, three straight years of economic growth and, more importantly, that we have strong job creation. I explained to her the main goals of this term of office, the main goal being to see 20 million Spaniards in work. This would undoubtedly be very positive because there would be many people who are not working at present but wish to do so who could once again be in gainful employment if we were to reach the figure of 20 million people in work, which logically, would also mean an increase in tax revenue, and hence, that we could attend to many people who still need our help and improve the functioning of our public services.

As you have said, we now have to push through the draft General State Budget for the year 2017. Firstly we will present Parliament with the ceiling on spending - the maximum amount that we can spend - and the budget stability goals, which would allow the regional governments and local authorities to push through their own budgets and then we can present the State Budget.

No decision has been taken on the issue you referred to. When one has, we will let you know. We want to talk about this with the other political forces who can help push through the Budget. What is clear is that this year we will close with a deficit of 4.6% and that the goal set by the European Commission for next year is 3.1%, and that we intend to meet this target, as we have always done. The deficit stood at 9.3% when we came to power while it now stands at 4.6%. As you know, it was not easy to reduce this, because we were in recession during two of these years, with falling revenue; but we want to do this, firstly, because that is our commitment with the European Union and, secondly, because thanks to the reforms and the reduction in the deficit, thanks to the confidence and credibility this gave our country, we are growing like no-one else in Europe and creating jobs.

Q.- Mr President of the Government, there are requests in Germany, in terms of the European Security and Defence Union, for a further increase. Will Spain also go down this path towards a common European Army?

And, Madam Chancellor, at the six-leader meeting, was the subject of possible sanctions on Russia raised, in relation to Syria and not only to Ukraine?

President of the Government.- On the issue of defence we are in favour of further increasing defence cooperation among all the countries in the European Union, which is absolutely compatible with our membership of NATO. All NATO members, including Spain, have budget commitments that we adopted, I seem to recall, at the NATO Summit in Cardiff not long ago, and it is our intention to meet these commitments. It is clear that security is a very reasonable demand from all European citizens and from people anywhere in the world, because life, liberty and peoples' rights, the rights of individuals, are the most important rights we have. Hence, we want to improve collaboration and make progress on that and see more integration on defence policy, but without prejudicing our membership of NATO.

Ms. Merkel.- We spoke about Syria a great deal saying, above all, that the humanitarian situation in Aleppo needs to improve. But we didn't specifically speak about sanctions on Russia, but rather the options related to Ukraine.

The President of the United States and the rest of us said that we support the Normandy format and close cooperation between the United States and the European Union. We want to make progress on the Minsk Accords, but so far there has been virtually no progress, and that must be said; quite the opposite in fact, the situation of insecurity has not improved over the course of recent weeks. Even so, we will continue working and take a decision at the appropriate time. But, as the situation presents itself at this time, the progress made on the Minsk Accords is insufficient.

Q.- My two questions are for President of the Government Rajoy about domestic issues. I would like to know, President of the Government, if what happened with the former minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz, is hampering the negotiations with the political formations and if you fear that the about-turn by the PSOE that took place with the case of the committee could happen again over the course of this legislature.

Secondly, there was a formal event yesterday to officially open Parliament and there was a group of Podemos members of the Upper and Lower Houses and of nationalist formations who did not applaud the Head of State. I would like to know if that concerns you.

President of the Government.- As regards the first issue, I, like everyone else, am in favour of agreements being complied with. When you reach an agreement with another political force, the logical thing is for this to be complied with. At any event, things are how they are and at this time I would prefer to look to the future, and we will see if we are able to be constructive on some issues that will soon come before Parliament, such as the ceiling on spending and the stability targets, and such as the Budget we spoke about earlier and the implementation of the Toledo Pact Commission to talk about pensions, which is undoubtedly the issue that most concerns the Spanish people at this time and in respect of the future which, furthermore, seems very reasonable…

At any event, it would be good for any agreement reached to be complied with, but, I repeat, I am looking at this time at what is important, which is the future.

In relation to the actions yesterday by certain members of the political force you mentioned, quite frankly I prefer to look at the actions and the conduct of the vast majority of people who were there at an event that is very important - the formal inauguration of the new legislature - which we hope will be good for the interests of the people of Spain as a whole. And let's see if we can stop concerning ourselves with this type of issue. Let's stick to what is important, which is what the vast majority of people do and which tends to be reasonable.

Q.- Mr President of the Government, all of the countries here today have their own specific problems. Now, the Federal Chancellor stands as a solid rock in terms of defending the values of the West. To what extent does Europe's stability depend on Germany?

Madam Federal Chancellor, how do you see your responsibility in the short and long term?

And a question for you both. Looking at the debate at the six-nation meeting on immigration actions, have you specifically spoken about how to reduce the burden on Germany in the distribution of refugees or will Germany, once again, assume the greatest burden?

President of the Government.- I don't know whether I would describe Germany as a "rock" or not, but it is true that Germany's stability is very important for Europe. Germany has the highest GDP in Europe, Germany has the largest population in Europe, it is the country with the highest per capita income, the country that exports the most and it is a great nation. Hence, it is fundamental for Europe that things go well in Germany, as is fortunately the case at this time. Now, it would also be desirable to see a hard core of countries where things occur at a reasonable level.

I believe that one of the most important problems that Europe has suffered from in recent years is the proliferation of political forces, let's call them "sui generis", which end up causing a great deal of problems, many difficulties and, above all, generating negative repercussions for our citizens, some of which we have seen recently. Let's hope that this will be corrected and I trust - although next year will be a difficult year from an electoral point of view in Europe - that things will start to take the right course.

Europe is sometimes criticised and the main political forces are criticised for having helped build Europe: conservative parties, social democratic parties and liberal parties, but we should not forget that Europe accounts for 25% of global GDP, that Europe is the region in the world with the highest levels of democracy, liberty and respect for human rights, and that Europe has a system of well-being, of public pensions, of public health and public education like no other in the world.

Quite frankly, I am European and I believe I am not exaggerating if I claim that, in all honesty, the best place to live in the world in terms of almost all of this is where you and I live now.

Ms. Merkel.- I said yesterday that there are many politicians and citizens in Europe who support open and liberal democracy, and Spain does this as a country. Spain has always been a very pro-European country. That can be said on behalf of many people who live there, and also on behalf of the government and of Mariano Rajoy, personally, and that is why we are allies.

One person alone cannot resolve everything. Unity makes us strong, we also saw this in the morning at the meeting with the US President, and I want to do what falls to me as the Federal Chancellor of Germany; in other words, to do my service for the good of people here, in Germany, but this also includes my work to the benefit of the cohesion and success of Europe.

We were unable to speak about the distribution of refugees. We spoke about foreign challenges with the US President, about sanctions on migration, about the Government of Libya, about what can be done to strengthen the Government of Unity and how to reconcile the east and the west, the role to be played by Egypt and by the Gulf States; but the distribution of refugees within the European Union was not one of the topics we had to talk about with the US President. That will need to be spoken about between us.

President of the Government.- I just wanted to say that I have invited Chancellor Merkel to visit Spain in the first quarter of next year, 2017, and we will meet up and hold a bilateral meeting.

Thank you very much.