Statements by President of the Government after event to posthumously award Rita Barberá the Golden Key for Municipal Contribution

Madrid

Q.- Can you tell us how the meeting went with the families of the victims of Yak-42?

President of the Government.- It was a frank and cordial meeting. I have listened, I share what they said to me and their feelings and I hope that we will henceforth do things well.

Q.- Has your view changed after meeting with them?

President of the Government.- Let's leave things there.

Q.- President of the Government, we have heard the families of the victims say that, after such a long time has passed, they are sceptical of any commitments made. Have you made any to them here?

President of the Government.- Let's see what happens in the future, let's wait until the end. I have told you that the meeting, for me, was frank and cordial, and I hope that between us all we will be able to build on this and do things as they should be done, and hence, do them well. And I would ask you not to insist on this matter anymore. I would prefer them to talk.

Q.- President of the Government, what do you think about [Donald] Trump's ban on foreigners?

President of the Government.- I am not in favour of bans or borders, and nor do I think that the world is moving in that direction. So, I hope that in the future this can be sorted out and we can all settle down in a return to normality.

Q.- President of the Government, this morning Artur Mas insisted that a referendum will be held and that he could even stand in a future plebiscitan elections. I don't know what you have to say about this.

President of the Government.- No referendum can be held to take a decision about Spain without this being done by all the people of Spain; quite frankly, it cannot be done. No Spaniard can be deprived of his right to say what he wants his country to be and clearly Spain is what all the people of Spain say it should be and not just some of them. The political leaders that have backed this dynamic are well aware of that and, in all honesty, this doesn't lead anywhere. Moreover, the world, as I just said, is pulling down borders, eliminating custom duties, signing up to integration processes and hence, the path that some seek to move down seems to me a step backwards and one that leads to nowhere.

I am obviously prepared, as I have said on many occasions, to talk and to reach understandings, but I am clearly not going to make the unity of Spain free to dispose of, nor am I going to do away with our national sovereignty or with the equality of the people of Spain. I am not going to do this under any circumstance for two reasons: the first is that I cannot; I am not allowed to under the Constitution or the law, and the second is that I don't want to.

Q.- President of the Government, is there any legal way for the Regional Government of Catalonia to gain access to the fiscal data of the people of Catalonia?

President of the Government.- No. The public prosecutor is acting. I hope for the statement from the Regional Government of Catalonia denying the claim made by the former Member of the Upper House for the Republic Left of Catalonia to be true. I hope this will be the case; I don't have any grounds to call this into question. But, in all honesty, I believe that we need a bit more restraint, wisdom and common sense in Spanish politics because the spectacle we have seen is disgraceful. Spain is far more important, as are its citizens, than these things being proposed, and, moreover, they flaunt this publicly.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you.