Press conference by President of the Government and President of French Republic following 25th Spain-France Summit

Málaga

President of the Government.- Mr President of the French Republic, ministers, ladies and gentlemen, a very good afternoon.

As you know, today we have held the 25th Bilateral Spain-France Summit. The previous summit was held in December 2014 and I am pleased to announce that, following a short break, we have once again resumed these important meetings at the highest political level.

I wish, first of all, to welcome my friend, President François Hollande, and his delegation. François Hollande has proved to be a good friend to Spain and this should be remembered. I trust that he has felt at home today, in this always beautiful and welcoming city of Malaga, which has suffered the effects this past weekend of a violent storm from which it is recovering, thanks to the efforts of its people.

Malaga is one of the great cities of Spain, and of the European Mediterranean capitals that we share, and its indisputable attraction is accompanied by its strong economic dynamism, an unbeatable cultural offer and, above all, the energy and vitality of its people.

Welcome to Malaga, Mr President, ministers, members of the French delegation; welcome to Andalusia and welcome, as ever, to Spain.

As you are all aware, France and Spain are united by very close and diverse ties. We are partners, friends and neighbours; we are European and Mediterranean countries with centuries of shared history behind us and a common future together as leading players in the European integration process. These ties are particularly clear in Malaga in two institutions that represent the enriching cultural mix that unite our societies: the Pompidou Centre, where we are now and whose headquarters in Paris celebrate their 40th anniversary this year, and the Picasso Museum.

It was precisely a citizen from this land, Pablo Ruíz Picasso, who made France his home and created there some of the most important works in the history of art, which today fill his fellow citizens, of birth and adopted, with pride.

At the meeting held today, we have maintained various sector meetings, and I have held, with our closest collaborators, a meeting with the President of the French Republic and I will now try to summarise, in the awareness that there is a Joint Declaration that we have approved, the issues that seem most important to me.

Firstly, we have spoken about what is happening in Europe and, above all what we must do to ensure that good things happen in the European integration process in the near future. As you are all aware, on 25 March we will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the 1957 Treaty of Rome in the city of that name, and I believe that this is a wonderful moment - that is my opinion - to take stock of what has happened in these last 60 years and, above all and most importantly, to look at the future for the years to come.

I have to say, at a moment in time in which we are hearing murmurings- we hear more than what they truly represent - against the European Union process and against the European integration process, both within and beyond our borders, that we should recall what has happened over these last 60 years.

In the 60 years prior to the Treaty of Rome, there were two world wars in Europe; since then, Europe has become a space for peace, liberty, democracy and human rights. Europe is now the leading trading and economic power in the world. Europe is the place that best cares for its citizens; a Welfare State such as none other in the world, with a public pension system, a healthcare system and a universal education system, with good infrastructures... A place that everyone wants to come to and no-one wants to leave.

Hence, let's look at everything positive that Europe has done for the lives of Europeans over these years and, above all and in particular, for our country, for Spain, which last year celebrated 31 years since joining the then European Communities.

Secondly, I believe that in Europe we must make an effort to continue to involve ourselves in those issues that are important to our citizens and that were made very clear in the agreements we reached at the last summit which took place in Bratislava, after the summer last year, 2016. The main priorities must be the issue of immigration, firstly; secondly, the fight against terrorism; thirdly, external security and European defence, and fourthly, to grow and create jobs in order to have an increasingly better Welfare State and to improve pensions, and thus increasingly improve our care for those people most in need of it.

And the third main objective, in my opinion, of the Summit to take place in Rome on 25 March, that I mentioned before, is to propose certain ideas and establish criteria for where we should be heading in the future. My opinion is that, in addition to attending as well as possible to the real problems we face today, we should talk now about the future. I believe that Europe should remain firmly committed to the Single Market. The Single Energy Market and the Digital Single Market are two key priorities; they clearly affect the competitiveness of our companies, and hence job creation, the generation of wealth and to improving the cornerstones of our Welfare State. I believe that we must continue moving towards Economic and Monetary Union, and I also think that now is the time to start on Fiscal Union.

This will undoubtedly be an instructive debate but assuredly, in the wake of the events that have taken place recently, I believe that the time has come for those of us who believe in Europe to send out a message loud and clear, and this message is that we are more united than ever, we want more integration than ever before and we live in the region of the world with the highest standard of living. And our goal and our commitment is push on with this improvement.

We also addressed issues that affect our bilateral relations and which also concern, as you would expect, the people of Spain as a whole. Allow me to just touch on two or three issues which I believe are important and of interest to Spanish public opinion as a whole.

Firstly, we have signed an agreement with the French Government to assign and transfer to Spain the documentation accumulated by the French courts over the years in the fight against the terrorist group ETA. This amounts to a very significant amount of information covering the investigations carried out and judicial records over many years of collaboration. I particularly thanked President Hollande for this decision, as well as his Minister for Justice, because this will allow us to continue with our work on memory, dignity and justice in our commitment to the victims of terrorism. All the documentation and evidence will form part of the resources of the Memorial on the Victims of Terrorism being set up, as you are aware, in the city of Vitoria.

Secondly, I also wanted to make an important comment, because it greatly affects the competitiveness of our economies, about interconnections. As regards the electricity project in the Bay of Biscay, a feasibility study has been drawn up, as you all know, and the next step is for the French electricity transporter to notify the French regulator and Government. The minister has given instructions for things to be pushed through swiftly and we are particularly grateful for this. You know that this is an issue that is very important to us and you know that an important meeting was held, attended by the President of the French Republic, the Prime Minister of the Government of Portugal, the President of the European Commission and myself a couple of years ago. This project will be presented in 2017 in order to obtain European funding.

We also discussed the electricity projects in the Pyrenees and MidCat to transport gas through the Catalan Pyrenees. The studies are going according to plan and the idea is to present the projects in 2018 in order to also obtain European funding.

These projects will be reviewed in May 2017 by the European Commission+France+Spain+Portugal High-Level Group in order to be able to complete them according to schedule.

And it is also important to inform you that we have spoken about the Trans-European Transport Networks. I will principally refer to railway transport and the steps we have taken.

As regards the Mediterranean Corridor, Spain is working on many stretches of this corridor, which is a major investment. The next milestones will include the execution of such stretches as Castellon-Valencia, access to Murcia and Tarragona-Vandellós. France will connect Nimes with Montpellier this year and will then continue with the work towards the border. And Spain and France have been managing, through a joint venture, the stretch between Figueras and Perpignan since the start of the year.

As regards the Atlantic Corridor, work also began this weekend on the works to implement the international-gauge track on the stretch between Donostia and Irun, work will continue on the Basque 'Y', while in France the stretch between Bordeaux and Dax has been declared to be in the public interest and high-speed trains will arrive there in a few years time.

I believe that this is a summary of what, in my opinion, are the most important aspects of what we have tackled at today's meeting. I repeat, bilateral relations are extremely important for our country, and I believe that for France as well; they have been very good recently. President Hollande and I, and our governments as well, have had very good understandings over recent years. We have worked hard together on the fight against terrorism, which is undoubtedly one of the main challenges for all European countries at this time. Economic relations are also very significant: France is our leading customer, as you know, and the second leading emitting market for inbound tourists to Spain, and the main goal is for us to continue collaborating and working to defend the interests of French and Spanish citizens, and of all European citizens, in the near future.

I am grateful to President Hollande for his presence here today, in this welcoming city of Malaga. I believe that this has been a bilateral summit that has led to results and we wish him every success in the future. He can count on the appreciation and the affection of all the people of Spain.

Mr. Hollande.- Thank you very much, firstly, to the President of the Government of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, for organising this 25th France-Spain Summit. He wanted this summit to be held in a city that symbolised our friendship, our relations, and it is true that Malaga, and I salute its mayor now, is a city that best embodies what we have in common, in other words, culture. We are here in the birthplace of Picasso, with a museum that takes his name; Picasso, who could have been French if the government at that time had given him French nationality, but which didn't happen, and hence he continued to be Spanish. But he wanted to be both French and Spanish. He spent many years living in France, whilst always maintaining his deep affection for Spain.

We also have the Pompidou Centre here. It makes us very proud to see the name of Pompidou and what this Pompidou Centre represents here in Malaga.

We have particularly strong bilateral relations with Spain because, as Mariano has just mentioned, we are Spain's leading customer, we have major exchanges at an economic level, French companies are present here in Spain and many French tourists come to visit, particularly to Malaga. But, above all, at a political level, we are in close agreement on our points of view and we have shown this on many European issues. I will speak about this later.

The role of these summits between two friendly nations is to pursue cooperation at all levels, and we have done this. Today, we have signed nine agreements at all levels: firstly, on security, because security is an absolute imperative for us, particularly in the fight against terrorism. We cooperate very closely on intelligence; we dismantle networks together, we have the same view on the issue of fighters that have gone abroad and then come back to their respective countries, and we also fight together against all forms of trafficking, including drug trafficking and money laundering.

A decision was taken, and Mariano Rajoy reminded us of this, which illustrates our mutual trust, which is the transfer, organised by the corresponding minister and the French justice system, of a large number of documents so that the memory of this fight against terrorism can be passed on.

We also have another priority, which is to facilitate exchanges thanks to infrastructures. We had already taken a decision back in 2015 in Madrid to develop energy interconnections. For Spain and Portugal they are tremendously important, but for us as well, because this is a way to be able to diversify our supply and to guarantee our autonomy at a European level. Hence, we have tried to establish a method, a schedule and certain goals to guarantee the financing of these major energy infrastructures.

As was just mentioned, we are now working on the construction of a line in the Bay of Biscay and the French Environment Minister wanted us to announce this today. We are going to ask for European funding to ensure the coverage of this investment.

We also have other projects, and many have already been implemented, on the Motorways of the Sea, similar to that which has been done between Nantes and Vigo, and also on railway connections. I am not going to mention all the lines that could be financed, not only with our own two budgets but also with contributions from Europe.

We also cooperate closely at a cultural level and on education, given that French is the second most studied language in Spain and, reciprocally, Spanish is the second most taught language in France. Similarly, France is the leading destination for Spanish students and Spain is the second-highest receiving country in terms of welcoming French Erasmus students. We are highly committed to the Erasmus Programme. We have just celebrated the anniversary of this programme and we seek to extend this programme further, mainly to young apprentices and to those that study at Vocational Training Centres, such that this programme and these exchanges can be further enhanced. Important agreements have been signed between French and Spanish universities for a long time now, which could take the form of a French-Spanish University, and that is something we have decided to set in motion today.

That is what should be done between two friendly countries, between two neighbouring countries, but Spain and France also have a responsibility to define the future of Europe together.

Five years ago, almost at the same time of year, President of the Government Rajoy and I were at a European Council meeting, back in June 2012, at which what were undoubtedly the most important decisions to overcome the European crisis were taken. Both of us spoke along the same lines and we were supported by the Italian Prime Minister and, principally, by Chancellor Merkel. We convinced our partners that we needed to approach the construction of Europe from a different angle if we wanted to overcome the crisis in the Eurozone. That was where we decided on Banking Union, which allowed certain situations to be resolved in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and other countries; it was also decided to strengthen the Economic and Monetary Union, and that is where the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, defined a new monetary policy that significantly backed the capabilities of the Eurozone to overcome a crisis that could have been very destructive and that could have excluded certain countries.

A meeting of the Eurogroup on Greece is being held today and it would seem that a reasonable solution will be found to the problem, as we also sought during the summit held in the summer of 2015, which was essential for Greece to be able to stay in the Eurozone.

A great deal of effort has been made, mainly here, in Spain, and people have been asked to make many sacrifices to maintain the competitiveness of the European economy, to maintain European cohesion and to overcome the crisis of the 'subprime' which came, I would remind you, from the United States. We should always bear that in mind, because crises do not arise out of nothing; they come from conduct, they come from slackness and they come from deregulation, which the United States wants to introduce once again.

Hence, we have made a great effort and we can now see the results: Spain and France are both growing once again, our deficits have been reduced and we have significantly increased out competitiveness. The situation is different in France and Spain, but we are now in another phase, which necessarily leads us to another level in the project to build Europe. We are no longer immersed in a crisis; we are now laying out the future for Europe, of what the European economy must be; in particular, what we must do for the energy transition, for the application of climate agreements, for the digital revolution and to support economic growth and job creation in Europe.

That is what we want to do and the reason why the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome is so opportune. What do we want to do with Europe, above all after the decision taken by the British people to leave the EU? What must we do together, in particular, over the next 10 years? What are our common goals? What unites us? What issues are key?

There are three key priorities for us: first, defence, to make Europe, within the framework of NATO, capable of protecting itself and also capable of taking on responsibilities outside of our borders in order to intervene in resolving crises in Africa, in the Middle East and in the east of Ukraine. The second priority is the security of our borders; which clearly means fulfilling our duty on asylum, but also controlling immigration, and Spain and France are perfectly aware of the importance of this commitment. What we must also do is ensure that Europe becomes a prosperous continent, with progress that can be felt by our citizens, and not have to make greater efforts and more additional sacrifices.

Hence, we must decide to go beyond the mere construction of Europe; firstly, to do this in the new Europe with 27 members, which will be the first framework within which we have to work. But in this Europe of the 27, it will be necessary for those countries that want to go beyond this, that want to go faster, that want more integration, that want to strengthen the Economic and Monetary Union, the Banking Union, even fiscal and social policies, to be able to do this.

I don't know what name we could use to define this: a multi-speed Europe, differentiated cooperation, a hard core… I don't want to give it a name, but what we must implement is this differentiated cooperation, that is, going at a different pace with those countries that so choose. I am convinced that Spain and other countries will be able to find this right speed and these positive goals. Germany, through Chancellor Merkel, has also said that it is prepared to move in this direction. It is not a question of discarding others, or of rejecting them; it is a question of saying whilst we remain in the group of the 27, we want to go at our own pace with the intention of being able to offer our citizens greater protection, progress and well-being.

The greatest threat to Europe at this time is not its dislocation, although there have been some signs of this with Brexit, but disillusion, a lack of direction. There are powers that don't want the European Union, powers outside of Europe that don't want it to have any consistency, any content, any ambition, because Europe is the purveyor of values. Europe has defined a model that is unique in the world, as Mariano Rajoy just said, and not everyone likes that idea. Some want to see the world only as a result of relations of force, of power. We want Europe to be a power, a power in its own right; not a power to dominate others, or a power to impose itself, not a power to impose conflict, but rather a power for peace, a power for progress, a power that serves the planet. That is the sense of what we must do.

In a few days, on 6 March, I will receive the President of the Government of Spain, the Prime Minister of Italy and the German Chancellor in Versailles so that we can jointly prepare for this 60th anniversary that will be celebrated in Rome, the anniversary of the treaty bearing its name. It is not a question of the four of us defining what Europe is going to be, that is not how we see it; but we are the four most important countries, and we have a duty to say what we want together with the others.

That is why for me it was very important to attend this 25th France-Spain Summit, because France was a founding nation of the European Union. France signed the Treaty of Rome during the 4th Republic, back in 1957. Maurice Faure signed on behalf of France. Spain joined Europe much later and we know why: in the name of democracy, for democracy. And the first decision taken by François Mitterrand in 1981 was to say that Spain and Portugal had to join the European Union, that their place was there. That is why as a founding nation, as a country that knows why Spain is a member of the European Union, it is very important for us to stand together to state our confidence in this beautiful adventure that is Europe and the efforts we must make if we want to maintain it.

Thank you very much.

Q.- Mr President, regarding the hypothesis that Marine Le Pen could succeed you in the Élysée Palace in May and the possibility that France could leave Europe is becoming an increasingly credible prospect. The foreign press, the Spanish press in particular, are concerned as a whole about this possibility. Furthermore, the French people are not very sure about who to vote for in the presidential elections. Don't you think that it is essential to call for unity from the left wing?

Mr. Hollande.- If I had to make a call for this, I wouldn't do it here in Malaga, not because it wouldn't be good to do that in Malaga but because it is not the right place to do so.

However, we must all denounce extremism and look at the dangers, not only for Europe, but also for the countries where extremists are trying to win elections, which is not only in France. Why? Because what is it that nationalist and extremist movements propose? Not only to leave the Eurozone, but also to leave Europe. This means withdrawing, the end of exchanges; this is a false sovereignty that would translate into fewer jobs, less growth and less liberty. It would mean closing oneself in.

Hence, if only for this reason, in the name of Europe, of this Europe that we have built over the course of the last 60 years, in the name of France and its interests, we must reject this solution that would truly weaken our country and, above all, would weaken the rights, the protection, the liberties, the possibility of working and of economic activity of my compatriots, the people of France. Hence, everyone must stand up at this time and assume their responsibility; I assume mine.

Q.- You have both just spoken about the future of Europe. We would like to know if the rise in populism and the far right, in Europe and beyond, could endanger the very existence of the European Union.

Talking about migration, which is one of the issues you have both addressed, do you believe that Morocco has been a problem for the European Union, after the attempts to scale the fence seen in recent days?

And I would also like to ask you about Catalonia. I wanted to know if this has been the subject of your talks today, and if it is an issue that concerns France , on the one hand.

On the other, for the Spanish President of the Government. Can you confirm or deny for us whether there has been any form of contact or negotiation between the Central Government and the Regional Government of Catalonia, which has been talked about and denied in recent days? Is the Government of Spain prepared to present some form of alternative so that Catalonia can "fit in" to Spain? Will this much-discussed meeting with Mr Puigdemont take place?

President of the Government.- In relation to this last issue, the government's position is well-known, the Regional Government of Catalonia knows this and this is common knowledge among public opinion. We are prepared to talk about the real problems and about what concerns our citizens as a whole. That is why I believe that, when we hold the Conference of Regional Presidents, which is attended by the representatives of the different Spanish regions, everyone felt the absence of the President of the Regional Government of Catalonia, because there we spoke about regional financing, we spoke about the problems of care, we spoke about the demographic problems and we spoke about the problems that most interest and affect Spanish society as a whole, and Catalonia in particular. I want to talk about that and about infrastructures, about investments and about everything that is truly important to the people.

I have spoken here, and I said this in my speech, about the Mediterranean Corridor; there are some other stretches that will be worked on in the near future and I would like to talk about these. These are the problems that I believe really affect people and that in my opinion are the top priority.

The second priority, in my opinion, is for institutions to represent people as a whole. Regardless of how these people may have voted, they must try to represent 100% of them. I don't act in the same way as the Chairman of the People's Party as I do as the President of the Government of Spain. When I am the President of the Government of Spain, I try to defend the interests of all its citizens. Hence, institutions cannot be at the service of a specific ideology, in this case the pro-independence movement, and hence I believe that this must be corrected.

There is a third major priority, which is not to divide Catalan society more than it already has been. I believe that these last five years, because five years have now been spent on this issue, have greatly divided society, they have affected the internal cohesion and they have not contributed anything new or anything good to the life of the people of Catalonia.

Lastly, there is another major priority, which is the fourth; you cannot, in the times in which we live - you have mentioned populism and extremism; I will speak about this later - leave the Regional Government of Catalonia in the hands of a radical and extremist political force. These political forces cannot appoint or remove Presidents of the Regional Government of Catalonia, because that is very bad for the democratic health of institutions and for the democratic health of countries.

These are, in my opinion, the four main priorities for the future and that is what I am willing to talk about. Now, as to how to wipe out our national sovereignty and how to break the law together, quite frankly, as President of the Government of Spain, whether it is me or whether it is someone else, that cannot be done.

As regards whether the populist or far-right or far-left parties can break up Europe through their actions, I do not believe they can; in all honesty, I frankly do not. A decision has been taken, that of Brexit, by the British people; I hope, and moreover I believe, that this will not happen in Europe. But to ensure that it is very important that we take decisions such as those we must take in Rome.

I said to you in my speech earlier: those of us who believe in Europe, and we are the vast majority, talk well about Europe. In Spain, Europe is associated with democracy, liberty, human rights and economic and social progress, and the majority of people believe in Europe. And Europe continues to be the leading economic power in the world, the leading trading power, and it has a system to care for people, which it is supposed is what distinguishes its governments from others, a system that exists nowhere else in the world. We must highlight this, we must defend this and we must proclaim this because, quite clearly, there are always plenty of volunteers to say how badly things are going. It would sometimes be better for it to be newsworthy for someone to talk positively about something as important as Europe, or their own country.

Aside from that, we must be more effective in resolving the problems of our citizens and in setting a calendar - if not a calendar, at least a clear goal - for what we want Europe to be in the future.

As regards your third question, I should state that relations between the Government of Spain and Morocco are wonderful, they are at their best level ever and those responsible for the Moroccan law enforcement agencies have done everything in their hands, and I am grateful to them. The question is that there are some battles that are not easy to wage but, I repeat, their collaboration has been wonderful and I wish to acknowledge this publicly. And I believe that this benefits the people of Morocco, the people of Spain, and also the people of Europe as a whole.

Mr. Hollande.- I was asked a question, firstly about Catalonia. We have not tackled this issue with President of the Government Rajoy because it was not on our agenda.

As regards the issue of migration, I once again wish to express how useful Europe is in controlling migration. When events take place such as the one which has just been mentioned, in Ceuta, where immigrants come in and want to come to Europe, it is the European Union that allows this control to exist, that allows the rules to be applied. What would the situation be without Europe, if Europe was not there to define what we must do to protect our external borders and if Europe was not there, with the countries that make it up, to have a cooperation policy with third countries, such as Morocco or Turkey, being a policy for another form of migration?

Hence, Europe is what allows us, on issues that are indeed so crucial, to protect our borders, to provide security and to control immigration, and also to ensure we fulfil our duty in relation to asylum. It is Europe that allows us to have these policies. If each individual country had to tackle this situation, what would happen? Would we build walls, like another country on another continent, and would we ask our neighbours to pay for this wall? And how would we look? What would Europe seem to be if we built walls and asked African countries to pay for them? That is not the model that we want to have, because it is not good, either on moral or on political grounds.

And let's take another example: trade. France and Spain are part of the same Customs Union; goods move freely, we can exchange what we want to, we produce here, we consume there…, as we decided it should be. When a country is outside of the European Union, it is not longer in the Customs Union. That is what the United Kingdom has chosen: it will no longer be in the Customs Union and it will have to sign a trade agreement. A trade agreement means accepting rules and exchanges without any concessions; there are barriers and there are rules. So, any country that leaves the European Union, since some of the extremists, populists, nationalists or however you want to call them propose this solution, would mean greater fragility when controlling immigration, unless you build walls which are not effective and, from the point of view of trade, fewer exports, fewer investments, and most certainly, fewer jobs.

That is what Europe serves for and this must be stated clearly. Hence, the nationalists not only threaten Europe, but also threaten the interests of the nations they may represent. What is their reference, what is their model? The President of the United States, the new one? The President of Russia? These are not even European models. And what do they want to resolve the crisis in Syria, for example? Strengthen the powers of Bashar al-Assad? Everyone has their references and everyone has their models, but I think that some are better than others and this model is democracy, liberty and human dignity.

Q.- A question for both of you. There was talk this weekend about an attack in Sweden that never took place. What do you think about a president who reports on the television instead of doing this through his diplomatic services and through his intelligence services?

Mr. Hollande.- I will let President of the Government Rajoy begin.

President of the Government.- As you wish. What do you want me to say?

Mr. Hollande.- Television might even be the best of the options; sometimes this is done by twitter. I trust AFP more.

Q.- President of the Government, allow me to ask you about Catalonia once again. I would like to know if you can confirm whether discreet meetings are being held, on the sidelines of the public agenda, on Catalonia, with the Regional Government of Catalonia or not.

Then, we have just discovered that the system of justice has summoned the Regional President of Murcia to stand as a defendant. I would like to know whether you maintain your support for the Regional President of Murcia.

A third question. Working on the basis of your respect for judicial rulings, I would like to know whether you believe that the trial in the "Nóos Case" has affected the image of the Crown and whether, in your opinion, Princess Cristina could take any other steps to help this institution, such as by renouncing her dynastic rights.

President of the Government.- We have not spoken a single word about this in the meetings we held this morning, unless the President of the Republic corrects me on the matter, in which case we would have a problem…

Mr. Hollande.- I can confirm that we haven't spoken about this or certain other issues.

President of the Government.- As regards the issue of the Regional President of Murcia, I would urge caution; let's remember the presumption of innocence, which is one of the most important human rights we have as individuals, and recall that he has had another 16 cases against him shelved in the last two or three years.

On the issue of Catalonia, I have nothing to add to that which I answered to your colleague, which I believe is the crux of the problem; I believe that defines it very well.

And as regards the Crown, on that issue I, as ever, and as you very well stated, respect the decisions of the courts and the decisions that anyone takes using the powers that correspond to them.

Thank you very much.