Press conference by President of the Government during meeting of Heads of State and Government of European Union countries on occasion of the 60th anniversary of signing of the Treaties of Rome

Rome

President of the Government.- Good day to you all and thank you very much for attending this press briefing. I will be very brief because in a few minutes I have to attend a lunch at Quirinale Palace. Before referring to the summit we are celebrating, allow me to fondly recall Paloma Gómez Borrero. She was a great journalist and an endearing person. She was an institution in Rome, where she took in with her warmth and experience all those who came to the city, and she was also a benchmark in the news in Spain where she explained what was happening here for many years. My thoughts go out to her, to her family and to her countless friends.

We have gathered together here, in Rome, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the European Union and I think that this is a great idea. In Rome this morning, in the Campidoglio, and yesterday, in the Vatican, European values could be seen to shine incredibly clearly. That is where we can most strongly feel the inheritance that has made us who we are and the tremendous weight of our history that we have found a way to overcome.

Europe, which has been the stage for terrible confrontations and endless wars, is now the place in the world where human dignity is best preserved and best defended. This is the key cornerstone on which the European Union is founded. This is important and I believe that it is clearly reflected in the Declaration we have signed.

The European Union was born out of an old aspiration to stamp out war, tyranny, ignorance and the misery of the lives of people, and 60 years since that founding impetus we are in agreement on making further progress on this project. Europe is now the best place in the world for a human being to be born. While we only account for 7% of the world's population we hold 22% of the planet's wealth and we make 58% of all social spending. These are the magnitudes that define the greatness of the European project.

These are not easy times, but the founding fathers lived in more difficult times when they laid the foundations for our current co-existence on the ruins of a continent ravished by war and totalitarianism.

Today we have committed to continue building a union of human rights, liberty, cooperation, solidarity and well-being. To achieve that, we have agreed to focus on the problems that truly concern our citizens, those that bother them and those that cause them alarm.

We have set out four goals for the future: firstly, security, as reflected in the Declaration; secondly, prosperity, economic growth, employment, our model of well-being; thirdly, a social Europe, and fourthly, a stronger Europe in the world. These are the goals for the coming years.

This Declaration also reaffirms the founding fundamental European values, which are liberty, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Spain feels it is perfectly reflected in the conclusions on this point, and we contributed some ideas to them. As you know, for some time now I have been saying that it is important to state three things regarding the EU:

- Firstly, Europe has been and is a success story, something that is contained in the first part of the Declaration.

- Secondly, we must be more effective in resolving people's problems. We took an important step in this direction in Bratislava, where we set out some priorities on the issues of immigration, the fight against mafias, the fight against terrorism, foreign policy and defence, and, above all, on generating economic growth, job creation and maintaining the basic pillars of our Welfare State: universal pensions, healthcare, education and social services.

- Thirdly, we are committed, as indeed we are here as well, to greater integration in the future. The reference made to greater integration on the issue of foreign policy, defence, internal security and the reference made, loud and clear, to the Economic and Monetary Union and to completing the Single Market are important.

Hence, we are pleased at how things have turned out in the end. We have made our contributions but, above all, what we want to contribute, particularly as regards the future, is the deep-seated pro-European faith of Spanish society, the broad consensus of the Spanish political forces regarding the need to continue making progress on building the EU and the experience of a country which, thanks to Europe, has managed to take an unimaginable leap in terms of its prosperity and standard of living.

I am now available to take any questions you may have.

Q.- The Declaration of this Europe at different speeds has been signed, and I wanted to ask you how you have managed to convince certain countries that were not in agreement with this Europe at two speeds.

Then, what concrete steps will be taken to achieve these four goals that you have listed and that are contained in the Declaration?

President of the Government.- In the end, it is clear that a Declaration must be made. It is not easy for 27 countries to do this; it is much easier to negotiate with two or three, but not with 27. But I think that the President of the European Council, together with the Maltese Rotating Presidency and our host - the Italian Prime Minister - have made a great effort and I think that they have done what needed to be done.

In all honesty, it is very difficult not to be in agreement that Europe has been a success story. It is; among other things we are all here of our own free will. In Spain, we all know what we associate the European concept with: with democracy, with liberty, with human rights and with economic and social progress, which is what we have had since we joined the European Union back in 1986.

Nor has it been hard to reach an agreement on the main priorities: the issue of illegal immigration; the refugee problem, and attending to them well; the problem of internal security - the fight against terrorism is presently a key priority; we have seen what happened just recently in London and, unfortunately, we have seen similar events in France, in Belgium, in Germany and in other peer countries - we are also in agreement on making further progress on defence and foreign policy, and the defence of our countries is a major priority, and finally, we all want to generate growth and create jobs.

Where there were perhaps greater difficulties was on the third part that Spain proposed, on continuing to make progress on integration and, above all, on the economic aspect of that; but there is a very clear reference to continuing to extend the Single Market. We wanted the Economic and Monetary Union to appear in the Declaration. This, as you are aware, will take its time, but the aspiration we have is that we will end up with a European Budget that allows help to be given to those countries that are in the greatest difficulties at any given time and we hope that there will also be Eurobonds one day, in other words, that we will have a European Treasury that places issues in the markets because that would clearly offer greater security to us all.

It is clear that these two things, the Budget and the Eurobonds, require that previously there is a similar level of competitiveness throughout the European Union. That is why we have proposed that, in the same way as certain inflation requirements, public debt and public deficit requirements etc. were necessary in order to comply with Maastricht and join the Euro, here there will also be competitiveness indicators and, to the extent that countries meet these requirements or wish to do so, they will join in the next phase of the Economic and Monetary Union. I believe that this is important because, furthermore, the Declaration contains the possibility for European Union countries to develop at different speeds.

Hence, I believe that it is complicated for 27 parties to reach an agreement, but Europe has always been built with steps being taken in the right direction, and that is what is important, sometimes at a faster pace and others at a slower pace than desired.

What are we going to do in the future? I believe that some of the things that need to be done have been made clear. We are going to effectively fight terrorism and organised crime. It is very important, in this regard, to improve collaboration between the different intelligence services in different countries.

Now, at last, a sensible migratory policy is being developed. We have always said that migratory policy needs to be directed at the problem at source. We have always been in favour of helping countries, above all in southern Africa, which is closest to us, to improve their standard of living and also to improve their level of education. Agreements have been signed with leading countries, such as Nigeria, Niger, Ethiopia and others, and we are going to continue working in that direction.

On the matter of a prosperous and sustainable Europe, I spoke before about Economic and Monetary Union, and about the Single Market. We must work on the Digital Single Market and the Single Energy Market.

The same happens with Social Europe, where there is a clear commitment to education and training, undoubtedly the best instrument for making people better and therefore the countries too.

A stronger Europe on the global stage is this Europe that I have been mentioning: integrated European defence, with collaboration with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as is also contained in the Declaration.

Q.- You said that Europe was taking steps in the right direction and I wanted to know if you are also taking steps on the matter of the Budget, if you now have the backing of some of the groups for your public accounts.

On another note, the PSOE will hold a political conference this weekend and tomorrow Susana Díaz will announce that she is standing in the primaries. Given the turns that the situation of the Socialist Party has taken, do you fear there will be a break up?

President of the Government.- I am not going to go into this situation; I will be very respectful, as I have always been and as I have also demanded respect for my party when it may have been in a similar situation, and hence I will say nothing.

As regards your first question, next Friday we will approve the Budget in principle, on 31 March. We had said that we would approve it during the first quarter and we are in talks with the different political forces, which I imagine will continue even after its approval on the 31st.

I want to approve the Budget. At any event, there is something that the Lower House has already lent its approval to, which is the ceiling on spending, the heading on revenue and the distribution of the budget stability targets, and that offers us a certain tranquillity, although the goal is obviously to approve the Budget. This would be good for Spain and this sends out a message of political stability which, if not sent, is the only thing at this time that could disrupt the smooth progress of the economy.

All of the economic figures we are seeing are positive and there are even some entities that are forecasting growth in excess of the 2.5% which the government estimates, and some people are talking about growth of 0.8% in the first quarter. The level of job creation and affiliation to the social security system will be maintained: more than 400,000 people will find work this year.

Hence, the economy, provided we do things in a reasonable manner, will work well, I believe. The Budget is undoubtedly an important element, but it is not the only one. I repeat, it will go through on the 31st.

Q.- You are talking about the contributions that Europe has made to this Declaration that you have just signed and I wanted to know whether you consider that this Declaration reflects what you announced in the Lower House, in the debate on the European Council, in response to the Catalan pro-independence movement. You said something along the lines that this Declaration would force the law to be followed by everyone. Do you believe that this announcement is reflected in this Declaration?

On another note, if you will allow me a second very brief question on the motion of censure in Murcia. What do you think will happen in the end?

President of the Government.- I don't know. It is clear that I don't know. Of course, if I knew, I would be in a different situation to the one I am in now.

Clearly, as will not have escaped your attention, we do not speak about the concrete situation of anyone here. I said something that was obvious, on another note, which is that one of the fundamental values of the European project is the rule of law, in other words, the obligation to follow the law, and that we are all subject to the law, which obviously includes those in government. The alternative to compliance with the law is nothing, to avoid saying the law of the jungle, and no-one would believe that someone in Europe would give their support to a party that seeks to break the law.

The other day, the President of the European Parliament made some very important statements saying, and rightly so, that the Constitutions of European countries form part of the EU acquis and whoever tries to side-step or flout the Constitution of a country is side-stepping or flouting the EU acquis.

The rule of law - the fact that all citizens are subject to the law in equal measures - is assuredly a basic and fundamental principle, and must be so in the European Union.

Just look at the first paragraph of this Declaration we have approved today which establishes the fundamental and binding values, which is the word used, of the European Union, which are five in total:

- Peace, and it is very logical that the first value is peace, because the European Union was born on the back of two world wars in Europe and Europe has been a space for peace in the 60 years since the signing of the Treaty of Rome.

- The second great European value - liberty. Europe is the world's continent, as you are all aware, with the greatest levels of liberty.

- Third, democracy. No-one can join the European Union without a democratic regime.

- Fourth, respect for human rights. There is no other place in the world with greater respect for human rights. In fact, Europe is the only continent where the death penalty does not exist, in the European Union.

- And the fifth great principle is the rule of law, that is, where everyone is subject to the law.

These are the basic and fundamental principles of the European Union. Then, we work to ensure there is greater progress and social well-being; but there are clearly no doubts surrounding this issue. In short, these are values that no-one can question and those who try to do so are in my opinion seriously mistaken.

Ladies and gentlemen, I will finish now because I must continue with my commitments. Thank you very much