Press conference by President of the Government following extraordinary meeting of European Council

Brussels

President of the Government.- Ladies and gentlemen, a good afternoon to you and thank you very much for attending.

As you know, because it was made public just a short while ago, at today's meeting of the European Council we have adopted the guidelines for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.

I would like, in the first place, to express my gratitude to the institutions and, in particular, to the President, Donald Tusk, for the exercise in coordination to agree on this important text. We welcome this consensus reached between the 27 Member States and the institutions, and I trust that the mandate for the negotiations that the Commission will present shortly will suitably reflect these guidelines. The issue now is to commence the negotiations as soon as possible.

In line with the text on the guidelines, I wish to stress the importance of the following aspects: one, we are going to preserve the unity of the EU as a whole throughout the negotiations; two, the key aim is to protect the rights and interests of individuals, and our own national interest; three, we must ensure the orderly withdrawal by the United Kingdom that offers stability and certainty to all concerned; and four, we must guarantee the best possible relations with the United Kingdom, a key partner for Europe as a whole.

We must be aware that not only the important relationship we have with the United Kingdom is at stake, but also, and more importantly, the future of our European integration project.

As you all know, both in Bratislava and at the latest meeting we held in Rome to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the 1957 Treaty of Rome, we made an important commitment to European unity and to continue making progress on the integration process. We have set the priorities for the future: the fight against terrorism - an undoubtedly important issue; the solution to the matter of refugees and illegal immigration - an issue that also concerns European citizens as a whole; and thirdly, economic growth and employment, which has definitely been one of the main goals of our country over recent years and which will continue to be so in the future.

We also committed to continuing to extend European integration in foreign policy, in defence and security policy, and also to continue with Banking Union and take steps towards Fiscal Union, and hence towards a new European Budget and the Eurobonds.

Finally, I wanted to stress the role of the Commission's Chief Negotiator, Michel Barnier, who has our full support and confidence.

If you have any questions to ask… I repeat, I believe they are already in your hands, because the agreements adopted today were handed over a few minutes after starting the meeting; hence, I don't believe it makes any sense for me to read them through. Aside from that, I am ready to take any questions you may have.

Q.-President of the Government, a couple of questions about the matter of the European agencies, which I believe was also discussed today. My first question; Germany has a particular interest in the European Banking Authority and we have a particular interest in the European Medicines Agency. Given our collaboration in the past with Germany - for example on the issue of the Presidency of the Eurogroup - I don't know if you think that when allocating the agencies there might also be a special collaboration. When do you think a decision might be made on the agencies? Do you think that the in-fighting over this issue may endanger European unity?

President of the Government.- That was not a question, as you know, only about two countries. It is true what you have just asserted and it is true that we are going to present our candidature for the European Medicines Agency. I have made a notification, both to the President of the European Council and to the President of the Commission. I reiterated this to the President of the European Commission just a few minutes ago. This is not easy; while there are 28 of us, there are really only 27. There are some countries that don't have any agencies but, at any event, we are going to fight for this because it is clear that if you don't fight, you can't win. When you do fight, you may either win or lose.

But I believe that Barcelona's candidature is one of the strongest that may be presented, because of the attraction of the city - I am sure that if the people who work at the Medicines Agency voted, Barcelona would be chosen - and also because of its infrastructures, its communications, the importance of its pharmaceutical industry -which is not a minor issue-, for its own strength as a pole of biological research, the headquarters it offers, which will be available right from the word go, and also because of the circumstance that all the tiers of government, whatever political forces may be in power, are prepared to fight for this.

In principle, what President Tusk conveyed to us - I should mention that no debate was held on this issue - what he said to us is that the idea would be as follows: at the European Council in June, the procedure for holding elections will be approved and this decision is then due to be adopted in the autumn. No specific dates were mentioned, but the expression used by President Tusk was "in the autumn". I repeat, no debate was held as such on this issue, but we have been given these two pieces of information: before June, the procedure will be discussed at the COREPER meetings and the Foreign Affairs Council meeting, which will subsequently be approved and a decision will be adopted in the autumn.

I repeat, Spain will fight for this. I believe our arguments are sound. I suppose that other countries also have sound arguments but, in short, we will fight for this with good cheer and in the belief that we have good and powerful reasons.

Q.- The guidelines approved today contain a point stating that those issues affecting Gibraltar must be addressed between Spain and the Government of the United Kingdom. I wanted to know whether there has been any contact yet between you and the British Government and what your approach will be on this matter.

As regards domestic current affairs, I wanted to ask you if you are concerned at the vote of no confidence announced by Podemos.

President of the Government.-There has been no contact with the United Kingdom, among other reasons, because the United Kingdom still forms part of the European Union. Formal negotiations have not even begun, these will commence after the elections in the United Kingdom on June 8.

My position on this issue is based on common sense. The President of the European Council introduced Articles 4 and 24 into the guidelines, which you are well aware of. We and all the others think this is wonderful, and no-one has argued about a single word contained in Articles 4 and 24. In fact, in this morning's speeches, nothing was said that is worthy of mention, which is reassuring, because what is says there, quite simply, is obvious and thus it makes little sense to discuss what is obvious.

As regards the vote of no confidence, I have indeed paid close attention to the decision taken by Mr Iglesias. I have seen that he is now going to hold a consultation, I imagine that this will be among his party members, to see if they will present the vote or not. So, I have decided that I am not going to present any vote of no confidence against Mr Iglesias. In all honesty, I believe that it is not the best option, and hence, I will not consult anyone in my party either.

Q.- I would like to come back to the issue of Gibraltar, if I may. The question would be, is the veto contained in the guidelines of the European Union? Is Spain subject to any red lines? What is its official position? Will there be shared sovereignty? Will the tax regime have to change in Gibraltar? What will Spain's red lines be?

President of the Government.- The only thing that Spain has, as ever, is a constructive approach. So, what is being said, and this is very easy to understand, is that Gibraltar is leaving when the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, in the same way as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They are all leaving the European Union.

Aside from that, any agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom that refers to Gibraltar will necessarily require the prior agreement between the United Kingdom and Spain. There are no red lines or indeed lines of any other colour. Quite simply, any agreement will need a prior agreement between the United Kingdom and Spain, which I believe is very reasonable and which does not require any further explanation.

Q.- One week before the French elections, should the French people draw any conclusion from the situation that has brought you here today to this Council meeting on Brexit? That is my first question.

Then, I would like to know whether the pro-independence debate could be an obstacle to Barcelona's candidature to host the European Medicines Agency. Could it spoil this candidature.

President of the Government.- In relation to this issue, I believe that, as common sense itself dictates, institutional stability is a very important factor and will always work in favour. It is hard for institutional instability, as can easily be understood, to work in this same direction, that is, in favour. Hence, It would operate in a different fashion.

In relation to the conclusion that could be adopted by the French people, I understand that you are asking me for the position maintained by one of the two candidates, who does not appear to be very enthusiastic about the European Union. In all honesty, and I have said this on several occasions, and I will repeat this now, I think that Brexit is a bad decision; I honestly believe that. It is a bad decision firstly for the British people and it is a bad decision for Europe. There won't be any good consequences. It is a question of making an effort to minimise the bad consequences this will bring. However, we must always respect the decisions that States take.

In the case of France, I will always respect the decision taken by the French people - we can all agree on that - but I would like to see a clear and outright commitment to the European project which is undoubtedly a good project for people; among other things, it is a clear message in defence of democracy, peace, liberty, human rights, the Welfare State and economic and social progress. I obviously and firmly believe in Europe and I would like to agree on this with the majority of the people of France.

Q.- I wanted to ask you about the statement made this morning by the President of the Regional Government of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont. He said that in the coming days he will send the Government of Spain his proposal for a referendum and he literally asks you to lay aside your lack of interest and prejudices and sit down to talk. Would you be prepared to negotiate this proposal when it is there in your office?

President of the Government.- I will answer Mr Puigdemont when he writes to me, calls me or says whatever he deems fit and opportune. What I don't think makes much sense is for him to say one thing now and for me to answer something that he hasn't conveyed to me.

So far, the negotiation, it is not that it has been impossible, but that it is very difficult to negotiate with someone who says that "you have to do what I say", that is, him. The only thing that Mr Puigdemont has proposed to me is to hold a referendum and I have said to him that the President of the Government cannot authorise a referendum because the President of the Government is not the custodian of the national sovereignty; that belongs to the Spanish people, nor do I want to hold a referendum because I am obviously not prepared to allow only one part of Spain to decide on the future of Spain. You may hold your own opinion on Galicia or on Andalusia, if it is Spanish, in the same way as any citizen from anywhere in Spain is entitled to their own opinion on Spain as a whole. That is what is called national sovereignty and, in all honesty, I believe that anything else only serves to confuse people and create a bad atmosphere, generate problems and generate difficulties.

I have said this as clearly as I can and he is aware that I cannot give in to his claim, regardless of not wanting to because it seems something absolutely ridiculous to me. We are talking about a world in which there are an increasing number of integration processes. I have just come back from Uruguay and Brazil, and the goal is to reach broad agreements and remove the number of trading boundaries, while there are some people who wish to swim against the current tide.

In all honesty, I believe that this position is very negative for all the Spanish people who live in Catalonia and for all the Spanish people that live elsewhere.

Q.- I would like to know if you could assess the decision taken yesterday by the Basque Nationalist Party (Spanish acronym: PNV) not to present an amendment to the whole of the Budget. How do you rate this political decision? What did you promise in the several phone calls you held with Andoni Ortúzar, for this step to be taken? Do you believe that the Budget is now more or less backed, lacking just one vote at this time?

President of the Government.- It is true that a decision was taken yesterday that is important and has a great political value, which is that the Basque Nationalist Party did not present an amendment to the whole General State Budget. If the PNV had presented this, then it would be very difficult, or rather, practically impossible, for us to approve the General State Budget.

Aside from that, nothing is definitive yet; in other words, negotiations with the PNV are ongoing. We hope to close them in a relatively short time.

It is not a question here of promising to do something or not. It is simply a question of trying to build on a situation which, from a parliamentary viewpoint, is difficult. We have 137 MPs and we have reached an agreement now to approve the Budget with certain other political force; the most relevant, in terms of the number of MPs this brings, is with Ciudadanos, and then with the Canary Island Coalition, but we have also signed agreements with the UPN, Foro Asturias and the PAR. But, I repeat, this is still not enough.

I hope, and I will work to this end - I have done so recently and so have some of my collaborators - to reach an agreement with the PNV; but it is not a question of swapping pieces, but rather of seeing how we can all contribute to the benefit of the general interest of everyone, on a joint basis.

Q.- It would seem that you have everything sorted this week to at least avoid this global amendment to the Budget, pending what happens with the agreement with the PNV. But, do you believe that political stability may be endangered by the corruption scandals we have seen in recent weeks, above all? Do you feel this may be endangered?

I also wanted to ask you about the support the Catalan pro-independence groups have received. This week, we have seen them photographed with Nicolás Maduro while we have also seen how Puigdemont was rebuffed by Morocco. What do you think about this international situation regarding the Catalan pro-independence movement?

President of the Government.- I would say that this allows us all to make a very balanced judgment about the nature of the Government of Morocco and about Mr Maduro, a very balanced judgment, and it also opens the way for us to reflect on the support for certain political positions in our country.

Aside from that, I believe that it is important for us to maintain as much political stability as possible in our country. We have seen some very important figures in recent days from an economic point of view. When a country has grown by 0.8% in the first quarter, which is double the European Union average - France has grown, for example, by 0.3% - when unemployment has dropped, according to the data from the Labour Force Survey, by more than half a million and when the forecasts we have made for recent years, which are normally sensible forecasts, tell us that we can create 2 million jobs by the year 2020, I believe that this requires that we should all make an effort to maintain this stability.

Spain has gone through a monumental crisis, as you all know. This year we will recover the lost GDP, this year we are going to recover the revenue lost in the crisis and we will soon recover all of the jobs that were shed.

In reality, I believe that from an economic point of view things are going very well and hence it is very important for us to be able to maintain political stability.

Aside from that, anyone may make the decisions that he sees fit and opportune; but I believe that what our country needs at this time is to build rather than stirring up all sorts of debates on issues that are now in the hands of the courts.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.