Statements by President of the Government

Ribadumia, Pontevedra

Q.- Good day, President of the Government.

President of the Government.- I arrived here yesterday and I will try to take a holiday until about the 20th, although on the 7th I will visit H.M. the King in Palma de Mallorca, to hold the traditional summer meeting. I will then visit three or four places here in Galicia next week, probably one in each province, and I will try to relax the rest of the time.

Q.- Do you believe that you will end your holiday on the 20th, or might Catalonia interrupt your holiday?

President of the Government.- I hope not to have to curtail my holiday and I hope that people behave with common sense but, at any event, when you are the President of the Government, you must keep an eye all day every day on events as they unfold, above all if they are important.

Yesterday we received some good news: the Constitutional Court said that there was no way that in 24 hours, which is what the Regional Parliament of Catalonia wanted, a law calling a referendum could be approved. That is simply ridiculous. This has been declared unconstitutional and that is good news. Hence, we will continue working, defending democracy, the law and the rules we have enacted between us all and which are incumbent on us all: on governors, on those who don't govern and on all our citizens.

Q.- What will happen if on the 16th Regional Parliament of Catalonia approves this law under which they are trying to push through on the referendum?

President of the Government.- In fact, they can't. That would mean committing yet another illegal act because what was stated yesterday, and rightly so, is that a law calling a referendum to divide Spain cannot be approved in a day. That is common sense, pure and simple.

Hence, this cannot be done because that is what the Constitutional Court has ruled. If they do this in violation of the law, we would be facing a different scenario; and we will continue doing exactly what we have done to date based on the fact that a referendum will not be held in the end.

Spain is an advanced democracy, we are a country of civilised people. We are governed by the rule of law and national legislation, and a governor cannot flaunt the fact that he is going to break the law. That would be something truly remarkable. The law and democracy cannot be separated, and they will not be separated, and hence, I repeat, calmly and with all moderation, that a referendum will not be held on 1 October.

Q.- Will an extraordinary Council of Ministers be held?

President of the Government.- It's not impossible. That hasn't been decided yet. It depends on what the Regional Parliament does and the decisions that are taken but, in principle, I wouldn't rule it out. The first meeting is scheduled for the 25th, but it is possible that there may be one before that. No decision has been taken yet, because more information is required before we decide on that.

Q.- What do you feel about the CUP's [Popular Unity Candidacy] support for those groups that are supporting the boycott on tourist buses in Catalonia?

President of the Government.- The CUP, as everyone knows, is an organisation of radical extremists, people from the far left, with an election manifesto last seen centuries ago, which is against everything and against everyone. And the worst thing is not the existence of the CUP, because there are often groups of extremists in any society, the worst thing is that the CUP has conditioned the appointment of the President of the Regional Government of Catalonia, because Artur Mas won the elections, was unable to defend his position and resigned because the CUP demanded this, and it is now conditioning the entire process. Without the CUP, all these things that are being done could not go ahead because there would not be enough votes.

So, clearly, whenever anyone gets into bed with people like this, you end up having problems and the CUP, quite simply, is a party of extremists, who act absolutely against any form of common sense, European principles, democracy and liberty.

Q.- What do you feel about the attacks on the tourism sector in Catalonia, President of the Government, aside from the CUP?

President of the Government.- I feel that, without going into other considerations, this shows unfathomable foolishness, because tourism accounts for over 10% of GDP in Spain and provides work for over two million people. Catalonia is the autonomous region of Spain most visited by tourists, with approximately 18% of the total. This is proving to be a wonderful year, both in the number of tourists and in the amount they spend, both in terms of domestic tourism and inbound tourism. This means wealth for everyone, it means work and the fact that you have some people acting against something that creates jobs and wealth demonstrates a certain degree of small-mindedness, a lack of vision and of any thought process whatsoever. Quite frankly, I can't think of another expression to use.

Q.- President of the Government, on the matter of Venezuela, yesterday [José María] Aznar said that Spain should head up the European position in relation to this crisis. Are you of the same opinion?

President of the Government.- I have just spoken with the Minister for Foreign Affairs because, logically, this is an issue that concerns all democrats, and it particularly concerns us as Spaniards because of everything that Venezuela means to us in terms of our historical and culture ties, as well as our shared language and the fact that there are 200,000 Galicians living there; well, Spaniards; principally from Galicia and the Canary Islands, as you know, don't you?

I have just spoken with the Minister for Foreign Affairs. On Sunday, I gave instructions to issue a statement saying that Spain was not going to recognise, in any way whatsoever, the Constituent Assembly because it is illegal, anti-democratic and amateurish.

We are now holding talks on two fronts: one, the first, with Peru, because the Peruvian Minister for Foreign Affairs will call a meeting to be attended by all the foreign affairs ministers of Latin America next week, to see what measures can be taken against the Government of Venezuela; and Minister Dastis is also talking with [Federica] Mogherini, who heads up the foreign affairs of the European Union, and today a meeting will be held at 10 0'clock to that effect.

The first proposal that Spain is going to make is to ban travel authorisations and visas to Spain for those people involved in the Venezuelan regime. Aside from that, we will continue to take measures and I obviously want to take this opportunity to send out a message to all Venezuelans that the world stands alongside them, that the European Union, and Spain, of course, stands alongside them and that we are not going to abandon them under any circumstance. The 21st Century is clearly not a time for people to return to the tyrannies of the past.

Q.- As regards the unemployment figures published today, this is good news, isn't it? Are you pleased with the situation?

President of the Government.- I am very pleased because, above all, just look, I remember the summer of the year 2012, which was my first summer in government, and there was no good news of any kind coming through. This is another excellent figure, on top of all those other good figures we have seen over the course of this year and I believe that the goal we set in the last campaign, which is what should count for us, which is to see 20 million Spaniards in work by the year 2020, can be met by the year 2019 if we continue as we are, although we must continue to be prudent.

There are two or three other figures which, qualitatively speaking, are important, apart from the number of people that have found work: permanent employment is significantly on the rise, many people who have been out of work for a long time are finding employment and the number of young people who have found a job is four times higher than for other groups.

Hence, we are on the right path now. If we don't make mistakes, I believe that we can continue creating jobs at a good rate from now to the year 2020. That is the goal, that is our top priority, as it has been since we came to power in a situation, as you will remember, of virtual bankruptcy, and hence we are now pleased, but this is just a stimulus to continue working because here, if you stop, the tide will sweep you away and we are not prepared to let that happen.

Thank you very much.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat of Communication)