Statements by President of the Government before meetings of European People's Party and European Council

Brussels

President of the Government.- As you know, I am about to attend the meeting of the European People's Party, which traditionally takes place ahead of the European Council meetings, and then this afternoon and tomorrow we will hold the European Council which on this occasion will address many issues.

I would like to say, in the first place, that this Council is being held at a time when Europe is in a good situation from a political perspective, when comparing this with what we thought, or what some people thought, could happen just a few short months ago. I believe that the results of the recent elections held have been a triumph for pro-European, moderate parties in favour of sensible and reasonable policies and a defeat for populist and extremist parties. That is good news.

This meeting is also being held at a good moment in time from an economic point of view for the European Union, because all countries are going to enjoy growth during the next two or three years. Spain, and this is very pleasing for us, will grow at a rate that is practically double that of the Member States of the European Union as a whole. But, in the near future, the whole of the EU will enjoy a buoyant period.

Aside from that, the issues that we are going to deal with, which I wanted to comment on briefly, are as follows:
First, the issue of security and defence, and the fight against terrorism. This is one of the main priorities of the EU and this, as furthermore is only logical, sensible and reasonable, is one of the main demands of all our citizens. People want security and are right to demand it. Terrorism has been hitting some European countries very harshly recently, and hence, we must increase collaboration and cooperation between all the Member States of the European Union on this issue.

We are also going to talk about defence because, terrorism is not only fought here, but terrorism is also fought where the terrorists are. Hence, defence policy is now at an advanced stage. We want to see a structured European defence. This will take time, we must proceed gradually but, in the same way as we have done with the major progress made at an economic level, this must also be done to protect us all jointly in the area of defence.

The second main priority of this Council is the economy and a review of the situation. Spain's economy has greatly improved in recent times, as you know. We can now say that negative growth has been left behind definitively. It lasted for five years; this was a terrible crisis and there are still many after-effects, but we have been enjoying economic growth of above 3% for some time now and we are creating an average of half a million jobs a year. The goal, as you know, is to see 20 million Spaniards in work, which, if things don't change, we could achieve by the end of 2019 or in 2020.

There are some important economic issues here which I wish to highlight. Firstly, the commitment to trade and to free trade agreements. Trade is fundamental; trade means economic growth, job creation, progress and well-being. Significant progress has been made recently.

The European Union has approved here the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada which must now be ratified by all countries. I hope that Spain will do this, and I consider it to be bad news that the Socialist Party has said that it will not approve this free trade agreement with Canada, because this requires the backing of all the Member States; if not, we will have to seek sufficient support in Parliament. In my opinion, this is a mistake because, moreover, Canada is a country that has very similar standards in terms of respect for freedom and human rights, economic progress, social well-being and a Welfare State to those standards in Europe. If we cannot approve a free trade agreement with Canada, I just don't know what free trade agreement we could approve. But, in short, I hope that this can be resolved.

We are also going to talk, apart from free trade, about the Digital Agenda. We must continue making progress on the Digital Single Market; that is undoubtedly where progress and many new jobs that could help the people of Spain and also of Europe are to be found.

And we will also speak once again about the Single Energy Market, and I will put forward - at present this has been included in the proposed Conclusions - that we should continue developing this and, above all, push on with energy interconnections, a key issue for us and also for other countries, such as Portugal, as you know.

These are two very important issues; there are then other issues affecting foreign policy. I will perhaps make a mention here of climate change. After seeing the positions that have been adopted by some countries on this matter, we are going to ratify the Paris Agreement. Europe will meet its commitments; we believe that this is positive and necessary for humanity, and hence I hope that in the future we will also be capable of reaching an understanding between us all in order to do things logically and reasonably and, above all, to meet the commitments that we have all taken on.

I believe that this is the most important issue.

Q.- President of the Government, do you have a sufficient majority without the PSOE [Spanish Socialist Workers' Party] and without Podemos? How are you going to seek support to push CETA through the Spanish Parliament?

President of the Government.- Quite frankly, if Spain does not ratify the free trade agreement with Canada, this would make us a laughing stock, don't you think, because it requires a favourable vote from each country and this will be achieved everywhere else.

I will try, if the PSOE and Podemos do not vote in favour - Podemos has already said that it will not and the PSOE said it would but it now says that it won't - to reach agreements. We will speak with all the other parties; that is our obligation. More votes are needed in favour than against and I believe that this would not be good because, above all, from the point of view of the heart of the matter, there is no reason not to do this. Hence, we will look for the necessary votes.

Q.- How do you interpret this change? There are those in your party and in your government that say that this is due to a rapprochement with Podemos.

President of the Government.- I am not going to interpret this. I simply believe this is a mistake. I believe that the free trade agreement with Canada is something tremendously positive. We have supported this, the Socialist Party as well, all of the European Governments support this and Europe as a whole, and I believe that this doesn't make any sense, does it? Spain should not veto this and if the PSOE does not vote in favour of this in the end, we hope that it will abstain and if it doesn't, then we will look for votes from other parties, which are out there.

Q.- Is Spain's credibility at risk?

President of the Government.- It doesn't make any sense for me to criticise anyone because this won't get us anywhere in the end. What I have to do now is try and find a majority in Parliament and, if this majority cannot be obtained, we can at least try to urge the Socialist Party to abstain. Because this is not an issue for the government of the People's Party; this is an issue for Spain and for the European Union as a whole: governments, oppositions and all parties.

Q.- Are you concerned by this change of ideology with a view to future negotiations on other issues?

President of the Government.- My main concern and my obligation is to govern. It is true that there is now a certain situation, on this occasion one that is very different to others we have seen in Spain. We are the largest party, with 137 seats; 175 is a majority, we have managed to obtain a majority on some issues but not on others, and we have always been aware of this. But I hope that on the important matters everyone will act with common sense and this includes the Socialist Party because, moreover, I believe that nothing can be gained by acting otherwise. This is not good for Spain, nor do I believe it is good for the Socialist Party.

Thank you very much.