"Our economy is creating net employment for first time in seven years" says Mariano Rajoy

Santiago de Compostela

The President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, and the Chancellor of the German Federal Republic, Angela Merkel, emphasised the "wonderful" and "close" relations between the two countries and their "agreement" on the majority of the issues, at their joint press conference following the work meeting held on Monday morning.

At the start of his speech, Mariano Rajoy underlined that in Spain we are starting to see the results of the reforms undertaken through the hard work of the Spanish people. "We have managed to correct the significant imbalances that had been building up over the course of many years and, following a long recession, Spain is once again enjoying growth, albeit slight, but which now amounts to four consecutive quarters, and in the last quarter we even headed up growth in the Eurozone". This was confirmed by the Chancellor, who expressed her "satisfaction" at this achievement.

"Between us all, we have managed to once again place Spain on the path of sustainable, sustained growth and job creation, but we will not give in to self-complacency. We are aware that we must continue down this reformist path", remarked the President of the Spanish Government.

EU policy

The President of the Government reported that the upcoming European Council on 30 August, called to decide on the appointment of the President of the European Council and to propose the next High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, were among the issues tackled by the two leaders. According to Mariano Rajoy and Angela Merkel, these appointments are important to ensure that the European institutions "can get to work as soon as possible on implementing the priority strategies for the coming years".

Pool MoncloaThe two leaders also agreed on the need to continue working to achieve greater economic, monetary, banking, fiscal and political integration of the European Union and for the EU and its institutions to accompany these national efforts with measures and reforms that "drive growth and employment". In this regard, re-establishing credit for SMEs and job creation must be a "basic priority".

Immigration and international situation

Upon Spain's initiative, the European Council and the other institutions are implementing measures aimed at avoiding "this human drama" and at tackling immigration policy "from a global perspective". "Immigration must be an option rather than an obligation due to a lack of resources to lead a dignified life", stated Mariano Rajoy.

The situation in Ukraine, Iraq, Gaza and Libya, together with the upcoming NATO summit to be held on 4 and 5 September, were also the subject of discussion between Mariano Rajoy and Angela Merkel.

In relation to Ukraine, the priority, according to Mariano Rajoy, is to achieve a ceasefire that avoids increasing the number of victims, guarantees the security of the population and offers an opportunity for negotiations.

Regarding Iraq, he remarked that the international community must decisively tackle this serious crisis from a regional perspective with the support of neighbouring countries while preserving territorial unity and integrity. Mariano Rajoy expressed his confidence that the new Iraqi prime minister will form a government of unity, laying the foundations to redirect the situation.

Pool MoncloaThe two leaders expressed their regret at the renewed hostilities in Gaza and consider that an end needs to be brought to the violence so that the parties can return to the negotiating table.

As is the case with its EU partners and the neighbouring countries, Spain is following with particular concern the crisis in Libya, which represents a "permanent source of instability" for the country, the region and for the whole Mediterranean basin. "Weapons must give way to political dialogue", argued Mariano Rajoy.

Current affairs

In response to questions from the press regarding whether it will be necessary to move away from austerity policies as advocated by certain European countries, the President of the Government declared that he holds the same position as when he came to power in the sense that it is necessary to continue with fiscal consolidation policies, continue to make structural reforms at a national level to increase competitiveness and hence well-being and wealth, make progress in terms of economic union and work towards European integration.

Furthermore, he qualified as important the two decisions adopted by the European Central Bank, consisting of the deposits of financial institutions having a negative interest rate and in making loans available to these institutions at an interest rate of 0.25% for three years in order for them to provide credit to SMEs.

As regards the proposal on appointments, Mariano Rajoy stated that he has already sent a letter to the President of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, proposing Miguel Arias Cañete as a European Commissioner. He also commented that Luis de Guindos would make an excellent President of the Eurogroup, on which Angela Merkel expressed her agreement, adding that she would support the candidature of Luis de Guindos upon the finalisation of the mandate of the current President of the Eurogroup.

As regards the call for a referendum in Catalonia, the President of the Government reiterated that "an illegal referendum will not be held in our country". The law does not permit this, and moreover, "it is absurd" and is "hugely negative" for Catalonia and for the rest of Spain. "Where do these people wish to go outside of the European Central Bank, the European Union and the single currency? he asked.

As regards the Partido Popular's proposal that the most voted for mayor should govern, Mariano Rajoy recalled that this proposal, while not formalised, was also contained in the election manifesto of the PSOE on certain occasions, although they are now criticising it and asserted that this option "is much more respectful of the wishes of the citizens" than that deriving from pacts between parties.