Moncloa Palace, Madrid
The President of the Government mentioned the meeting he had held some hours previously at Moncloa Palace with the General Secretary of the PSOE [Spanish Socialist Workers' Party], Pedro Sánchez, to tackle the situation in Catalonia, a "key" issue on which the two main parties are in "absolute" agreement. He added that this is of great importance, because "the key is to be in agreement on our model of co-existence".
According to the President of the Government, what is happening in Catalonia "makes no sense". In this regard, he recalled that Spain is the oldest nation in Europe and that, at this time, the world is actually moving towards integration processes.
Prudence, firmness and proportionality
At any event, the President of the Government said that "the best way out for everyone would be the full rectification of what is taking place and which is shared by hardly anyone". President of the Government Rajoy recalled that Catalonia is plural and that "the majority of Catalan citizens wish to remain Catalan, Spanish and European, and not to be deprived of their status as Spaniards and Europeans".
Mariano Rajoy underlined that "whatever Spain is to be will be decided by all the people of Spain", since "that is our national sovereignty" and "there is not room for it to be broken". After stressing that "Spain will not be broken up", he said that he will act "proportionally" and will take decisions "as and when events take place". In his opinion, we must "act prudently, firmly and proportionally", since "the three elements are mutually compatible".
He remarked that those responsible for the current situation are those who seek "to do away with our rules on co-existence and the Spanish Constitution that they themselves supported"; a law which, by the way, brought tremendous progress to Spain and which "gave rise to the greatest level of self-governance in the history of Catalonia". In fact, "Spain is, at present, the most decentralised country in the world".
Patronage and Sponsorship Act
When asked about the next terms of office, the President of the Government recalled that his post still needs to be revalidated through the ballot box on 20 December. However, he said he was in favour of the current structure that manages everything related to sport in Spain and in not creating a new ministerial department. Moreover, he expressed his intention to approve a Patronage and Sponsorship Act to offer alternatives to more modest teams. In the end, he said, these are the teams, for example in basketball and handball, that "make up the numbers".
Pool Moncloa / Diego Crespo