"Now is the time to seek what unites us and trust in the mechanisms of the rule of law", says Mariano Rajoy

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

During his appearance before the media, the President of the Government remarked that "We all defend Spain's unity, national sovereignty, the equality of all Spaniards in their rights and liberties, and compliance with the laws that guarantee these rights and this equality".

Mariano Rajoy conveyed to the different political leaders with whom he spoke that "in a democracy, compliance with the law is not open to discussion". "We can change laws, but, as democrats, what we cannot do is break them", he said.

In his opinion, what some political groups are proposing in Catalonia is to "break democratic laws, break those laws on which their own legitimacy is based, the legitimacy of all their regional institutions, and break the rights of all Spaniards, including the majority of the Catalan people that do not seek independence".

The President of the Government added that he assumes responsibility for "heading up the State's response to the challenge made", although he admits that "we are facing a challenge that compromises all Spanish democrats because we are facing a deliberate attempt to do away with our equality before the law and with our rights".

Mariano Rajoy thanked the various political groups for being willing to attend to the government's invitation to maintain the channels of dialogue in view of what he considers to be "the worst attack suffered by our constitutional legal system in recent years". "I will do absolutely everything possible, and even the impossible, to maintain and strengthen this understanding", he underlined.

For the President of the Government, the most important thing is that "the Spanish people know that the vast majority of the political parties they have voted for or may vote for in the future will defend these great principles that are those that inspired the Spanish Constitution".

He also sent out a message of calm to the Spanish people, reminding them that "the State, with all its resources, which are many, with its legal services and with its institutions, has an ample range of mechanisms to successfully tackle this situation".

Agreement on the basics

Pool Moncloa/Diego CrespoThe President of the Government underlined that "in agreement on the basics, we now need to agree on the rest of the issues". In his opinion, we must all be aware that the government will act in accordance with the State services and take on the commitment to speak with the political forces regarding the decisions taken henceforth.

In this regard, he asked for the spokespersons to trust in the State services and to "avoid opening up sterile debates on this issue".

Mariano Rajoy added that the government will not limit itself to reporting, but rather will "listen as well because the goal is to preserve Spain's unity and the equality of the Spanish people". Hence, his "total and absolute" disposition to reach the maximum consensus possible, he said.

In his opinion, "now is the time to look at what unites us, above all when what unites us is what protects our diversity and our rights. Now is also the time to trust in the mechanisms of the rule of law".

The President of the Government announced that he will talk in the coming week with those other political forces that wish to do so. As regards the possibility of talking with Convergència, he pointed out that the only sense in talking now with that party "would be to immediately ask them to withdraw the proposed resolution they have presented to the Regional Parliament of Catalonia", because "this is a challenge to our law, to the will of the majority, and to the Constitution of a democratic country such as Spain, which is one of the great nations in the European Union".