Mariano Rajoy attends constitution of Lower House of Parliament for 12th Legislature

Lower House of Parliament, Madrid

The four Deputy Speakers of the Lower House of Parliament will be held by firstly, José Ignacio Prendes (Ciudadanos); secondly, by Micaela Navarro (PSOE); thirdly, by Rosa Romero (PP) and fourthly, Gloria Elizo (Podemos).

The four posts of Secretary of the Lower House will be held by firstly, Alicia Sánchez Camacho (PP); secondly, by Juan Luis Gordo (PSOE), thirdly, by Marcelo Expósito Prieto (Podemos), and fourthly, by Patricia Reyes (Ciudadanos).

As regards the Upper House of Parliament, in addition to Pío García-Escudero, of the PP, who has been re-elected as Speaker of the House, Pedro Sanz, also of PP, will hold the post of First Deputy Speaker and Joan Lerma, of the PSOE, as Second Deputy Speaker. The four posts of Secretary of the Upper House will be held by Luis Aznar (PP), Adela Pedrosa (PP), Juan Carlos Raffo (PSOE) and María Eugenia Iparragirre (Basque Nationalist Party).

Statement by acting President of the Government

Following the constitution of the Lower House of Parliament, the acting President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, expressed his satisfaction to the media at the commencement of the new legislature and the election of Ana Pastor as President of the Board. "The composition of the Board reflects the plurality of the house. This is a plural Board, presided over by the candidate of the most voted-for party which received the broadest support in the recent elections held on 26 June. I am absolutely convinced that she will be a wonderful president", he stated.

As regards the formation of the government, Mariano Rajoy reiterated that "Spain needs a government to be formed as soon as possible". In his opinion, it is necessary to have a stable government that can take decisions, tackle the challenges facing Spain and defend our general interests.

The acting President of the Government underlined that "it makes no sense" to prolong the current situation "indefinitely", nor to repeat the elections. "I would like this option to be clearly ruled out by all of the political groups".

Mariano Rajoy recalled that the government which is elected must approve the spending cap in August and the budget by 23 September because, if not, they will need to be extended which "would not help the normal functioning of institutions nor the taking of such decisions as are necessary and decisive for the people of Spain as a whole".

The President of the Government recalled that the challenge for the next four years remains bedding down the economic recovery, ensuring this reaches all our citizens and creating jobs in Spain. In this regard, he recalled that 450,000 more people have started contributing to the Social Security system in the first few months of this year and he predicted that if this trend continues then the goal of creating two million more jobs will be achieved.

Mariano Rajoy asserted that he is willing to govern and that he is aware of his responsibility to the Spanish people, and he also called for responsibility from the rest of the MPs, who must rise to the circumstances. "I believe that the adjournment sine die of the formation of a government, blocking it or causing new elections to be called would be extremely irresponsible and would be the worst thing that could happen to the people of Spain".

He also stated that it is his intention to continue with talks with the leaders of other political forces in the coming days. "I want to govern and would ask that I be allowed to govern because the PP has 52 more parliamentary seats than the second leading political force. If it is not desired that the PP governs, then we will need to reflect on how this situation can be resolved".