​Mariano Rajoy reiterates his offer of dialogue to the parties to definitively approve the Budget

Lower House of Parliament, Madrid

Upon leaving the plenary session in the Lower House, the President of the Government expressed his satisfaction at the public accounts overcoming the first hurdle in their passage through Parliament, since this "gives stability and conveys confidence".

The President of the Government added that "If we do things well, economic growth and job creation will continue in Spain", which is the aim of this Budget. In this regard, in the same way as he did at the inauguration of the conference of the Association for Progress in Management, he described the public employment figures published on Thursday as "wonderful". "They are the best results on record. That encourages us to continue working hard".

Mariano Rajoy reiterated his offer for dialogue with all the political groups. "We are talking with everyone, but there are some parties that haven't even wanted to sit down with us, they haven't wanted to participate, which is their right".

However, the President of the Government insisted that he will try and push through the public accounts with the largest number of votes. Things "are going well and must get even better, the key is to approve the Budget with the broadest possible consensus", he added.

The parliamentary passage of the Budget will now continue after the seven amendments to the whole Budget to return it to the government were rejected, following three successive ties. The following steps are the presentation, study and vote on the amendments to the provisions.