Statement by President of the Government prior to European Council meeting

European Council, Brussels (Belgium)

President of the Government.- Good afternoon.

As you are all aware, a meeting of the European Council will be held today, which is the reason for my presence here as President of the Government of Spain. The meeting of the European People's Party is going to be held now. As tends to be usual prior to the Council meetings, the political groups also hold a meeting to exchange impressions on the content of the Council meeting.

In principle, the issues to be tackled today include the election of the next President of the European Council to replace Mr Van Rompuy, together with the appointment of the High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security. What is important, in my opinion, is to resolve this today, because then Mr Juncker can propose the appointments of the new commissioners for the next five years to the European Parliament; hence it is important to resolve this today.

Spain's approach will be to reach maximum consensus and, thus, we will be constructive, although we would like one of these two posts to be filled by a woman and that geographic and political criteria were also taken into consideration; in other words, Southern Europe, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe and that also, obviously, political criteria because the aim is to reach the maximum understanding and agreement possible to resolve the problems facing the people of Europe as a whole at this time.

The second important issue is the situation in Ukraine. As you are aware, the President of Ukraine has been invited to attend this meeting of the European Council. Spain's position is the same as we have held over the course of these last few months: it is fundamental that the territorial integrity, the Constitution, the law and the national sovereignty of Ukraine be respected.

At the same time, an effort must be made to ensure political dialogue as swiftly as possible, and that the situation we are seeing is brought to an end, since it has resulted in a significant loss of human life. Hence, today that is the basic priority for the European Union and for the whole world. We are talking about the lives of many people and of a situation that should have never taken place.

As regards this matter, I would like to make a remark about an issue that is important for many people in Spain as a result of the Russian decision to ban the import of fruit and vegetables. Obviously, there are many people who are affected throughout the European Union, but also in Spain. We believe that the European Commission has acted correctly in these initial stages; I believe that the Government of Spain has also been very attentive to what has happened and we will express our concerns and the need, should this be necessary, for the Commission to continue taking action, as it has to date so that all the fruit and vegetable producers, of which there are many in our country, as in other European countries, are not prejudiced.

Carrying on from that, the issue of Libya will also be discussed at this meeting. As you are aware, a meeting will be held on 17 September of the Foreign Affairs Ministers of seven European countries - Spain, the host nation, France, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta and Greece - together with the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the African Mediterranean and other bordering countries. The situation in Libya, as you are aware, is very difficult and very complex. There are some very significant pockets of instability at this time and I hope that they provide clear support for the National Congress elected by the people of Libya and work towards the political stability of the country.

In principle, those are the issues to be tackled. We will probably also discuss Iraq and, upon a request from Spain, the situation that has taken place as a result of the Ebola outbreak in certain countries on the African continent. We are going to call for greater coordination between all the countries of the European Union, since here we have free movement of people, and at the same time greater funding to help alleviate the situation in these African countries which is certainly very dramatic, as you all know.

Q.- Will you support the Polish Prime Minister to become President of the European Council?

President of the Government.- I am not going to say at this time, before going in to the meeting of the People's Party and before going in to the European Council, who I am going to support. What I will say is that I have a very good relationship with the Polish Prime Minister and I have been in his home town of Gdansk on two occasions; the last time only very recently. Aside from that, what we will have to do is seek consensus among all of us regardless, I repeat, of how wonderful the relationship between Spain and Poland is and the fact that the Polish Prime Minister has twice visited Spain recently, and that I have also visited Poland, but at this time I must be prudent, as I tend to be.

Q.- President of the Government, will the appointment of Minister De Guindos as President of the Eurogroup be delayed?

President of the Government.- That is not on today's agenda, firstly, because this does not fall within the Council's powers, in other words, it is the Eurogroup itself that decides on this; and secondly, because the mandate of the current president is not over. At any event, De Guindos has wide ranging support but, I repeat, that is not something that will be decided today.

Q.- Will he have to wait until June then, I mean June of next year?

President of the Government.- We will wait until the right time.

Q.- President of the Government, will the appointment of De Guindos mean that Arias Cañete will be left without a commissioner's portfolio?

President of the Government.- They are entirely unrelated issues because the appointment of the President of the Eurogroup is decided upon by the Eurogroup while the appointment of the commissioners is decided on by Mr Juncker.

Thank you very much.