Press conference by President of the Government

Madrid

President of the Government.- Ladies and gentlemen, a very good afternoon to you and thank you very much for attending this press conference.

As you know, in the same way as the rest of the parliamentary leaders, I have been called by H.M. the King to this new round of contacts to nominate, as the case may be, a candidate for the Presidency of the Government. I have informed the King, in the same way as on the two previous occasions on which I was summoned, that I do not have sufficient support to stand as a candidate for the Presidency of the Government. And that is all I have to tell you about the meeting.

Aside from this, I would like to make a few comments. As you are aware, following the election results on 20 December last year, at which the People's Party won the elections with 123 seats, followed by the PSOE [Spanish Socialist Workers' Party], and then by different political groups which received various levels of support from the Spanish people, the most important aspect to come out of these election results was that it was clear that in order to form a government it was necessary to forge a pact. That was the mandate to come out of the ballot box: you must reach an understanding and forge a pact.

The People's Party, the day after the elections, on 21 December, made a proposal to form a coalition, which is easy to understand: we believed - and we still believe today - that the best outcome, in light of the election results, was an agreement between the People's Party and the Socialist Party, and we said - I said this the very same day - that we didn't mind, although their seats were not strictly necessary, Ciudadanos joining as well. This would have thus been formed with a very broad base, and hence, with majority support.

In all sincerity, four months on and I still believe that this is the most reasonable and best proposal for the Spanish people, the best thing for Spain and, in all honesty, I still maintain this today. The idea was to form a government such as has been formed in many European countries - Germany, by way of example, the European country with the highest Gross Domestic Product - when election results of this nature take place. In Germany, Ms Merkel won the elections, but it was not enough so a coalition was formed, a joint government, with the Social Democrats. In other countries, the Social Democrats have won, but they didn't have a majority and they have formed a government with the People's Party, headed up by the Social Democrats. There are various European governments of this nature and the European institutions are comprised by adopting this philosophy, with the People's Party heading up the Commission and the Socialist Party heading up the Parliament.

I believe that this government would be supported by parties which think alike on the fundamental issues, however great their differences on other issues, but which are like-minded on the unity of Spain, the equality of the Spanish people, national sovereignty and, in general, on foreign and defence policy. There are a great many things that unite us, above all on the important issues. Hence, this would be a coherent government.

I would like to say that a government with so much support, which would exceed 200 seats, would serve, and this is also very important, to undertake reforms in Spain for a long time to come, because these would be reforms with a broad support base, and they would be lasting reforms. I believe that this government would send out a positive message of stability, of certainty and security and, taking into account that the main national goal for the years to come must be bedding down the economic recovery, and for the economic recovery to reach everyone and for jobs to continue to be created, because there are still many people out of work, I believe that this message would be good for the social and economic stakeholders, for foreign investors and for the markets. This would be a government that offers confidence and people would say: in a difficult situation, with a highly plural parliamentary composition, in Spain they have been capable of reaching an agreement whilst respecting the majority will of the Spanish people.

Very well, that was my position and a few days after December 21, a few days after the day following the elections, I held a meeting with Mr Sánchez, the General Secretary of the Socialist Party, and following that I also held a meeting with Mr Rivera, I spoke with Mr Iglesias, with Mr Garzón and with other political forces, and I explained to them the position of the People's Party.

On 11 February, I sent a document to the General Secretary of the Socialist Party and also to the leader of Ciudadanos explaining to them what were, in my opinion, the five main goals for the next four years: first, the priority and key issue, economic growth and job creation; second, to improve and, obviously, to maintain the policies that make up what we know as the Welfare State - the public pension system, healthcare, education, social services, care…, following a very difficult crisis during which time the State lost a great deal of revenue - the third main goal was to defend the equality of the Spanish people, national sovereignty and the unity of our nation; the fourth was to defend the rights and liberties of our citizens - we are going through a time, as you all know, that is complex and difficult on the issue of terrorism and it is very important, both here and abroad, to defend the rights and liberties of people - and finally, another goal would be to tackle certain institutional reforms which some people have proposed and on which, with a broad-based support, we could undoubtedly act with a clearer picture and with greater support.

We proposed, as you are also aware because this was debated during the whole of this month of April and you habitually follow developments at the People's Party, five major national agreements. One of these is key in my opinion, on education, because that is, without a doubt, the very basis for employment, as well as being the basis for enshrining the key principle that so many people are fighting for - equal opportunities.

This was the proposal we made. This was not possible, quite simply, and I must respect this but I must also state this, because the Socialist Party did not want to. It's not that it didn't want to reach an agreement, it didn't even want to discuss this, and hence dialogue was not possible. I repeat, I respect the way everyone acts, but I believe that this must be rectified in the future. We are in the 21st Century and it is not normal that the two main political forces that have traditionally existed and which continue to have very important institutional responsibilities in our country, and which have the support of a great many Spanish people, do not sit down to talk, quite simply because one of them does not want to. I repeat, this must be rectified in the future, because this is the very ABC of democracy.

Aside from that, what the other political groups did was defend their positions. I respect the positions of all of them. Ciudadanos decided to vote for Mr Sánchez as President of the Government and for his electoral programme. I must say that while I respect this I did not do this. Podemos wanted to form, and said this, a left-wing government. Fortunately for Spain, this government has not prospered; I repeat, fortunately for Spain and for the Spanish people. And the Socialist Party wanted to make a pact with both of them at the same time, it even managed to hold an 18-group meeting between Podemos, Ciudadanos and the Socialist Party, but as was foreseeable, this did not lead anywhere and the result of this can be seen.

I want to say that during this process, which has lasted four months, I have tried to defend the interests of the Spanish people who legitimately gave their vote and their support and placed their trust in the People's Party. But I believe that I have also defended the interests of the majority of the Spanish people who did not vote for the People's Party but who want Spain to be governed by the principles of moderation, stability and calm. And that is what we are going to continue doing in the future.

Earlier I explained to you the goals for the next four years in my opinion. We have presented a raft of measures and we will reiterate them if, in the end, it is confirmed that new elections will be held in the coming days. I would like to point out that at this time the most important thing, that which should most concern us all is undoubtedly to maintain the rate of job creation in our country. This is fundamental. I believe that last year, 2015, was a good year and that in 2014 things had started to improve, but this came on the back of six or seven years in which jobs were shed in our country. Hence, we must continue making an effort and the last thing we can do is overturn the economic policy that has been set in motion and return to the ways of the past.

Jobs are, moreover, the guarantee of social policies, of pensions and of the key major public services. Hence, I repeat, if we want to maintain these policies, if we want to improve them, if we want to improve care for those people who most need it and if we want the economic recovery to reach all the Spanish people, then I believe, in all honesty, that we must maintain an economic policy such as has been implemented in these recent years.

We will also give great importance to education and great importance to vocational training. It has been published in the media and I have heard this in certain debates in the European Parliament, as we can see, not only in Spain but in general in all the countries in the European Union, that there are thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of jobs that remain vacant because there are not enough people with the right qualifications to take on these jobs. This is one of the main European challenges, and hence this is one of the main efforts - improving education - that we must apply ourselves to over the next four years.

Ladies and gentlemen, I will draw to a close now. I want to express my gratitude to the members of the People's Party and to the People's Party's voters for the support they have given me over the last four months. These four months have been difficult for everyone, including for my party. I believe that this party has not been overcome by anxiety, which always causes problems, nor have we jumped on the bandwagon of grabbing headlines that we have seen over recent months.

I would like to say that the members of my party have behaved how they should, as serious people, and I am proud of them and wish to thank them. And you, as well.

Q.- President of the Government, you have called on the Socialist Party to rectify its attitude, but Mr Sánchez has reiterated that, if new elections are held, he still doesn't want to have anything to do with you. Do you feel that the only way to resume negotiations with the Socialist Party would be for Mr Pedro Sánchez not to stand as the candidate for the Socialist Party, but rather another candidate?

On another note, and in line with the last thing you have just said in relation to your party members, there has been a lot of talk over these last four months about the possibility of you standing to one side. I would like to know if this is true, and whether you have thought about this at some point in time and whether you believe that you truly have the support of the People's Party to stand as its candidate.

President of the Government.- The answer as to whether I have considered this possibility is "no" and the answer as to whether I believe I have my party's support is "yes". And if the solution is for the PSOE to change its leader, then I am not going to meddle in the affairs regarding the leader of the Socialist Party. I believe that the best response is for us to be capable of earning the trust of an increasing number of Spaniards and I will work hard to achieve that, because I believe in what I do.

Q.- I would like to know if you have a sense of failure after these four months in which it has been impossible, despite being the most voted-for party, to become President of the Government.

And what makes you feel, let's say, optimistic that you can achieve, after the elections on 26 June, this moderate government?

President of the Government.- Failure no. It is clear that holding elections again is not the best thing. Nobody wanted them, because the normal procedures state that elections are held, then the political parties, if no-one has a majority, should reach an agreement and choose a President of the Government. In fact, this is the first time that general elections have ever been repeated.

Now, having said that, things are this way and, although I would have liked us to have been able to reach this moderate agreement that I proposed, it would have been much worse if any of the other governments that were proposed over the course of these months had finally been formed. That would have been much worse for Spain and for the Spanish people. Hence, once again, the Spanish people will have the final word.

As to whether I am optimistic or not, I am convinced that at a time of such great difficulty - this has been a very complicated and very tough legislature, everyone knows this - we have worked well. But I am convinced that there is still a great deal to do, the most important being, as I said earlier, to continue to create jobs and ensure that the recovery filters down to everyone. And at this time I feel as if I am half-way through my work and I believe that the People's Party has the will and the strength, it has the right programme, it knows what its targets are and it knows what measures need to be taken to put this into practice.

We have heard everything spoken about here and we have heard some truly noteworthy things said that I am not going to repeat, I would rather forget them, over the course of these four months, but the People's Party has made an effort to try to convey to the Spanish people what the measures and priorities are and what it is that we should do over the next four years.

So, from this point of view - I don't know whether I tend to be realistic, let's say I am an optimistic realist - in addition I am going to do everything I can because, I repeat, I believe in it.

Q.- President of the Government, I wanted to ask you if you would still maintain that you have done everything right over these last four months, including not standing for the vote of confidence, or whether you have any doubts in this regard, given where we are at now.

Secondly, Mr Sánchez said that the King has asked him not to undertake a campaign of reproaches. I wanted to ask whether the King has asked the same of you.

President of the Government.- I said everything I have to say about my conversation with the King in the first part of this speech.

Mistakes? I have probably made more mistakes than anyone but my fear is that the others believe that they haven't made any mistakes.

Q.- President of the Government, Mr Sánchez has reproached you for two things this afternoon: firstly, for ganging up with Podemos to prevent a Socialist government being formed; and secondly, for having rejected the King's proposals to stand for a vote of confidence through your lies. Against this backdrop, do you believe that after the elections it will still be possible to maintain the idea of a great coalition between the PP and the PSOE?

I would also like to ask you whether you will add anything new to these five lines of action during the new campaign that will be fought now, such as the possibility of reforming the Constitution.

President of the Government.- As regards your two assertions, whether an agreement is possible or not, I must, at least, acknowledge that you have a certain sense of humour, because, trying to accuse me of reaching an agreement with Podemos… In short, I was not present at the 18-strong meeting and hence, if you do have a sense of humour, you will be able to derive something positive from that because, if not, then you tell me. Put yourself in my shoes.

As regards your second question, whether I will propose reform in my new election manifesto, I am not greatly in favour of constantly pulling rabbits out of the top hat because it does not lead anywhere and, moreover, that's not very serious. I believe that the People's Party's manifesto has been worked hard on and is based on the work of a great many people over the course of four years. It is clear that you have to listen to everyone and I have always done that, and, when someone has an idea that I believe is good for Spain, you can be totally and utterly sure that I will try to push it through without, furthermore, trying to take credit for the idea.

Q.- President of the Government, we have seen how Mr Sánchez is very determined not to speak to you, not to reach an agreement, not now and not after the upcoming elections. I must insist on this point, why do you believe that the Socialist Party can change their mind? Don't you believe that it would be easier, or wouldn't you prefer, to make a pact with Ciudadanos after the elections in light of the results that might come out of them?

On another note, if you will allow me, are you prepared to go head-to-head again with Pedro Sánchez as you did during the last election campaign?

President of the Government.- On this last issue, the campaign manager will decide what happens at the right time.

On the first issue, we will talk about any possible pacts after the elections. For the time being, we need to reach an agreement with our citizens and I will put my efforts into that.

Ladies and gentlemen, a very good afternoon to you. Thank you.