Statements by President of the Government in Lower House of Parliament after second investiture session

Lower House of Parliament, Madrid

President of the Government.- As you will have seen, the investiture session has just come to an end. Our four years of government have been very tough years; four years with many complications and many difficulties. We are aware that many Spaniards have had a hard time, but I believe that through perseverance, combined with courage and determination, many things have now been overcome. I also believe that there is still a lot of work to do. With this new opportunity, we are going to continue as before, while trying to reach agreements and understandings with everybody.

I am pleased because, despite having less support than back in 2011, a majority of the Spanish people have continued to place their trust in the People's Party which has had to govern during such a tough period. My commitment now is, quite simply, to defend the general interest in the awareness of the hardships that many people are still suffering. I believe that we are a great nation and a great country, and I hope that this does not simply stop at just being an investiture session, but that we are able, as happens in other countries in Europe that lack a majority, to govern and work together.

I repeat, I am pleased with my group, which has worked very well, and also with my team. I would thank all those Spanish people who have placed their trust in us and I would say that I am now going to govern, as is clear, to the benefit of all the people of Spain, whether they have voted for the People's Party or not.

Q.- President of the Government, when will you announce your new government?

President of the Government.- I will announce my new government on Thursday afternoon and they will be sworn in on Friday. I have already talked about this with His Majesty the King.

Q.- (Inaudible)

President of the Government.- I think that is possible, don't you? I am obviously well aware, and I have said this on many occasions, that we need to work, and I will do that; we will all need to try and convince people and act as responsibly as possible, and not just the government. In other words, we must all make an effort. There are some things that are commitments for Spain as a country which we cannot renounce, whether the People's Party or someone else is in government. I have given you some examples of that today: I am not going to negotiate the unity of Spain or national sovereignty, nor can I, nor do I want to, nor am I obliged to; and the commitments with Europe, which are also important, are not commitments made by one party or government; these are commitments made by the whole nation, and hence, they must be complied with.

Aside from that, I believe that, if we all make an effort, we can reach understandings and we must try, I at least will do this, to turn this difficult and complex situation into an opportunity. Let's see if we can manage to get things right and calm the mood down a little.

Q.- Have you made a conciliatory speech after seeing the reaction from the groups, even the Basque Nationalist Party (Spanish acronym: PNV), which has said how alarmed it was after hearing you?

President of the Government.- No, I believe I gave the speech I had to give, which was the continuation of what I had started. It was a speech that only laid out two things: the first is that we need to make an effort to agree, to make pacts, to reach understandings and to seek common goals. That was my offer. What I have done here is to offer State pacts; that has been the main cornerstone of my speech. And what I asked for, in second place, was not carte blanche or a blank cheque, it is that we all need to act responsibly and the main national issues that unite the country and our commitments with Europe and with the whole world must be to maintain them because, I repeat, this is not something that affects one government, this is something that affects Spain. This is not an issue that affects any one party, but Spain as a whole and I believe that everyone must understand things in that way.