​Statements by President of the Government prior to tribute to Gerardo Fernández Albor

Santiago de Compostela

President of the Government.- First of all, I must say that I am very pleased and very proud to attend this tribute to Gerardo Fernández Albor which is undoubtedly an extremely worthy tribute, because his career over the last 100 years has been truly impressive. He was even an aircraft pilot, a wonderful doctor, he founded the La Rosaleda Polyclinic, was President of the Regional Government of Galicia and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). He has reached the age of 100, but what is important is not the number of years he has lived but the content and intensity with which he has lived them.

I have been lucky and fortunate enough… One of the most important responsibilities I have had in life was to be the Vice-President of the Regional Government of Galicia when he was president. I am very pleased and honoured to be here; moreover, I will award the Gold Medal for Merit at Work granted to him a few months ago by the Council of Ministers.

Q.- President of the Government, I wanted to ask you about the event that has taken place this morning in Barcelona by those mayors who are in favour of the referendum together with the President of the Regional Government of Catalonia and the Mayor of Barcelona. In fact, [Carles] Puigdemont responded to what you said yesterday stating that you shouldn't underestimate the strength of the people of Catalonia.

President of the Government.- I am not going to get into an argument with Mr Puigdemont or with anyone else. What I do want to say is that now is an important time for some people to reflect and return to reason, common sense and legality. What happened in the Regional Parliament of Catalonia on 6 and 7 September was extremely serious because in just a few hours the Spanish Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia were wiped out, and, moreover, a new form of legality was established, something for which the regional parliament is clearly not empowered. And most serious of all was that this was done by running roughshod over the rights of the members and regional MPs of several political parties who were clearly not in agreement with this.

This was extremely serious and hence I would call for a return to rationality and legality. And I say this to him with absolute clarity: no government, neither the current government nor any Government of Spain, nor anyone else, in any manner whatsoever, can accept what is happening in Catalonia. Rest assured that neither the rule of law, nor the law itself, nor democracy will accept this in anyway whatsoever.

As regards the issue of the mayors, they have been asked for one thing alone, which is to uphold the law, which is something very reasonable and that, hence, they do not collaborate in holding an illegal referendum. I have seen that Ms Colau was present at that meeting. Ms Colau has said that she will not assign any premises for the referendum to be held. That is why I have nothing to say to Ms Colau. While she does not assign any premises, we have nothing against here although perhaps what she should say to the mayors is that they should do the same as her because, I repeat, we are all under a duty to uphold the law: mayors, the Regional Government of Catalonia, me of course..., all of us.

Hence, we must clearly turn this situation around as soon as possible. I would like to say one thing: those citizens of Catalonia who do not agree with what is happening should remain calm because the State is there to guarantee their rights and will do so. Hence, they should remain calm, this is a situation that is unpleasant, but they can be totally and utterly sure that things will soon return to their rightful course, which I would like to see happen on a voluntary basis by those who have organised the spectacle we are witnessing.

Q.- President of the Government, what did you mean when you mentioned even doing things that you did not want to depending on what happens in Catalonia? Have you thought about invoking Article 155 or even other extraordinary measures?

President of the Government.- Let's not get involved with what may or may not happen in the future. What I do want to do is reiterate what I have said on certain other occasions: the referendum will not be held because that would mean liquidating the majority will of the Spanish people, it would mean liquidating the rights of the vast majority of the Spanish people and, in reality, with the way things are being proposed, this would mean harming the rights of our citizens. I repeat, what we saw the other day in the Regional Parliament of Catalonia is something that will hopefully never be seen again in any regional parliament in Spain.

Thank you very much.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat of Communication)

Non official translation