"Regional government deficit in Catalonia at this time is very worrying", says Mariano Rajoy

Lower House, Madrid

According to his explanation, "since 2010, when Mr Mas won his first elections, we have been holding elections and referendums non-stop". They are now announcing a new call for elections, he added, and this is "very worrying because the main priority at this time is to tackle the economic crisis".

The President of the Government also reiterated his commitment to defending the Constitution, adding that despite everything, "the regional government's suppliers will continue to be paid, public services will continue to be provided and they will continue to be financed and the government will continue to settle the debt maturities of the Regional Government of Catalonia".

Spain is growing and creating jobs

In response to the Spokesperson for the UPyD [Union, Progress & Democracy] political party, Rosa Díez, the President of the Government argued that he acted with "proportionality" in relation to the referendum called on 9 November. He added that "this referendum was not held, among other things, because I lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Court, which unanimously ruled that it could not be held".

In relation to the economic situation and in response to the MP for the Socialist Party, Pedro Sánchez, Mariano Rajoy pointed out that "we are on the right track, although it is clear that there are still many things to do".

He commented that "we have turned this situation around and have now enjoyed five consecutive quarters of growth and are the fastest growing country in Europe. We are creating jobs - 550,000 in the last six months - and we have reduced the public deficit year after year". The situation in Spain, he explained, is very different to three years ago, when the country was in recession and 3.4 million jobs had been shed.

On another note, the President of the Government criticised the decision taken by the Socialist leader to propose halting the reform of Article 135 of the Spanish Constitution, a reform which was agreed back in 2011 and which was fundamental "for the economic recovery of our country".

The productive economy; a government priority

In response to a question from the MP for the CiU [Convergence & Union] political party, Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, Mariano Rajoy also maintained that the productive economy is one of the government's priorities. "In fact, the main objective of all the structural reforms we have implemented over the course of this legislature is for our companies to become more competitive so that they can thus create jobs".

Pool MoncloaAccording to his explanation, the labour and energy reforms, the bank re-structuring, the new lines of ICO credit, the reduction in the Spanish risk premium and the tax reform "are sufficient evidence that, for us, the productive economy and productive companies are beyond doubt a key priority in the actions taken by my government".

Mariano Rajoy also offered various important statistics, "More than 93,000 new companies have been set up, 4.4% higher than the previous year, and the number of companies going into dissolution has fallen by 9.4%. In the year to date, progress in the net creation of companies has increased by almost 5%".