Mariano Rajoy says he will not tolerate "blackmail" from those who threaten independence for Catalonia

Upper House of Parliament, Madrid

At the government control session held in the Upper House of Parliament, Mariano Rajoy stressed that the Government of Spain will "preserve" democracy and the rule of law that exist in Spain, which demands respect for the rules and law from everyone. This was the reply given by the President of the Government of Spain to the Member of the Upper House for Esquerra Republicana [Republican Left], Mirella Cortès Gès, when she asked him about his willingness to reach an agreement with the Regional Parliament of Catalonia on holding a referendum in Catalonia.

The President of the Government said that following the law "is inextricably tied to the concept of democracy", and those wishing to change that should make a proposal to the Lower House of Parliament and convince MPs that it is positive for all Spaniards. Mariano Rajoy reiterated his invitation to the President of the Regional Government of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, for him to explain his position to Parliament. "If Mr. Puigdemont comes to the Lower House of Parliament, I will debate with him and do so gladly. I hope he has the courage, determination and bravery to do so", he said.

Mariano Rajoy said he is willing "to talk about all reasonable issues" but not enter into dialogue with those who, "if I choose not to do what they say, threaten me with a legal transition act for withdrawing from Spain and making one of the greatest mistakes to have been announced in many years". Neither a President of the Government of Spain nor anyone else can tolerate "blackmail", said Mariano Rajoy, who also criticised the intention by the Catalan Parliament to approve that law within 24 hours and without debate.

While others "create instability and frustration", he added, his "wish" and "obligation" is "to respond to the real needs of Catalonia and the Catalan people". In this regard, he said that the decisions taken by the Central Government of Spain have led to a radical change in situation when compared with late 2011, when the Regional Government of Catalonia was "practically bankrupt", unable to finance itself and not paying its suppliers.

Corruption will be pursued and punished

Pool Moncloa/JM CuadradoWhen asked by the spokesperson for Unidos Podemos [United We Can] in the Upper House of Parliament, Ramón Espinar, about the corruption affecting the party leading the Government of Spain, Mariano Rajoy replied that "corruption is always negative" regardless of which party it affects.

The President of the Government argued that "it is essential" to work on preventing it by improving controls, pursuing it by providing resources to those with the obligation to do so, and punishing it, for which a series of laws have been approved that increase the penalties.

"I believe that all the measures we have implemented in this regard have served their purpose, because situations and cases of corruption are even coming to light now that took place more than ten years ago. What we need to do now is persevere with this", he said.

Furthermore, Mariano Rajoy stressed "it is absolutely false" that his party and the Government of Spain control the State apparatus. "I believe in the separation of power, I believe in the rule of law, I believe that the Judiciary acts entirely independently", he said.

The President of the Government called for the "presumption of innocence, which some would now replace with the presumption of guilt". Furthermore, he said that his party respects the institutions and has no one "immune from prosecution".

Response to cyber-attacks

Pool Moncloa/JM CuadradoMariano Rajoy accepted the proposal from the spokesperson for the Grupo Socialista [Socialist Group], Vicente Álvarez Areces, for the Upper House of Parliament to coordinate protocols and strategies between the public authorities in order to prevent future cyber-attacks and reduce their risks. "The Upper House of Parliament is a good place to work together in a sensible, reasonable and orderly fashion", he said.

The President of the Government agreed with the Socialist Member of the Upper House that cyber-attacks pose a security threat. To combat them, Mariano Rajoy advocated a pact between all political forces and increased international collaboration. "Just as intelligence services are fundamental in terms of terrorism, they are also fundamental in terms of cyber-security", he said.

Furthermore, Mariano Rajoy said that public-private cooperation should be increased in this area and awareness should be raised in society about adopting measures to protect oneself against these threats. The President of the Government also said that "the General State Administration Services should have a cyber-security operations centre as a cross-cutting service for all public authorities".

As regards the global cyber-attack on 12 May, Mariano Rajoy reported that the spread in Spain of the WannaCry virus "was brought under control quickly" and that, by seven o'clock in the afternoon, a vaccine had been developed to avoid the virus infecting any more computers.

Furthermore, he stressed that Spain is in a good position with regard to its peer nations for tackling this kind of attack. In this regard, he recalled that the National Cyber-Security Strategy was approved in 2013 and the National Cyber-Security Centre was set up in 2014, run by the Director of the National Intelligence Centre [Spanish acronym: CNI].

Collaboration against terrorism

Pool Moncloa/JM CuadradoIn statements given in the corridors of the Upper House of Parliament before attending the government control session, Mariano Rajoy said - with regard to the attack in Manchester - that "the most important thing" for the fight against terrorism "is to be able to count on maximum collaboration between all countries".

Exchanging information between intelligence services is the only way to be effective in this field, added Mariano Rajoy, who led a minute's silence at Moncloa Palace on Tuesday morning for the victims of the attack.