Statement by President of the Government following first session of European Council

Brussels

Q.- President of the Government, have you seen the news on the attack in Turkey?

President of the Government.- Yes, I have indeed seen the news of the attack in Turkey.

One of the main priorities of the world in which we live is for all of those like-minded people, all those countries, all those political leaders and all those political forces to stand together, that is the most important thing, and for us to stand together to defend the principles and values in which we believe.

Turkey is being hit very hard, as has Belgium, where we are now, and France and the United Kingdom. In this regard, the most important thing, I repeat, is to stand together, to work together, to provide full and total support for the security forces and agencies, in our case, and also to the armed forces, including the Spanish Armed Forces, who are present in many countries, defending life, and our rights and freedoms, and the armed forces of the rest of our allies.

The truth is that this is a truly dramatic issue and I believe that we must continue working hard together.

Q.- How did the dinner go with the British Prime Minister? How long will Europe have to wait for a reaction from the United Kingdom to activate Article 50?

President of the Government.- Cameron explained his position, which we were already aware of. He was against the result that came out of the referendum and he reiterated to us that he will indeed resign; that the new Prime Minister will probably be chosen on 9 September, although he doesn't dismiss the possibility of this even taking place a little earlier. The thing is that there is a meeting of the G-20 from 4-6 September approximately, sometime around that date. And he has said that he will not formally ask to leave, but rather he believes that this should be handled by the new Prime Minister chosen by the procedures established there to that end.

We want things to be conducted in a reasonable, ordered and civilised manner; for there obviously not to be any form of revenge or reward, but rather for a fair solution to be offered. At any event, I believe that now is the time for all of us who believe in the European project - and I am a firm believer - to reaffirm this. It has its good side and its bad side, like practically everything in life, but for Spain the idea of Europe is firmly bound to such words as "democracy", "liberty", "human rights" and "economic and social progress", because these more than 30 years since we joined Europe have been the years of the greatest economic and social progress in our country.

Hence, we are going to plough on with the European project and we are going to try to have, as with other countries that are not in the European Union, such as Norway, by way of example, or Switzerland, the best possible relations with the United Kingdom, but without either rewards or punishments. We must simply be intelligent and fair.

Q.- How did you see Prime Minister Cameron? Was he affected by what is happening in his country?

President of the Government.- Of course, now is not the time… I always say that politicians are human beings and I imagine he hasn't had a good time of it.

Thank you very much.