Press conference by President of the Government following 6th Conference of Regional Presidents

Upper House of Parliament, Madrid

President of the Government.- Ladies and gentlemen, a very good afternoon to you and thank you very much for attending this press conference following the meeting that has just ended a few moments ago of the Conference of Regional Presidents, which included the attendance of the presidents of the regional governments of Spain, with the exception of the Basque Country and Catalonia, and also the presidents of the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, the Vice-President of the Government, the Minister for the Treasury and Public Function, and myself.

The comments I would like to make at this time are the following:

First, I thanked the presidents of the regional governments and autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla in my opening speech for their presence, as well as for the preparatory work they have put in with their teams and which has undoubtedly facilitated today's meeting taking place and coming off in a manner which I believe was orderly and reasonable, and hence, greatly facilitating things for those of us who attended today's meeting.

Then, I thanked today's speakers, both for their content, which was clearly very constructive, and for the tone of their speeches. I told them that the government will take the functioning of the Conference of Regional Presidents very seriously and I told them that this is a forum which could prove to be very useful, which does not mean that it will resolve, because this never happens, each and every one of the problems that may arise in our country, but it could undoubtedly prove useful for tackling some of the most important issues for the people of Spain as a whole.

I believe that this Conference of Regional Presidents is a forum for building and in fact, I believe that today's meeting has been very constructive. I am very satisfied with how it has gone off. The problems are similar, as you would expect; the majority are problems shared between the government of the nation and the different regional governments, and I believe that this is a forum which, if we are able to maintain this apart from classical political debate, from day-to-day politics, then it may prove very useful for tackling not only problems in the short term, but also those problems our country is facing in the medium and long term.

Hence, I wish to offer my sincere gratitude - it would be unfair of me not to do so - for the way in which each and every person who attended this conference conducted themselves. I believe that it has been very useful, it is an example of collaboration between institutions and we hope that henceforth it may prove to be an instrument that serves the goals of the Spanish people so that, between us all, we can address those problems that are common to us all.

As regards how the meeting was structured, it began with me giving a speech, followed by a speech from each and every person who wished to make one, which turned out to be everybody, all of the presidents of the regional governments and the presidents of the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.

My speech was divided into two parts, both of which shared a common theme: to try to explain the most important problems and challenges facing the Spanish people, in my opinion, in the near future and longer term.

The first part addressed the situation and the outlook for the Spanish economy and what, in my opinion, we need to do. I briefly explained that Spain has gone through the worst economic crisis it has faced in many years, because five years in a row of negative economic growth is most certainly a major economic crisis. During these five years, we lost 10% of our Gross Domestic Product, that is, 10% of our national wealth, and 3.4 million Spaniards lost their jobs. There were additional problems of the competitiveness of the economy, economic imbalances, the threat of a bailout, the risk premium… You are all perfectly well aware of these problems.

I explained that the situation is now very different, because after five years of negative economic growth we have enjoyed three straight years of positive economic growth, in 2014, 2015 and 2016; the last two years - 2015 and 2016 - with growth in excess of 3%, heading up the table of growth of the large economies of the European Union.

At the same time, I also recalled that since the last Labour Force Survey at the end of 2013, which was the worst point for employment in our country in recent years, the recovery commenced, jobs started to be created, the rate reached half a million jobs a year and our goal must now be to persevere with this task in the future.

I also explained to my colleagues that we have now overcome most of our imbalances and our problems of competitiveness, that the period under threat of a bailout and with an excessive and threatening risk premium was now behind us and that now we are thus in a better situation, although there is still a lot to be done ahead of us and many outstanding things to be dealt with in the future.

I sought to confine my speech and place great emphasis on an issue that is important and that, to a certain extent, explains very well what has happened in Spain in recent times. In 2007, the revenue of the Spanish public authorities as a whole amounted to 442 billion euros; following that, in just two years - in 2008 and 2009 - we lost 70 billion euros in revenue, and even now, at the end of 2016, we have not caught back up with the level of revenue collected back in 2007. That is, we are still collecting less in 2016 than in 2007.

In parallel, and this is also important, one heading, just one heading, of the General State Budget - pensions - has risen by 40 billion euros. While revenue has fallen by 20 billion euros between 2007 and 2016, just one heading, that of pensions, has risen by 40 billion euros. If we add to that the rise in the heading of unemployment, for the reasons we are all aware of, the rise in the cost of servicing debt and the need to reduce the public deficit, I believe that this all shows very clearly the huge effort that the people of Spain as a whole have had to make, together with the public authorities, to be able to maintain the essential pillars of our welfare model.

Aside from that, I explained that there is no other goal - if we want to be realistic and pay close attention to what is important in the near future - than generating economic growth and creating jobs, because that is also what will lead to us collecting more revenue, and hence, allocating more resources to seeing to our public services, our infrastructures, and the expenditure of our public authorities as a whole.

This was, and undoubtedly remains, our main priority. The more jobs we can create, the better for those people looking for work but who can't find it, and better still for the people of Spain as a whole, because the State will have more resources to be able to attend to the needs of all our citizens.

In my opinion, there are two measures that we need to concentrate on in order to achieve this goal: first, continue with the fiscal consolidation process - this year we have to cut down from 4.6% to 3.1% - and then, when the deficit drops below 3%, things will go better, we will be freer and be able to undertake more and better policies to the benefit of our people. The second great measure must be continuing with the reform policies that have been undertaken in recent years. Many of the reform policies are contained in the agreements, which I will refer to later, that have been adopted today.

Hence, that is what the opening part of my speech revolved around, and then I spoke about Europe. I only want to mention three points in relation to Europe, with a brief explanation in order to outline the case.

Europe is our past, it is our present and it is our future. It is impossible to think that our future could be separated - fortunately, I should say - from the rest of the European Union, which is where we are now and where we want to continue in the future. Decisions taken at a European level increasingly affect our lives, those of our public authorities and those of our citizens. You are all fully aware of the European debates and decisions that have affected us, and a great deal, in recent times. I could mention the tax lease, the fisheries agreements, the requirements on the deficit targets, monetary policy, foreign exchange policy, which now affects us, etc.

Hence, a good many of the decisions that are applied in our country are European decisions and now, despite so much talk about a constitutional reform, the greatest constitutional reform that has taken place in Spain in these last 40 years has been the reforms undertaken in Europe that affect our country. Probably the most striking and the most significant reform was the disappearance of our currency - the 'peseta' - which was replaced by the 'euro', and hence, the fact that we no longer had a monetary or a foreign exchange policy.

The first of the three important issues in Europe at this time is 'Brexit'. Our position is clear: we will start to negotiate when the British people formally tell us that they want to leave the European Union. The four great freedoms cannot be separated. These are the freedom of people, goods, capital and services, and you cannot have one of these freedoms without the others; they go together. And it is our intention, at least that of Spain and I believe of most of the Member States of the European Union, to maintain the best possible relations with the United Kingdom when it actually leaves the European Union.

Second, I mentioned what is being done in Europe at this time, what is important, which is the need to tackle the real problems people are facing. We started this debate in Bratislava back in September and it will continue until March, when a meeting will be held to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the 1957 Treaty of Rome, as you know. The priorities are: immigration on economic grounds, the internal security of countries, external security and defence, together with growth, employment and, above all, youth employment. I will not go on about this issue, which you are all well aware of and which we will undoubtedly have the chance to hear a great deal more about.

And the third main issue, which is definitely an issue for the future and which requires, not only extensive parliamentary support but also the backing of the regional governments, relates to the future of Europe, that is, where we are heading. You know that this is a process that has now existed for more than 60 years. The Treaty of Rome - I just mentioned this - was signed in 1957, but before that, we had the Coal and Steel Economic Communities. Europe has been growing, bit by bit, and it has been taking steps in the right direction, sometimes more quickly and sometimes less quickly.

And it is now time to look, after what has happened with the 'Brexit' and after starting to move close towards economic and monetary union through the banking union, at what we are going to do with fiscal policy, what we are going to do with the European Budget, whether there is going to be a European fiscal authority and, above all, whether we are going to make progress on political union. This requires a national debate in Parliament and at all those forums where those who have something to say wish to express that.

That was, in short, what I have outlined today. I believe that the main goals to be achieved in the future are continuing to ensure economic growth and job creation, ensuring tax revenue so as to maintain and improve our public services, the pillars of our Welfare State, and to be able to attend to the needs of what are, unfortunately, still far too many people, and, thirdly, those European issues that I have just mentioned.

Out of all of the agreements that we have adopted I wish to mention, in principle, just two today that are very important. I wouldn't dare to say that they are the most important, because it is very difficult to make comparisons between issues that are so different, but there are two issues which, moreover, have aroused great interest in all those people who have taken part here. The first refers to our model of well-being and public spending, and the second, to the demographic problem we are starting to face in our country.

I would like to make a couple of comments because the first issue, the welfare model we enjoy in Spain, is linked in to another issue which will undoubtedly give food for thought over the coming months, which is the financing of the autonomous regions, another issue we have tackled at today's meeting.

Spain has, and that is something that is almost exclusive to the countries of the European Union, and not all of them, a welfare model like few other countries in the world. A system of public pensions such as ours, of public and universal healthcare such as ours, of education, of social services, which can obviously be improved, like everything in life, is something that exists in very few countries, only in our peer European countries.

More than 70% of all spending in Spain goes on social headings. Spending on pensions amounts to 28% of Spanish public spending, and spending on healthcare amounts to 14%. We are talking about 42% of Spanish public spending on pensions and healthcare alone; more than 9% goes to education, and then you have to service debt, which stands at 7%; there are other social services that amount to 6.5% and 4.4% on unemployment benefits. In other words, more than 70% is social spending. On top of that, you have spending on public servants, the Ministries of Justice and Defence, infrastructures, agriculture, housing and the rest of Spanish public spending.

And there are more than 14 million Spaniards who receive some form of public benefit every month, in addition to the 3 million public servants; 14 million people and the question is to try to maintain this, and this can only be maintained through an economic policy that generates economic growth, job creation and which, therefore, allows more revenue to be collected.

This is the main goal, which I reiterated. If we want to have a good welfare model, we need resources and to do that it is necessary to have an economic policy that creates jobs.

Aside from that, the regional governments are under a responsibility, to a considerable extent, to maintain, sustain and improve the welfare model. They manage their own healthcare, education and social service systems. I have asked all of them, and I am convinced that this is the intention of all of them, for them to make a greater effort to reach an understanding on the issue of regional financing. That is, this will not be an issue where there is room for imposition or majorities holding sway over others; what is required here is collaboration with the regional governments and also a broad consensus in Parliament, with particular attention on two issues for the future: pensions and healthcare. As I already said to you, the majority of Spanish public spending, which furthermore is only going to keep increasing in the coming years.

Spending on pension is a major expense: since 2007 it has increased, as I said earlier, by almost 40 billion euros; we have gone from having 8.3 million pensioners to 9.5 million at the end of 2016, and the average pension is now above 1,000 euros, and the average pension of those now joining the system is higher than 1,500 euros a month. If you add to that the fact that Spain has the second longest life expectancy of any country in the world, behind only Japan, this should lead us to be aware that we must make a major effort to maintain this model. And the same is true for the health system.

I repeat, for me, these issues - job creation and maintaining the pension and health system - are undoubtedly the main challenges for the future.

Aside from that, the second issue I mentioned earlier is the issue of demographics. This is an issue on which we are going to set up a working group - there is already a committee here, in the Upper House - and we are going to work in earnest to address medium- and long-term issues.

You are aware that there are many areas of Spain suffering from the phenomenon of loss of population and you are also aware that the population of Spain is increasingly ageing. There is no doubt that we have a problem with the birth rate. All of this affects our public services as a whole - it affects pensions, it affects healthcare and it affects our education model - and hence this must also be one of the main challenges for the future and we have discussed this in today's meeting.

I will move on now to briefly summarise - although for me the two issues I have just mentioned are the most important ones - today's agreements.
First, we have approved the Regulation of this Conference, which strengthens its institutional nature. We meet on a regular annual basis and at least every six months there is an evaluation of the agreements adopted at the meeting of this Conference.

Second, as I mentioned earlier, we have adopted an agreement to draw up a National Strategy to tackle the demographic challenge. This, as I said before, is a key issue; perhaps the most important one we are facing in our country in the medium and long term. We will also try to take this debate to the European institutions to make it one of the main priorities of EU policy.

Third, we agree to set up, within a period of three months, the National Civil Protection Council, with one basic aim: to try to be more effective and to join together all the forces available to the regional governments and Central Government so that, when a serious problem takes place, a disaster or an issue that affects the general interest, we can be faster, more effective and more flexible instead of arguing over whether this power corresponds to one party or another. The question is to join forces and resources, and within a period of three months we will set up this National Civil Protection Council in order to be more effective.

Fourth, we are going to call the General Committee of Regional Governments in the Upper House, we are going to ask the Upper House to call this, to hold an exclusive debate on education at which the regional governments, who run this public service, give their opinion in addition to the work of the State Pact being forged in a sub-committee in the Lower House.

Fifth, we are going to continue working on market unity to make further progress on the competitiveness of our economy.

Sixth, we have spoken about employment. The regional governments also have significant power on this issue, as well as the general power exercised by the government. These are very important issues that you are very familiar with, such as the public employment services, and the vocational training and dual vocational training programmes, together with the Digital Agenda, which now falls within the competence of one of the Spanish ministerial departments, and which requires people to be qualified in all of these areas so that they can obtain good, quality jobs.

Within the period of three months we are also going to set up a working group to design and start up a Social Card. This is an element that will enable the continuous updating of the different social benefits that the different regional governments and Central Government and other institutions offer our citizens as a whole.

In another scheme of things, we have agreed that the regional governments should take part in the regulatory development of the Royal Decree Law on the protection of vulnerable consumers of electricity, which is commonly known as the 'electricity discount'. As you are all aware, an agreement was already reached, formalised in a Royal Decree Law presented by the government in the Lower House of Parliament, following an agreement between the People's Party and the Socialist Party, and it is important for the regional governments to take part in its regulatory development.

We have also incorporated, at the last moment, a new agreement on the subject of gender-based violence, which will also be the subject of an exclusive debate here, at the Committee of Regional Governments, whereby its conclusions will be presented to the committee set up in the Lower House, with the aim of effectively and resolutely tackling this scourge that we unfortunately see all too often in our country.

We have also spoken about other important issues. I mentioned regional financing as a separate issue earlier. I would just remind you now, although this is more of a procedural issue, that a committee of experts will begin work within a month on a new model based on the principles of solidarity, sufficiency, fairness, transparency and fiscal co-responsibility, with one representative from each one of the autonomous regions and cities. In parallel, this study will also include an analysis of the financing mechanisms for people in a situation of dependency and trends in healthcare spending which, together with pensions, is one of the most important issues in our country.

In relation to the European Union, we are going to call the Conference in the first quarter of this year to tackle issues related to the European Union. As I explained before, there are many issues that require as broad a national consensus as possible and clearly the cooperation of the regional governments and input according to their own criteria.

Lastly, and given the situation of the refugees, which has worsened with the start of winter, as you are all perfectly well aware, this Conference will try to push through a coordinated plan to provide emergency help for these people.

I will end now where I began. In all honesty, I believe that this was a beneficial meeting. I believe that during the course of these last few hours, we have been able to deal with some important issues and I believe that we have opened up some lines of dialogue, not to tackle everyday issues, which is something more fitting for the regional governments and Parliament, but rather, in addition to everyday issues, to tackle the problems that will only increase if we do not deal with them in the medium and long term. Earlier, I mentioned some of them, but I would repeat now that job creation is still, at this time, the main national priority and, together with that, the efforts to maintain and improve our public pension system and our health system.

I would once again thank all those people who have taken part in this Conference together with their respective teams, who have done things very well, who have helped facilitate the work done today and who have allowed us, at least at this forum, to see things with a certain degree of optimism for the future.

Q.- Mr President of the Government, I would like to know how Central Government is going to involve the Regional Government of Catalonia in the negotiation of the model of regional financing after its absence at this Conference of Regional Presidents and whether this will be done in the form of bilateral relations.

Then, on a separate issue from this Conference of Regional Presidents, yesterday the opposition called for the President of the Government to offer his apologies, to officially say sorry over the case of Yak-42, as Minister María Dolores de Cospedal did yesterday. I would like to hear your opinion on this matter.

President of the Government.- The opposition can do whatever they deem fit and opportune. I agree, as does the whole Government of Spain, with the statements made yesterday by the minister, and we will obviously all be with the Spanish servicemen and the families of the victims of the accident to help them with whatever they may need. And, I repeat, I agree with each and every one of the statements that the Minister for Defence made yesterday.

Aside from that, involve those who did not attend today's meeting… The invitation to talk is always open. We are going to set up a group here to look at the new model of regional financing, and each regional government will appoint, as I said before, an expert and the Regional Government of Catalonia has an open invite to appoint an expert when it wishes. It can do that today, when the work starts, when it is halfway through or when it is over, although I think it would be a good idea for the Regional Government of Catalonia and for all those to be present at these debates which, I stress, were tremendously important debates.

I believe that the Regional Government of Catalonia is interested in the model of regional financing, and it is good for them to voice their opinion and set out their criteria on the issue, and I also believe they are interested, I am sure of this, in the future of the public health system, the future of the education system and all of the European issues that have been mentioned today, which affect all our citizens.

Hence, this is an open and permanent invitation. When they wish, they can join up to each and every working group we have set up today, and we ask for nothing in return. I repeat, they can do that today or they can do that whenever they deem fit and opportune. I clearly don't intend to reproach anyone, but I believe that it would be good and it would be positive for them to attend this conference.

As far as bilateral relations are concerned, I meet up, with certain time constraints, which is clear, with all those people who ask to see me. If the President of the Regional Government of Catalonia wants to see me, I will see him and not for the first time. And, if any president of a regional government wishes to do so, then I also will meet up, as is logical and normal. Now, one thing is talking and another thing is to take some decisions for one party and totally different decisions for others. That is, the model of regional financing will have to be agreed upon between us all because, if not, then just imagine how these things would operate.

Hence, I can talk about whatever you want, but there are certain forums that should be attended. It is tantamount to MPs from a certain Spanish region voting on something in Parliament and that whatever the rest of the MPs say has no value. That makes no sense.

So, I think that there is an interest from all parties, clearly from the Government of Spain and, I repeat, from all of those present here, of joining the working groups that have been set up here. In all honesty, I think that this is very positive; you don't lose anything, you can help build something and between us all we can do things in an orderly fashion which I think is positive.

Q.- President of the Government, if you think that today's meeting has been so beneficial and useful, why didn't you convene it at any time in the last term of office?

Then, as regards current affairs, you are aware that the former treasurer Luis Bárcenas has again insisted to the judge that the People's Party had a slush fund. I would like to know if this is true and whether you have made some form of pact with Bárcenas, as they are saying - a non-aggression pact.

President of the Government.- That case now lies with the courts. Let's allow the courts to do their job.

As regards the first issue, let's look to the future. What is important is that there was a very positive meeting today; aside from that, a new channel for understanding between institutions has been opened and let's hope that everything that comes out of this will be harnessed for the general interests of the Spanish people.

Q.- You mentioned before that you discussed 'Brexit' during the Conference. I wanted to ask for your assessment of the speech made today by the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, who stated that the United Kingdom will withdraw from the Single Market.

President of the Government.- I haven't had time to watch it. I have seen, to put it that way, a few of the headlines regarding some of the things that the Prime Minister said and so hence I must be very careful with what I say. We will need to adopt a position when things are finally laid out.

What I would like to say, for the time being, is that, first of all, the British Government has not formally presented its notification to the European Union to start negotiations to leave the EU. Hence, until such time as that takes place, no-one in the European Union is going to enter into any form of negotiation or try and get ahead of the game.

Second, the only thing the European Union has said, and I subscribe to this, and I believe that this intention has the general support of our country, is that the four freedoms (free movement of people, goods, capital and services) must stand together and it is not valid to say "I only want to adhere to the free movement of services or capital, but not the free movement of people". We will not accept that.

And third, what we don't know yet, because the United Kingdom has not told us yet, and I have not seen any clarity on this issue, is what type of relations it wants with the European Union. As you know, I would like to see things kept as closely to how they are now, but there are many types of relations with the European Union: Norway has one model of relations with the European Union, Switzerland has another model of relations with the European Union and there is then another model, which is a simple Free Trade Agreement and nothing else, such as has recently been approved with Canada.

Hence, all possibilities are still open and it will be the United Kingdom that has to propose its intention in regard to this issue and, naturally, we, the other countries of the European Union, will have to decide whether we agree with their proposal or not. The only thing we have asserted at this time is that there is a firm intent to not split up the four freedoms and to state that we are prepared to reach a firm and good understanding in the future, but the four freedoms are untouchable and it would be good for the United Kingdom to tell us if it wants the same model as Norway, as Switzerland, a different model, the same model as Canada or something completely different.

Q.- President of the Government, as regards today's meeting, I wanted to ask you about your position, the government's position, on the issue of fiscal harmonisation that has been requested by some regions, headed up by Andalusia, which certain other regions, such as Madrid and the Balearic Islands, are opposed to.

And returning to the Yak affair, not only the opposition has asked you to apologise to the families of the victims, but the families themselves have also asked you to apologise and they want a tribute to be made in May, on the anniversary of the disaster.

President of the Government.- I am prepared and delighted to do what you have mentioned. I didn't know that they had said that but, at any event, I have no problem in doing that.

In relation to the first issue, that has indeed been proposed by some representatives of certain regions. What they have proposed, and what we agreed on in the end, is to carry out a study to see exactly how the different regional governments are exercising their fiscal co-responsibility at this time; in other words, what decisions some have taken on assets, what decisions others have taken on the issue of successions, whether they have raised or lowered Personal Income Tax, what they do with Capital Transfer Tax, which is different from one region to another…

But we haven't taken any decision, because there are some regional governments that indeed feel that fiscal co-responsibility is a basic principle of the decentralised State and that they are entitled, in relation to their devolved powers, to take the decisions that they consider best for their own citizens, while others don't exactly agree with this, but say that it is not good to have certain differences on tax rates and different taxes from one region to another.

Hence, this is an ongoing issue; some regions have made a proposal, but no decision has yet been taken other than to carry out a study to see how the issue of co-responsibility has been exercised by the different regional governments in Spain.

Q.- You said before that you invited Catalonia to take part in the working groups that have approved, between them, the model for regional financing. What I wanted to ask you is whether this negotiation for a new model of financing can take place without Catalonia. In other words, would this working group start to operate and work if Catalonia remains outside of this forum?

On another note, I wanted to know if you have had the chance to answer the letter that Mr Puigdemont sent you yesterday, where he said he was interested in holding a meeting with you.

President of the Government.- I will meet with Mr Puigdemont, just as I will meet with those people who are interested in meeting with me, without any problem whatsoever. I would remind you, at any event, of the nuances I spelt out to your colleague when he asked me the first question earlier.

Now, in relation to whether we can talk about regional financing without the presence of the Regional Government of Catalonia, just look, what do you want the rest of us to do? That is, what we cannot do is halt an issue that affects everyone because someone has decided not to come to the meeting. But I do believe they will attend the meeting. It beggars belief that a meeting is held to debate how the different autonomous regions are financed, which has been called for across the board and someone doesn't want to attend. In all honesty, that is unimaginable to me and, at any event, what cannot be asked for from the rest of the regional governments, and you can try telling me how to do this, is that there is not to be a new model of financing, or a meeting held, because one regional government does not want to turn up.

In all honesty, I am absolutely convinced that sanity and common sense will prevail in the end, and hence, from that point of view, I should remain calm; after all, what choice do I have?

Q.- President of the Government, in relation to the model of regional financing, some regional presidents have remarked that, apart from setting up this committee of experts within a month, there is a commitment in regard to a closed deal at the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council at the end of this year. Is that the case? That is, has a deadline been set for not extending these negotiations?

President of the Government.- Yes. The intent is to reach an agreement this year, in 2017. Let's see if we are able to do this between us all. That requires a broad agreement. There are very different ways of looking at this. We are not looking at an ideological or party problem, we are looking at a problem whereby some people see things in one light and others in another light and, when this is the case, it is clear that there is no other option than reaching an agreement in which, as always happens with agreements, no-one is 100% satisfied, and no-one is 100% dissatisfied. It won't be easy, but we have to make an effort between us all.

And I would remind you of what I said at the beginning: we all want to improve our regional financing model, all of us; that is only human, it is logical and it is common sense. And to do this you need to have the resources and to have the resources you need to generate economic growth and jobs. That is why, in an attempt to get to the heart of the matter, we should not forget that this means designing economic policies that continue to generate wealth and jobs in our country.

I believe that Spain will once again enjoy economic growth this year. That would be the fourth year in a row, and I think we will reach about 2.5%. More than 400,000 jobs could be created this year, in 2017, but we need to maintain this rate in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, because the more jobs we have, in addition to the fact that people who are out of work at this time will be in gainful employment and be better off, we will also have, above all, greater revenue and be better able to attend to the needs of our citizens as a whole.

Q.- Since this meeting has been held in the Upper House, has any proposal been made, or will it be made to hold subsequent meetings in the future to undertake some kind of reform that affects the functioning of the Upper House?

Secondly, have any of the regional presidents also proposed the possibility of studying a reform of Title VIII of the Spanish Constitution in relation to the autonomy of the regions?

President of the Government.- In relation to the first issue, yes, we have spoken about this, and it has been proposed. I can't remember who did this, because this issue was not contained in the preparatory work, but I don't think it would be hard for you to find out. What has been agreed is that the committee set up in the Upper House to study this reform should incorporate, through their presence, the criteria and the opinions of the different presidents of the regional governments to appear here, in the Upper House, when the latter so dictates.

In relation to the reform of Title VIII of the Constitution, the answer is no, this was not proposed. Perhaps the Constitution was commended in passing in a speech and it was said that this praise of the Constitution and of national unity did not mean that it could never be modified in the future. But no, it was not the subject of debate today. The issues that were debated were, in the main, what I set out earlier.

And you are well aware of my position. I am in favour of the Constitution of 1978. I believe that it was one of the most brilliant political operations in our history and, furthermore, in the history of Europe in recent years. I can say this although I had no hand in it, because I was too young. It was a brilliant operation. This Constitution is associated with the ideas of democracy, liberty, human rights, our membership of Europe, Spain's role in the world and economic and social progress, and this can be amended, it has already been amended twice to date, on the last occasion, to introduce the Fiscal Compact.

But you have to look at exactly what the goal would be, what we want from this and to see if we can achieve the right consensus. Our current Constitution achieved just that and let's see if another one can do the same in the future. I do not hold an extreme position on this, but I do believe that we must be prudent and, above all, have our goals very clear and have sufficient support to undertake this operation, and then, to study other things such as the suitability or not of when this should be done because this will have to be submitted to a referendum and then Parliament will need to be dissolved. In short, all of these are decisions that cannot and must not be taken lightly.

Q.- President of the Government, I wanted to ask you about the latest statements made by Mr Trump, who has made some harsh attacks on the European Union and on NATO. I want your assessment of these statements and what you believe should be the response from the European Union.

Secondly, going back to the previous question, I wanted to know if you plan to reply in writing to the letter from Mr Puigdemont.

President of the Government.- The letter from Mr Puigdemont? You already know that I will see him whenever he wants. If a letter needs to be sent, it will be sent; but I don't even think he wants me to send him a letter. If you are asking me if I am going to meet up with Mr Puigdemont, then I will be delighted to meet up with Mr Puigdemont. I don't believe the issue of sending a letter is really key, do you?

As regards the statements made by the President-Elect of the United States, I believe that NATO works very well. We are very content. This is a good example of transatlantic collaboration. A series of countries that share the same values, principles, respect for human rights, form part of NATO, and this is a convention and an agreement to guarantee our security. This could undoubtedly be better, but I, for one, want Spain to remain part of NATO and I want NATO to continue operating in a very similar fashion to how it has been over the course of recent years.

As regards the European Union, we are going to continue working, we are going to continue with our integration process to look after our citizens, and it is our intention, that of all Europeans, and obviously of the Spanish people, to have the best possible relations with the people of the United States, and also with their president, who we will have to wait to judge, as always happens in life, at least I see things that way, when he starts to take on his responsibilities as President.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.