Press conference by President of the Government

Madrid

President of the Government.- Ladies and gentlemen, a very good day to you and thank you very much for attending this press briefing.

I wanted to appear following this meeting of the Council of Ministers to make a more detailed assessment of last Thursday's terrorist attacks in Catalonia to all of you and to Spanish society.

This is an issue that we have obviously looked at in detail at the Council of Ministers. The rest of the agreements adopted can be found, as usual, in the Reference that we will provide you with shortly.

As you are all aware, to date the provisional balance of the attacks in Catalonia amounts to the murder of 15 people. The majority of them were strolling down Las Ramblas in Barcelona before being mown down by a van driven by one of the terrorists. The other two victims were a young man killed by the same terrorist in his escape and a woman driven into by members of the same terrorist cell in Cambrils.

At this time, a total of 27 people are still being looked after in several hospitals. I can only say that they are in the best possible hands and we hope they enjoy a full recovery.

As regards the terrorist group, and providing you with prudent information because the investigation is ongoing and will take some more time, we can say that the main core of the terrorist cell was completely broken up barely 100 hours after the attack took place. That says a great deal about the preparation and capabilities of the Mossos d´Esquadra [Regional Police Force of Catalonia], who I once again would like to congratulate here today, together with the National Police and Guardia Civil officers that have taken part in the investigation.

The investigation is being headed up by the National High Court judge, Fernando Andreu, who will gradually unravel all the elements behind these serious attacks. Yesterday, as you know, a working meeting was held in the High Court at which the criteria were established for the investigation of the facts henceforth; an investigation that will be coordinated by CITCO (Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Intelligence Centre). I am convinced that this investigation will be carried out effectively by our officers and with the cooperation of other countries that are our allies and partners which have not only offered us their solidarity but also their disposition to collaborate in response to these attacks.

I would like to thank all those people who have got involved these last few days to help the victims and disband the terrorist cell responsible for the attack - all of them, without any exceptions whatsoever. We must acknowledge the efforts made by everyone, the generosity of their commitment and the empathy with the victims.

I am talking about the Mossos d´Esquadra, who have done a tremendous job, but I am also talking about the officers from the Guardia Urbana [City Guard] and the local police forces from so many towns and villages in Catalonia. I am also talking about the National Police, the Guardia Civil and the intelligence services, who collaborated right from the outset in the investigations in order to ensure that they were successful.

I am talking about the healthcare personnel, who have undoubtedly saved the lives of many victims, and about the civil protection services.

I am also talking about the people of Barcelona as a whole and of the whole of Catalonia. They have turned out to give blood, to attend to those affected and to collaborate with the law enforcement agencies.

I also want to acknowledge here and now the efforts made by the media to inform society on what is happening and their diligence in following the indications made by those in charge of the investigation while it remains ongoing.

Allow me to expressly acknowledge the Crown and its immediate reaction to the events. The presence of Their Majesties, King Felipe and Queen Letizia, in Barcelona, their attendance at the different events that have unfolded there and their attention to the victims has meant that the grief, affection and profound solidarity of the whole of Spain with those affected by these terrible attacks has been taken to Barcelona and the whole of Catalonia.

As regards the response from the different public authorities, I wish to highlight that on the same Thursday afternoon, as soon as we heard the news and realised the gravity and nature of the events unfolding in Barcelona, all of the protocols for action between the public authorities were activated, with two main priorities: the investigation of the facts and immediate attention for the victims of this terrorist action.

I once again repeat that coordination has been fluid and constant, both in terms of political decision-making, and at a technical level between senior police officers. Right from the outset, as soon as the events in Las Ramblas in Barcelona became known, the Government of Spain and the Regional Government of Catalonia, through the Government Representative in Catalonia and the Department of Home Affairs of the Regional Government of Catalonia agreed to set up a crisis cabinet to strengthen collaboration and coordination between the different public authorities. The cabinet receives information in real time from the executive control and monitoring centre that the Regional Government of Catalonia set up at the outset, and which has been manned at all times by members of the Guardia Civil and the National Police.

After maintaining initial contact with Regional President Puigdemont, I immediately travelled to Barcelona, as did the Vice-President of the Government and the Minister for Home Affairs, to tackle events on the ground given the serious nature of the events that were unfolding.

On Friday, 18 August, after the minute's silence was held as a sign of mourning, which was presided, as you know, by King Felipe, a new meeting of the coordination committee between the different public authorities was held which I had the chance to chair. This was attended, among others, by Regional President Puigdemont, the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, the Vice-President of the Government and the Ministers for Home Affairs and for Health, as well as several regional councillors. It was also attended by representatives of the Mossos d´Esquadra, the Guardia Civil and the National Police to analyse the situation in a joint and coordinated fashion and to handle attending to the victims.

Previously the Minister for Health, together with the President of the Regional Government of Catalonia and the Regional Councillor for Health, had visited together those people injured in the different hospitals in Barcelona. And on that same Friday afternoon, the Vice-President of the Government received the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Germany and France, and held a work meeting with them, also attended by a councillor from the Regional Government of Catalonia.

Meanwhile, at the Ministry of Home Affairs in Madrid, the actions to strengthen police cooperation, both in Spain and abroad were activated. All of the channels of communication were reinforced, both with France and with Morocco, and the meeting of the Terrorist Threat Assessment Board was organised for Saturday, 19 August.

The meeting of the Terrorist Threat Assessment Board was then held on Saturday. This meeting was attended by representatives of the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Intelligence Centre (Spanish acronym: CITCO), the National Police, the Guardia Civil, the Mossos, the Ertzaintza, the National Intelligence Centre, the Intelligence Centre of the Armed Forces and the Department of National Security. I wish to stress the nature of the cooperation and loyalty shown between the different bodies in this investigation, as witnessed at this meeting.

A unanimous agreement was adopted at this meeting, based on the technical consideration of the top experts in counter-terrorism, to maintain the risk level at level 4 (high), although further reinforced in certain aspects. I directly reported on this agreement to the leaders of the main political forces.

Meanwhile, the Vice-President of the Government visited the town of Cambrils, where the second attack had taken place, and then, the City Council of Barcelona. Subsequently, she accompanied Their Majesties, the King and Queen of Spain, together with the President of the Regional Government of Catalonia, to place flowers in memory of the victims, which took place in Las Ramblas in Barcelona.

On Sunday, following the mass at the Basilica of Sagrada Familia in memory of the victims, the Vice-President of the Government and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, together with representatives of the Regional Government of Catalonia, received the Consuls General of the countries whose nationals were victims of the attacks, to report to them on the situation of the victims and on the measures taken to attend to them.

On Monday, 21 August, a meeting of the State Pact to Combat Jihadi Terrorism was held, which was attended by the political forces, and which expressed its unanimous condemnation of terrorism.

In turn, the coordination committee met in Catalonia again to assess and analyse the situation on a joint basis. The first meetings also took place to organise a major demonstration of revulsion to be held on Saturday in Barcelona.

I will not list the rest of the meetings of a sector and local nature held by the different public authorities with the many people affected by the attacks. I am talking, for example, about the hotel and catering sector, the trade sector and the Liceo Theatre. Other members of my government have taken part in these, such as the Minister for Culture and Government Spokesperson, and the Minister for Justice.

Allow me, however, to highlight three actions that have taken place parallel to all these actions.

Over the course of recent days, and right from the outset, the Centre for Coordination and Information on Radicalisation, under the umbrella of CITCO, has been fully operational in order to facilitate, on the one hand, collaboration from citizens in the investigations and, on the other hand, to gather information on possible cases of radicalisation and, accordingly, prevent and detect any outbreak or hotspot of radicalism. In fact, as we were reminded by the Minister for Home Affairs, the free hotline number enabled by the ministerial department has so far received more than 500 calls from citizens.

We also held, right from the outset, ongoing contact with the operators of critical infrastructures through the National Centre for the Protection of Infrastructures and Cyber-Security.

Furthermore, a team of experts in attending to victims of terrorism, under the umbrella of the Ministry of Home Affairs, is in Barcelona to attend directly to the victims of the attacks and their families, as well as to the requirements of the consuls of the many countries of origin of a significant number of those killed or injured.

I also want to underline the international work carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in supporting the embassies in Madrid and consulates in Barcelona. From the central headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, there has been direct coordination with embassies, and instructions have been given to all the Spanish embassies and consulates overseas to give top priority to processing those visas that the families of victims may require in order to travel to Barcelona. To do that, a coordination point has been established at the Directorate-General of Consular Affairs in order to facilitate and speed up the processing of these visas as far as possible.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As I mentioned on the same night as the attacks, this is not the first time that we have suffered a terrorist attack. We have suffered other attacks like this in our recent history and some of them have been even more horrific, but we also know that terrorists can be defeated. Our democracy has defeated ETA terrorism, which killed hundreds of people over many decades. We have also suffered from Jihadi terrorist attacks, but over the last 13 years our security forces have managed to avoid many attacks of this nature.

It is very important for us to remember this. Our law enforcement agencies and our intelligence services have detected and arrested almost 800 people for their links to Jihadi terrorism over these years. 246 counter-terrorism operations have been carried out over the last 13 years in Spain and in other countries, and this merit belongs to our law enforcement agencies, which we should all duly acknowledge.

In June 2015, the decision was taken to raise the counter-terrorism level to 'high' (4 out of 5), a decision that has enabled our law enforcement agencies to avoid many attacks being carried out over these more than two years now. That is also worthy of mention today.

Today I want to reiterate that the law enforcement agencies - all of them, without any exceptions - have all our support. Effective and scientific and technologically capacitated law enforcement agencies are the foundation for our response, as are our judges and public prosecutors who are aware of their work in counter-terrorism investigations. All of them must have the best legal instruments available to them.

We have reformed our Criminal Code in Spain on two occasions to combat the new forms of Jihadi terrorism. We will do this again in the future should this prove necessary. It is clear that terrorists change their conduct and we must respond accordingly. We cannot and must not rest in this task which is why political unity is so important.

Putting one's differences aside in the fight against terrorism makes us great and makes us strong in combating murderers. The unity of democrats makes criminals despair.

Political unity is fundamental because that is what the victims deserve, that is what our citizens want and what ensures that democratic societies do not become unstable when this type of attack occurs. I repeat, political unity is not a stock term; it is what embodies the fundamental consensus of our societies in defence of our liberties and our values.

For all of the foregoing, I wish to reiterate the call made by the Ministry of Home Affairs to all the political forces that have not yet signed the counter-terrorism pact. Unity must be something more than a photo of our shared grief; unity must offer positive results in the form of reforms and improvements that provide our judges, our police officers and our prosecutors with the best tools to fight this scourge.

Police and institutional coordination, together with political unity, in responding to terrorism - two fundamental factors, I repeat: police and institutional coordination, together with political unity - are completed by a third factor: essential international cooperation. These are the most effective instruments in our hands for defeating the terrorists.

Regrettably, Barcelona has not been an exception, but one more event in a long sequence of terrorist attacks in different places around Europe. For a long time now, the fight against terrorism has held a priority position in the agenda of our European and international meetings, and it must remain so. Spain has been contributing to this debate with one essential philosophy: we are facing a global threat that requires a global response from us.

This same week, the Minister for Home Affairs met in Paris with his French counterpart in order to improve mechanisms for collaboration in the fight against terrorism, among other issues. For my part, I have asked the French President, Enmanuel Macron, for us to address this issue at the summit to be held in Paris between the Heads of State and Government of France, Germany, Italy and Spain. It is my intention to review the current mechanisms for cooperation at a European Union level and tackle the options for boosting and improving this cooperation.

It is important to recall that a raft of new cooperation instruments have been set up in the European Union:

- Directive on the fight against terrorism

- Directive to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism

- Directive on arms control

- High-Level Group of Experts on information and interoperability systems

- System for entry and exit

- European Travel Information and Authorisation System

- PNR Directive on registration of passengers

- Prevention in the fight against radicalisation in the EU.

Spain has promoted many of these initiatives, in the same way as we are promoting the European Charter of Victims' Rights at present.

We have also been applying all those improvements agreed in Europe in order to ensure the highest degree of effectiveness in our domestic legislation in as diligent a manner as possible, and we will continue doing so in the future.

I will draw to a close now.

We have suffered some days of great pain and of great turbulence. And in this difficult situation, Barcelona, Catalonia and the rest of Spain have offered the best of themselves, with solidarity, and also with serenity, aplomb and efficiency.

Now that the cell has been broken up, the priority remains attending to the victims of the attacks and recovering civic normality as soon as possible. We will also need to analyse closely all of the details of these attacks, the contacts that the members of the cell have maintained and the circumstances of their radicalisation. The conclusions of this detailed judicial investigation will provide us with data and elements that will help our preparation in the fight against terrorism and to prevent new attacks.

As I said back on Thursday night, we are united in our grief, but we are united, above all, in our desire to tackle this threat. It is not the time to move on, but to stand firm and decisive in the response that the victims and the whole of society deserve.

Finally, I wish to take the opportunity to urge everyone to take part in tomorrow's demonstration in Barcelona. There, with the whole of Catalan society and with the whole of Spain, represented by King Felipe and by a whole host of political and social representatives, we will once again send out a clear message of unity and rejection of terrorism, and of our love for the city of Barcelona.

Sooner rather than later, Las Ramblas will undoubtedly be what Lorca defined as "the most joyful street in the world, the street where the four seasons of the year live as one, the only street on earth that I don't want to see end ever, rich in sound, abounding in breeze, a delightful meeting point and old in blood: la Rambla de Barcelona".

Q.- Carmen del Riego, from the daily newspaper "La Vanguardia". President of the Government, both prior to the attacks and following the attacks, the Regional Government of Catalonia called for the Mossos to be more integrated within Europol. I would like to know the government's position and how far the government is prepared to allow this integration.

On another note, you have told us about the presence of the different members of the government and of the State in Catalonia, but there are sectors that lacked the presence of the Central Government, above all in the first few days. What do you have to say about this?

President of the Government.- Opinions are free to give, but on the same day of the attack, the President of the Government, the Vice-President of the Government, the Minister for Health and the Minister for Home Affairs were all there; on the very same day. The same happened the following day and the next and the next, with the presence of other members of the government.

But, aside from that, opinions are free to give and, in all honesty, the government has its opinion, which is what I have explained here today.

As regards Europol, there is a system in the European Union of centralised information which is passed on to the different police forces, and each country of the European Union has a national office. This national office in Spain is run by the National Police, with the participation of the Guardia Civil, the Mossos and the Ertzaintza. Each country has its national office, which in the case of Spain is in Madrid and is run by the National Police; but with the representation of the Ertzaintza, the Mossos d'Esquadra and also the Guardia Civil.

I believe that the fewer the number of public debates on security operations the better. What I can say to you is that prior to the attack there was a meeting of the Security Council in Barcelona at which we agreed to set up a working group to try to make the transfer of information as swift as possible, which is what, logically, any police force in any part of the world, and obviously Europol, always seeks to do. The mechanisms to fight terrorism and any other form of crime are constantly improving and adapting to new realities as they arise.

Q.- The government passed a decree to create a register of religious bodies, and I wanted to know whether you believe it is necessary to extend this and make it mandatory for Imams to register there.

President of the Government.- What I believe is that on the issue of the fight against terrorism and, in general, in any walk of life, decisions should not be taken in the heat of the moment when such an unpleasant event as this has taken place in which many people have lost their lives and many others have been injured.

What the government is doing, and this is its obligation and is a logical and sensible response, is continuously improving all the instruments it has available to fight terrorism. It is doing that here and it is doing that in Europe. I have just listed many decisions in my speech, which are important in my opinion, and which have been adopted in Europe to become more effective in the fight against terrorism.

So we have to be constantly adapting all of this and we must still improve. I remember the battles I fought as Minister for Home Affairs more than 15 years ago now to approve the European Arrest Warrant. A great deal of progress has been made since then, many things have been done and we are very effective now. Of course, the ultimate goal of "100% security" is very difficult to achieve, but the goal, the realistic goal, must be to get as close as possible to 100% security, us and all of the countries in the European Union as a whole.

Hence, what is important at this time is to attend to those people who are still injured, and to their families, and to offer support to the judge who is carrying out the investigation in the National High Court; we will see what his conclusions are and we will see what decisions need to be taken in the future with the sole aim of being more effective and avoiding any repeat of these events. But, I repeat, taking decisions in the heat of the moment will not lead anywhere.

Q.- Ana Gracia, from the daily newspaper "El Español". King Felipe has taken an unprecedented step in Spain: for the first time an active monarch will attend a demonstration, behind a banner against terrorism. How does the government rate this step - that a Head of State becomes another demonstrator?

President of the Government.- I rate this very highly and I have supported this. The Head of State represents all of the people of Spain who cannot attend this demonstration and he will express there his affection for the people of Barcelona, of Cambrils, for the people of Catalonia, for all the victims of terrorism, and obviously his outright rejection and disgust at terrorism. Hence, I see his presence at tomorrow's demonstration as highly positive and I hope, as I pointed out earlier, that many other people follow the example of the Head of State and turn out there as well.

Q.- President of the Government, just one clarification. In your speech, you said, first of all, that the cell had been completely disbanded in less than 100 hours but then, later on, you said that it had been practically disbanded. I was wondering whether that was significant or not.

Secondly, as regards the government being reproached by various sectors for a lack of presence, perhaps more than a lack of presence, people are talking about the few appearances you have made and the lack of messages sent out through Twitter that we have seen.

President of the Government.- You will appreciate that it makes no sense to go into detail on this issue. What is truly important is that, because there will now be a debate as to whether this was done, whether that call was made… What we should not forget is that those guilty are the terrorists and that is what we must focus on.

They are the only truly guilty parties as to what has happened. And then, we will wait and see what the investigation turns up and we will see what decisions we take in Parliament to be more effective. But don't forget that the only people who are truly guilty of what has happened are the terrorists and what we need now is to strengthen the unity of all the political forces and society as a whole. That is why the King will also be there tomorrow. These are the key issues that are truly important.

Q.- Josep Capella, from Catalan Regional Television. You have spoken about institutional coordination, about political coordination and about unity. President of the Government, is the government pleased and satisfied? Has this worked despite the political differences at this time and in this climate?

As regards the presence of the Mossos and the Ertzaintza, without trying to be controversial, I wanted to ask you - you have praised the actions of the police force of the Regional Government of Catalonia, of the Mossos - whether, having seen their actions, this presence is easier henceforth to justify and step up on CITCO, and even in their access to Europol. Can these be facilitated and even speeded up?

President of the Government.- I would leave this issue to follow the course it is taking at this time. I pointed out earlier the situation at this time and I pointed out earlier the agreements that have been adopted by the Security Council held in Barcelona not long ago. I repeat, I don't believe it leads anywhere good to take decisions in the heat of the moment. When we take decisions on important issues, we should think hard and reflect on them, look closely at the arguments for and against and, above all, see if they are possible.

Aside from that, I, as President of the Government, have said and I will repeat this: our full support for all the State law enforcement agencies, for the Ertzaintza, for the Mossos d'Esquadra, for the Guardia Civil, for the National Police and also for the local police forces, which I mentioned in my speech, that have taken part in this affair, and obviously for the intelligence services that have also taken part in this affair.

I repeat, I believe that what we all need to do know is maintain unity in the fight against terrorism, let's allow the judge to investigate, let's support the judge in his investigation and let's all be fully aware that tomorrow's demonstration is very important so that everyone sends out a message of unity and clearly states that we are against the terrorists and that we are going to defeat them, which is the question at hand.

Thank you very much.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat of Communication)

Non official translation