Press conference by Acting President of the Government following meeting with His Majesty, King Felipe VI

2019.8.7

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Marivent Palace, Palma de Mallorca

President of the Government: Good afternoon to you all, I apologise for the delay in this appearance following an audience framed within the habitual meetings held in August at this wonderful Marivent Palace.

I would like to say to you that this was a cordial meeting, as of course it should be, between the Royal Household and the Presidency of the Government of Spain, at which we have addressed the latest issues from the Councils of Ministers and also current political and socio-economic affairs.

The economic figures are there; the figures for the Spanish economy are very positive. While it is true that there is a slight slowdown in the pace of the growth of our economy, it is no less true that we are growing by above the European average, and that the forecasts by the Bank of Spain, the Independent Fiscal Authority (Spanish acronym: AIREF), and even by the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission - in short, all the national and international bodies - for economic growth in our country for 2019 are of 2.3% and that next year we will once again grow by more than the European average.

This has also had an effect on job creation over recent months, which you have seen in the recent Social Security figures, which have hit an all-time high of 19.5 Spanish men and women paying into the system. I am particularly satisfied at the number of female contributors, which is at an all-time high of 9 million women paying into the Social Security system, and also clearly the fact that the number of permanent employment contracts are on an upward curve, and that there is an increasing number of job seekers, the active population is growing, which is also in line with the confidence of our citizens in the smooth progress of the Spanish economy.

This is the case and you are aware of it, since we have also explained it in the press briefings following the Council of Ministers, but it is no less true that we cannot trust the buoyancy of our economy and the positive progress of the rate of job creation and the positive economic cycle, but must make certain transformations, certain reforms, in our country to step up this job creation, because we continue to have a high unemployment rate in relative terms compared with other European countries, of 14%, and in this regard it is important to stress the other part of the talk I had with the Head of State, with the King, which is the political stalemate in our country.

You are aware that unfortunately on 25 July when I stood for the investiture, this motion failed, it didn't prosper, but that on 26 July we declared that the Socialist Party would not throw in the towel and that we were going to do everything possible to guarantee two things that I believe are broadly shared by our citizens: firstly, what I am going to say and secondly what the Head of State rightly said the other day. The Head of State said that most Spaniards don't want to have to vote again on 10 November, something that the government obviously shares. Secondly, that on 28 April, our citizens clearly expressed their will, and what they want is a progressive government headed up by the PSOE.

On 26 July we decided to start from scratch, to propose negotiations with the different political formations that could back us in a completely different fashion to what we had done till then, which was to talk about policies, about the programme the government could implement. What have we done in recent days since 26 July? We have spoken with groups of a very different nature, today, for example, I have met with groups from the industry, trade and tourism sector, a sector that is very important in terms of job creation and the economic progress of our country.

Yesterday I met with groups from the third sector, health, education, social services, and I also met with groups related to ecology and the energy transition.

In all the talks I have had, in all the meetings I have had with all these groups, and those with which I will meet tomorrow and the day after, what I have come across is an urgent desire to see the formation of a government in our country, and I have seen an urgent need to resolve many problems that could be resolved by approving a new National Budget, or that could be resolved by the amendment of certain laws, whether this be on education, healthcare, the National Health System or related to the State Pact on Industry, which is something we addressed in the meeting with this group and with the industrial sector in our country.

Hence, what we want, and the aim of all these meetings we are holding with civil society and with the economic sector, is quite simple - to lay the foundations for a programme open to a progressive and common political proposal that the rest of the parliamentary formations willing to support my investiture can be put on the table. That is the goal, to create a progressive government that does not make the investiture or the governability of our country conditional upon the pro-independence forces, which is why I have asked for both the UP group for its support for this investiture, and the PP and C's to facilitate the formation of a government as soon as possible in our country by abstaining given that there is no alternative possible except the PSOE's Presidency of the Government of Spain.

In short, we are going to work over the next few weeks with this goal in mind, I will not lose hope, I will not throw in the towel, as I said on 25 July, I believe that the Spanish people don't deserve to have to go back to the polling stations, but to see responsible politicians in all the formations that try and offer what the people asked of us on 28 April, which is a progressive government that does not depend on the pro-independence forces, which is what I will be working on until the very last day of this deadline of 23 September, which, once expired, will lead us to fresh elections.

After this introduction, I will now take any questions.

Journalist: Hello and good afternoon, President of the Government. You have told us what you feel about the statements made here by the King about not holding fresh elections, but I wanted to ask you about these meetings you have had right up until this morning and that you will continue to hold with groups from civil society. There are those who interpret this as a form of pressure on your once preferred group for the investiture, which is UP, given that these are left-wing groups. I would like you to give your opinion of this idea and then, more directly, I would like to ask you whether when you meet with UP, which you would seem to have left till last - if you have any comment to make on this, I would also like you to do so - if you rule out any kind of new offer of a coalition government to Pablo Iglesias' party, with a vice-presidency of the government and three ministerial departments, or whether this train has already left for the purple group. Thank you very much.

President of the Government: Thank you Lucía for your questions. Let's see, I believe that there are two elements of consensus throughout Spanish society. The first is that Spanish society doesn't want to go back to the polling stations. On 26 May, Spanish society closed off a very intense political cycle with four election processes in less than 28 days. First we had the general elections on 28 April, then the European, municipal and regional elections on 26 May, and in these two election days what our citizens clearly said was that they wanted the PSOE to govern and that it could form a progressive government. In the regional governments, as has happened, for example, in the Balearic Islands or at a national level, you also have this progressive government. We have tried to do this, we have tried to explore this, even before the investiture, I feel the PSOE been quite clear with the steps it has taken, as have I; we went from a formula of a government of cooperation, which is how we described it, to a coalition government which was rejected by the party of Mr Iglesias, by UP in the investiture session, which is why we have no government at this time. Hence, it was UP that rejected this coalition government and I believe that needs to be made quite clear. Mr Iglesias used two arguments when asking for a coalition government. The first regarded his alleged mistrust of the PSOE in its government action. I must say that he said that he mistrusted the PSOE so many times that I ended up also mistrusting the positions of Mr Iglesias and of UP. Hence, this mistrust is reciprocal, particularly since this investiture attempt ended up failing on 26 July. And secondly, because when we spoke about a coalition government, it is clear that the PSOE and UP have two completely different visions about what this means.

From the perspective of the Socialist Party, we have proposed a formula of a plural government, whereas what Unidas Podemos has proposed has been a formula of two governments in one. I believe that a government must have a single leadership, it must be united and coherent in its lines of political action, and that, quite clearly, neither before the failed investiture, nor now, following the statements being made by the leaders of Unidas Podemos, can we see a rectification in its position; the mistrust remains present on their side and their approach as to a compartmentalised government remains prevalent over the format of a coalition, and hence I believe it is clear that we must seek out other formulas, which is precisely what I am doing at this time, because there are many formulas, not only the Danish or Portuguese formula, agreements on an investiture could also exist, as could agreements during a term of office. In short, there are many options on forms of understanding that could be reached between Unidas Podemos and the Socialist Party to form this progressive government.

I insist, I am not throwing in the towel, what I am doing is critically reviewing what happened in this latest investiture session, and hence I think the foundations must be laid at the level of the political programme, of the content, of the common progressive programme that is the very essence of this progressive government that we wish, as socialists, to set in motion, which is why I am talking with these groups. We are starting from scratch, and the Socialist Party is making various proposals to these groups, whilst also receiving their input, their opinions, their ideas to boost education, healthcare, industry, trade, tourism and the ecological transition, in short all those things that are pending as a result of this political stalemate.

Hence, this is the first of the consensuses on the part of our citizens, which is for there to be a progressive government headed up by the Socialist Party, and secondly, you have the social consensus as expressed the other day by the King, which is that Spanish society does not indeed want fresh elections, what Spanish society wants is to see their mandate of 28 April materialised, and that mandate is absolutely clear. The Spanish people want a progressive government that does not depend on the pro-independence forces, and that not only affects Unidas Podemos, it also affects Ciudadanos and the People's Party, and what they must do, since they know there is no alternative, is facilitate the formation of a government, rather than block it, as we are unfortunately seeing from the leaders of the two conservative formations.

Journalist.- Good afternoon, President of the Government, I wanted to ask you if you continue thinking, as you said back in 2016, that it was a mistake to think that only the most voted for party could govern, and I also wanted to ask you, since you are asking the People's Party and Ciudadanos to abstain, if now you repent of saying that "no means no".

President of the Government.- We should remember one thing, which I feel is important, which is that the Socialist Party has never shirked its responsibility. In 2016, the People's Party shirked its responsibility, because it declined the request made precisely by the Head of State to stand for the investiture, which forced the Socialist Party, and I myself, to taking on the responsibility that Mr Rajoy declined in that failed investiture of February 2016, so hence there are significant differences.

One is that the Socialist Party has always taken on its responsibilities, I took them on in 2016 when the People's Party said that it would not stand for the investiture because it knew it would not prosper, because it didn't have enough parliamentary support to succeed in its investiture, which I assumed personally, and which I have assumed again on 25 July. Hence, there are clearly significant differences in terms of the conduct from one side and another.

All I would ask from the People's Party is for it to assume its responsibility, which means abstaining, together with Ciudadanos, knowing that there is no alternative possible to the formation of a government by the Socialist Party, and knowing that what the Spanish people have said is that they want a progressive government that does not depend on the pro-independence forces, and hence precisely ensuing that it is not the pro-independence forces that guarantee the investiture of the President of the Government of Spain.

Journalist.- Good afternoon, President of the Government, I wanted to ask you two questions, each with two parts…

President of the Government:- So four questions then…(laughter)

Q.- Two half questions (laughter). On the one hand, the situation the regional governments are going through at this time is very complicated, because without a Budget for this year we continue with the Budget extended by [Mariano] Rajoy, and the problem the regional governments have right now is a huge budgetary gap, of 177 million euros in the case of the Balearic Islands, and hence I wanted to know whether this government proposes any measures to cover this debt of the regional governments.

And the related question is the following. We are currently drawing up the regional budgets for the year 2020, the regional governments are in the same situation, there is no National Budget, they don't know how much money they will receive in funding and hence they are preparing their own budgets in the dark, so I also wanted to know if you propose any type of specific measure or decree-law or any other measure - I don't know whether this can be done - so that the regional governments are at least aware of what fate awaits them when preparing their budgets. That is the two-part first question. My second two-part question is that I appreciate the impossibility of you repeating a pact (inaudible)… is solely attributable to the demands made by UP and hence I would like to know whether you will meet with JPC and ER in this new round of contacts.

President of the Government: Well, as regards your first two-part question, the answer is very simple: it can't be done. Furthermore, I believe that this is one of the justifications why the PP and C's are aware that there are many regional governments of these coalitions that they have made with the far-right, also with local councils that need certainty, foreseeability in terms of the deficit targets, the public debt targets, and also clearly in relation to revenue and public resources. Hence, what I have to say is that while we are a caretaker government and all the time there is no government with full powers, it is not legally possible to propose any formula for financing. However, what I can guarantee is the commitment of the Government of Spain, something I explicitly stated the other day precisely to the political forces in Valencia, not only to the President of the Regional Government of Valencia, Ximo Puig, but also to Compromis, which is that one of the main priorities of the Government of Spain will be to revamp the system of regional financing, and indeed of local financing.

And as regards your second question, I would say to you that the proposal is a progressive government that does not depend on the pro-independence forces, and hence, the party we will obviously talk with, as I or indeed we have always said, from a parliamentary perspective, let's say, the Spokesperson of the Socialist Parliamentary Group, Ms Lastra, performed this work of dialogue with the Catalan pro-independence political forces, with JpC, with others, while I focused, above all, on three national political forces which are the ones that truly hold the key to unblocking this stalemate at a parliamentary level, and, in this regard, that is who I need to speak with, which means Mr Iglesias, Mr Casado and I hope, on this occasion, Mr Rivera, if he deigns to speak with me. At any event, let me tell you that at this time I am not longer a candidate, my candidature lapsed as a result of the failed investiture on 26 July, and hence I do this more out of a sense of responsibility as Acting President of the Government and also as the leader of the largest political force in this country.

And I would stress that it is very important for us to call for responsibility from all the political parties; they should be aware that there is no alternative to a government headed up by the PSOE and that those political formations that are proposing other options are really only saying that they will not provide their support to or facilitate the investiture of a Socialist President of the Government or a progressive government. In this case, what they are clearly doing is leading the country to fresh elections on 10 November, and I believe that this is tremendously irresponsible and that it is important to call for generosity from these parliamentary forces so that between us all we can find a way to unblock this stalemate and get to work.

There was a clear mandate on 28 April, for Spain to push forwards, to make progress on social justice, to tackle many transformations, many reforms on education, at a labour and economic level, as regards the ecological transition, the reconstruction of rights, the extension of liberties, in short, all those issues that are pending and that affect the daily lives of our citizens, who do not understand that there are political parties that for one issue or another, and out of purely party interests that have no relationship whatsoever with the general interest, are blocking the only possible alternative to form a government, which is that of a progressive government headed up by the PSOE.

Thank you very much.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)

Non official translation