Remarks by President Biden and King Felipe VI of the Kingdom of Spain Before Bilateral Meeting | Madrid, Spain

Palace of Moncloa
Madrid, Spain

6:02 P.M. CEST

KING FELIPE VI:  Mr. President, welcome.  Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. 

(Speaks Spanish.)  (No translation provided.) 

Mr. President, as I said earlier on when I welcomed you at the Torrejón Air Force Base, it is truly a wel- — a pleasure to welcome you to Spain, to our nation’s capital, Madrid. 

We’ve had the opportunity actually to meet on previous occasions, in our previous capacities as well.

PRESIDENT BIDEN:  (Laughs.)

KING FELIPE VI:  And I always treasure those opportunities in my memory.  And we’ve had chances to talk about things in the past, and I really look forward to that on this occasion as well. 

The Kingdom of Spain and the United States of America share profound historical and cultural ties — we all know that inside out — and we’re very proud of them.

But more importantly, we share common values and principles that are, today, the foundation of a rich and wide-ranging relationship and a sincere friendship which we highly value and which we want to continue strengthening every day. 

President Biden and his delegation, with Secretary Blinken ahead of it — to which will also extend a warm welcome — are visiting us to attend a very important NATO Summit here in Madrid.  This is without — without a doubt an especially relevant summit, one in which the Allied countries must continue to show unity and determination to defend our freedom and our democratic values. 

Mr. President, Queen Letizia and I, our government, the Spanish people are all delighted to have you here with us, together with your delegation and together with your wife, the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden.  And we wish you a very happy, albeit short, stay in Madrid. 

Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT BIDEN:  Thank you very much.  Well, thank you your Majesty.  There’s an old expression in a little town in Delaware called Claymont, Delaware, a little steel town.  And they say, “We’re like poor relatives.  We show up when we’re invited and we stay longer than we should.”  So, be careful.  We may not go back. 

KING FELIPE VI:  (Laughs.) 

PRESIDENT BIDEN:  This is my second opportunity to be in this magnificent facility.  And it’s — the royal palace is just incredible.

And notwithstanding the magni- — the majesty of this palace, we do have — share the same values.  As a matter of fact, some suggest we wouldn’t be an independent country were not for you guys some years ago.  And — but I’ve travelled to Madrid as Vice President.  And, quite frankly, it’s wonderful to return here again to discuss the consequences of what particularly is happening today in the world. 

This is — we’re at a moment of historical — an inflection point in American — in world history.  Things are changing.  They’re changing drastically not only in terms of the politics of the world, but everything from pandemic diseases to dealing with — dealing with everything from climate change. 

And so, I want to thank you for hosting this NATO meeting because it’s been 40 years — 40 years now you’ve all been members of NATO.  And we’re all better off for it.  All of us. 

And today, NATO is united and as united and galvanized as, I believe, it’s ever been.  And we’re ready to face the threats of Russian aggression because, quite frankly, there’s no choice.  It’s been a — the most significant abuse of power since World War Two and an invasion of that many people under another country in Europe.  Some people thought that was not likely to happen again, but it did. 

But we responded.  We responded in unison.  And when we agreed we were going to respond, we acknowledged there was going to be some costs to our people.  They were going to — in us im- — our imposition of sanctions on Russia. 

But our people have stood together.  They stood up and they’ve stood strong.  And, you know, as I told President Sánchez, who I met with a moment ago, that — I want to thank you, your Highness, for — for the support of the Spanish people — and not only as it relates to what is going on in Europe and — but what’s happening in North Africa, as well as Latin America.  The help and support and the — the input has been extremely valuable. 

You know, I tell people that the idea — we’ve always — we’ve had great migration flows into the United States over the years.  We’re — we’re a nation of immigrants.  But an interesting statistic, your Highness, that — I think it’s 24 out of every 100 students in grade 1 through 12 in America speaks Spanish — speaks Spanish as their original language. 

And so, the future of my country depends considerably on the assimilation of a population that is going to have all the same values that we possess and have. 

And your help in Latin America is also extremely important and I look forward to — from here to — and Europe to Latin America to — to the Caribbean to Africa.  The partnership between our countries is going to determine a good large part how well things look 10 years from now and 15 years from now.

So we have to stay together.  The — the unity is important.  And I think we’re off to a very, very good start demonstrating the power of democracies in the second quarter of the 21st century, because there is — there is a contest between autocracies and democracies, and we have to succeed.  And I’m confident we will with your help.  Thank you.

6:09 P.M. CEST