Spanish president attends the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington<\/p>\n
At yesterday\u2019s meeting of the Fellowship Foundation, also known as \u2018The Family\u2019, the Spanish president, Jos\u00e9 Luis Rodr\u00edguez Zapatero, spoke at about the government\u2019s commitment to helping the unemployed. During his speech, which lasted for 15 minutes, he also spoke about his government\u2019s commitment to the \u2018Alliance of Civilizations\u2019 and quoted a passage from the bible. In addition he called for solidarity with the victims of the earthquake in Haiti and championed freedom and tolerance. <\/p>\n
The Foundation consists mostly of representatives of America\u2019s political class. This year the US president, Barack Obama, invited Zapatero to speak at the \u2018National Prayer Breakfast\u2019 at which around 3,500 people were present. <\/p>\n
Zapatero was unable to speak to Obama before the meeting due to the US president\u2019s delayed arrival but Obama did greet the Spanish president warmly and sat just two seats away from him. During Obama\u2019s speech to the foundation he referred to Zapatero as his \u2018dear friend\u2019 and recognised Spain\u2019s contribution to helping US forces in various missions around the world. At the end of the meeting Obama exchanged a few words with Zapatero. According to a spokesperson for the White House he expressed his desire to carry on developing good relations between Spain and the US. <\/p>\n
Zapatero began his speech to the foundation by thanking those present for allowing him to speak in Spanish. He also highlighted the \u2018admirable conquests\u2019 on the subject of advances in freedom and plurality in the US. He said that \u2018both our countries owe much to those who come from other countries without whom we would not be who we are\u2019. He also called for solidarity with those who were unable to come as well as the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. <\/p>\n
The Spanish president also insisted that the most pressing issue for governments was \u2018creating employment\u2019. But he also said that these jobs should guarantee the rights of workers. To illustrate his point he read chapter 24 from the book of Deuteronomy. \u00abDo not exploit the poor needy labourer as he is one of your fellow men or a foreigner that lives in one of the cities in your country. Pay the labourer before the sun sets because he is needed and your life depends on his day\u2019s work\u00bb
Zapatero also spoke of the Rights of each person to \u2018moral autonomy\u2019 and \u2018to live with a person they loved\u2019 which he also linked to the issue of freedom and tolerance. He said that \u2018it is freedom which makes us people and citizens and which allows us to look to the future and know the truth\u2019. He also said that hate bred ignorance and intolerance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Spanish president attends the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington At yesterday\u2019s meeting of the Fellowship Foundation, also known as \u2018The Family\u2019, the Spanish president, Jos\u00e9 Luis Rodr\u00edguez Zapatero, spoke at about the government\u2019s commitment to helping the unemployed. During his speech, which lasted for 15 minutes, he also spoke about his government\u2019s commitment to the \u2018Alliance of Civilizations\u2019 and quoted a passage from the bible. In addition he called for solidarity with the victims of the earthquake in Haiti and championed freedom and tolerance. The Foundation consists mostly of representatives of America\u2019s political class. This year the US president, Barack <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sin-categoria"],"yoast_head":"\n