Spain’s Leader Rejects Tough Bailout Terms
Spain’s leader, Mariano Rajoy, has said he will not agree to harsh bailout terms for funds. That promise, coupled with Rajoy’s elusiveness over whether Spain will seek a bailout, may send nervous shivers through Europe.
Spain’s Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, on Monday ruled out European bailout conditions that dictate public spending reductions and entail pensions cuts in his country.
“I could not accept that they tell us which are the concrete policies in which we have to cut or not cut,” Spain’s new leader said in his first televised interview since coming to office in December.
If there is one area I won’t touch it is pensions,” he said. Rajoy referred to Spain’s pensioners as the “defenseless” and pledged to maintain pensions in next year’s budget.
“We are not going to touch VAT any more,” the 57-year-old statesman also said. Rajoy had been compelled to increase the top rate by three percent to 21 percent as part of measures to tackle Spain’s public deficit.