Spain to go on with spending cuts

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=127529§ionid=351020606



Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has promised to press ahead with spending cuts despite threats of a general strike by the country's labor unions.

"I know there are protests by those who do not share them (government views), like the unions, but we will not change," Zapatero told a meeting of 2,000 socialist mayors in the southeastern Spanish city of Elche on Sunday.

The Spanish cabinet approved a two-year, 15 billion euro austerity plan earlier on Thursday.

The prime minister said his economic plans were necessary to slash the public deficit. Spain's budget deficit stood at 11.2 percent of the gross domestic product last year.

The plan includes a freeze on state pensions and a cut in civil servants' salaries.

It comes on top of a 50 billion euro austerity package announced in January.

Unions representing public sector workers say they will strike on June 8th in protest.