The Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, took a surprising twist to his economic policy last week with the announcement of new measures taken by his cabinet to tackle the crisis. In them, he sacrifices much of its fundamental principles in defense of maintaining social benefits. The drastic reduction of the deficit which required the European Union has forced the government to lower public wages unprecedented in the history of Spain, to the elimination of check- baby to cut by 6,000 million in state investment and 600 million euros in development aid, to freeze Most pensions in 2011 and reduced spending on the implementation of the Law Unit .
During his detailed statement, Zapatero did not find a single clear parliamentary ally. The reactions were swift. At the same hearing, the Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy, said the ads with a tough speech in which he made clear he would not support the most unpopular measures, particularly the freezing of pensions. For its part, the unions prepared protest actions and seem willing to go out for the first time since the ZP is president . UGT has called a general strike in the public sector for June 2 in protest against the reduction of 5% of salary for civil servants. This action has added CCOO, UGT continue to support. Leaders of trade unions, Candido Mendez and Ignacio Fernández Toxo, and have come together to form a calendar of events. The first will be this May 20, convened by CC.OO.
other political parties, CiU only seems willing to support steps taken by the Government. The spokesman for the Catalan parliament, Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, appealed to the coherence of the members of Congress to lower their wages. Were much more critical from the United Left, PNV, BNG or ERC. The harshest words came from the leader of IU, Cayo Lara, who said the government has crossed the "red line" and branded the measures "unbecoming a socialist government."
Meanwhile, organizations like the Family Forum and the English Federation of Large Families (Fefnir), also have demonstrated against government measures, especially the abolition of baby check, as they claim shows that Zapatero sees children as "a luxury tax." The NGO, Oxfam Intermón-joined the lament generated by the government's decision, believing that those most affected are the poorest, who in turn, are those who have done least to aggravate the global economic crisis.
However, not all positions facing this new package. The European Union and the International Monetary Front (IMF) have shown their support for the decision English Government, and which has long sought measures to eliminate the deficit . EU Vice President, Joaquin Almunia, described them as "logical" and "strictly necessary to stop the pressure exerted on the English debt market."
From the financial and corporate sector have also congratulated the Government for this decision-making. The Bank of Spain, Banco Santander and BBVA alike say that although the measures did not like society, are necessary and positive to get out of recession . Finally, the president of the Confederation English Employers (CEOE), Gerardo Diaz Ferran, was pleased that the Government has listened to their proposals, but regretted the time lost by the team of Zapatero.
Only time will tell if this new plan shock settles in a positive way or not. For the moment, has placed up to tough decisions taken by other European governments, such as Greece, Portugal, France, Ireland and the UK. Germany is waiting to finalize the last details of his plan. The only country that stands still is Italy, although the European Union has already asked to move tab.
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