Canarian Weekly
01-03-2013, 12:50
THE Spanish Prime Minister has reiterated that 2013 will be the last year of recession and that the situation will begin to improve in the second half of the year, which “will have a positive effect on unemployment”.
Mariano Rajoy said we should not so much focus on the forecasts, which depend on numerous factors, but rather on “maintaining an economic policy, fiscal consolidation, structural reforms and continuing with the reform of the banking sector, because that will put us in a position to grow and create jobs”.
In response to a question by the spokesperson for the Socialist Group (Grupo Socialista), Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the President of the Government recalled that, “as the situation stands today, the forecast from the Government of Spain that 2013 will be the last year of recession, that the situation will begin to improve in the second half of the year and that this will have a positive effect on unemployment”.
The most important issue in the opinion of the President of the Government is to implement an economic policy capable of producing growth and jobs, and that “this is what we are doing and what we will continue to do”. Furthermore, he emphasised the need to continue cleaning up the financial sector. He said this is “highly important for the availability of credit and therefore investment in employment”. He added that “clear improvement has been already made to competitiveness, as can be seen from the balance of payments”.
In his opinion, the most positive result is that “this year’s public deficit will stand, and this is the figure we will send to the European Commission, at 6.7% in the end”. The President of the Government believes that this is the result of “an enormous effort by Spanish society as a whole because it also means 3.5% in structural terms”, something that no OECD country has ever done before, he said.
Mariano Rajoy said that all this means that “confidence inSpainis growing” and that the Government of Spain is stronger in its conviction that its economic policy is the right policy, even though the results have not become clear yet.
In response to a question from the Member of the Lower House of Parliament for Convergència i Unió (CiU) [Catalan Nationalist Party], Pere Macías, the President of the Government said that the recent State of the Nation Debate was useful for the Government of Spain “to set future targets and announce new measures that will help achieve those targets, the most important of which are economic growth and job creation”.
In order to meet these targets, Mariano Rajoy expressed his willingness to speak with all the parliamentary groups in the Lower House. He admitted that the majority held by the Partido Popular (PP) [People's Party] “is a highly significant political asset” but that he is willing to speak with all parliamentary groups about any proposal they may have.
Mikel Erredondo, from Amaiur, asked the President of the Government whether he is willing to join the efforts for peace being undertaken in the Basque Country. Mariano Rajoy replied that “if, when you say ‘peace’, you mean the complete disappearance of all terrorist groups, the condemnation of their crimes, the laying down of their weapons, the payment of their dues to Justice and apologies to the victims of their actions and society as a whole, I can assure you that I have always been fully committed to that effort”.
The President of the Government added that he cannot accept any proposal “that disregards the law or that is based on the false assumption that ETA is or ever was justifiable in any way. Neither can I accept any proposal that supposes we must pay an additional price for ETA to disband or any proposal that proclaims we have all made mistakes”.
Mariano Rajoy concluded by insisting that “nobody is indebted to ETA, the only solution is for ETA to disband”
More... (http://www.canarianweekly.com/positive-year/)
Mariano Rajoy said we should not so much focus on the forecasts, which depend on numerous factors, but rather on “maintaining an economic policy, fiscal consolidation, structural reforms and continuing with the reform of the banking sector, because that will put us in a position to grow and create jobs”.
In response to a question by the spokesperson for the Socialist Group (Grupo Socialista), Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the President of the Government recalled that, “as the situation stands today, the forecast from the Government of Spain that 2013 will be the last year of recession, that the situation will begin to improve in the second half of the year and that this will have a positive effect on unemployment”.
The most important issue in the opinion of the President of the Government is to implement an economic policy capable of producing growth and jobs, and that “this is what we are doing and what we will continue to do”. Furthermore, he emphasised the need to continue cleaning up the financial sector. He said this is “highly important for the availability of credit and therefore investment in employment”. He added that “clear improvement has been already made to competitiveness, as can be seen from the balance of payments”.
In his opinion, the most positive result is that “this year’s public deficit will stand, and this is the figure we will send to the European Commission, at 6.7% in the end”. The President of the Government believes that this is the result of “an enormous effort by Spanish society as a whole because it also means 3.5% in structural terms”, something that no OECD country has ever done before, he said.
Mariano Rajoy said that all this means that “confidence inSpainis growing” and that the Government of Spain is stronger in its conviction that its economic policy is the right policy, even though the results have not become clear yet.
In response to a question from the Member of the Lower House of Parliament for Convergència i Unió (CiU) [Catalan Nationalist Party], Pere Macías, the President of the Government said that the recent State of the Nation Debate was useful for the Government of Spain “to set future targets and announce new measures that will help achieve those targets, the most important of which are economic growth and job creation”.
In order to meet these targets, Mariano Rajoy expressed his willingness to speak with all the parliamentary groups in the Lower House. He admitted that the majority held by the Partido Popular (PP) [People's Party] “is a highly significant political asset” but that he is willing to speak with all parliamentary groups about any proposal they may have.
Mikel Erredondo, from Amaiur, asked the President of the Government whether he is willing to join the efforts for peace being undertaken in the Basque Country. Mariano Rajoy replied that “if, when you say ‘peace’, you mean the complete disappearance of all terrorist groups, the condemnation of their crimes, the laying down of their weapons, the payment of their dues to Justice and apologies to the victims of their actions and society as a whole, I can assure you that I have always been fully committed to that effort”.
The President of the Government added that he cannot accept any proposal “that disregards the law or that is based on the false assumption that ETA is or ever was justifiable in any way. Neither can I accept any proposal that supposes we must pay an additional price for ETA to disband or any proposal that proclaims we have all made mistakes”.
Mariano Rajoy concluded by insisting that “nobody is indebted to ETA, the only solution is for ETA to disband”
More... (http://www.canarianweekly.com/positive-year/)