Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Spain's Rajoy sworn in as Prime Minister

Mariano Rajoy was sworn in as Spain's new prime minister today and was due to name a team which will need to strike a balance between reviving the stagnant economy and cutting the public deficit.

Rajoy has given no clues about his cabinet line-up since his centre-right People's Party (PP) won an election in November boosted by anger over the Socialist government's handling of the debt crisis.

He won a vote of confidence in parliament on Tuesday, the last step in the handover process before King Juan Carlos swore him in on Wednesday.

He will announce his cabinet at an event scheduled for 1830 GMT, the new government said today.

On Monday, Rajoy promised deep spending cuts at all levels of government to cut the deficit. But with unemployment running at 21.5%, he also offered tax breaks for companies in a bid to stimulate an economy which many analysts estimate has already entered recession.

Spain has the fourth-largest economy in the 17 countries which share the euro currency, and is at the centre of the bloc's debt crisis on concerns its economy is too big to be bailed out with a Greek-style aid package.