Spain: bank bail-out could cost $125 billions

		Sunday, June 10, 2012 Today's Top Stories
Europe bailout of Spain could cost $125 billion Europe is to offer Spain a bailout package of up to €100 billion ($125 billion) to help rescue the country's banks and keep the 17-country eurozone from breaking apart.

Spain: In Barcelona, Austerity With an Iron Fist

Peter Gelderloos, Truthout: "Criminalizing public meetings, expanding police powers and weaponry, and applying anti-terrorist measures to street protests: it sounds like Spain in the Franco years, but all of these measures have been proposed in Spain in just the last couple of weeks. Far from being a throwback to the years of dictatorship, these repressive developments go hand in hand with the current economic crisis. Considering the connection between the 15M plaza occupation movement and the subsequent Occupy movement that spread to several countries around the globe, between the March 29th general strike in Spain and the upcoming May 1st general strike called in the United States, between the brutal austerity measures implemented already a year or two ago by the government in Madrid and the increasing signs of shakiness from more stable EU countries such as France, Spain is, if anything, ahead of the curve."
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Spain: Austerity Until the Pips Squeak

Spain's New Budget: 'As Austere As It Gets'

Budget is most austere in Spain's democratic history

- Common Dreams staff

Spain has unveiled its most austere budget in democratic history today in the wake of massive protests.
The government's budget calls for cuts of 27 billion euros ($35 billion). It cuts central government spending by almost 17% and freezes civil servant wages while requiring them to work an additional 10 hours per month. Another cut hitting households is an 7%-increase in domestic electric prices and 5%-increase on gas.Protesters in Madrid during yesterday's general strike (photo: Jesús Pérez Pacheco)
The austerity has been greatly resisted by the population. Yesterday Spaniards flooded the streets in a general strike to oppose the government's austerity push and labor reforms, which many believe would exacerbate the unemployment levels already the highest in the EU at 23.3%. Spaniards under 25 face an unemployment rate of 49.9%

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El País: Government announces biggest spending cuts of the democratic era

The Cabinet on Friday approved 27 billion euros of savings for the rest of the year, the biggest spending adjustment seen in Spain’s modern democracy.
Speaking after a meeting of the Cabinet, Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro described the country’s finances as “critical,” and reiterated that the government’s goal is to bring down the deficit by the end of the year from the current 8.51 percent of GDP to 5.3 percent, in line with Brussels’ demands. [...]
The government plans drastic spending cuts in all the ministries with an average reduction of 16.9 percent of spending – two percentage points higher than the figure Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced on Tuesday. The biggest cuts will be made in overseas aid through international cooperation and development programs, with 594 million euros of cuts.

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The Daily Mail: 'As austere as it gets': Spain announces deep cuts to government budget a day after violence erupts on streets during strike
The government, which swept to power in November with the largest Parliamentary majority in 30 years, has already passed labour market and banking sector reforms to improve competitiveness and reduce wage costs.
Brussels has agreed to let Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy aim for a 2012 deficit equal to 5.3 per cent of gross domestic product, a less demanding goal than the original 4.4 per cent but a substantial improvement on last year's 8.5 per cent. [...]
'This is as austere as it gets. It's a tightening of fiscal policy until the pips squeak. There can be no doubting the government's willingness to curb Spain's excessive budget deficits,' said Nicholas Spiro at Spiro Sovereign Strategy.