Spain launches €65bn cuts package
Spain has announced a €65bn austerity package that includes tax rises and spending cuts a day after it won approval from its euro partners for a huge bailout of the country’s stricken banks.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told Parliament the country’s future was at stake as Spain grapples with recession, a bloated deficit and investor wariness of its sovereign debt.
He said the €65bn in savings will be achieved by 2015 by a rise in sales taxes and a series of spending cuts.
The announcement came as thousands of Spanish coal miners fearing for their livelihood because of huge cuts in subsidies set off fireworks as they marched up Madrid’s main avenue to protest outside the Industry Ministry.
The miners walked with relatives and sympathisers in the procession under a hot sun, and wore hardhats and carried walking sticks. The fireworks generated big puffs of smoke.
Some of the miners walked 18 days from northern and eastern mining regions to take part in the rally.
They were received as heroes in a march last night to Puerta del Sol, one of the city’s main plazas.
They are protesting a 63% cut in subsidies to mining companies as part of austerity measures.
