The President of the Government began his interview by acknowledging he had not foreseen the “magnitude” of the economic crisis, as could also be said for the majority of governments around the world.

Regarding the worst crisis in 80 years and whose greatest consequence has been the significant job losses, he said “I feel responsible for each and every one of the people who have lost their jobs”.

He explained to the three journalists who interviewed him at TVE that the Government has implemented 137 economic measures to help those people. He added that the effects would have been more negative had these measures not been implemented.

He underlined the significant social protection actions carried out by the Government through the extension of unemployment benefits, stating “we have tackled the crisis with greater social protection”.

He stated that Spain will return to growth at the end of this year and that jobs will start to be recovered from then on. He explained that this is the reason for his inter-party agreement proposal aimed at joining forces and inspiring confidence; something that is fundamental to any economy.

The President of the Government stated that the counter-crisis agreement proposal presented by the Government to the political parties “is a very serious matter” and added that “all political powers and the Government, of course, must make a point of listening to the proposals being put on the table by everyone rather than on discrediting them”.

VAT increase

Mr Rodríguez Zapatero announced that the taxes collected between July and the end of the year as a result of the VAT increase will finance unemployment benefits to 500,000 people.

He added that Spain has a tax burden of 30%, while the European average stands at 38% and Spain’s VAT rate is one of the three lowest in the European Union.

He defended the VAT increase on the grounds that it is the measure that does the least harm to consumption and the recovery of economic activity while also not damaging exports.

Unemployment among young people and retirement

As regards unemployment among young people, he said it is one of the problems that most concerns him.

He explained that many young people had abandoned their studies to work in the construction sector and that the collapse of that sector led them to unemployment.

Therefore, the measures proposed by the Government in terms of property renovation and Professional Training reforms are specifically designed for those people.

On the issue of making it easier and cheaper to dismiss workers, the President of the Government defended his Government by saying that “it is possible to make things easier for businesses in terms of recruitment without prejudicing workers”.

Regarding the delay of the retirement age, he stated that the Government has a “good track record” in terms of raising pensions. The intention of the proposal to delay the retirement age is to guarantee a dignified level of pensions in the future.

He said that pensions are guaranteed for the time being; there is an 8,000-million euro surplus and 62,000 million euros in the Social Security Reserve Fund, but we should start thinking now about ensuring dignified pensions twenty-five years down the line.

However, he reiterated that any reform to the pension system must be made with the highest possible degree of consensus.

Restructuring of the Government

The President of the Government clarified that there are no plans to make any changes within the Government because he is “pleased” with his Government team. He added that he recognised the merits of their having to work in “extremely difficult conditions” to combat the economic crisis.

Regarding the possible contradictions coming from his Government, Mr Rodríguez Zapatero explained that, with the implementation of 137 measures to combat the crisis, it is understandable that there may have been a somewhat insufficient explanation regarding several of them.

The fight against ETA

Mr Rodríguez Zapatero said that his “greatest aspiration” as President of the Government, as it is for all citizens, is to put a stop to ETA and see “the end of this blight on society”.
Furthermore, he highlighted that ETA is going through some of its worst times thanks to the work of judges, police officers and Guardia Civil officers, although it should be remembered that ETA could still strike at any moment.

The President of the Government specified that, over the course of the six years he has been in power, 831 ETA separatists and members of the ‘kale borroka’ have been arrested, 474 of these since the end of the ceasefire and 32 so far this year. Furthermore, the upper echelons of ETA have been dismantled five times.

In his opinion, “we can conclude that the peace process has done a great deal of harm to ETA and perpetrators of violence and has made democracy stronger”.

Regarding the Faisán case, the President of the Government called for trust in the ongoing investigations and respect for the work undertaken by the judges.

Other issues

Mr Rodríguez Zapatero stressed that the criticism from the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister, Ricardo Maduro, against the judge from the Audiencia Nacional [Spanish Central Criminal Court], Eloy Velasco, and against the former President of the Government, José María Aznar, is “unacceptable” to him.

He reminded his audience that this is not the first time he has defended the former President of the Government. He also pointed out that the Venezuelan Government has denied its possible involvement in the alleged links to ETA and the FARC and has expressed its rejection of ETA.

On the other hand, the President of the Government believes he has the “obligation and responsibility” to recognise the work of judge Baltasar Garzón on the fight against ETA, which, in his opinion, does not interfere at all with the cases that the magistrate may have pending at the Supreme Court.

On the law regarding the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, he said that his commitment is to “no woman suffering the complications of an abortion finding herself in jail”.

He described the comments from the Partido Popular as “hypocritical” as they governed for eight years with a law that gave no guarantees and added that the position maintained by this party on this issue is “ultra-conservative” and incompatible with those maintained by the centre-right governments of Europe.