Mariano Rajoy, leader of Spain's right-wing People's Party and caretaker prime minister, promised more cuts and more austerity should his party win the June 26 general elections. His statements sharply contradict promises he made in the past when he pledged to end austerity.
Rajoy made the commitment in a letter addressed to Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission in Brussels.
“In the second half of the year, once there is new government, we are ready to adopt new measures,” read the May 5 letter leaked by Spanish newspaper El Pais.
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In his letter Rajoy, boasts about his “determined structural reform agenda” and in particular the rollback of labor rights passed by his government in 2012.
Spain is in the midst of an election campaign after an inconclusive December election failed to deliver a mandate to govern to any one party.
The language used by Rajoy in his letter stands in stark contrast to his commitments on the campaign trail, where he has said that Spainiards will no longer need to endure more austerity.
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This fact was not lost on Iñigo Errejon, a lawmaker from the anti-austerity Podemos Party.
“Rajoy says in Spain that there will be no more cuts and in a letter to Brussels promises more cuts if he wins,” said Errejon on his Twitter account.
Podemos, together with the United Left, is now polling in second place, outpacing the Socialists for the first time in this campaign.
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