Protests Mount in Spain Over Budget Cuts
Spaniards are holding protests in Madrid against 37 billion in euros worth of proposed budget cuts. The rollbacks are intended to address Spain’s ailing economy, which has just slipped back into a recession and suffered a debt downgrade by Standard & Poor’s.
However, among the sectors targeted for cuts are education and healthcare – deemed by many to be too important to sacrifice. Cayo Lara, leader of the United Left opposition party, says there are better solutions than cutting social services:
“We will continue to protest in the streets to vindicate the essential public services – health, education, social services. And we’ll keep telling the government that there is an alternative to making cuts in order to solve the deficit and the alternative is to increase revenues.”
One of the protestors in Madrid expresses agreement with Lara, saying:
“We are protesting against the cuts in health, education and others because we see a plan to destroy the entire state of well-being.”
Related Topics: Economy and Politics
