Spain's economy is getting better: PM

Guadarrama (Spain), July 8 (IANS/EFE) Spain's economy "is getting better" and the proposals of former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar to reduce taxes will be heeded, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Sunday.

Rajoy and Aznar were in the town of Guadarrama, near Madrid, to participate in the closure for the summer of the campus of the Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies, or FAES, affiliated with the governing Popular Party, or PP, and headed by Aznar.

The two politicians met briefly before the closing ceremony.

Rajoy emphasized the economic reforms his government is pursuing and said that "we cannot say, as in other times, that Spain is doing well, but Spain is getting better and the course (that's been) set is the correct one".

The Spanish economy "has turned the hourglass over" and is already "on the countdown toward recovery", Rajoy said.

The FAES published a report in which it urges "few taxes, low and simple ones" to allow Spain to return to creating jobs, and it went on about the idea expressed by Aznar that it is necessary to lower taxes in a time of crisis like the present one.

"We have received the foundation's proposal, and I'm absolutely convinced that the experts will pay attention to the plans they're making there," Rajoy said.

The Council of Ministers Friday approved the creation of the committee of experts to which Rajoy referred, who have until March 2014 to make proposals for the new tax system that the government is scheduled to approve next year.

Aznar criticized in a recent television interview the Rajoy government's austerity policies, demanding a tax cut to spur economic recovery and he suggested that he might return to politics, which caused a nationwide commotion.

--IANS/EFE

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