2015 is the year Spain will ‘take off’, says Rajoy

PRIME Minister Mariano Rajoy has claimed that 2015 will be ‘the year when our economy really takes off’.

The PP leader insists that 2014’s year of recovery is due to his government’s tough austerity measures, including severe budget cuts, in his televised end-of-year address.

Now his priority for the new year – the last of his current term in office – is to ‘recover the standard of living for Spaniards that was lost during the crisis’.

He added: “A year ago I predicted that 2014 would be better, and that expectation has been exceeded.
“Now is the time to overcome the effects of the crisis.”

PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez, however, insisted in his own end-of-year news conference that the crisis is not yet over for ordinary Spaniards.

“It is indecent and unjust for a government to declare an end to the crisis while it continues to cut education and public healthcare,” he said.

“Until we recover the levels of unemployment and social protection we had prior to the crisis, I ask Mr Rajoy not to use the word recovery in vain.”