Over five thousand people marched through the streets of Madrid on Sunday (April 15) to protest against the government s pledge to implement extra savings of 10 billion euros ($13 billion) in health and education costs earlier this week, as Spain was sucked back into the centre of the euro zone s financial storm. Spain s regions – which control their own health and education budgets – are expected to cut spending by 15 billion euros in 2012 to help the country cut its budget deficit to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year from 8.5 percent in 2011. No details were given, however, on how the new savings will be implemented. Last month, the government said it had reached agreement from most of the regions to comply with harsh cost-cutting measures, but several of them including heavyweight Catalonia and populous Andalusia said the burden was unfair. In the streets of Madrid, demonstrators protested against the cuts and for preserving basic public services. "I m here to protect my son s health and education, it s basic for any society to cover those needs – education and public health," said a man called Elias. "I m a family doctor, I ve just been made unemployed. So if health management is done badly, it has repercussions on workers and the users of the health service, because the fact that I don t have a job means there are the same number of patients for fewer doctors, which means overstretching and less quality in service, so it s bad and I m mad," said Rocio, a doctor who recently lost her job. For Manuel Fernandez, the cuts threaten achievements won over decades. "For the working classes this means the destruction of all the rights acquired over the last 40 to 50 years. It s going to come in chapters, one day one thing, the next another and the next another." The regions account for close to half of all public spending in Spain and most of them greatly overspent last year. New slippage in their finances could unnerve investors further. After a period of relative calm, financial markets are again starting to fear that the sovereign debt crisis which began in Greece more than two years ago could engulf the far bigger economies of Spain and Italy.
Mfarhanonline News
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