Spain's Economics minister Luis de Guindos noted over the weekend that the European Union might be willing to ease the country's deficit reduction target for 2012 from the current 6.3% of GDP (gross domestic product). "We'll have to wait and see what Brussels does but I wouldn't rule out them giving us more time," De Guindos said.

In any case, the Spanish public servant added that the 2012 deficit numbers would be a positive factor in the country´s efforts to regain confidence and mark "an important step in the economic recovery."

However, Spanish online financial news website El Economista reported over the weekend that Madrid would be using a series of "accounting tricks" in order to present a deficit figure for last year that would come in under 7% and be acceptable to Brussels. The Spanish government would bring forward tax payments and delay recognizing some payments on the books, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy became the first leader in the country's history to make public his own private tax filings. Against the backdrop of a sea-storm of allegations which has increasingly been battering Rajoy's Partido Popular (PP) party, the leader of Spain´s main centre-right party published the above data, going back for an entire decade, in an attempt to provide more transparency and restore confidence.

Despite the move, opposition parties insist that many questions remain unanswered and that any illegal payments would not be included in tax returns. Support for the PP has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years, according to a report published yesterday by Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

JM

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