Spain's prime minister breaks election pledge

The new Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has announced an income tax increase, breaking an election pledge. The left-liberal daily El País criticises the move, saying Rajoy deliberately lied in the election campaign: "It took six years for José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to make a U-turn and do the opposite of what he had always promised. With Mariano Rajoy it took just six days. But the reasons for the so differently presented changes of heart are the same in both cases: the markets and Europe. The prime minister has learned a lot from the mistakes that led to his predecessor's downfall. Rajoy has decided to contradict himself and break his promise of not raising taxes after having realised that not to do so could have grave consequences for Spain's sovereign debt. ... And this is just the first in a long series of bad news. News that he didn't want to break to the country either during the election campaign or in his inaugural address. Now the moment of truth has come."

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