Spanish Business News

MADRID (Dow Jones)--As neighboring Portugal seems to move inexorably toward requesting a bailout, Spain will present a series of new economic reforms at a meeting of European Union leaders Thursday and Friday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Madrid, Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgado said it was too soon to assess the economic impact of the resignation of Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates.

The increased political uncertainty is widely expected to push the fiscally frail country into seeking an international bailout and raise questions over whether Spain, which is grappling with some of the same problems, will be forced to do the same.

Salgado added: "We have to continue to meet our commitments, strengthening our economy."

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will present his peers with details of "around a dozen" new measures to overhaul the Spanish economy, his economic adviser Javier Valles said late Wednesday. Valles said the measures would touch on areas identified as priorities for euro-zone countries at a meeting of E.U. leaders earlier this month: competitiveness, budget controls, employment and financial stability.

In recent weeks, the government has been focusing its efforts on pushing unions and employers along in their efforts to overhaul a collective wage bargaining system that makes it easier to fire workers in a downturn than to adjust their wages. After a meeting with Zapatero Wednesday, union leaders said they hope to reach an agreement by mid-April.

At 20% and rising, Spain's unemployment rate is by far the highest in the euro zone.

Government officials have also said they want to reinforce budget controls over the regional governments that control over 30% of spending in highly decentralized Spain.

Source: Wall Street Journal