Spain: ‘The government opens talks on flexibility for regional deficits’

Finance Minister Luis de Guindos has indicated that he may be willing to review deficit targets for Spain’s regions, if the European Commission will consent to lower deficit targets for the Spanish state in 2013.

A more attainable deficit target is one of the “key demands” of the Catalan regional government, notes the Barcelona daily. De Guindos was speaking on the occasion of a Madrid meeting with EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn. For his part, Rehn insisted on the need to persevere with reforms to fight unemployment, which now affects 26 per cent of Spain’s working population.