Spain committed to austerity

Prime minister says country will survive spending cuts, tax hikes.

MADRID —

Spain will stick to harsh austerity measures until it emerges from financial crisis, the prime minister said Saturday, promising that the country would survive the present economic turmoil.

Mariano Rajoy acknowledged that the country is experiencing turbulence, but said “we are not at the edge of a precipice, we will not sink.”

The government has “the will to persevere in this line for as long as is necessary,” he said.

Spain, where unemployment stands at a eurozone high of 24.4 percent, has imposed spending cuts and tax hikes to escape a crisis many fear could eventually swallow other countries using the euro.

Rajoy said Saturday that he supported the creation of a single European fiscal authority to uphold the credibility of the euro, and acknowledged that for this to happen it would be necessary for member states to “surrender more of their fiscal autonomy.”

He said that while it was possible Spain could have lived beyond its means, it was also true that those who are now criticizing Spain — a reference to Germany — had also lent it money at very cheap rates.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has long maintained that austerity is the most important step toward easing the eurozone debt crisis, however, the leaders of some of those countries hardest hit — faced with anti-austerity demonstrations that have at times turned violent — have also called for steps to be taken to try and boost employment.

Newly elected French president Francois Hollande has also warned against too much of the belt-tightening that Merkel advocates for fear it could unleash political chaos.