One year on

摘要

He had hoped to dig Spain out of its hole without raising taxes, cutting services or hurting pensioners. But 12 months after he became prirne minister, Mariano Rajoy has broken all of these pledges. Spain has more unemployed, more debt and a deeper recession. "For many it has been a year of pain and suffering," he has admitted. Yet it could have been even worse. Spain's public finances have not collapsed. Nor has the euro. Both seemed possible when Mr Rajoy took power. And during 2012 the budget deficit has shrunk by almost 2% of gdp, says Jose Ignacio Conde-Ruiz of Madrid's Complutense university.