Madrid: Spain has approved a plan to
raise the retirement age by two years to 67 for most workers,
a key structural reform aimed at reassuring markets fretting
over the country's finances.
The latest bitter medicine for a once-booming
country now struggling to crawl out of recession got the green
light today at a Cabinet meeting.
The proposal is backed by labour unions, which is a
victory for Spain's Socialist government. The government is
ruling over a struggling economy with a jobless rate of 20.3
per cent and trailing conservatives badly in the polls with
general elections just over a year away.
The reform still needs approval by Parliament,
although Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's
Socialists have lined up support up from small regional
parties to pass the measure.
PTI
First Published: Friday, January 28, 2011, 23:12