Quotes from Mariano Rajoy

I am in favor of reducing all budget items. But the item I don't want to reduce is the pension expenditure because it affects the weakest part of society.

The main target for the next years should be growth and job creation.

We have to change economic policy: create confidence, foster investment, cut the public deficit, restructure taxation and reform the labor laws.

Europe must dissipate any doubts over the euro, affirm that the euro is an irreversible project and act in consequence.

There won't be any miracles. We never promised any. But as we have said before, when things are done properly, the results come in.

The worst thing a government can do now in Spain is to do nothing.

There are countries that are near ours which are in the situation which we all know. I want to say that this is not the case of Spain now and it will not be in the future.

It is no secret to anyone that we are going to rule in the most delicate circumstances Spain has faced in 30 years.

Spain is facing an economic situation of extreme difficulty, I repeat, of extreme difficulty, and anyone who doesn't understand that is fooling themselves.

For me, there will be no enemies but unemployment, the deficit, excessive debt, economic stagnation and anything else that keeps our country in these critical circumstances.

We all have our problems and we are working to find a solution to ours and also to help the eurozone. We expect that other countries should do the same, that they be prudent in their statements.

Spain is finding it very difficult to finance itself with sovereign debt risk premium so high.