FRANKFURT (MNI) – The Eurozone needs better coordination of
economic policies and structural reforms so as to ensure fiscal
discipline, Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero wrote in
a guest column in Germany’s daily Handelsblatt on Wednesday.

“The stability of the Eurozone is fundamental for all countries
that belong to it, not only for Greece. That is why it is so important
that we as member states strengthen fiscal discipline and guarantee a
stricter compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact,” Zapatero said.

“So as to ensure higher budget discipline, it is important to
better align our economic policies and to implement in a coordinated
manner structural reforms that will allow us to create a new growth
model,” he added.

His own country is in the position of contributing to the stability
of the Eurozone, having committed to balancing its budget by 2013,
Zapatero said. “Spain has proven in the past that it is capable of
consolidating,” he asserted.

A return to growth will help the country in its consolidation
effort. It is “on the verge of an upswing,” Zapatero said.

Over the medium-term, Zapatero said he is confident that structural
reforms and demographic developments will allow Spain to return to
growth potential above the Eurozone’s average.

–Frankfurt bureau; +49-69-720142; jtreeck@marketnews.com

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