Spanish prime minister is optimistic

MADRID, April 2 (UPI) -- Spanish Prime Minister Jose Lois Rodriguez Zapatero said the Spanish economy had turned a corner and would soon be adding jobs.

"We now have economic growth. The debt risk has stabilized and is out of danger. And now we are close to creating jobs," Zapatero said in an interview, The Guardian reported Saturday.

New jobs are a vital sign in any economy. In Spain, with the unemployment rate at 20 percent, investors are concerned that Spain will follow Portugal as one of the next two countries, after Greece and Ireland, to require an international bailout.

Zapatero said Spain had made growth-supporting budget cuts by maintaining spending on healthcare, education and unemployment.

"There is a deep, deep difference between what our government has done on education during the crisis and what (British Prime Minister David) Cameron's government has done," he said, referring to budget cuts in Britain.

"We haven't reduced spending on health. We've increased spending on unemployment. We've maintained spending on social care of the dependent. Why do we do it? To maintain social cohesion," said the socialist prime minister.

"No project can call itself left wing unless it commits to a competitive economy … we are going to renew Spain's economic structure," he said.