Prime Minister Zapatero sacrifices religious reforms for alliance
Plans to reform Religious Freedom Law abandoned in order to appease parliamentary partners
Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has gone back on his plans to reform the Religious Freedom Law in order to appease his parliamentary partners the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Canaries Coalition (CC), who did not support it.
"There is no political or social consensus," Zapatero told lawmakers in Congress on Wednesday as he explained why he was removing a key component of the Socialist's electoral platform.
Some in Zapatero's party had asked him not to change his plans because they believed the reforms would bring in more ballots from unhappy leftist voters who, according to polls, say they will abstain from voting in the next general election.
The reform would have prohibited religious symbols, such as the crucifix, in schools, and made state funerals civil ceremonies.
