Zapatero ready to go it alone on pension reform

Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero threatened to push through a reform of the state pension system the government deems fit as the unions warned of a winter of labor discontent if the administration decides to go it alone.

The main groups in the so-called cross-party Toledo Pact committee have agreed on the need to extend the period used for calculating final pensions, but have failed to strike an accord on delaying the official retirement age to 67 years from 65, one of the pillars of the government's reform plan. Earlier makeovers of the pension system were thrashed out under the Toledo Pact and accepted by the government.

"The Toledo Pact has issued a report based on consensus, but the responsibility for drawing up the wording of the [draft law] and the changes to the pension system in the medium- and long-term is the government's," Zapatero said Friday at the end of a European Union summit meeting in Brussels. "We have to reform the pension system and we will do so with all of the consequences," the prime minister added.

He said the reforms will be introduced gradually and insisted that an extension of the retirement age would take on board "reasonable factors of flexibility."

The leader of the UGT union, Cándido Méndez, threatened labor unrest if the government decides to ignore what has been agreed under the Toledo Pact. "There will be growing protests in Spain in the next few weeks," Méndez's counterpart at the CC OO union, Ignacio Fernández Toxo, said. "I don't know if there will be a general strike; perhaps."

Aware of the urgent need to curry favor with the financial market as investors continue to doubt Spain's ability to service its debts, Zapatero said he would not be swayed by public opinion. "The government [...] cannot and will not be hostage to electoral expectations," he said. "This is much more important. I believe that all citizens are aware this is an historic moment for the future of the Spanish economy."