National
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero invested as Prime Minister of Spain
By h.b.
Apr 11, 2008 - 7:08 PM

Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, said he was happier this time round after being invested in the post on Friday after he was chosen with just the 169 Socialist votes in the chamber. The PP voted against with the UpyD and ERC, 158 votes and the rest of the parties, CiU, PNV, IU, ICV, BNG, CC and Na-Bai, 23 votes, abstained. He becomes the first elected Prime Minister to be chosen on the second round of voting.

As the vote was announced and the chamber broke into applause, the leader of the Partido Popular opposition, Mariano Rajoy, was the first to cross the chamber to congratulate the Prime Minister, although beforehand he had made it clear that he considered that Spain was not well prepared to meet the economic crisis.

Zapatero said that his Government would respond with urgency to the economic crisis and would open a dialogue with businessmen and unions to search for ‘a grand agreement’ to improve the competitiveness of the Spanish economy and the workplace.
‘I want a progressive, integrating, diverse and cohesive Spain’, he said, repeating that he wanted to see more dialogue, especially with the main opposition party and with the regions of Spain.

Tomorrow he will travel to see King Juan Carlos to inform the Monarch about his new cabinet.