Spain plans new deficit-cutting steps

Spain will adopt fresh measures in the coming days to cut its deficit, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy vowed Saturday, urging Europe to quickly make good on its latest crisis-fighting agreements. "In the coming days we will take decisions to reduce our public deficit. We have to take new ones," he said in a speech to a conservative think-tank. "We will take decisions on structural reforms, some of them very significant -- some of them in July and others afterwards," he added. Anxiety over Spain's finances rose this week, driving up its borrowing costs to danger levels. Economists see this as a warning sign for the rest of the eurozone amid fears that the debt crisis could spread. Reports emerged that the government would next week announce more tough budget cuts, on top of measures passed this year that aim to save tens of billions of euros. Rajoy is due to address parliament on Wednesday about a huge bailout for Spain's banks, agreed last month by its eurozone partners who offered a credit line of up to 100 billion euros ($122 billion). He urged quick action by European Union leaders to make good on a deal they struck on June 29 to tackle the eurozone crisis, which included an agreement to let eurozone bailout funds recapitalise ailing banks directly. Rajoy they had reached important agreements that were good for Europe. "But what will really determine their success is that they turn into concrete realities, in a supple, quick and effective way," Rajoy said. "Europe must fulfill the accords as swiftly as possible."