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2016 good year to reform constitution: Spanish PM

Xinhua, August 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Tuesday that 2016 could be a good year to reform the Spanish Constitution "if there is consensus and agreement."

Rajoy made his remarks from the northwestern community of Galicia, where he is spending his annual summer holidays.

The Spanish Constitution has been in use since 1978, less than three years after the death of General Francisco Franco and has been an increasing source of discussion given the enormous changes Spain has undergone in the past 40 years.

The debate has been intensified by the recent attempts of the Catalan region to gain independence and Sept. 27 sees elections for the Generalitat (the Catalan regional parliament) which Generalitat leader Artur Mas is attempting to turn into an independence plebiscite.

Rajoy refused to be drawn on another problem currently facing his government after it was revealed that Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz held a meeting at the end of July in his office at the Ministry with Rodrigo Rato, former Deputy Prime Minister and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. Rato is currently indicted for fraud as part of the scandal surrounding Bankia, which needed a 40 billion euro government bailout in May 2012 when he was president of the bank.

While the ministry issued a communique on Monday insisting the pair had not spoken of Rato's legal problems, Rato contradicted that, saying they had "spoken about everything that has happened." Upon demands from the other parties in Congress, Diaz has finally agreed to appear to explain the case on Friday. Endit