Roundup: Rajoy demands to be allowed to govern as other parties question budget

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has asked once again to be able to govern without the intervention of Spain's other parties.

The words came when he addressed a meeting at the Executive Committee of his ruling People's Party.

Rajoy was returned to office at the end of October at the head of a minority government with the support of center-right party "Ciudadanos" and the abstention of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE).

That ended over 10-month stalemate without a central government in Spain and one of Rajoy's priorities is to see the plans for the 2017 budget accepted by the Congress.

However, with just 137 seats in the 250-seat chamber, that is not going to be easy.

Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera told Spanish state television network RTVE on Monday that his party "would not support any budget which included an increase in sales tax," adding that the forthcoming budget "had to be the one which meant the end of spending cuts in Spain."

Meanwhile, the PSOE spokesman in the Congress, Antonio Hernando, recently commented that it would be "practically impossible," for the PSOE to vote in favor of the budget, meaning Rajoy would need the support of one of the minority parties in Congress in order to get the budget approved.

Rajoy said on Saturday that his party was "speaking to everyone.""Logically we will do so more with those who are more predisposed to supporting the budget."

However, Monday saw the El Mundo newspaper report that the prime minister was considering using a political 'Sword of Damocles' and that if he fails to see pass the budget, he will call new general elections.

"It is as bad to have a government which is unable to govern as it is to not have one," he commented when addressing his party on Monday, adding that for the moment "there are no elections on the horizon, but you never know." Endit