Prime Minister "moderately optimistic" for Spain in 2017

Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy on Friday said he was "moderately optimistic" for Spain's prospects for the coming year after overcoming what he described as a "year of uncertainty" in 2016.

Rajoy's last press conference of 2016 came at the end of a year which saw Spain spend over 10 months without an effective central government. The results of the Dec.-20 election in 2015 had led to political stalemate and a second election in June.

This vote also threatened to be inconclusive until Rajoy was finally able to form a minority government at the end of October with the support of the center-right party Ciudadanos and the fact the Socialist Party abstained in order to permit his investiture.

The year 2016 had been, said Rajoy, a year of "unexpected decisions, events without precedent and political turnarounds".

One cloud on the horizon is the need to approve the 2017 budget. But Rajoy was unwilling to consider what would happen if the Socialists live up to their promise to reject the proposals.

"We will have to respond if that happens, but we have to be optimistic," he said, adding his government had spoken to both the Socialists and Ciudadanos about the question.

He did, however, rule out calling another election if the budget was rejected, saying "elections should be every four years, not every half an hour."

Finally he once again rejected a referendum over the Independence of the Catalan Region, saying "if there is one thing we can't discuss, it is failing to obey the law". Endit