Rajoy defends tax increase in first TV interview since election

In his first television interview since being elected as Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy explained to Spanish news agency Efe the reasons behind an increase in income tax.

Speaking on Tuesday, Rajoy, who won a landslide victory in November, said that this early and controversial measure, which is scheduled to last for a maximum of two years, was necessary because Spain's crushing deficit was nearly 2 percent higher than first thought.

Rajoy also emphasised the importance that the economy will take in his 4 years in power. "We have more than 5 million (m) Spaniards who want to work but can't," he said. He promised "to be brave and not hide" from making difficult decisions.

Spain's unemployment rate was highest at 22.9 percent, up from 20.4 percent a year earlier.

The conservative Popular Party took power the week before Christmas after winning a landslide election win on November 20 and one of its main priorities - besides fighting a 21.5 percent jobless rate - is to make sure Spain doesn't get dragged into the debt crisis mire that has already forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal into seeking financial bailouts and is now threatening much-bigger Italy.

Spain crawled out of nearly two years of recession in 2010, but the economy slowed this summer and growth was outright flat in the third quarter of this year.