Rajoy Says Euro Zone Must Tackle Widely Disparate Debt Spreads

A situation in which widely differing spreads exist in the cost of financing among euro zone nations cannot last for too long and the problem must be resolved, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says in interview with newspapers.

*Rajoy comments in joint interview with Spain’s ABC, Germany’s Bild am Sonntag, France’s Le Journal du Dimanche, Italy’s Corriere della Sera *Rajoy has “total and absolute conviction that the euro is irreversible,” he tells newspapers *Spain’s banks will be “absolutely secure” after country receives EU100b in European aid for its financial system, Rajoy says *Spain hasn’t made any decision on seeking a further bailout and will wait to see what steps the ECB takes, Rajoy tells newspapers *Spain’s existing commitments to cut deficit mean it will comply with conditions for eventual bond buying program by ECB, Rajoy says *Spanish regions including Catalonia must comply with their commitments to cut their deficits, Rajoy says *Rajoy will seek to cut income tax as soon as it can, Rajoy says *A Greek exit from euro would be “monumental failure” for European Union, Rajoy says

To contact the reporter on this story: Charles Penty in Madrid at cpenty@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net