Statement by President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and Vice-President Olli Rehn on Spain

We welcome today’s communication by Spain of its intention to request the support of the euro area for the restructuring of its financial sector, and the Eurogroup’s positive response to this. The Commission is ready to proceed swiftly with the necessary assessment on the ground, in close liaison with the ECB, EBA and the IMF, and to propose appropriate conditionality for the financial sector. With this thorough restructuring of the banking sector, together with the on-going determined implementation of structural reforms and fiscal consolidation, we are certain that Spain can gradually regain the confidence of investors and market participants and create the conditions for a return to sustainable growth and job creation.