The Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar, re-elected with a resounding majority last month, committed himself yesterday to a policy of economic and social reform and a relentless struggle against terrorism.
Mr Aznar's victory gave the Spanish right its first absolute majority since the reintroduction of democratic elections in 1977.
He laid out his policy at the start of a two-day parliamentary debate ahead of his expected official endorsement by the legislature today.
After being formally sworn in as Prime Minister by King Juan Carlos tomorrow, he will announce his new cabinet, which is expected to include several significant changes.
Yesterday he vowed to wage a "tireless struggle" against the militant Basque separatist group, ETA, which resumed its violent campaign for an independent homeland early this year and has since killed three people.
"Our sole enemy is terrorism and its permanent challenge to basic rights and individual freedoms," Mr Aznar said.
Stressing that Spain was one of the most decentralised countries in the world, Mr Aznar appealed indirectly to moderate Basque nationalists "to abandon any strategy that would strengthen terrorists in the notion that violence is a useful instrument to achieve its ends."
Voters last month handed Mr Aznar's right-wing Popular Party its second four-year mandate, with 183 seats in the 350-seat parliament and 127 senators. Mr Aznar also stressed the need to modernise Spain's economy "to achieve the principal objective of full employment in the course of this decade".
Recalling that Spain was committed to a balanced budget by 2002 as part of the European Stability Pact, he said the next government would bring forward this deadline to next year.
If Spain sought real convergence, it must continue advancing faster than other EU members, he said, noting that the country had missed past opportunities due to inflationary policies and a weak and unstable currency.
Mr Aznar said his government would reduce the public sector "to stimulate job creation and increase wealth". He pledged to bring government expenditures below 40 per cent of GNP during the new legislature.
Mr Aznar also promised to lower personal and business taxes and to liberalise the economy by ending the gas industry monopoly and increasing competition in the telecoms sector.