Spanish Workers Protest Labor Reforms

 　　Spanish workers took to the streets Thursday to protest sweeping¹ labor² reforms, public spending cuts and widespread unemployment.

　　The 24-hour general strike comes a day before government ministers are set to adopt a new austerity budget to meet strict guidelines set by eurozone leaders.

　　Strikers set up a picket³ line at Madrid Central Market in Spain’s capital, disrupting businesses, banks and public transport hubs. According to news reports, at least 58 demonstrators have been arrested and nine were injured in scuffles.

　　Union Member Regino Martin says he is trying to convince people to resist the new labor rules and government policies of the recently elected conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, which make it easier for companies to fire workers and cut wages.

　　Spain, under pressure from the European Union and international investors⁴ to cut spending, is only one of numerous European countries facing tough austerity. Across the continent, tax hikes and cuts in public spending have been met with widespread public protest.

　　On Friday, ministers are set to adopt a 2012 budget that will cut billions of dollars from government spending. News reports say Spain's economy is headed into its second recession since 2009 with a jobless rate at 23 percent -- the highest in the 27-nation European Union.

　　No panacea⁵

　　Simon Tilford, chief economist⁶ at the Center for European Reform in London, said austerity measures in Spain, like elsewhere, will not solve its economic problems.

　　"What's worrying about what we are seeing is that very little seems to have been learned from what happened in Greece and Ireland and Portugal," he said. "They are applying the same strategy to Spain. Now the big risk for the eurozone is that Spain is twice as big as those three economies combined. So if Spain gets into similar difficulties, it won't just be a tragedy for the Spanish people, but it will also pose an existential threat to the euro."

　　According to Tilford, austerity only serves to shrink rather than grow euro economies. The European Union, he said, needs a closer degree of integration⁷ with a federal budget that would enable resources to flow easily among euro countries, what he calls the only feasible -- yet unlikely -- resolution.

　　"The political will to do what is necessary to stabilize⁸ the situation within the eurozone is really just not there," he said. Now that's not to say that we will not see big institutional changes going forward -- it's possible that we will. But it's just as likely that the ongoing⁹ crisis will undermine solidarity¹⁰ between countries and that that could actually militate against the changes that are needed to put the single currency on a more sustainable currency."

　　Eurozone ministers are set to meet in Copenhagen Friday to discuss the bloc's debt rescue fund, which is used to help prop¹¹ up debt-ridden European governments.

1 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 picket   

n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫

参考例句：

• They marched to the factory and formed a picket.他们向工厂前进,并组成了纠察队。
• Some of the union members did not want to picket.工会的一些会员不想担任罢工纠察员。

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

5 panacea   

n.万灵药；治百病的灵药

参考例句：

• Western aid may help but will not be a panacea. 西方援助可能会有所帮助，但并非灵丹妙药。
• There's no single panacea for the country's economic ills. 国家经济弊病百出,并无万灵药可以医治。

6 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

7 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

8 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

9 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

10 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

11 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。