Troubles mount for Spanish PM over economy, foreign policy

MADRID, (AFP)

- Pressure is growing on Spain's prime minister, whose minority government is increasingly isolated in parliament over his handling of the economic crisis and the withdrawal of troops from Kosovo. "The government is facing its most difficult moment since coming to power in 2004," sociologist Fermin Bouza, a specialist in public opinion at Madrid's Complutense University, told AFP.The right-wing opposition has accused the Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of failing to prevent Spain's first recession in over a decade, which has left the country with Europe's highest unemployment rate.The government had long predicted a slowdown but no contraction in the economy.Last week, a new line of attack opened up after Carme Chacon, Spain's first female defence chief and a star of Zapatero's majority female cabinet, abruptly announced that some 630 Spanish troops with the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo would leave by the end of the summer.

The move angered NATO and the United States who complained they had not been informed of the decision through the proper channels, leaving the government open to accusations by the main opposition Popular Party (PP) that it had sullied Spain's reputation abroad. Spain is one of only five EU nations which does not recognize Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, out of concern that it might set a precedent for separatists at home.