The war of words over Galicia comes to Palma

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, secretary general of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) criticised Spanish Premier José María Aznar's announcement of funding assigned to Galicia following the Prestige oil spill, saying “what the government owes the Galicians cannnot be bought with announcements about budgets.” Zapatero was speaking at a Press conference in Palma, where he was accompanied by party leader in the Balearics, Francesc Antich, who is also head of the local government. Zapatero called on Aznar to appear before parliament to explain exactly what his government is doing over the Prestige crisis, and asked him “not to hide behind the cameras of the media.” He claimed that some of the measures of the aid package announced by Aznar on Thursday had been proposed by the PSOE in a parliamentary question. He added that it did not matter that their ideas had been copied. “What is important is to carry out all possible initiatives to help Galicia and its economy recover.”