1 Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez once again brushed off calls for his resignation Wednesday and vowed to shepherd an ambitious legislative program through a parliament distracted by scandals allegedly involving his Socialist government.
2 Gonzalez acknowledged 'a general climate of unease' in Spain had prompted him to bring forward the annual State of the Nation address and debate in order to demonstrate the stability of his government.
3 But he said the scandals, including accusations the Interior Ministry had operated death squads that hunted down Basque separatists in neighboring France, would not prevent his government from running to its legal limit in 1997.
4 Gonzalez said the killings by the Anti-Terrorist Liberation Groups, known as GAL, took place outside Spain and were difficult for Spain's judicial system to pursue.
5 He reiterated his position that the government should not comment on an ongoing investigation in which four former police officials have been accused of running the GAL, which took responsibility for killing at least 20 alleged members of the Basque separatist group ETA between 1983 and 1986.
6 Since December the conservative Popular Party, the main opposition to the Socialists, has been accusing the government of covering up what it knew about GAL and has pressed for Gonzalez to resign and call early elections.
7 The choice is up to Gonzalez, however, as long as his minority government retains the backing of the moderate Catalan party Convergence and Union that provides a working majority in parliament. The Catalans show no signs of withdrawing their support for Gonzalez, who has granted the party greater regional autonomy in exchange for its votes.
8 Concern in financial markets about the government's future had pushed down the peseta against the Deutsche mark and other currencies, but it began moving up again Monday.
9 'Mr. Gonzalez's remaining in power is the gravest danger the Spanish economy now faces,' Popular Party spokesman Rodrigo Rato said after the prime minister's speech.
10 Popular Party leader Jose Maria Aznar was to reply to Gonzalez's speech later Wednesday. Other party leaders were to follow him during the two-day debate.
11 Gonzalez said that despite the scandals, the Spanish economy had pulled out of recession and was generating new jobs thanks to his government's policies.
12 The government plans to further liberalize the economy, loosening regulation of transportation and real estate, he said, as well as to revise corporate tax and bankruptcy rules.

Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez once again brushed off calls for his resignation Wednesday and vowed to shepherd an ambitious legislative program through a parliament distracted by scandals allegedly involving his Socialist government .
allegedly involving his Socialist government
What types of scandals were effecting his government?