Spania har mistet trippel-A ratingen som lånekunde, hvilket betyr høyere rente. Det svekker Spanias økonomiske stilling. Statsminister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero får vanskeligheter med å bli sittende. Spekulasjoner om nyvalg florerer.

Hvordan vil markedene reagere på nedgraderingen? Vil Spania gå samme vei som Hellas? Da står trolig Italia, Portugal og Irland for tur.

The euro is expected to come under further pressure tomorrow as Spain’s minority government teeters on the brink of collapse and traders fear contagion throughout the eurozone after a senior French minister admitted that his country’s top-notch credit rating was under threat.

Stock and debt markets are likely to take a battering after the decision on Friday by the ratings agency Fitch to strip Spain of its coveted AAA credit score, the second downgrade in a month.

Fitch’s decision was announced after the markets in Europe closed, so traders will have their first chance tomorrow to react, although London and New York will be sidelined by bank holidays.

Weekend polls in Spain showed that support for austerity measures introduced by the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is vanishing fast, with many voters believing that he will be forced to call an early election. Zapatero’s administration, which squeezed a new cuts package through parliament by only a single vote last week, also faces a potential general strike. A deadline to agree a deal over labour reforms is looming this week.

Pressure on the country’s banking system is also increasing. Spain’s second-biggest savings bank, Caja Madrid, and five smaller lenders were last night racing to complete talks aimed at creating a €228bn (£193bn) banking group before a midnight deadline set by the government, which wants to see the country’s 45 regional savings banks reduced to just over a dozen.

Euro under new pressure after Spain’s debt rating is downgraded