By Elisabeth O'Leary
MADRID
SPANISH Economy Minister Elena Salgado yesterday criticised a multimillion-euro pension for an outgoing executive at the country's second-biggest bank BBVA, adding to a global debate about bankers' pay.
BBVA said on Tuesday its 55-year old chief operating officer Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri would step down with a 3 million euro annual pension. The bank has so far set aside 52.5 million euros for that end.
ETHICS I think it's a question of ethics, on which you know the government's opinion, said Salgado, who has just unveiled an austere budget as part of a plan to combat a severe recession.
The head of Spain's Comisiones Obreras (Workers' Commssion) trade union, Ignacio Fernandez Toxo, told reporters the BBVA payment was not compatible with calls by business leaders for a cut in the cost of firing people, as though it was a magic potion to create jobs.
Talks between Spanish unions, employees and the government on how to reform the labour market and bring down unemployment of near 18 percent have stalled.
The G20, a group of the world's most powerful countries, this month called for a crackdown on bankers' pay and bonuses after risky investments pushed many major banks close to collapse, requiring trillions of dollars in state funds the world over to rescue them.