Mariano Rajoy | featured news

Spain’s conservative prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, is not known as a gambling man. But as Europe’s debt crisis stretches on, he is playing a tense game of chicken with the financial markets, betting that Spain can balance its books with homegrown austerity while putting off — maybe forever — a humiliating bailout from the European Union.

Just when we thought the euro crisis had subsided for a bit, Spain is bursting back up as a trouble spot. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the country is “facing an economic situation of extreme difficulty.” Spain is struggling to borrow money and can’t hit its deficit targets.