Spanish and Portuguese leaders struggled to soothe nervous investors on Friday and limit the loss of confidence that has spread across southern Europe from the financial crisis in Greece.
“We have control of the ship, we have a plan,” said María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, Spain’s deputy premier, hours after José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, socialist prime minister, told a US audience in Washington: “Spain has a strong and solid financial system.”
