--Spain econ min: Long, deep US slump would hurt all of Europe
--Spain econ min "Confident" US policy will counter slowdown
--Spain econ min: EU must lower 9% structural unemployment rate
--Spain econ min: Europe must be open to reforming labor, welfare
--Econ minister: Spain's domestic demand not reined by ECB policy
--Econ min: Higher Spain inflation due to structural, labor reform

By Marek Petrus and Georg Szalai, BridgeNews
Davos--Jan. 27--Economic growth rates for the current year in Europe and the United States will be similar, Spanish Minister of Economy and Deputy Prime Minister Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo predicted on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum meeting on Saturday.
* * * "Europe and the United States will see more symmetric growth for the year," he told BridgeNews.
Asked about how the current weak U.S. economy will affect Spain and the European Union as a whole, de Rato said that a long, deep U.S. slump would have a negative effect on all of Europe. He did not provide specific forecasts.
The Spanish economic minister also told BridgeNews that he was "confident" that U.S. monetary policy will counter the current slowdown in the United States economy.
Earlier in the day, de Rato said in a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum that two of the main challenges facing European Union countries are a necessary reduction in the high structural unemployment rate of 9%, which is double the U.S. rate, as well as necessary reforms of the labor and welfare systems. Both problems must be addressed by the EU in the near future, he said.
Asked about the high inflation levels in Spain, de Rato told BridgeNews they were due to structural and labor reforms implemented by his country and the fact that domestic demand is not reined by the monetary policy of the European Central Bank. After all, different economic trends in the various EU countries mean that the same policy decision has different effects on each country, he explained.