Madrid, Jan 16 (IANS): French President Nicolas Sarkozy will visit Spain and meet Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Monday, according to Spanish government.
Sarkozy is the first foreign leader to visit Madrid after Rajoy won the general election Nov 20 last year.
The pair will meet at Rajoy's residence, the Palacio de la Moncloa, just days after rating agency Standard & Poor's took away France's triple-A credit rating and cut Spain's rating by two notches to AA- Friday, causing Spain's risk premium to rise sharply, said Xinhua.
Rajoy had seen the Spanish Congress approve his new government's first package of measures aimed at combating the economic crisis and keep the public deficit under control.
Those measures included wide ranging spending cuts as well as rises in income and property taxes.