Washington, Sep 27 (IANS/EFE): Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that he supports keeping the retirement age at 65 but plans to sharply limit schemes that allow people to stop working early.

"The retirement age is reasonable in Spain if it is actually met so we are going to deal with those issues of early retirement," Rajoy told members of the financial daily's editorial team in New York Tuesday.

Rajoy said his administration will not eliminate the possibility of early retirement but will limit it as part of a series of overhauls to be unveiled Thursday.

Restrictions will be particularly tight in cases of people who seek to stop working at the age of 60, the prime minister said.

Rajoy, in New York for the UN General Assembly meeting, said what Spain most needs amid its current economic woes is higher employment.

He said his government has not yet decided if it will seek a sovereign bailout from Spain's euro-zone partners, adding that such a request will depend on whether it is truly necessary and if the conditions attached to the assistance are "reasonable".

But if interest rates on Spain's government bonds remain too high for a long period of time, "I can assure you 100 percent that I would ask for this bailout", Rajoy said.

If his government seeks a rescue, the premier said he will be more concerned about the conditions than the political cost such a measure would entail.

"My responsibility is (to reduce) the budget deficit, the public debt," said Rajoy, who also told reporters that a fiscal authority will be created Thursday to monitor compliance with budget targets by all levels of government in Spain.

Referring to a euro-zone bailout of up to 100 billion euros ($128.6 billion) that was approved this summer for Spain's ailing banks, Rajoy said he is confident that far less will be needed to shore up those financial institutions.

The prime minister also stressed the need to move immediately toward greater European banking integration, saying that will send a strong message about the "irreversibility of the euro".

Spain's economy has been battered in recent years by the global recession and the collapse of a massive real-estate bubble, which has left many banks saddled with toxic property assets.

The Iberian nation is in recession for the second time in three years.

Numerous businesses have failed amid the slump and tens of thousands of families have been evicted from their homes after falling behind on their mortgages.