MADRID, July 23 (AFP) - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero refused Friday to comment on reports that his predecessor had used lobbyists to seek for him a coveted American award, but added it was not something he would do himself.
Conservative leader Jose Maria Aznar, defeated in the general election last March, was reported Thursday to have authorised the spending of two million dollars (1.63 million euros) of the Spanish foreign ministry's budget on lobbying to secure a US congressional medal of honor.
The radio, close to the new Socialist government, said the money went to a US legal firm specialising in lobbying Congress. The contract was reported to have been signed three months before the election. Aznar, one of the staunchest backers of US President Goerge W. Bush over the Iraq war, has yet to receive the medal.
Spain's former junior foreign minister Ramon Gil-Casares insisted Thursday that the contract signed with the US firm was "perfectly legal and normal."
He said it was a three-year contract which "helps to defend Spanish interests" and was not linked to the award for Aznar.
"I shall make no comment on this affair which concerns a former president of the government (premier). It is up to the previous government to do so," Zapatero told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
"I would simply say that personally I would not use such a practice," he added with a hint of a smile.