Popular Party secretary general Dolores de Cospedal told reporters Monday that future prime minister Mariano Rajoy remains absolutely committed to deficit-reduction commitments Spain has made to the European Union.

Rajoy’s party scored a landslide win over the ruling Socialists in Nov. 20 elections. Until now no exact date had been announced for when Rajoy would take power.

Time is of the essence because Spain’s borrowing costs are sky-high as part of the European debt crisis and the country is in a sort of limbo, with a government bent on austerity and reforms not due to take power until just before Christmas.