Conservative Mariano Rajoy has been sworn in before King Juan Carlos to become Spain's new prime minister.

Rajoy's Popular Party won a landslide victory in Nov. 20 elections on promises to lift Spain out of its economic crisis.

He has promised deep public spending cuts while offering tax breaks for companies.

Rajoy told the Spanish parliament Monday he aimed to cut the budget deficit by EUR 16,5 billion next year.

He said his Popular Party government would make more companies eligible for low corporate tax rates.

Rajoy took the oath Wednesday in the Zarzuela Palace on Madrid's outskirts. He is to name his Cabinet of ministers later in the day.

He replaces Socialist party leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who took office in 2004.

A real estate bubble in Spain burst in 2009, starting a near two-year recession that has left the country with a eurozone high unemployment rate of 21.5 percent as well as a swollen deficit and a stalled economy.