MADRID -- By the time Socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero finishes serving his second term as Spanish Prime Minister, his country is likely to have undergone a radical transformation.

During the 3.5 years that remain of his term after his re-election in March, Zapatero intends to complete sweeping social reforms that will turn traditionally conservative, Roman Catholic Spain into a torchbearer of liberalism and modernity.

With its plans to liberalise abortion law, legalise assisted suicide and increase the separation between church and state, the government of the 48-year-old premier is heading for its second showdown with the Catholic Church.

First showdown
During its first term in office, the Zapatero government introduced homosexual marriage and fast-track divorce, prompting bishops and priests to attend massive rallies against what conservatives saw as an attack on family values.

Thousands of gay couples have wedded, and the opposition conservative People's Party (PP) looks unlikely to cancel the law if it wins the next elections, despite its theoretical opposition to granting homosexuals full marriage rights.

Zapatero has also sought a role as a pioneer of women's rights. He began his second term by appointing a female-dominated cabinet and by creating an Equality Ministry, following measures such as electoral parity and stronger legislation against domestic violence under his first government.

The issues of abortion and of euthanasia were not on the Socialists' electoral programme, and critics accuse Zapatero of seeking a confrontation with conservative social sectors and the church in an attempt to divert citizens' attention from the deepening economic crisis.

Reform #1: abortions
Some 100,000 abortions are performed annually Spain, usually on grounds of danger to the mother's psychological health.

The government would like to bring the legislation in line with other liberal European countries such that women would no longer have to justify abortions in the first months of pregnancy.

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