emigrating in search of job in other countries—and an increase in temporary contracts, with newly created employments being dubbed as precarious. The risk premium decreased from a record 638 basis points in July 2012 to 113 in October 2015, but it was widely considered that it had largely come as a result from the European Central Bank actions under Mario Draghi of reducing interest rates, which had also benefitted other countries. Public deficit was reduced from 10.3% in 2012 to 5.8% in 2014, while public debt peaked at 98.0% of the GDP in mid-2015 from 69.2% in 2011. Domestic affairs In the domestic field, the 2011–2015 period was dominated by a perceived regression in social and political rights. Spending cuts on the health care and education systems had fueled an increase in inequality among those without enough financial resources to afford those services. Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón's authorization of the enforcement and increase of court fees, requiring the payment of between €50 and €750 to appeal to the courts, was dubbed as violating the rights of effective judicial protection and free legal assistance. The controversial fees would later be removed in early 2015. Education Minister José Ignacio Wert's new Education Law (LOMCE), allegedly introduced to address the extremely high-school dropout rates, received heavy criticism from the Basque and Catalonia regional governments, which dubbed it as a re-centralization attempt, as well as from social sectors which considered that it prompted segregation in primary schools. Another bill, the Citizen Security Law proposed by Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz, also dubbed the "gag law" by critics, was met with a global outcry because of it being seen as a cracking down on Spaniards' rights of freedom of assembly and expression. This bill laid out strict guidelines on demonstrations, perceived to limit street protests, and set up steep fines to offenders. In September 2013, Minister Ruiz-Gallardón announced that the government was studying a reform of the 2010 abortion law approved by the previous Socialist government, which allowed free abortion up to 14 weeks, and up to 22 weeks in cases of foetal deformities. The bill, in the draft law published in December 2013, allowed abortion only in cases of rape and when there was a serious (but undefined) health risk to the mother. Public outrage was felt from most opposition parties, as well as from many feminist organizations, with the bill being criticised as