The United States will axe 8,000 civilian and military jobs across its European bases, the Spanish press reported on Saturday citing an internal circular at the joint US-Spanish naval base in southern Spain.
The captain of the US sector of the base at Rota, John Orem, told those working at the base of the possibility of jobs being cut, the newspapers said.
They said the move was approved by the headquarters of the US marines in Europe with the aim of reducing operational costs and having all staff working at the same site.
The circular gave no details of how much the measure would affect the Spanish employees at the Rota base. But it has sparked concern in Rota where 1,200 civilians are employed, according to the ABC newspaper.
As well as Rota, Spain hosts another joint Spanish-US air naval base at Moron de la Frontera which is also in the south of the country.
Both bases are due to remain until 2012.
In March, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United States wanted to bring home some troops stationed overseas, but dismissed as "speculation" reports that US plans called for withdrawing up to half its 71,000 troops from Germany and 15,000 from Asia.
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