–Says Need To Encourage Portugal To Bring Budget Deficit Down
BRUSSELS (MNI) – Portugal has to be encouraged to take the
necessary measures to bring down its budget deficit, European Commission
President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday.
Asked about the possibility that Portugal might draw on the E750
billion stabilisation fund set up by the European Union and the
International Monetary Fund to provide aid for countries that have
problems with their debts, Barroso said:
“I am not going to comment… The EU and in this case, the
Eurozone, on the basis of a proposal from the Commission set up [the
fund] in order to respond in the case of need, to deal with situations
that arise, but these are preventative measures.”
“Portugal has to be encouraged to take necessary measures” to
bring down its deficit, he said.
“Both Spain and Portugal have recently announced, both, new targets
of fiscal deficits as well as new concrete measures,” said Commissioner
for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn.
“In both cases, these are very substantially revised,” he said.
“Our first assessment is that the new targets … are indeed appropriate
for the current situation and they are a substantial improvement.”
Barroso said the debt crisis in Europe had arisen because member
states hadn’t respected the European Union rules, which require
governments to limit their budget deficits to 3% of GDP and
their debt to 60%.
–Brussels: 0032 487 (0) 32 803 665, echarlton@marketnews.com
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