The Ecofin confirmed that Portugal and Spain they have not taken effective action to correct their excessive deficits, and their fiscal efforts have been "significantly lower than recommended".
The Council's decision can now trigger the sanctions but the ball returns to the field of the Commission, which has 20 days to always propose the sanctions to be adopted to Ecofin. The fine, if decided, would be equal to 0,2% of GDP, even if the two countries can submit a reasoned request within 10 days to reduce the amount. The Council will then have a further 10 days to approve or reject the appeal.
"I am sure we will have a smart result at the end of the process," said the current Ecofin chairman Peter Kazimir, while Spain's finance minister Luis de Guindos he is "increasingly convinced" that for Spain there will be no sanctions from Ecofin for failure to meet the deficit targets in the framework of the stability pact. "It is important not to mix two proceedings: one refers to the year 2015 and then there is another, which will logically begin when the sanctioning procedure is resolved, in which I do not believe there will be sanctions, but a new path will be established for Spain, because the previous one is no longer valid".
De Guindos indicated that in the coming days he will present a report on 2015 in Brussels "the Commission will make an analysis of what the path should be, which we are convinced it will basically be an extra year to reduce the deficit.
