Decision on fines for Spain and Portugal

According to the Commission both countries didn’t take enough action to reduce their budget deficits. This view was also shared by the EU finance ministers at their meeting on July 12 in Brussels.

Spain had to reduce its deficit to 4.2 percent, but only came to 5.1 percent; Portugal‘s deficit was 4.4 percent in 2015 (instead of 2.5 percent).

The European Commission is now going to set in motion a process that can lead to financial sanctions and the freezing of the commitments for EU funds.