BRUSSELS: Eurozone finance ministers agreed Tuesday to officially begin a sanctions procedure against Spain and Portugal for doing too little to fix their rule-breaking deficits.
The ministers “found that Portugal and Spain had not taken effective action in response to its recommendations on measures to correct their excessive deficits”, a statement said.
The decision “will trigger sanctions under the excessive deficit procedure.”
Spain and Portugal now have 10 days to lobby the EU to impose no penalty.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, will consider their arguments and must decide on sanctions within 20 days.
Under EU rules, the commission could impose fines of …read more
Source: The Manila Times
