Commissioner wants sanctions on Spain and Portugal’s deficit control failure

The EU commissioner for economy proposed Monday imposing sanctions on Spain and Portugal as he considered they had failed to fulfill their commitment to reducing their deficits.

“Sanctions are necessary”, said EU Commissioner for Economy Günther Oettinger during an interview published in Monday’s edition of Germany’s Bild, arguing that failing to do so “would be incomprehensible to people.”

Both countries were unable to achieve their deficit targets in 2015.

“We have to approve sanctions against Spain and Portugal,” said Oettinger during the interview.

The commissioner’s statement falls in line with a similar declaration from VicePresident of the European Commission (EC), Valdis Dombrovskis, who in the latest edition of German weekly Der Spiegel spoke of reaching a prompt decision on the sanctions.

It is possible that the matter will be raised during an EC meeting taking place Tuesday in Strasbourg.

In May, the EC postponed until July its decision on the measures to be taken should Spain and Portugal be percieved as having not done enough to fulfill their pledge to reduce the deficit.