Günther Oettinger urges action against Spain and Portugal over deficits

The European Commission must sanction Spain and Portugal for breaching deficit rules “if [it] wants to keep its credibility,” Günther Oettinger, the bloc’s digital economy commissioner, told the Bild newspaper.

“Both countries have not respected their self-imposed budget obligations in 2015. I think that if the Commission wants to keep its credibility on budget rules, it has to impose sanctions on Spain and Portugal,” the German commissioner said in an interview published late Sunday.

In May, the Commission said it would revisit in July whether to fine Spain and Portugal for last year exceeding the EU’s deficit limit of 3 percent of their annual GDP.

Member countries can be fined up to 0.2 percent of GDP for failing to follow EU budget rules.

Spain’s fiscal gap reached 5.1 percent of GDP last year, instead of the 4.2 percent target that had been agreed with its European partners in an effort to gradually reduce the deficit. Portugal also failed to meet its 3 percent target in 2015, posting a deficit of 4.4 percent of GDP.

Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem accused Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker of damaging the Commission’s credibility on budget rules last month, after Juncker said France had not been sanctioned for its excessive deficit “because it is France.”