Brussels, 13/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 13 April, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, said that an EU bridging loan to Portugal was out of the question. Such a loan would help Portugal roll over its debt in June 2011 and give a breathing space so that the new government elected in the June elections can then negotiate a financial adjustment programme in return for the international aid package requested by the country. Barroso said it was impossible to grant a bridging loan because a medium-term structural adjustment programme was required with very stringent conditions and this was a condition sine qua non. Barroso added that the Commission was doing its utmost to ensure the first batch of aid would be able to meet Portugal's funding requirements.
Describing the situation as extremely delicate and urgent, Barroso said that the very tight timetable, clashing with the general elections, had not been an EU choice, but had been decided by Portugal. When the Portuguese government officially requested financial aid from abroad, EU finance ministers said they hoped the negotiations over the loan and the accompanying austerity package would be carried out with the country's biggest political parties and agreed at the upcoming meeting of the Eurogroup on Monday 16 May (see EUROPE 10354 and 10355). He said he was sure Portugal would take a common sense approach and the international partners would be able to draw up a necessarily ambitious programme to restore confidence in the Portuguese economy. (M.B./transl.fl)