Brussels, 11/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - The Portuguese government is putting the finishing touches to its draft budget for 2012, expected to be one of the toughest ever. Although the 2012 budget will be the most difficult to apply in living memory in Portugal, there will be no relenting over the targets to be met, warned Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho. In order to continue to receive international financial aid, Lisbon will have to meet the budget commitments set out in its three-year structural adjustment programme, which will mean reducing the country's debt to 5.9% of GDP in 2011, 4.5% in 2012 and 3% in 2013. Since the targets were set, however, bad economic news has been piling up, which will have a huge negative impact on the budget. Bank of Portugal has announced a billion euro hole in the budget of the autonomous region of Madeira for 2008-2010, for example, which the bank says will worsen the starting point for the budget adjustment process, and it says further, large-scale budget measures will be required if the country is to meet its commitments for 2011. The European Commission has announced that, upon request from the Portuguese government, it is setting up a unit to re-programme Structural Fund monies to ensure that projects in Portugal mesh better with the structural adjustment programme. The team of experts will be headed by a former Eurostat director general, Hervé Carré. (MB/transl.fl)