In Luxembourg on Friday 16 June, European finance ministers decided to end the excessive deficit procedures against Portugal and Croatia, thereby confirming that their government deficits had reached a level sustainably below 3% of national GDP.
For Portugal, the procedure dates back to 2009. From 4.4% of national GDP in 2015, the Portuguese deficit in nominal terms has been trimmed to 2.0% of GDP. According to the Commission’s spring economic forecasts, it is expected to stabilise at...