Brussels, 11/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday the Ecofin Council adopted the decision to close the excessive debt procedure against Portugal that it began in November 2002. The day before, Charlie MacCreevy, the Irish minister speaking on behalf of Eurogroup welcomed "the proposal to close the excessive debt procedure against Portugal as a positive development and an indicator of the efficient functioning of European budgetary rules". He did state, however, that Portugal had to continue a policy of budgetary discipline in 2004.
In April the Commission observed that Portugal had followed its recommendations by bring its deficit to below the 3% threshold in 2002-03, after it had reached 4.1% in 2001, a figure that led to the opening of excessive debt procedures. It did state, however, that the Portuguese deficit was expected to reach 3.3% in 2004 and 3.8% in 2005 and encouraged Portugal to take measures to keep the deficit for 2004 under this threshold.
Portuguese Economy Minister Manuela Ferreira Leite undertook to follow this road during the meeting of the Ecofin Council on Tuesday. She considered that her government could cut its deficit by 0.5%, by limiting expenditure. She above all said that the salaries of officials should be frozen, the indebtednesxs of local authorities restricted and subsidy lending eliminated. These measures will not, however, bear fruit for a long time and the results will depend on growth recovery, she specified.