Brussels, 12/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the EU finance ministers approved Portugal's stability programme for the period 2005-2009, noting that it does not, however, provide any forecasts concerning the long-term viability of public finance. According to the version forwarded by Lisbon and endorsed by the Commission (EUROPE 8975), the country's deficit will reach 6.2% in 2005 to return to 4.8% of GDP in 2006, 3.9% in 2007, 2.8% in 2008 and 1.6% in 2009. Efforts made will be particularly marked in 2006, with above all a growth in tax receipts (VAT will increase from 19% to 21%) and will be followed by one of the largest spending controls, thanks to measures of a permanent nature (such as reform of public administration, wage control and changes to the social security pension schemes). Several elements of uncertainty remain, however, according to the opinion adopted by the Ecofin Council, which notes that the acceleration in economic activity could be more modest than hoped and that the measures could take longer before they have any effect. Right now, the government may be invited to keep its commitment to take additional measures in order to prevent the deficit from remaining high longer than planned, the ministers add in their opinion, warning against the risk of seeing the deficit remain equal or close to 3% in 2009 in the event of unfavourable macro-economic developments. The Council therefore calls on Portugal to rigorously apply corrective measures as announced and expects substantial progress from 2006, as well as a fall in the debt ratio tendency, which will go from 61.9% in 2004 to 66.5% in 2005.