Portugal’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, is playing down the current increase in party political edginess over proposed EU sanctions against Portugal, blaming it on the July heat.
Following the President’s flippant comments on the threat to the Algarve from the oil industry, in the Algarve last Thursday, Rebelo de Sousa continues to make light of the very real threats to Portugal’s struggling economy posed by the proposed suspension of 16 EU aid programmes to the country, blaming the weather for the fractious nature of discussions between Portugal’s opposing parties.
The President said that it makes no sense even to think about sanctions because they have a "minimal logic."
"I think we have to wait for the decisions that are coming. The more I think about the matter, the more I believe that there is a minimum logic to sanctions," commented the Head of State.
The President explained his "no logic" stance over sanctions was because the 2015 deficit failure was just 0.2%, which he called very questionable "when there have been much larger differences in the past."
The Head of State stressed that, for this year, "the results to June show that there is no fiscal slippage - a European Commission mission even came here to see what was going on." He failed to note that Portugal's public debt had risen by €6.2 billion to €233 billion between January and the end of May 2016.
It may be part of the President’s role to calm the nation, but in this instance his blaming the current political mood on the hot weather may not be as helpful as he might have wished.
Germany is leading the sanctions argument with its EU Commissioner demanding the European Commission acts immediately to suspend 16 EU structural funds that Portugal enjoys.
Jean-Claude Juncker has opted for delay and wants the European Commissioners to enjoy a summer holiday before deciding what to do.
What has annoyed hard-line Commissioners is Portugal’s refusal to come up with credible additional budgetary measures to curb public spending against a backdrop of serial failures in the domestic banking industry, a scene that has yet to be played out with the sale of Novo Banco doomed to failure and the unquantifiable liquidity needs of Caixa Geral still to hit the economy.
There has been a 'spending review' submitted to Brussels, focusing on four key areas for 2017, namely "health and education; interim expenditure; State income from real estate and state-owned enterprises," but these have no effect on 2016's budget, the one that Brussles wants adjusted.
The Left Bloc says of the 2017 plan, "We respect this agreement. Its cements the replacement of income, salaries and pensions, and the protection of the welfare state," none of which seem to be threatened, leaving higher taxes as the only logical option.
Portugal’s voice will be a weak one at the sanctions negotiations, whether or not her President feels that sanctions are illogical.
