Carlos Moedas: warnings from the EC to Portugal are “warnings from good friends”

  • ECO News
  • 5 January 2018

The European commissioner Carlos Moedas did not think much about the European Commission's warnings regarding the Portuguese State Budget. Yet, he acknowledges there are "risks for public debt".

European commissioner Carlos Moedas in CSP Talks, in Lisbon.

“Those are warnings from good friends” — this was how the commissioner Carlos Moedas interpreted the warnings from his colleague Pierre Moscovici concerning the Portuguese State Budget. Even so, Moedas himself underlined that the country still has a very high public debt, which includes many risks.

“Portugal must keep up with the good pace in reducing the deficit”, stated Carlos Moedas in CSP Talks, a press conference about the digital economy, organized by CSP (Portuguese Services Confederation), in a partnership with ECO. “Portugal is obviously well regarded” by the Commission, he underlined, arguing that “it is not a country that raises issues with the European Union”.

And what about the warnings made by the European commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, regarding the risk of a significant deviation from European rulings concerning budgetary matters? “Those warnings are not made just for Portugal. Those are warnings from good friends, the kind we generally give several European countries”, he devalued.

Even so, the commissioner highlighted that “Portugal has been through a tremendous crisis” and that, in spite of the deficit decrease, “there are still some risks about public debt”, which remains at very high levels.