Spain’s Rajoy asks Brussels to forgo deficit fine

MADRID: Spain’s acting Prime mMnister Mariano Rajoy has asked Brussels to waive a fine that could be imposed on the country for missing its deficit target in 2015, El Pais newspaper reported on Saturday.

Citing a letter sent to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, El Pais said Rajoy had stressed Spain’s efforts in the past four years to halve the public deficit, and offered up additional measures to control spending next year.

A source with the Spanish government confirmed the existence of the letter, though said it contained information that had already been sent to Brussels on Spain’s latest plans to bring the deficit down. The European Commission declined to comment.

The Commission is in charge of policing the budgets of the EU’s 28 members to make sure they improve each year in line with recommendations set by finance ministers. The rules were sharpened in 2011 to make financial sanctions for rule-breakers more automatic and harder to circumvent through political alliancebuilding as had happened in the past.

Spain missed its 2015 target of cutting the deficit to 4.2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), after overspending by regions and a social security revenue shortfall pushed it up to 5 per cent.

The Commission is considering penalising Spain as well as Portugal for missing their goals. Officials have said the fines — which would be unprecedented — could be symbolic and be set at zero per cent of GDP, though even that would ramp up political pressure.