Dijsselbloem made the comments to journalists on his way into a meeting of the Eurogroup, which is made up of the finance ministers of euro-zone member states.

“Sanctions are absolutely a possibility," he said. "They are in our rules and regulations, and when we view the current situation in Portugal and Spain there are serious reasons to consider their application, but we shall hear from the [European] Commission the reason for the decision.

The European Union executive said earlier this month that it was postponing until early July a decision on whether to recommend fining Portugal and Spain for excessive deficits. Both countries remain under excessive deficit procedures and the commissioner for economic affairs, Pierre Moscovici, said that the commission had decided to propose that Portugal be given "one more year and one more year only" to bring its deficit below 3% of gross domestic product.

According to Dijsselbloem, Portugal's Socialist government can avoid fines if it ensures “that the budget remains within the limits”. He stressed that this is “a difficult job", adding that he said that "from experience”.

The Eurogroup president is finance minister of the Netherlands.

The subject of possible fines for member states with deficits that infringe euro-zone rules is on the agenda for Tuesday's Eurogroup meeting. Dijsselbloem said the ministers were expecting to receive an update on Portugal's budget situation from their Portuguese colleague, Mário Centeno.

“But a formal decision will only be made at the next Ecofin [meeting of EU finance ministers], next month, when we discuss specific recommendations for countries," Dijsselbloem recalled.