"It is reassuring to observe that Portugal has already covered a long route since the last financial crisis and I want to be very clear because Portugal is certainly on the right track, I have no doubt,” said the Council President.

Tusk, who chairs heads of state European Union summit meetings, also touched on the likelihood of Portugal facing budgetary overshoot sanctions by pointing out how there were "objective procedures" for excessive deficits and the matter was not on the next Council agenda even if likely to be up before the Minister of Finance Eurogroup meeting in July.

The president also said that the commission “will be gathering more up to date information on budgetary implementation which is important to ascertaining whether this year is running in accordance with the forecasts and in which case there would be even less justifications for the applications of sanctions” with Tusk adding that despite the failure to turn in the required deficit in 2015, “Portugal is on a positive trajectory.”

This was a message Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa had no difficulty in agreeing with and affirming that the latest figures, both in terms of expenditure and revenues, confirmed that trajectory.

Costa also took the opportunity to throw his weight behind the United Kingdom remaining in the European Union.

Costa pointed out that Portugal and Britain had the longest standing diplomatic relationship in the world, and that relationship “would exist forever” but that meant he also wanted “the United Kingdom to remain with us, (…) with the European Union.”