“I think that it would be unjust to apply sanctions against Portugal because of the year of 2015 and I am going to explain this. There are reasons for this and this is not a sentimental or emotive postion,” the Portuguese President said after visiting the ARCO art fair in Lisbon.

Rebelo de Sousa then detailed the logic underpinning his position before calling on Germany to throw its weight behind Portugal on the issue.

“Firstly, Portugal did everything that should have been done. Secondly, the divergences are an accounting matter– 0.4% -, thirdly, these sanctions have never been applied. Fourthly, any such measures would be a sign of a lack of understanding and solidarity with the sacrifices made by the Portuguese people and fifthly this would be no encouragement for 2016 and the efforts that are still needed on the budgetary front,” said the president.

“For all of these reasons, and among others, I believe that Berlin, Germany, that has a lot of influence at the appropriate time, should engage all of this influence so as not to apply sanctions either against Portugal or against Spain,” Rebelo de Sousa concluded.

The president’s comments came in the wake of the European Commission deciding to postpone the decision on whether or not to levy budgetary overshoot sanctions against the two Iberian countries and allegations that this decision had met opposition by members of Ecofin expressed at a meeting held on Wednesday.

These, in turn, had led to the Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Annika Breidthardt, stating on Thursday that the Commission deemed it had every legitimacy and legal grounds for delaying the decision.