Questioned by journalists during a visit to Rome about the possibility that the commission might impose sanctions on Portugal for failing to meet euro-zone deficit limits, de Sousa said that the current priority is closing the accounts for last year and that he was “calm” on that score.

“Afterwards, in a few days, there will be an assessment of the four-year outlook," he said. "We shall await that, we shan't take part in the sport - which is the national sport - of there having been on every corner a constitutional experts, and now on every corner a constitutionalist expert [or] economist."

According to the president people should not “spend their days comparing numbers and making assessments and forecasts.” Over the next month, he noted there will be a “series of judgements, namely by the European Commission, in relation to Portugal."

On Tuesday the European Union executive is to release its spring macroeconomic forecasts for all EU member states, including Portugal.

“I'm calm about the closing of the 2015 accounts, as to the outlook ..., with respect to the reforms of the next few years, and with respect to the quantification of the development of the economy in the next few years," de Sousa said.