Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Monday expressed opposition during a same-day Eurogroup meeting to the possibility of Commission-imposed sanctions against Spain and Portugal, according to Greek government sources.
According to the same sources, Tsakalotos spoke after Germany’s Wolfgang Schauble and said Athens considers that countries which have made major efforts at fiscal readjustment should not be sanctioned, given that in light of the recent Brexit vote such a move would only create more problems than it intends to solve.
The French and Italian ministers reportedly echoed the same line of reasoning, without however expressing direct opposition to the commencement of the process for slapping economic sanctions on Madrid and Lisbon due to their excessive budget deficits.
