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The European Commission is preparing a second bailout plan for Portugal, which may be implemented in 2014 at the conclusion of the current aid programme, in the event of Portugal encountering additional difficulties in obtaining finance, reports El País, citing EU sources.
If it goes ahead, the "soft bailout" will be managed by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), and not the EU-ECB-IMF troika. It will also involve reforms, but ones that are not as harsh as those already undertaken by Portugal, continues El País.
In the context of the July 8 Eurogroup meeting, which will discuss the situation in Portugal, as well as Greece and Spain, El País argues that the move amounts —
… to a message from Brussels that it will not abandon a country that has reached the limits of austerity.
