European Commission receives Spain's budget

Euro crisis

flickr-Vectorportal

The European Commission receives the new Spanish budget for 2013 and 2014, after the latter missed the end-July deadline for delivering its spending plans for upcoming years. 

The delay in meeting the deadline came as north-eastern Catalonia decided to boycott a preparatory meeting between regional finance officials and Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro in Madrid. 

The budget has been eagerly awaited, as eurozone partners granted the economically troubled country an extra year to meet its deficit target of three percent of GDP and have been anxious to see if Spain will do everything in its power to overcome the economic crisis. 

Spain aims to reduce its 2011 deficit of 8.9 percent to 6.3 percent this year, to 4.5 percent next year and 2.8 percent in 2014.