Portugal bailout likely 80 bln euros: EU commissioner

Portugal’s debt bailout will likely reach 80 billion euros ($115 billion) and include “an ambitious privatisation programme,” EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said Friday.

The headline figure was given after urgent talks among European Union finance ministers in Hungary after Lisbon waved and became the third eurozone state to call for outside help after Greece and Ireland last year.

The final sum, negotiations for which start immediately between the EU, the International Monetary Fund and all the main Portuguese political parties ahead of a June 5 general election in Portugal, is “likely to be around 80 billion,” Rehn told a news conference in Godollo, near Budapest.

The debt bailout package should include the condition of “an ambitious privatisation programme,” Rehn said, adding: “That will help to alleviate the debt burden.”