“The package must be very strict,” Jyrki Katainen said as he arrived for EU finance minister talks in Hungary after Portugal formally requested aid expected to run to tens of billions of euros.

In exchange for loans, Lisbon will have to slash its budget and austerity measures “must be harder than (those) that the parliament in Portugal voted against,” Katainen said.

“There must be some structural reforms, fiscal consolidation alone is not enough,” he added.