De Guindos told CNBC on Tuesday that he was sure Spain could get its deficit below three percent by 2017.

"With respect to the situation for Spain it would be something of a paradox to impose a financial penalty to the best-performing European economy, which is Spain. And I think this consideration is shared by many people, not only at the Eurogroup but also at the Ecofin," he told CNBC on Tuesday.

The Commission warned both Spain and Portugal back in 2013 to do more to address their budget deficits. Last week, the Commission said Portugal had not corrected its "excessive" deficit by the deadline it was given of 2015 and that Spain was unlikely to correct its deficit by the 2016 deadline.



Spain's headline deficit peaked at 11 percent in 2009 during the height of the financial crisis, before falling to 10.4 percent of GDP in 2012 and 5.1 percent in 2015, while the recommended target for 2015 was 4.2 percent of GDP. Portugal, meanwhile, saw its headline deficit decline from 11.2 percent of GDP in 2010 to 4.4 percent in 2015, while the recommended target for 2015 was 2.5 percent of GDP.

However, EU officials are wary to impose fines on countries that are still recovering from the financial crisis. There is also little political appetite to do anything that could increase anti-EU sentiment, particularly after euroskepticism led to a majority of Britons voting to leave the EU last month.