The latest round of jostling is between Rajoy and the regional governments in Spain: Rajoy tells regions no way out of cutbacks as government prepares budget

The regions, which were largely responsible for the blowout in the country's finances last year, will have to contribute 15.6 billion euros to the total estimated by De Guindos. The country's two biggest regions, Andalusia and Catalonia, on Sunday called on Rajoy for some slack in the target in order not to have to cut back on essential services such as health and education.

However, after a meeting Monday with the OECD's secretary general, Ángel Gurría, Rajoy said the regions would have to make a "significant effort," adding that the central government had no intention of relaxing the target set for the regions of a deficit of 1.5 percent of GDP. That figure, he pointed out, was up from 1.3 percent last year when the actual shortfall was 2.94 percent.

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Rajoy insisted he did not have to get Brussels' permission to announce a deficit higher than that agreed with the previous Socialist administration. "We have done what seems to us to be logical and reasonable, and we will be evaluated in April when we will speak with the Commission," he said.