Similarly, when the Commission gave its revised recommendation for an appropriate fiscal strategy in autumn 2002, deviating from the original dates for achieving a safe budgetary position was conceived by CSFB as bending the Pact, although not breaking it. 9 In contrast, Goldman and Sachs welcomed the change of the proposed Commission strategy as a more realistic target, but it was refuted as still being too restrictive. 10 Towards the end of the year, investment banks mostly saw the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact as being invigorated. The first reason for this was the declaration of an excessive deficit for Portugal, and more importantly, the initiation of such.
