Portugal must stick to announced austerity steps-EU

BRUSSELS, March 24 (Reuters) - Portugal must stick to the additional austerity steps announced this month to regain market confidence in its economy and the euro zone as a whole, European Commission President Jose Manuale Barroso said.

Speaking ahead of an EU summit, Barroso told reporters EU leaders were unlikely to change their mind on the need for the additional steps despite the rejection of the measures by Portugal's parliament on Wednesday and the collapse of the Portuguese government.

"I do not expect the European Council to change the line of its orientations taken very clearly by the last euro area summit," Barroso said, referring to a March 11 decision.

"And so it will be confirmed and I hope the political difficulties that appeared in Portugal, that we have to respect, will be settled as quickly as posible, because it is important for the confidence in the Portuguese economy that the consensus, that I believe exists in Portugal, regarding the need to achieve fiscal consolidation and structural reform, is clearly reaffirmed," Barroso, a former Portuguese prime minister, said.

"The targets that the euro area summit has supported regarding fiscal consolidation and structural reforms are indispensable for the confidenec in the Eurpean economy," Barroso said. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, editing by Luke Baker)