The European Commission is looking to give Spain one more year to reach its 3% deficit target, extending the deadline to 2014 from 2013, reports El Pais in its Tuesday Internet edition.

Earlier Monday, EU economy commissioner Olli Rehn hinted the Commission could give Spain further leeway to meet budgetary deficit objectives.

The Spanish economy shrank by 0.3% in the first three months of 2012 after a similar contraction in the previous quarter.

-Dow Jones Newswires, enza.tedesco@dowjones.com