Portuguese Government success derives from the end of “the most orthodox austerity”
To Bloomberg, Foreign Affairs minister Santos Silva denied any chance of an early election in Portugal. He commended the Government's ability to move past "the most orthodox austerity".
Foreign Affairs minister Santos Silva was clear: the Government will not create a political scenario aiming to call for early elections, even if the polls point to a major upper hand of the Socialist Party (PS) among Portuguese voters. To news agency Bloomberg, Santos Silva stated: “Whoever provokes a political crisis in Portugal will pay severely”. He also emphasized that the success of António Costa’s Executive is a result of their ability to overcome “the most orthodox austerity”.
“The current government is deeply, fully committed to completing its term. Political stability is one of the key factors in the Portuguese success”, assured Augusto Santos Silva.
"Whoever provokes a political crisis in Portugal will pay severely.”
To contextualize this statement, Bloomberg states the latest polls, published by Expresso on August 4th, show the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) holds 41% of voting intentions, against the 32% of the votes it got on the 2015 October elections. Socialists have a 13 percentage points’ upper hand on the Social Democratic Party (PSD). Bloomberg compares this to the scenario which lead Theresa May to call for early elections in June, stating the “Portuguese leader Antonio Costa is inclined to play safe”.
When asked about the 2018 State Budget negotiations, Santos Silva said the Government hopes to reach an agreement with its Parliamentary partners — the Left Block (BE) and the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) — aiming to approve the document to be presented in October. The minister highlighted the Portuguese Executive’s ability to move past “the most orthodox austerity”.
The traditional way of the Portuguese to cope with difficulties, based on family networks, on community networks, functioned perfectly during the crisis, and the crisis in Portugal was very, very severe.
“The political success of the Portuguese Government has to do with the ability to leave behind the most orthodox austerity, in terms of budgetary policy, without disrespecting any of our European commitments”, Augusto Santos Silva highlighted.
He further commended the “very impressive social resilience in our [the Portuguese] population” during the last years of the economic crisis, after the cuts in salaries and pensions, as well as when creating new taxes — all “with no significant social turbulence”.
“The traditional way of the Portuguese to cope with difficulties, based on family networks, on community networks, functioned perfectly during the crisis, and the crisis in Portugal was very, very severe”, he stated.
