How do you impose the toughest austerity measures a country has experienced in more than three decades and increase your popularity ratings at the same time? Ask Pedro Passos Coelho, Portugal's spendthrift but widely admired prime minister. Elected in June in a historic victory for his centre-right Social Democratic Party, the seemingly impermeable Passos Coelho has embarked on a long list of economic, fiscal and labour market reforms going beyond anything demanded by the EU and the IMF as part of debt-laden Portugal's bail-out package. Though his strategy to bring Portugal's debt and public account deficit into line has stirred controversy - and a general strike - the reason for Coelho's … [Read more...] about Pedro Passos Coelho
Passos Coelho
Thrifty newcomer may be just the ticket in profligate Portugal
Pedro Passos Coelho, Portugal’s prime minister-elect, does not like wasting money. Both in his professional career and personal life, he has been described as thrifty, frugal, even tight-fisted. He currently lives in a standard apartment block in the none-too-fashionable Lisbon district of Amadora, but if he moves into the prime minister’s residence near the São Bento Palace his stinginess may come in handy in solving Portugal’s debt and deficit crisis. That, at least, appears to be what many Portuguese were thinking when they handed victory to Passos Coelho’s centre-right Social Democrats (PSD) in last Sunday’s general election, coupled with a desire to get rid of the Socialist … [Read more...] about Thrifty newcomer may be just the ticket in profligate Portugal