LISBON: The leader of Portugal's opposition Social Democrats (PSD) said on Wednesday his party is ready to provide all help necessary to the government to ensure the country secures a bailout from Europe and the IMF.
His comments struck a conciliatory tone after the government's request last week for a bailout, which could reach 80 billion euros ($115 billion), prompted jostling by politicians to avoid blame for the economic and financial crisis that forced the country to seek assistance.
"Conscious of the seriousness of the situation, the PSD will not hesitate in offering all the help it can so that the programme for assistance can be met," PSD leader Pedro Passos Coelho told reporters after meeting caretaker Prime Minister Jose Socrates.
Socrates met leaders of all political parties on Wednesday to inform them about the bailout negotiations.
European officials have urged cross-party agreement in Portugal on the terms of a bailout, which is sure to include new austerity measures, as it will be up to a new government to implement the plan after a snap election on June 5.
"The PSD is interested in saving the country from a situation whereby there would be no agreement on obtaining aid," Passos Coelho said. "Portugal needs this assistance."
Cabinet Minister Pedro Silva Pereira told reporters after the meetings that the government had asked opposition parties not to cast doubt on Portugal's public accounts in the "public domain" during the delicate negotiating process with foreign lenders.
"Portugal's public accounts are completely transparent," Silva Pereira said, adding that Wednesday's meetings served to establish lines of communication with opposition parties on the bailout negotiations.
Passos Coelho said earlier he hoped there would be no "skeletons in the closet" regarding public accounts.
EU URGES RESPONSIBILITY
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, himself a former Portuguese prime minister, said in Brussels that there will be strict conditions on the loan and a schedule will have to be defined quickly.
"So, what I ask from each and every decision-maker in Portugal is: let's be responsible, because the situation is a tough one, and it is an issue of the utmost urgency," Barroso said.
Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos told Reuters on Tuesday he hoped the bailout would be finalised and approved in mid-May, in time to cover financing needs from June.
The outgoing government resigned on March 23 after parliament, including the Social Democrats, rejected a new austerity plan.
Passos Coelho said that since his party rejected those measures it had become clear that the country's finances were in a worse state than had been assumed after data showed Portugal overshot its budget deficit goal for 2010.
There is still opposition to the bailout in Portugal, and left-wing leaders who met Socrates urged voters to express their objection to the foreign aid at the June 5 election.
"We insist that the decision of the Portuguese (at the election) is not a plebiscite to surrender to a solution which implies the destruction of the Portuguese economy," said Francisco Louca, head of the small Left Bloc party.
Unions have called a general strike on May 6 and there have been large protests against austerity in recent weeks.
"We want to make clear that this is not foreign assistance, this is a foreign intervention," said Communist Party leader Jeronimo Sousa.
Officials from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund started looking over Portugal's public accounts on Tuesday to decide what extra austerity measures they deem necessary for Lisbon to reduce its budget deficit in return for a three-year loan.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.