TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsPortugal gets a new government, but probably not for long
The Portuguese flag flies on the roof of the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon, Oct
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
The Portuguese flag flies on the roof of the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon, Oct. 5 2015, the day after Portugal's general elections.(AP /Armando Franca) (AP /Armando Franca)
T
span class="caption">The Portuguese flag flies on the roof of the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon, Oct. 5 2015, the day after Portugal's general elections. (AP /Armando Franca)
Portugal's center-right coalition government began preparing its return to power Friday, but it appeared doomed to a brief mandate as anti-austerity parties vowed to bring it down in the new Parliament's first vote.
Incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho started composing his new Cabinet a day after the country's president invited him to form a government following victory in an Oct. 4 general election. The government is expected to be sworn in next week.
Center-left opposition parties were incensed by the head of state's decision. They promised to use their combined parliamentary majority to quickly bring down the minority government by voting against its four-year policy program, which will be the first item on the new Parliament's agenda. Rejection of the program would force the government's resignation next month.
Socialist leader Antonio Costa, who has been negotiating the creation of a left-of-center majority government with the Communist Party and radical Left Bloc, accused the president of triggering "a pointless political crisis." He said President Anibal Cavaco Silva's decision was "unacceptable" and only postponed the inevitable rise to power of his unprecedented leftist alliance.
At the source of the current political upheaval is the 78 billion-euro ($86.6 billion) bailout that debt-heavy Portugal needed in 2011, when it was engulfed by the 19-nation eurozone's financial crisis. Creditors who provided the rescue loan demanded cuts in pay, pensions and public services, and tax hikes.
The government says more savings must be made. It got 38.4 percent of votes in the election but is outnumbered in the 230-seat Parliament, where its anti-austerity opponents have 122 seats.
The head of state said he couldn't give power to parties which oppose Portugal's membership of the shared euro currency ' a reference to the Communists and Left Bloc.
