He also requested that the two far-left parties whose support the Socialists must rely on in parliament, the Left Bloc and the Communists, pledge not to propose motions of no confidence to try to bring the government down. They want to run the country under a Socialist government.
Advertisement
President Anibal Cavaco Silva made the announcement in a statement on Tuesday, ending weeks of uncertainty over the eurozone country’s political future.
Under pressure to end the political impasse that has kept Portugal in limbo for weeks, he instructed the leader of the Socialist Party, Antonio Costa, to “make efforts to form a stable, lasting and credible” government. That government had over the past four years introduced spending cuts and economic reforms following Portugal’s 78 billion-euro (US$83 billion) bailout in 2011. Mario Centeno, who has a PhD in Economics from Harvard University and was a special adviser at the Bank of Portugal, is widely expected to be the country’s next finance minister.
The appointment comes after Costa’s anti-austerity alliance with Communists, Greens and the Left Bloc toppled the 11-day-old conservative minority government in a dramatic parliamentary vote this month. He says he can do that and keep the budget deficit below the European Union limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product through 2019.
Advertisement
Costa’s leftist alliance says it will “turn the page” on austerity. Some 400,000 Portuguese left to seek work overseas.
