Forever under pressure to highlight the good coming out of his government’s policies, Economy Minister Pires de Lima blew off a burst of theatrical steam yesterday afternoon during a long and intense parliamentary debate on the proposed State Budget. As radio commentators joked afterwards, “he must have had a good lunch”.
The surprise performance has been interpreted by Portuguese newspapers as “irony” – though this is possibly the last description that comes to mind. “An outrage!” exclaimed one online reader. “Close the bars so that parliament operates with respect!” wrote another.
In the end, it wasn’t so much what he said, but the way that he said it.
After apparently forgetting what he was about to say about the “errrmmmm, sector do turismo”, Pires de Lima launched into a bizarre attack on the Mayor of Lisbon, António Costa, whose turn of phrase – like that of Portugal’s Prime Minister Passos Coelho and the former national football coach Paulo Bento – could be said to lend itself to imitation.
Costa may well be adding “find a speech therapist” to his “to-do” list this morning, but he is at least in no doubt as to how the government feels about his plans for a tourism tax for Lisbon.
Meantime, Pires de Lima will be at pains not to be caught in any parliamentary bars for a few days.
His colourful performance on Thursday afternoon – which he appeared to thoroughly enjoy, although opposition members were shaking their heads in disbelief – included unusual descriptions on how the country was likely to pick up under the PSD/CDS-PP coalition government.
“If we stay on the path that has been set by this government, under Dr Pedro Passos Coelho, the recovery of investment (in Portugal) will be a little bit like ketchup or goals by Cristiano Ronaldo… When they start, they, or rather it, will come thick and fast,” he considered. Hic!
By NATASHA DONN
