Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho got a gold star for defiance in Wednesday’s debate on the State of the Nation.
Despite being accused of having destroyed three generations, the PSD leader whose hair loss keeps perfect pace with his popularity maintained that he did not feel defeated and was ready for the “national compromise” that is so sorely lacking in Portugal.
Political consensus and a society of full employment are Passos Coelho’s overriding goals, he told Parliament, while opposition parties bayed for blood and demanded a renegotiation of the nation’s crippling debt (now up to 132.9% of GDP).
Unimpressed with Passos’ bravado, PS secretary general António José Seguro maintained three generations had been decimated in three harrowing years.
Seguro was expected to be pushing for a renegotiation of the nation’s debt in yesterday’s Council of State, convened by President Cavaco Silva today, to discuss Portugal’s way forward.
