Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho has said that many of the cuts the government has implemented are temporary, though the “deceptive wealth” the Portuguese enjoyed before the crisis in 2011 is gone for good.
Passos Coelho was speaking at the PSD headquarters after being re-elected for his third consecutive term as president of the right-wing political party, with 88% of the votes and no alternative contenders.
Although admitting that the government cannot set a date for when austerity can be reversed, the prime minister guaranteed that it will all depend on how the Portuguese economy recovers.
“We will not face the future thinking that all the cuts that had to be made will continue,” Passos Coelho stated.
But Portugal will still never achieve the levels of what he dubs “deceptive wealth” registered before 2011, and anyone campaigning on the basis of returning to those kinds of income levels is simply spouting “vote-seeking claptrap”.
“Our recovery will depend on the wealth that we can create,” he said, predicting a “gradual recovery” in both the public and private sectors.
