LONDON (MNI) – In a week that has seen Greece struggle to reach
political consensus over new austerity steps, the new prime minister of
Portugal, Pedro Passos Coelho, and European Commission President Jose
Manuel Barroso said Thursday that Portuguese politicians are united in
their commitment to make their own program a success.

“I’d like to highlight the fact that there is broad support in
Portugal,” Barroso said. “About 85% of the Portuguese people supported
the political parties that agreed with the European Commission, the
European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund and agreed on
an ambitious and demanding reform program.”

Coelho agreed: “85% of the members of parliament are absolutely
convinced that we should implement the program set out by the IMF and
the European Union. Portugal has all the conditions in place to make
this program a success.”

Barroso also said that the Commission, the ECB and the IMF are
happy with Portugal’s progress in implementing structural reforms.
“Portugal has to do what the financial and political authorities have
said and that is apply their program,” he said.

“The ‘troika’ has visited Portugal and made contact with the
Portuguese authorities and came back with a very positive report. And I
hope that spirit and that cooperation will continue in the tasks to
come,” he added.

Barroso suggested Portugal might front-load some reforms, even
though good progress had been achieved so far. “[We could] bring forward
certain programs where they might have more immediate effect, if you do
that,” he said. “I think that the situation in terms of implementation
is pretty good.”

Turning to Portugal’s troubled banking sector, Coelho said that
Lisbon could reactivate its bank recapitalisation scheme.

“It is possible to reactivate the recapitalisation fund if banks
need it, and we’ve got E12 billion to recapitalise Portuguese banks, if
we think it’s appropriate,” he said. “We have all the conditions in
place to fund the economy.”

–London newsroom: 0044 20 7862 7491; email: ukeditorial@marketnews.com

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