Austerity plan not enough

An austerity package presented by Prime Minister José Socrates on 8 March has failed to convince critics of the Portuguese government. The new "stability and growth programme," which aims to cut the public deficit from 8.3% this year to 2.8% in 2013, will be debated in parliament on 25 March before being submitted to the European Commission. However, experts quoted by Público remain sceptical. "The government is playing with fire," remarks economist João César das Neves who warns that "we will be lost" if the international markets do not believe in the plan. Measures in the package, which include the privatisation of public assets, a wage freeze and a longer working life for civil servants "are not sufficient to balance public accounts," adds economist Álvaro Santos Pereira. But they could be sufficient to create major difficulties for the government now that unions are launching a protest movement.