Brussels down on national labour law

“Brussels is pressuring Portugal for more labour law reform,” announces Diário de Notícias. On 4 November, the European Commission asked Lisbon “to do away with rigid labour market rules and procedures for establishing pay scales.” But the daily remarks that this is “unlikely to happen.” The Minister of Labour Helena André replied that “the government had no plans to reform labour law.” With interest rates on Portuguese sovereign debt reaching 6.65%, the Commission also insisted that Portugal should implement further spending cuts before the end of the year if it is to meet its target of a 4.6% deficit in 2011.