The German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, said today after a meeting in the Algarve with his Portuguese counterpart, Maria Luís Albuquerque, that Portugal took the "right decision" to forego the final tranche of the Troika loan.
This is a somewhat different statement to that from the German government in Berlin which on hearing the news of Portugal’s inability to get a budget past the Constitutional Court, and hence its inability to draw down the final tranche of the bailout loan, expressed “deep concern that the programme has ended in this way and that it shows a loss of determination on the part of the Portuguese Government to continue and conclude the bailout programme.”
Still, 24 hours is a long time in politics and Herr Schäuble’s emollient comments may help to calm any adverse international opinion and keep a lid on bond interest rates.
"I think it was the right decision since the alternative was to have an extension of the programme," Wolfgang Schäuble told reporters after his meeting with Albuquerque at a European People's Party conference which runs until Wednesday in the Algarve's Albufeira and includes such luminaries as the European Commission President, Durão Barroso, the chairman of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and the Portuguese Prime Minister, Pedro Passos Coelho.
"We are fully satisfied with Portugal. There have been reports that we are not, but they are false," said the German minister, perhaps ignorant of the earlier statement issued to the world's press by the German government.
Asked when Portugal could ease off on the austerity measures and go for employment growth, Schäuble skilfully avoided the question, saying that "structural reforms and sound fiscal policy are two sides of the same coin," and that this is a question that arises in "all economies."
On the Court decision to reject key parts of Portugal’s 2014 Budget, the German Finance Minister said "They taught me to never comment on the decisions of constitutional courts, because we also have a Constitutional Court in Germany."
Maria Luís Albuquerque said they had "a normal meeting" and talked about current events and "a bit of football." The minister said the decision to forego the last tranche of the bailout loan would be on the agenda on Thursday’s Eurogroup meeting, though to what end was not made clear.
Adding to the number of top euro politicians in the Algarve today was Vice-President of the European Commission Viviana Reding who spend the day in Faro.
The vice president of the European Commission responsible for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, visited the regional capital using some time when not attending the European People's Party meeting in Albufeira. REding wanted to see how some EU funds had been spent.
In the capital, Viviane Reding dropped in at two EU-funded projects; the Europe Direct Information Centre of the Algarve, and then the flagship Citizen's Shop in Faro market.
Reding was accompanied by the Chairman of the Committee for Coordination and Regional Development Algarve, David Santos, who explained the Europe Direct Information Centre of the Algarve is one of the 19 existing European information centres in the country, all co-financed by the European Commission.
Reding met the technicians responsible for the integrated CCDR-Algarve/Europe Direct Information Centre project and said it is a "success story" that allows people to ask and receive answers to questions on European matters.
The Citizen's Shop in Faro, inaugurated in April 2009, gathers utilities, central and local government functions in one area. This was a good thing to show the EU Vice-President as the project works well and was a cost-effective spend.
"A big part of our society just does not know how to use new technologies. For youth is no problem, but for their grandparents it is. If people are not helped, they will experience many difficulties. There must be an intermediate level that can be supported," Reding mused.
“As there is still a part of society that is not prepared to use new technologies,” Reding considered it “important that these citizen spaces exist, with qualified people to help the public to use the new technologies.”
To Viviane Reding, the Portuguese Citizens Shop project "can be replicated in many countries."
