A tense debate broadcast on the radio this morning saw the Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho react with an unusual degree of aggression while sharing the studio with the Socialist party leader António Costa (pictured).
With the exception of refugee crisis over which they agreed, all the other topics covered generated friction, in particular the issue of Social Security.
António Costa was unable to say which benefits he will cut to save his billion euros, as set out the socialists’ electoral programme, leaving Passos Coelho the opportunity to pounce.
The debate took about an hour and a half and started off with Europe and the mess in Greece, followed by the refugee crisis and whether the country would participate in any military operation against the Islamic state, with Costa not wanting to commit.
Social Security was one area where Costa could have scored as he correctly pointed out that the "hole of eight billion euros" in the Social Security accounts was a result "of emigration and unemployment."
Costa already has been criticised for lacking concrete policies and having poorly thought through responses to the key questions that the electorate should be interested in.
Passos Coelho’s stance has been to highlight the socialist opposition as unfit to lead as it has no track record in government.
The coalition at least has a track record in power and the country is not actually bankrupt despite owning eye-watering sums to the Troika which will take many generations to repay at the current rate of progress.
On the plus side is Portugal’s export performance, company formations, tourism, Golden Visa entrants, tax receipts and attempts to remodel its chaotic and lumbering judicial system.
This leaves so many areas that Costa could have scored well on but he seemed ill-prepared and weak in the face of the Prime Minister’s irritable onslaught.
The general election is on October 4th and the country has a choice of trusting the current coalition to muddle along despite its many obvious failures, to allowing a socialist leader to steer the country without a fully prepared list of things to do.
The one politician who seems to be asking all the right questions is Catarina Martins of the left Bloc, an alliance of the many left of centre parties that populate Portuguese politics.
Most of her questions on the key issues have successfully been ignored by the PM who has a skill in rewriting his own history and that of the PDS which he leads.
With some excellent football fixtures on October 4th, which the authorities refused to move, the election turnout may be low but the thought of Deputy Prime Minister Paulo Portas saying “I told you so” should be enough to get the most ardent footie fan struggling down to the polling booth.
