Brussels, 10/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Filmed without his knowledge and broadcast by German television station TV1, the German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble told his Portuguese counterpart Vitor Gaspar on Thursday 9 February that Germany would be prepared to agree to changes to the Portuguese bailout as a way of helping the country, although the Portuguese minister denied having made such a request. At a Eurogroup meeting to discuss the second Greek bailout (see related article), Schäuble told Gaspar that if it were necessary to change the Portuguese programme, then Germany was prepared to do so, but only when the key issue of the Greek bailout had been settled. “Thank you very much”, answered Gaspar.
On Friday 10 February, Portuguese media reported the Portuguese prime minister saying that Portugal's position had not changed and the government as not asking for more time or money from its international lenders. The secretly filmed conversation was more a commitment by the EU to stand by countries in receipt of aid which for reasons beyond their control are having problems with returning to the markets, he explained on Thursday. This doublespeak is criticised by the Portuguese opposition. The leader of the Socialist party, Antonio José Seguro, said that the prime minister should not go around saying one thing in Lisbon and the finance minister say the opposite in Brussels.
On several occasions over the past few weeks, the Portuguese government has said that it is not planning to call for a renegotiation of its aid programme or more time to pay off its debts. Portugal's economy is expected to shrink by 3% in 2012, and in May 2011 it received international financial aid of €78 billion over three years in return for the introduction of severe austerity measures. The troika of international lenders (European Commission, ECB and IMF) will be back in Portugal on Wednesday 15 February for their third fact-finding mission to examine implementation of the reforms set out in the bailout. In November 2011, the troika said it was happy with the Portuguese government's progress, but the recent hike in the interest rates demanded on Portuguese bonds suggests that it might not be possible for it to roll over its debt unaided in the second half of 2013, as planned. (SP/transl.fl)