Brussels, 31/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 31 October, the Portuguese parliament voted through the draft 2013 budget prepared by the Passos Coelho government and including the austerity measures required by the country's lenders as a condition for the granting of the €78 billion financial aid plan (see EUROPE 10706). Votes from the coalition government were enough to pass the budget in first reading - it was voted against by all opposition parliamentarians, from the socialists to the far left.
The 2013 budget includes savings of €5.3 billion, more than four-fifths of which is to come from tax rises (the average rate of taxation will rise from 9.8% in 2012 to 13.% in 2013). Portugal's lenders agreed in September to relax the public deficit correction targets to 5% of GDP in 2012 and 4.5% in 2013. The day before the vote, Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said the budget was very tough and called for great sacrifices from the Portuguese people, but it serves the crucial aim of leading the country's structural adjustment programme to a successful conclusion. The socialist party and its leader Antonio José Seguro slammed the budget for excessive austerity and over-optimistic economic forecasts. Trade unions have called a general strike for 14 November. The EU's statistics office, Eurostart, says that unemployment stabilised in September at 15.7% of the working population, compared with 15.8% in August. (SP and MB/transl.fl)