Brussels, 12/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Mayor of Lisbon, Pedro Santana Lopes, was appointed on the weekend by president Jorge Sampaio to take over from José Manuel Barroso as prime minister of Portugal. He immediately announced that he would continue the policies begun by the previous government and that the "question of budgetary consolidation has not been resolved".
On Portuguese television, Mr Santana Lopes underlined that "we have the first signs of a recovery, slight by real, but...