Portuguese PM names new deputy to avert coalition breakup

Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho announced Saturday that leader of the junior People's Party in the coalition government Paulo Portas will be the country's deputy prime minister, which has saved the government from collapse after the resignation of Portas and Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar early this week. Passos Coelho told a press conference that Portas will stay on in the government and be assigned with greater responsibility as deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs besides dealing with international lenders in the bailed-out country. Passos Coelho made the announcement with Portas at his side after a meeting of the two parties in the coalition government earlier in the day. The prime minister said that the agreement between his PSD or the Socialist Democratic Party and the CDS-PP or the People's Party ensured the continuity of the coalition government and the newly appointed finance minister Maria Albuquerque would remain at her post though there would be "profound changes in the government organization". Passos Coelho added that the accord reached by the two parties also ensured compliance with Portugal's international commitments. Portas resigned on Tuesday for his opposition to the appointment of former Secretary of State of Treasury Maria Luis Albuquerque as new financial minister to replace Vitor Gaspar who stepped down the previous day. Portas has been in odds with the coalition government over its tough austerity measures, the reduction of pension in particular, under a 78-billion-euro bailout agreement with international lenders of the troika comprising the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. The government implementation of harsh austerity measures has triggered outrages among the Portuguese people who frequently took to the streets in protest against the government, which is blamed for deepening economic recession in Portugal in the past years. The resignations of the two top ministers in the coalition government has left it at risk of collapse and sparked a severe political crisis in the country. However, Pessos Coelho refused to accept the resignation of Portas and has engaged in the hectic negotiations in the past few days with Portas in an effort to maintain the stability of the coalition government. "A formula has been found to maintain the stability of the government," Passos Coelho told reporters after meeting with President Anibal Cavaco Silva at the presidential palace Thursday.