Portuguese government adopts economic austerity policy of €800m

Portuguese coalition government accepted new cuts which involve all ministries after the country's Constitutional Court cancelled four cuts worth 1.3 billion euros arguing the four cuts were against the "principle of equality". In a statement released after an 11 hour long meeting, the Portuguese cabinet said that an economic austerity policy with a value of 800 million euros had been adopted to meet the aims of the Troika (European Commission, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund) in lowering public budget deficit. Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Portuguese government, Luis Marques Guedes stressed that cuts would take place in all programs in the budget. Cuts would be determined according to the flexibility and capacity of programs, Guedes also said.