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Portugal to benefit from agreement between Greece, EU: official

Xinhua, February 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

Portugal would benefit from an agreement in negotiations between Greece and the European Union (EU), the president of the Lisbon Municipal Assembly, Helena Roseta, said on Thursday.

"The essential matter in Portugal's interest is to collaborate in the negotiation between Greece and the European Union," said Roseta in a statement.

Roseta is one of 32 Portuguese figures who signed a letter to Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho on Thursday before a meeting in Brussels, where eurozone finance ministers were trying to reach an agreement with Greece.

Greece's new Prime Minister Alex Tsipras is maintaining a rigid anti-austerity stance, and wants to renegotiate his country's massive bailout deal of 240 billion euros (about 273 billion U.S. dollars), which expires on Feb. 28.

Roseta also said in the letter that she was disturbed by Passos Coelho's remarks regarding the Greek government's position.

Passos Coelho has referred to Tsipras' stance on the debt burden as "children's tales," however, Roseta pointed out that it was necessary to "defend alternative solutions to those we are currently living through."

Portugal signed a 78-billion-euro bailout program in May 2011 with the Troika - the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank - when it was on the verge of bankruptcy, and has, like Greece, also been sticking to a rigid set of austerity measures, including spending cuts and tax hikes.

Portugal's center-right government has continued to implement austerity measures despite exiting the program in May last year, as the country strives to cut its deficit target below 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year.

"The main matter that Greece put on the table was that the tale that there is no alternative (to austerity measures) has come to an end. There has to be an alternative, it's in Portugal's interest to contribute to them," Roseta said.

But fellow currency bloc members have insisted Greece stick to its bailout agreements and Greece's creditors are pushing the debt-laden country to seek an extension and receive the latest portion of its bailout of 7 billion euros.

Greece has a debt burden of 175 percent of its GDP, but is expected to return to growth this year. Last week, however, the European Commission cut its growth forecast to 2.5 percent from the 2.9 percent expected in November of last year. Enditem