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Portugal, Ireland see "successful" outcome from bailout programs: Portuguese PM

Xinhua, May 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho on Wednesday claimed that both Portugal and Ireland had seen a "successful" outcome from the bailout programs they implemented under international lenders.

"I have no doubt that without the Portuguese and Irish examples, we would be now having a completely different discussion, in a much bleaker atmosphere and with much painful choices for southern countries," Pedro Passos Coelho said during the Estoril Conferences, an international event that took place biannually around 25 km from Lisbon, and was attended by former Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou on Wednesday.

Passos Coelho added that the recovery from the crisis would happen through "greater convergence" between member states and also countries waiting to join the union.

"If we don't produce this result, we will lead everyone to doubt and ask themselves if it is worth being member, or if it is better to leave," he added.

Passos Coelho also defended the creation of a European Monetary Fund, and the establishment of a "real financial union, with the union of European markets and a European system of insolvency and restructure of companies" as well as autonomy of European political institutions with regards to the European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He also said Europe had to "know how to look after its own problems" and ECB needed a "clear and responsible interlocutor" in order to guarantee the "efficiency" of budgetary policies and reforms.

Portugal signed a 78 billion euro bailout in 2011 with the ECB, IMF and the European Commission in 2011 and since then has been implementing harsh austerity to meet its targets.

The country has continued to apply budgetary cuts and has been dubbed Europe's "best pupil" yet the IMF says Portugal needs to implement further reforms to put the economy back on track. Endit