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Portuguese PM's Christmas message: education, quality jobs to be boosted

Xinhua, December 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

Portugal must commit to investing in education and creating quality jobs, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said this Sunday in a speech to the country to mark Christmas day.

"Just like during the Christmas period, children need to be in the center of our concerns every day and education has to be our first priority," said the prime minister in a message recorded at a kindergarten school in Lisbon.

Costa, who came into power in November last year, also pointed out that dialogue, transparency and compromise were the recipes to relaunch the Portuguese economy and create jobs.

The Portuguese Socialist government promised to turn a page on austerity while committed to EU fiscal rules.

Costa has raised pensions and reversed public sector salary cuts, and the country's economy grew at a faster rate than any other EU country in the third quarter of this year. Enditem