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THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
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based on four pillars: structural reforms, control
of public spending, raising tax revenues and the
reduction of the public debt.
The political effects of the crisis would condi-
tion and mark the elections of 2015, despite the
fact that, as in Ireland, it was already on the way
to easing gradually, as Portugal exited the bail-
out without the need for complementary pre-
cautionary measures. We must underscore the
positive reaction of all the economic players, the
business community and trade unions, which
enabled the increase in savings, in investment,
in exports and the rise in GDP at that time.
While Passos Coelho’s PSD was the party to
receive most votes, it did not win an absolute
majority, not even with the support of the CDS,
after a brief and vain bid to secure the term of
office. That would lead to an unprecedented
situation, with a parliamentary solution led by
the second party, the Socialists. António Costa
(PS) was appointed Prime Minister thanks to the
support of the Communist Party (PCP) and the
Left Bloc (BE), which was a first. Given the spe-
cial and novel situation, it was dubbed
gerin-
gonça
, a term in popular Portuguese for some-
thing that appears doomed to fail, but which
actually works in the end.
The consolidation of Portuguese
democracy
In short, we can describe recent years in Portugal,
first, as a period of consolidation of democracy and,
second, as one of realization – thanks to European
integration – of a development programme that
has enabled notable economic and social conver-
gence in the early years of the 21
st
century.
There were 10 years of centre-right govern-
ment (1985-1995) under Cavaco Silva, eight of
which with an absolute majority, followed by
seven years of centre-left rule (1995-2002) un-
der António Guterres, during which time it was
possible to join the euro zone and meet the pre-
viously mentioned Maastricht criteria.
The first 17 years of European integration
were years of economic growth, making the
most of EU funds and low interest rates. The
following decade was less stable, growth
slowed, or slipped into recession, with rotation
of power between the centre-right and the left.
The necessary changes in the Portuguese
political institutions
We must recall that the Constitution of 1976 un-
derwent profound changes on two occasions, in
1982 and 1989, above all to reinforce the social
market economy and entry into Europe. It also
underwent changes to define the unitary state
with just two autonomous regions, Madeira and
the Azores. The system is a parliamentary one
with a President elected for five years by direct
universal suffrage. The President has significant
moderating power, but no executive functions.
The President has only representative functions,
with power to guarantee national independence
and the unity of the state and as the regulator of
the correct functioning of the institutions. The
President’s powers include the authority to dis-
solve Parliament, appoint and dismiss the Prime
Minister and to veto laws of the Assembly of the
Republic (Parliament) and government decrees.
This wise arrangement of representative and
moderating powers has meant that all the
Presidents since 1976 - Ramalho Eanes, Mário
Soares, Jorge Sampaio, Cavaco Silva and now
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa - have been called
upon to play a true role as a
protective barrier
against certain parliamentary situations or re-
garding government solutions.