30 April 2013

ECON Committee: Portugal economic reform efforts top agenda of EP delegation to Lisbon

Members of the EP's ECON Committee concluded a two-day delegation to Lisbon on 29-30 April. Leading the delegation, Committee Chair Sharon Bowles congratulated Portugal's efforts and added that measures were now needed to stimulate growth.

The delegation met in particular with the Portuguese Ministers of Finance and of the Economy, national parliamentarians, the Governor of the Central Bank and social partners.

Sharon Bowles (ALDE, UK), said: "I was quite impressed with Portugal, the steps taken have been bold and brave, Portugal has been doing everything it was asked to do by the troika and progress made is quite impressive. As regards austerity, there should be a limit when life has become very hard and it is not tolerable that it becomes even harder still. If you take all corrective measures with disappointing results largely due to external influences, it is necessary to take more measures to stimulate growth."

"This visit has been very informative to us. The goal of this kind of visits is to better inform ourselves of how it is on the ground when we do our scrutiny of legislation in the Parliament."

Background

The 12-member delegation, led by ECON Committee Chair Sharon Bowles, held high-level meetings with the Portuguese Minister of Finance - Vítor Gaspar, the Minister of the Economy - Álvaro Santos Pereira, national parliamentarians, the Governor of the Central Bank - Carlos da Silva Costa, the Portuguese Public Finance Council Chairwoman - Teodora Cardoso. Moreover, discussions were held with the social partners at Conselho Económico e Social, the Portuguese constitutional body for consultation and social concertation. The delegation also met the European Commission's resident advisor for Economic and Financial Affairs - Martin Hallet.

At the national parliament, the EP delegation had a common meeting with four committees and met with the Chairman of the European Affairs Committee - Paulo Mota Pinto, the Chairman of the Committee on Budget, Finance and Public Administration - Eduardo Cabrita, the Chairman of the Economics and Public Works Committee - Luís Campos Ferreira, and the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee to Monitor the Measures of the Financial Aid Package for Portugal - José António Vieira da Silva.

Press release

© European Parliament