English
Portuguese prime-minister Pedro Passos Coelho, and his socialist opponent, Antonio Costa, yesterday got into a conflict on the issue of austerity policies, in a televised debate before the general elections of October 4.
The prime-minister said that proposals of his socialist opponent to end austerity are simply unrealistic and would lead to a repeat of the situation of 2011, when the bail-out package was agreed with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Costa, former mayor of Lisbon, proposes higher wages, hirings and tax cuts, and the drop of the austerity measures.
"The problem is that the policy of the government is worse than that of the Troika (ed. note: of the international creditors)", said Costa.
Addressing the socialist leader, Passos Coelho said: "Your demagoguery goes into conflict with reality".
Passos Coelho's governing coalitions leads in the polls, followed by the socialists, but they also show that neither faction will be able to secure a government majority after the elections.
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