Portugal’s prime minister isn’t carrying out his threat to resign — and has even scored a political victory over opponents six months before a general election.
Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa had threatened to quit if opposition parties went ahead with their intention to approve a bill granting teachers retroactive pay to replace income lost due to national austerity measures.
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Costa said the unanticipated expenditure would ruin national finances and blamed his opponents for being reckless spenders of taxpayers’ money.
That enabled the center-left Socialists to portray themselves as fiscally diligent and helped remove the stain of having been in power in 2011 when Portugal needed a 78 billion-euro ($87.5 billion) bailout.
Portugal’s two center-right opposition parties voted with the government against the bill, which failed to pass Friday.
