The pre-summit caucuses of leaders in their party groupings have begun, and one of the surprise guests at the centre-right European Peoples’ Party meeting is Pedro Passos Coelho, the head of Portugal’s opposition Social Democrats and the man likely to be the country’s next prime minister.
Speaking to reporters on the way into the EPP caucus, Passos Coelho said he hoped his country could avoid a bail-put, but emphasised he had no mandate yet to make any decisions.
“It’s impossible to answer that question,” he said when asked if a bail-out was imminent. “I hope that Portugal will be free of a bail-out. That’s my hope.”
Passos Coelho said he would stick to a policy of budget-cutting and fiscal consolidation, arguing his measures would be more effective than José Sócrates, the socialist prime minister who resigned on Wednesday. But he emphasised the job wasn’t his…yet.
“Sócrates is still the prime minister,” he said. “He must run the government until the next election.
Across the globe: Gideon Rachman and his FT colleagues debate international affairs on