Friday, 17 May: Weekly “Sol” reports that Prime Minister Passos Coelho went to see President Cavaco Silva last Sunday determined to hand in his resignation, amid the political crisis that shook the PSD/CDS-PP coalition, but the president convinced him not to and called Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Paulo Portas and mediated the conflict.

Thursday, 16 May: “Público” reports that German leaders criticised the path of austerity and tax hikes followed by the European Commission and its Portuguese President José Manuel Barroso for being “rigid” and “incompetent”.

Wednesday, 15 May: “Público” reports that President Cavaco Silva told the coalition partners they should avoid any public expression of divergences, stressing that internal issues should be settled without publicity.

Tuesday, 14 May: “Diário de Notícias” reports that President Cavaco Silva called both Prime Minister Passos Coelho and Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Paulo Portas on Sunday, before the extraordinary cabinet meeting took place

Monday, 13 May: Several newspapers, including weekly “Expresso”, report that the OECD has released a report warning that Portugal should be careful as it pushes on with state reforms, proposing several measures including lower income and corporate tax rates, lower compensation for dismissals, and higher property and environmental tax rates.

Friday, 10 May: “Público” reports that figures released by the National Institute of Statistics reveal that the jobless rate in Portugal has hit 17.7% but the inactivity rate has reached 39.9%, its highest in the last 15 years. “Correio da Manhã” says the real unemployment rate stands at 26.1%, affecting 1.5 million people.

Thursday, 9 May: According to “Público”, specialists say that the non-existence of unemployment benefits in the mobility programme for public servants is among the issues that threaten the new changes proposed by the government.

Wednesday, 8 May: Daily “i” reports that despite being pleased with the result of Tuesday’s debt issue, Minister of Finance Vítor Gaspar admits that unemployment is a problem without solution unless Portugal starts an active job-creation programme.

Tuesday, 7 May: According to newspaper “Público”, leading figures in the PSD party have slammed a new proposal put forward by the prime minister on Friday involving a new surcharge on pensions, which has also been criticised by minister of state and foreign affairs and leader of junior coalition partner CDS-PP, Paulo Portas.

Monday, 6 May: According to weekly “Expresso”, the public sector “mobility” scheme is to be turned into a “re-qualification” scheme, enabling the state to lay-off workers after 18 months.