The Ministry of Finance said the troika would be in Lisbon “from Tuesday” to assess the latest austerity measures announced by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho Friday.

Paulo Portas, leader of the ruling coalition’s junior partner addressed the country to say that he was against some of the measures announced by the prime minister last Friday.

Prime Minister Pedro Passo Coelho is to unveil details of planned structural reforms to slash state spending at 8pm on Friday. The measures must still be subject to negotiation with employer organisations and trade unions.

António José Seguro insisted on calling for early elections and rejected the idea of making a pact with Prime Minister Passos Coelho’s centre-right coalition government.

The time has come for action, Prime Minister Passos Coelho declared in a ten-minute speech, following the approval of the Strategic Security and Defence Concept and the corresponding “Defence 2020″ document.

CDS-PP spokesman Telmo Correia said that various voices from within the party had defended the need for a government shake-up, but the party’s commission had not taken “any decision” about any future cabinet shuffle.

Prime Minister Passos Coelho called for the need to find short-term answers to offset the depths of the economic recession.

Emphasising the importance of long lasting structural reforms, Passos Coelho pointed to the importance of international support as the country reached the two-thirds stage in its bailout program.

Despite admitting that Portugal may need another year to reach its deficit goals, Passos Coelho says the government does not want more time or money to comply with the adjustment programme.