According to the Eurosondagem survey, only 10.8% said Portugal should comply with the memorandum of understanding signed with the bailout troika.

The country will receive its next bailout tranche of €2bn, but the cuts presented by the government following the Constitutional Court’s rejection of some of the articles in the 2013 state budget could be still be altered. The priority now is to find an alternative to the controversial tax on pensions.

Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Paulo Portas ended up giving in to a measure regarding a new tax on pensions but said it would only be applied if no other alternative was found.

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.

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.

The government meets in an extraordinary cabinet meeting. Only after specific spending cuts are approved will the troika conclude the seventh assessment of Portugal’s bailout programme and release the next tranche of €2bn.

Wednesday, 24 April: Daily “Público” reports that Portugal’s public deficit in the first quarter of 2013 came in below the limit established in the country’s adjustment programme by the troika of international lenders.

Friday, 19 April: “Diário Económico” reports that out of a total of €800m in cuts to state expenditure announced by the government, the health sector be responsible for slashing €200m, as the government tries to come up with alternatives to the 2013 state budget articles rejected by the Constitutional Court.

The Socialists said “nothing new” had come out of the talks and reiterated their rejection of the centre-right government’s austerity policies.