LISBON, Portugal – Portugal’s new prime minister is telling Parliament about his plans for the next four years, even though an unprecedented alliance of anti-austerity parties is poised to unseat his center-right government within 24 hours.
Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho opened a two-day debate Monday that’s to conclude with a vote that could make his government the shortest ever. His coalition government was re-elected last month but lost its outright majority in Parliament.
The second-place Socialist Party has forged an alliance with the Communist Party and the radical Left Bloc to create a 122-seat majority in the 230-seat Parliament. Those parties want to reverse some cutbacks and reforms demanded by creditors following Portugal’s 78 billion-euro ($84 billion) bailout in 2011 and have vowed to force the government’s resignation.
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