The former prime minister and president of the European Commission joined the Democratic Alliance (AD) campaign, trying to “cleanse” the austerity image of the Passos Coelho Government because of the “famous troika issue”. “The PS Government was the one who put Portugal into bankruptcy”, guaranteed Durão Barroso, also helping Luís Montenegro with the Santarém candidate’s controversial statements about climate change.
The former PSD leader also recalled that he was the president of the European Commission, when the then prime minister, the socialist José Sócrates, asked for help, because “in the country’s treasury there was no more than 300 million euros for the country to function ”. “Portugal was in a situation of insolvency, in a more popular way, of bankruptcy. We need to remember,” he said, at a rally, this Friday, in Santa Maria da Feira.
Barroso admitted that “these were extremely difficult moments”. “But we have to put things in their proper context”, he pointed out, remembering that, despite more than one adjustment program being planned, the PSD/CDS Government “managed to emerge after three years”: “We don’t have to ask sorry for this period, we have to be proud of what we did with patriotic sense to save Portugal”.
If he never refers to the specific case, Barroso also ended up giving Montenegro a helping hand because of the controversial statements made by the Santarém candidate, Eduardo Oliveira e Sousa, regarding climate change.
