Today's New York Times brings an article on Portugal's turned page on austerity that draws some parallels to an article in The Economist back in April on the political balance in Portugal's current socialist government.
Both articles puzzle at the "magic" Portugal's PM is pulling off: dropping austerity measures after an IMF bailout, and maintaining a stable government after coming second in the last election. There is no magic here. Neither austerity has been abandoned, nor coming first would necessarily make a difference. António Costa's clever strike consists on relabeling austerity (carefully choosing measures that keep voters happy, but maintaining cash limitations that are less transparent to outsiders), and exploring the tiny space of the political spectrum where the far lefts worry that the right will take over and the right is afraid the far left parties will take their way.
So far so good. Let's see how the situation evolves, with elections coming up next year and the IMF's warning of increased external risk.
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