Passos Coelho invites Portuguese Socialists to negotiate gov’t formation

The Portuguese winner of Sunday’s election, the conservative Pedro Passos Coelho, invited on Wednesday the Socialist Party to the negotiation table to find a solution that ensures government stability.

The current prime minister stated that earlier on Wednesday he sent this proposal to the leader of the Socialists, Antonio Costa, who he seeks to meet this week to lay the groundwork for an agreement.

Passos Coelho defended the Socialist Party as the only one inside the Portuguese parliamentary spectrum that also defends seamlessly “Portugal’s membership of the EU and the Eurozone” and “respecting the rules” of Europe on economic and monetary policy.

In his opinion, the proEuropean position justifies that the Socialists are “the first choice” when it comes to negotiating a solution to form a stable government that aspires to be maintained throughout the legislature.

The centerright coalition, led by Passos Coelho, won the election with about 39 percent of the vote, which is not enough to continue its absolute majority, while the Socialists came second with over 32 percent of the vote.

The conservative alliance, in power since 2011, will need the support of other forces, or at least their abstention at votes, to pass laws in the parliament, including the State Budget for 2016, which will be the first major test of the new government.