Pedro Passos Coelho was handed the task Wednesday of implementing a drastic austerity package for Portugal when the president named him as the new prime minister after his recent election win.Passos Coelho, leader of the centre-right Social Democrat party (PSD), pledged he would quickly form a coalition government with the right-wing CDS-PP "to take stock of the urgent situation in the country."There was no time to waste in tackling the country's economic woes, he said.
In the June 5 election, 46-year-old Passos Coelho dealt the Socialists, in power since 2005, their worst election defeat since 1987.Since then, President Anibal Cavaco Silva has held talks with party leaders although there was never any real likelihood that anyone but the PSD would take charge.Passos Coelho's main challenge will be to implement a programme of spending cuts and economic reforms Lisbon agreed last month in exchange for a 78-billion-euro ($110-billion) bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
The official coalition agreement was scheduled tol be signed at a public ceremony thursday, Passos Coelho told journalists shortly before the president's announcement.
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