Resumen de Austerity measures under judicial scrutiny: : the Portuguese constitutional case-law

Mariana Rodrigues Canotilho, Teresa Violante, Rui Tavares Lanceiro

• The impact of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis in Portugal has been particularly severe. The first Portuguese Stability and Growth Programme, which contained several austerity measures including increase in taxation and public sector workers' salaries reductions, adopted in order to decrease the budget deficit, dates back to March 2010. General elections held in Portugal in September 2009 were won by the Socialist Party (PS) - which was the incumbent party - but without an absolute majority in Parliament. The Stability and Growth Programme 2010-2013 was adopted on 12 March 2010 by the PS minority Government after the parliamentary approval of the State Budget for 2010, and included a strategy of budgetary consolidation aiming at the reduction of the general government deficit to 2.8% of the GDP by 2013, and control of the general government debt growth by 2013. This first set of austerity measures was adopted autonomously by the Portuguese Government and sent to the European Commission (EC or Commission)