“LISBON—A political rift was opened in Portugal on Wednesday after the country’s president sent the 2013 budget to its highest court for review, an unusual move that highlights deepening opposition to a two-year austerity drive.
President Anibal Cavaco Silva, who is the head of state and belongs to the same right-of-center political party as Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, signed the budget bill into law on Monday, but expressed reservations the next day. In a late televised address to the nation, he expressed doubts about the budget’s “distribution of sacrifices,” while calling for an end to the “recession spiral” the country is undergoing.
Analysts say Mr. Cavaco’s decision marks a compromise following pressure from critics who question the budget’s fairness, such as the country’s National Association of Judges, and also allows the country to have a budget in place while the issue is being resolved….”
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