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Lisbon: The EU commission is pleased with the government's austerity measures (Photo: Valentina Pop)

EU 'surprised' by Portugal's unemployment rate

The EU commission on Tuesday (3 April) praised Portugal for its austerity measures and said unemployment benefits had to be further cut even though the percentage of jobless people was "surprisingly" higher than expected.

"The budgetary adjustment is currently on track and it is likely for the Eurogroup to say yes to the fourth disbursement (of bail-out money)," said Peter Weiss, an EU commission official part of the 'troika' of international lenders overseeing the reform process in Lis...

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