Portugal’s new govt sees EU aid as firing up economic growth

By BARRY HATTON
Associated Press

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Members of Portugal’s center-left Socialist Party have been sworn into office for the party’s third straight term in government. Portugal’s leaders are preparing to start spending some 45 billion euros ($50 billion) in European Union aid to help fire up one of the bloc’s weakest economies. Prime Minister António Costa, the Socialist Party leader who has led the country since 2015, He promised an economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic but now faces headwinds stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Socialists captured 120 seats in the 230-seat parliament in a landslide January election. For more than two decades, the Portuguese economy has been marked by low growth, low productivity and low salaries.