He blamed Portugal’s debt crisis on overspending by previous governments: "It was the lack of competitiveness of our economy that has brought us to the situation of almost unsustainable public debt and large external deficits. Our European partners such as the International Monetary Fund have been helping us to recover from this structural situation," he said.
Merkel’s visit was also aimed at reassuring voters back home that money’s being well spent, which may be why she announced a series of German led youth training programmes.