How to combine public spending with fiscal rigour? ‘Austerity by Stealth’ in post-bailout Portugal (2015-2019)

In this article, we argue that the Costa I Socialist government (2015–2019) managed to combine responsiveness to voters with responsibility towards domestic and international actors by pursuing some kind of ‘austerity by stealth’, which we define as less visible fiscal contraction that is not displayed by the government in its public discourse. The radical left parties implicitly agreed with this strategy in exchange for the adoption of a long list of visible anti-austerity policies. This allowed the Costa I government to fulfil its electoral pledges and maintain the support of the radical left on the one hand, whilst also reducing the country’s deficit and consequently the costs of interest-debt repayments.